When you’ve spent years creating music with a band, the idea of going solo can be scary. Venturing into a solo career can lead to many challenges, personal discoveries, and stories to tell. It may seem like the obvious path to follow once you’ve achieved success with a band, but it is never the easiest one.
Cameron Winter, lead singer of Geese, is very transparent when it comes to talking about his new solo adventure. It must be his youth that makes him so real, or perhaps it’s because he belongs to Gen Z, a generation that preaches honesty and doesn’t care about the social codes of hiding one’s feelings. “It was tough, and I was freaking out half the time,” he said about his time recording. He even finds the time to crack a joke or two: “I had rent to pay (…) and in order to keep up my lavish lifestyle, I decided to go solo, as people do.”
Cameron is straightforward, and his transparency can easily be mistaken for humor; we’re not entirely sure if he’s being honest or just joking around. However, amidst the rehearsed and marketed discourses in the entertainment industry, his realness is refreshing. “I’ve lived 20 lives with this fucking thing since I started it. I have no idea what I was expecting,” he affirmed—or joked…
He’s only 23 years old, and his interest in music began as a kid when he bought an iPod and listened to The Beatles all day. “I always thought it would be a hobby, and then my band got a record deal, which was very exciting,” Winter said about his beginnings in the industry. Geese was formed in 2016, but their debut album, Projector, was released in 2021. Since then, they’ve gone from a basement band to receiving critical acclaim. Their music is reminiscent of the post-punk and alternative rock scenes of the ’70s and ’80s, with dynamic sounds and expressive performances.
“I think the band does a pretty good job of making themselves look good. Everyone sort of distinguishes themselves while still giving enough room for each other,” says Cameron about Geese. It’s exactly this camaraderie that he missed the most about being in a band while going solo. “The good thing about having a band is that when you write a song, everyone collaborates, so there has to be an underlying foundation that everyone can rely on,” he reminisced about his days with Geese.

His solo debut was not planned strategically; instead, it was born out of an artistic need and a creative drive to express himself differently. “I feel like I can only make good stuff if I follow what I want to do, even if it’s not logistically ideal,” Cameron explained about his decision. And as Geese had been enjoying a period of successful releases, his bandmates supported and applauded his choice. “They were fine. They were supportive. We’ve been friends for a long time. They understand creative needs,” he said. And what he initially thought would be a four-month project ended up lasting a year.
As he immersed himself in his intrusive thoughts and the solitary process of songwriting, he discovered himself more fully, and his music transformed into melancholic ballads. He stepped away from heavy rock rhythms to make room for a more introspective form of expression, drawn from his inner reflections. “My head was just a mess with all these ideas that I sort of understood but didn’t really think were that good yet,” he affirmed.
Produced by Loren Humphrey, Heavy Metal, his debut solo album, is a collection of personal stories that reflect the singer’s emotions and state of mind during the year he embarked on this journey. “I was trying not to just hide behind wordplay. I wanted to give people a real, impressionistic, but still honest image of how I felt. I believe that the way I feel might be relatable to many others,” affirmed the artist. The album draws on Winter’s sense of self and his knack for words. Across its various songs, fans will explore feelings of love, confusion, and the chaos of everyday life, enabling him to craft relatable lyrics and profound melodies. “I’d like people to see or hear themselves in a way that they might not be able to fully articulate,” he added.
The 10-track record includes songs like $0 Man, a piano ballad that lends an intimate tone to the overall work, and Drinking Age, which he describes as his most personal song on the album. “That was probably the most catatonically depressed I’ve ever been while still managing to write a song. That’s why it only has two chords,” he explained, adding that in the song, “everything is laid out pretty straightforward.” Tracks such as Love Takes Miles, Try As I May, and Can’t Keep Anything create an eclectic sound and serve as a window into the singer’s inner, transparent universe, while resonating with listeners’ emotions. “I hope that some people feel good, especially at the parts that are the saddest,” Cameron shares.

The album is unapologetically himself, and pushing boundaries probably doesn’t feel natural to him as he tries to bare his feelings in the songs. “I like to color inside the lines. I’m not here to reinvent the wheel or anything like that. I like classic stuff,” he said. For Cameron, there is no right or wrong when creating, and especially, there’s no recipe for making an album; it’s all about a good feeling. “I think the mark of when I feel I’m done with something, or when I can be at peace with it, is when the good feeling I get from the music overshadows all the critical thoughts I have about the mix.”
As he looks back at the cathartic, dramatic, and intimate process of creating this album, he never undermines his struggle; instead, he embraces these feelings as part of his creative journey. “You end up feeling nostalgic for those times when you were so miserable. That’s how the album was… I’ll probably be very nostalgic about this when I’m 40, looking back, thinking, I was so young. I was still creative.”
While this album marks a new chapter for the singer, he is also ready to embark on new adventures with Geese. “I like being in a band. It’s really fulfilling.” The experience with his solo album will stand as a testament to his creative impulse. “I think this album has changed things. The experience I got working on it will have a big impact. I learned a lot.” It is this same artistic curiosity, along with his commitment to honesty and authenticity, that continues to drive his music forward.
And after bearing his soul to his audience, writing about the most intimate and traumatic sides of his life, Cameron still manages to find a funny and not-so-serious outlook on himself, claiming that, after this album, people might see him as someone who “[has] a lot of free time,” or simply as “a real American hero…”