Nowadays you have so many different sub genres of metal that it’s
difficult to find a band that plays just straight up metal, and is good at
it. Yeah, yeah; you have your technical death metal bands that play at high
speeds, your black metal bands and their dark imagery, your power metal bands
and their fantasy, but let me ask you this; have you come across a band that
just straight up kicked your ass? Shadows Fall can do that and I should mention,
they are good at it.
With 5 full albums under their belt, each more brutal
than the one before, Shadows Fall have gained worldwide exposure and
have become very well known in the metal world. Having toured with bands
such
as Lamb of God, Slipknot, Cradle of Filth, Stone Sour, Shadows Fall have
been around almost every other sub genre of metal there is and by doing
so has earned them new fans and by continuing to do that, the band are
opening themselves up to a wide variety of audiences and as we all hope,
new fans.
The band is currently on the Jagermeister music tour which features headliners
Stone Sour and Goth based band Lacuna Coil. Vocalist Brian Fair was kind
enough to take some time to talk with me on a few things, including stuff
about their newly released album Threads of Life (read
CD review).
RIL: First off, if I knew nothing about Shadows Fall, how would
you describe the bands music to me?
BF: It’s kind of a combination between old school metal, thrash metal,
and just good rock n’ roll. To me it’s just kind of a culmination
of 30 years of good music. We’ve all been fans of every style, so just
filtered through five idiots is what you get. Just high energy metal, man.
RIL: If I were to go out and buy your new album Threads of Life,
what songs should I pay attention to and why?
BF: To me I think the opening track “Redemption” is a nice, kind
of like crash course in everything that is going to happen. It covers a lot
of what we do; it’s got the real thrash riff, the total technical solo
break down in the middle and then a big chorus and that’s really what
we’re all about. So that would be one song to sum it up. To me, probably
like the most different song the one that would stand out and probably the
more ballad song is “Another Hero Lost” which is the other spectrum,
you know? So, it really depends on what you’re looking for, but those
two will kind of show you everything that could possibly happen.
RIL: How has this tour been going so far?
BF: It’s been incredible. Most of the shows have been sold out or really
close to it, and for us it’s kind of a perfect spot because a lot of
kids are coming who know us; but then a lot of Stone Sour fans have never
heard of us before so it’s a chance to get in front of new people.
And with us, Lacuna Coil, and Stone Sour it covers so much sonically, you
know? It’s awesome. And those guys have been friends of ours for years,
from Slipknot and all that. So that makes it even easier, you know? Everyone
is just partying and hanging out, no bullshit.
RIL: In my thoughts I would say you guys are the heaviest band on the bill. How
are the crowds responding?
BF: We definitely get the most mosh pit action, without
a doubt. Stone Sour has their really heavy metal moments, but also they do
a whole acoustic break
with “Bother” and uh…
RIL: “Through Glass”
BF: Yeah “Through Glass”. And Lacuna Coil kind of brings that more
Goth, epic, European sound. So we’re definitely the straight up hit
you in the face band. Which is fun for us, because sometimes we’re
not the heaviest band on the bill when we go out with like death metal bands,
so now it’s like we’re the tough guys.
RIL: And some fans who haven’t heard you may be like “whoa…”
BF: Yeah like “what the fuck is that?!”
RIL: Since you aren’t the headliner and you have a shorter
set time, was it difficult to put a set together for this tour?
BF: Yeah, you know it was. Because, now we have five
full length records and ten years as a band, and also we have a few different
guitar tunings, so
trying to figure out a way to get all the songs we wanted in was tough in
35 minutes or so. But we figured out a way to flow nice and our guitar techs
are running around like maniacs with three different guitars. But it worked
out and now after the first few shows of getting it together, now it’s
flowing real nice. We also wanted a set that would just come out, hit you
right in the face and not let up. So we left out some of the more mellow
songs and really just went for the straight ahead heavy tunes.
RIL: You guys are capable of headlining now, does it feel a little
odd to be one of the opening bands?
BF: No, it’s cool man. Because like I said we are getting in front of new
people, and we had taken about a year off too so we kind of wanted to come
back and do something a little different and we’re going to be doing
a lot of headlining throughout the year, so this is kind of a cool way for
us to get back into touring mode, kind of work all the kinks out and slowly
start to work some of the new material from “Threads of Life” in
to as well. But we like both, because honestly in a selfish way when you
headline, it’s great that it’s your show but at the end of the
night you come off stage and everyone is gone. So now when we open, the party
is still raging. So it works out either way.
RIL: Aren’t you and Lacuna Coil switching spots?
BF: Yeah, we rotate. I think tonight we go on before Lacuna Coil, and then the
next night after them.
RIL: Are you playing any new songs on this tour?
BF: Yeah we’re actually doing two new songs for the Stone Sour tour. We’re
doing “Redemption” and “Venomous”. Honestly, being
selfish again we wanted to do a few more, but we also know we got to play
some of the old stuff and mix it up. So we felt those two would kind of fit
what we wanted the set to be about, just straight up and in your face.
