Steelwing were one of those rare bands who arrived with total conviction: sharp‑edged riffs, post‑apocalyptic imagination and a sense of purpose that helped define the early pulse of the New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal. A decade on from their final chapter, their legacy still looms large among fans who lived through that explosive moment in the scene. In this exclusive interview, vocalist Riley looks back with honesty, humour and a surprising amount of clarity about what the band built, what they survived and what they left behind. And somewhere between the stories, the scars and the nostalgia, there’s a question that lingers in the air—one that readers will have to reach the end to fully appreciate.

Introduction and formation

TheNwothm: Could you introduce the members of Steelwing as fans remember them, and share where each of you came from?

Steelwing: First of all there’s the core trio from Nyköping in Sweden, they all played together in a band called Hellevator before Steelwing:

Alex Vega, guitarist, driving force behind the band as well as main songwriter.

Robby Rockbag, guitarist, riff and shred maestro

Oskar Åstedt, drummer / God of Thunder

Then there’s Nic Savage, our bass thrasher. He was a long time friend of ours who joined Steelwing in 2011 after our first bassist Skürk left the band. From Finspång, he played in various bands such as Jackal’s Wrath before Steelwing.

And I’m Riley – singer, lyricist and reluctant frontman, hehe. From Stockholm. Before Steelwing I sang with some bands in the local Stockholm metal scene, but it was my ”pretty much solo” project Wykked that eventually gained me some recognition back in the Myspace days.

TheNwothm: Back in 2009 you started out as Scavenger. Tell us a little about that and what led to the transformation into Steelwing?

Steelwing: I don’t remember where the name Scavenger came from, but even though it feels like a distinct “era”, we could only have used that name for a few months. Everything happened very fast in the beginning. When we got signed, our label said we needed to change our name because apparently there were legal disputes between other bands called Scavenger. So it was out of necessity really, not choice.

TheNwothm: How did the name Steelwing come about, and what did it represent for you at the time? Did you have other names in mind for the band?

Steelwing: I think it was inspired by the “Screaming For Vengeance” album cover. We were brainstorming and arguing about our new name a lot, but eventually we voted and Steelwing won. To be honest, I wasn’t a fan of this name at first, but we grew into it and made it work for us. It connected nicely to our previous name and the post-apocalyptic theme through the ”steelwinged scavenger” vulture mascot we used in some cover art. Maybe we should have established that one better, like our own Eddie…

TheNwothm: Growing up, was there a musician or musicians you admired not just for their music but for their attitude or presence?

Steelwing: Bruce Dickinson obviously: singing-wise, visually on stage – and the sheer multi-talent energy of that man should be an inspiration to anyone.

Ihsahn of Emperor was a kind of role model for me in my early teens when I was mostly into black metal. Unlike even his bandmates he seemed to be above the chaos and drama of the Norwegian black metal scene and completely devoted to the artistry of making music. That resonated with me and who I wanted to be as a musician.

Later in my life, Wendy O. Williams of The Plasmatics was a huge inspiration as well as far as attitude and presence goes – she was absolutely fearless, and long before it was mainstream she stood up for values such as animal rights and vegetarianism, which are important for me as well.

Swedish influence

TheNwothm: How did growing up in Nyköping, Södermanland, or Stockholm shape your personal approach to heavy metal?

Steelwing: So Stockholm for me then. When I started discovering metal I was about 12 years old, and it was just me and my best friend being weirdos, listening to our older siblings’ CDs. No one else our age that we knew was into it.

However, a few years into my teens when I could start getting around all of Stockholm by myself, and could go see shows, I started to realize there were a lot of like-minded people out there.

Being in the capital of Sweden meant being in the epicenter of a lot of things. The glam and sleaze wave hit right around the time I was old enough to go out drinking, those were some wild times for sure. I grew up close to Upplands Väsby, a part of Stockholm that has famously spawned a lot of rock and metal bands, from Europe and Candlemass in the 80’s to H.E.A.T in my generation. A bit further north in neighbouring city Uppsala there was a much darker black and death metal scene brewing. So there were plenty of bands to see, people to hang out with and influences to draw from.

TheNwothm: Sweden has a strong tradition in metal. Did the local scene (specifically any bands) or community influence Steelwing’s sound or attitude as a band?

Steelwing: In the early days we definitely looked up to Wolf and RAM as pioneers of the Swedish NWOTHM scene.

Being active at the same time as bands like Enforcer, In Solitude, Portrait, Helvetets Port, Katana, Screamer – and too many others to mention everyone – there was a sense of friendly competition that made the whole scene better.

Some years later, it was refreshing to hear In Solitude seamlessly merging more diverse influences with traditional heavy metal, that inspired us to try some new things around the time we were writing what would eventually become Reset Reboot Redeem. It’s an interesting challenge to make music that sounds both nostalgic and original.

Thoughts on music and the movement

TheNwothm: Many say Steelwing were often linked with the early days of the New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal movement. Looking back, what does the term Nwothm mean to you personally?

Steelwing: It fills me with nostalgia and pride: the NWOTHM-movement around 2010 – plus/minus a few years – was like the 80’s to a niche subset of our generation. So much fun and crazy times, and so many awesome and talented people came out of it. I am sincerely proud to have played whatever small part I did in this movement.

As for the term itself, to me it denotes a very specific kind of 80’s retro metal. It’s not the glam or hair metal stuff, it’s not power metal and it’s not classic hard rock. It’s about really zeroing in on everything that made the classic heavy metal bands such as Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Accept so iconic. You have to navigate carefully both musically and visually to do it convincingly without becoming a parody.

TheNwothm: In your opinion how do you feel the whole movement started?

Steelwing: I don’t think you can define an exact start, a movement like this is a wave that builds over time, with kids growing up, absorbing influences, starting their own bands and influencing each other.

In Sweden, in the late 90’s there was a growing power metal movement that peaked around the beginning of the 2000’s with Hammerfall videos on frequent rotation on Swedish television. This exposed a lot of pimply faced teens to metal riffs, high pitched vocals and guitar solos, a previously dead art form through most of the 90’s.

Iron Maiden reuniting with Bruce Dickinson in 1999 and then releasing ”Brave New World” was most likely the main trigger globally that set the wave in motion. It was one thing to listen to old Iron Maiden CDs in the 90’s, but when our generation, now in our teens, could finally see Iron Maiden with Bruce selling out stadiums, that was something else entirely.

Then in the mid-00’s there was a huge sleaze and glam metal wave in Sweden with bands like Crashdïet and Hardcore Superstar. While it was also focused on an 80’s revival, NWOTHM really started to become relevant at this time as a counter reaction to all that light-hearted “hairspray and partying” stuff, for those of us who wanted something harder.

To me, the definite pioneers of NWOTHM were Wolf, Bullet and RAM. They were playing old school heavy metal long before it became cool again, and paved the way so that bands like us could follow. I remember being floored when I first saw the video to “Moonlight” by Wolf – finally a new band who got what 80’s heavy metal was really about! Then when they released “The Black Flame” in 2006, that became the blueprint for many of us. The same year Bullet released “Heading For The Top”, so I’d say that was a pivotal year for the movement.

This was all very Sweden focused, but I do believe we were leading the way for NWOTHM along with Canada.