RIL: What does the future of touring look like for Shadows Fall?
BF: Right after this, I think this tour we get home like
May 9th from this tour, we’re going to head to Europe to do some festivals including the
Download festival in the U.K. and a few other ones, we’ll be there
for about two weeks I think, two or three weeks. And then this summer we’re
going to be doing a big full on tour that we can’t quite announce
yet but it’s getting worked out right now. But it’s going to
be the whole U.S. and we’ll be able to play a longer set which is
cool. And then after that it’s either do another U.S. tour or go
to Europe for a full tour. We’re not sure yet, we’re actually
making that decision now. And I think around Christmas we’re trying
to get around Japan and Australia.
RIL: The tour you just mentioned, would it be a solid tour or more like a festival
type tour?
BF: Yeah, more of a package type of thing but we’ll be able to play a longer
set, so it’s cool. But all the business side shit is still getting
figured out.
RIL: Recording the new album, how was it? Was it difficult or did everything
seem to just flow smoothly?
BF: It flowed pretty smoothly. For us, this time we spent
a lot of time at home, usually we would tour, take a few weeks off and then
go right in the studio
and then go right back on the road, but this time we were just like “lets
clear the whole year”, and we really wrote, and re wrote, and re wrote,
and re wrote and that’s where the most time was spent. And by the time
we hit the studio we were really well rehearsed, we had written everything,
we worked everything out, so once we got there it was real smooth. But leading
up to it was a lot of work. And I was glad we did it that way. Because also
with studios costing what they do, you don’t want to be wasting time
there. So we went in really well prepared. And working with Nick Raskulinecz
was awesome. He’s the kind of guy who, even though your there for 12
hours a day you don’t feel like your killing yourself. He keeps the
vibe real loose and fun and he’s like “dude, we’re playing
heavy metal, its fun” you know?
RIL: Do you feel as though you have progressed since War Within?
BF: Definitely. I think this album is a pretty big step
forward, and just not even necessarily forward but just in a new direction.
We never want to
kind of repeat ourselves and there was a pretty big step between “Of
One Blood”, “[The] Art of Balance”, then “Art of
Balance”, “War Within”, so this one I think we just focused
more on the song writing and on really making every part make sense, and
trying not necessarily to leave things out but make sure everything was
there for a reason not just like “alright we got this great riff,
lets shove it in the middle”, it had to really make sense. And that’s
usually the hardest part because you can have like a million riffs but
that doesn’t mean you have a good song. And that’s where I
think we stepped up the most on this one. And also we tried some new stuff
vocally; I and Matt did a lot of playing off each others voices and things
like that. We used Matt’s voice to its full potential I think finally
too, and Matt’s a great singer so we really wanted to have moments
where we could use that.
RIL: Would you say Threads of Life is more technical than
War Within?
BF: You know it probably depends on the song. There are
some crazy technical moments, say like the song “Final Call”; it’s seven minutes
long, has a 32-bar solo and is probably one of the more crazier straight
up shredding that we have done in a while. But then you have a song like “Venomous” that
is just straight up rock n’ roll and is real, not simple but just straight
forward. For us, the technical side is always going to be there but we always
want it to be within a frame work that makes sense, you know? We’re
definitely not like a prog band, we’re definitely more of a straight
forward metal band but there’s always going to be those crazy off time
parts and shit. Even the first single “Redemption” has that whole
weird off time breakdown, so it’s always going to be there. I don’t
know if it would be more or less.
RIL: The track “Another Hero Lost” is slow tempo, and really
a change of pace where it was put on the album. Was this planned or did
it just kind
of fall in that spot?
BF: We had been working on the musical side of it for a
little while, Jon had the initial kind of guitar parts and an idea in his
head of what he wanted
to do, and then I unfortunately lost a family member last year and that kind
of is what spawned the lyrics so that made us decide the song should be that
way from beginning to end. Not suddenly get crazy heavy and start screaming
and stuff because it really would have destroyed the vibe and atmosphere
of it. Because it was a really tough subject and a really sad subject so
we wanted that to reflect in the music. And we also put it the sixth track
because at that point after a relentless ass whopping, it was time to kind
of take a breathe and have a moment to reflect, and then it kicks right back
in again too. So we really thought about track listing on this album a lot,
we wanted everything to flow together and that song just kind of fell into
place and really came out better than we really imagined. And we have always
toyed with a ballad idea with songs like “Art of Balance”, and “Inspiration
on Demand”, but with this album we were just like “let’s
keep that vibe from beginning to end”, you know?
RIL: How did recording your vocals go; was it easier after your training from
Melissa [Cross]?
BF: She definitely helped me as far as get some confidence
and also the most I learned from her was how to take care of my voice. We
didn’t work
a lot on technique and like how to get higher and this and that, she really
was like “You’re going to be on the road for fuckin’ ten
months, you got to take care of it”. So once I went in there I felt
really strong and confident and the experience in the studio is we went for
a much more natural approach, it wasn’t like “What should be
here?” it was like “well lets just see what happens”, like
just turn on the mic and go for it. It was a good experience.
RIL: Shadows Fall have shared the stage with some great bands, but who
would you like to tour with in the future?
BF: We’ve been lucky that we’ve played with almost every band we’ve
looked up to; Iron Maiden, Anthrax, Testament, [Black] Sabbath. The only
band we haven’t, well we played ONE show sort of at a festival with
Metallica, but that would be the band we’d want to tour with. Think
what you want to of what they’ve done the last few years but their
still the kings. They are the greatest metal band of all time to me, so that
would be huge to tour with them. But I mean the list we have is insane. So,
if it happens it happens, if it doesn’t we’re alright. I mean
we’ve never thought we would play with Judas Priest before, so we’ve
been pretty lucky.
RIL: For this tour, what would you say has been your best experience on stage?
BF: This tour has just been amazing. To me one show that
stands out to me, the Philly show was pretty incredible, there was a lot
of people there. As
well as The Rave in Milwaukee and the energy from the crowd is what made
those stand out, but honestly every show has been pretty fuckin’ awesome.
Stone Sour draws a really energetic crowd. It’s not like a bullshit
kind of scene crowd, people are here just for one reason they love music,
you know. There is no like trying to be cool or like trying to look cool
or this or that, it’s all about music. And that’s what I liked
about touring with Slipknot too; it’s like those kids were just psyched
to hear music. And that’s what’s been the best thing for us
on this tour, the fact that-that vibe is definitely obvious right from
the start. You walk out there and your like “Damn, people are here
to rock”. And it’s also the Jager[meister] tour, so people
are drunk.
RIL: What a sponsor to have. BF: Yeah, exactly.
RIL: What about your worst experience?
BF: We’ve had some technical difficulties and that can bum you out. We
lost the bass for a whole song one night and that always sucks. Last night
we had an off show with Lacuna Coil, and Jay’s snare is broke underneath
so all of a sudden it was just “thud, thud, thud”. That sucks,
but you don’t let it bother you, you just keep on rockin’ and
deal with it and let the crew figure out how to fix it and move on. Those
were really the only bad things that have happened so far, just technical
shit.
RIL: You guys have played both big and small stages, which do you prefer?
BF: Clubs are great for energy and the excitement, you
know like your right there and the kids can sing along and feel more part
of the show, and that’s
really what I grew up more on was going to hardcore shows or punk rock
shows and sometimes there wasn’t even stages and shit, so that’s
more what I’m used to. But the arena shows you can’t replace
that energy when there are fifteen, twenty thousand people, its nuts. But
it is weird because you do something like Ozzfest on the main stage and
there are seats. So it’s not going to be as crazy as it is when you
do second stage because people can’t physically move around as much.
So it definitely takes away some of the energy, but when you finish a song
and you hear the crowd roar your like “wow that’s pretty awesome”.
I really like both, but I’m more used to the clubs.
RIL: For you, do you have a better experience on a festival type tour or on a
more solid tour with about four bands or so?
BF: When you have a real tour it’s a little easier because everyone kind
of figures out how to make everything work smoothly, where as on a festival
it’s just a fuckin’ mess everyday. And also a lot of the time
you get short sets, like doing the second stage at Ozzfest you get twenty
minutes and that’s tough to make your statement in twenty minutes and
you know half the time kids see so many bands they’re like “I
have no idea what the fuck just happened, who was that? Who was that?” So
I prefer the more solid tours, but the individual festivals are awesome when
you go to Europe and play a one off show at like Download [Festival] there’s
75, 000 people there, it’s like you just played for almost the whole
country and it’s pretty awesome.
RIL: For your career with Shadows Fall has there been a time when you thought
no one was going to show up at a gig, or were you pretty confident people
were going to dig the band?
BF: We had no idea what was going to
happen when we first started; especially in our area playing more straight
up metal people weren’t really doing
it at the time especially with the guitar solos, melodic singing mixed with
it. So we played with a lot of hardcore bands and sometimes we would kind
of stand out so we never really expected stuff to take off. Also, when we
started 11 years ago or so, metal at that time in the states was pretty on
the underground. So we were used to playing shitty shows to 15, 20 people,
but we didn’t care. We were having fun. And then it just slowly got
bigger and bigger and now we will still play some small towns just for the
fun of it. And maybe only like 100, 200 kids there but the next time you
go back hopefully there’s 300 kids, and the next time hopefully there’s
500 kids, and if you don’t play those towns you’ll never know
and you’ll never be able to build anything there. We and Lacuna Coil
have been playing a lot of really random places on this tour which is awesome.
And also some nights you never know because people have nothing to do in
those areas and they will come out and go fucking crazy. We never knew we
were going to get to this level and we appreciate every step of the way because
we came up the hard way; playing shitty shows to nobody.
BRAIN
FAIR
