A Little Bit of Metal Never Hurt Anyone

I thought I’d never live to see the day I’d say this, but, ladies and gents, metal is making a comeback. Slowly creeping in from across the pond with bands such as We Came As Romans and Periphery, the metal scene is spreading it’s wings across Blighty’s shores.

Fall Against Fate, Hertfordshire’s answer to Slayer (though they’d probably protest if I told them that), are an awesome up and coming metal band. With epic intro’s, crazy guitar riffs, and a beat that would make even David Cameron dive head first into a mosh pit, these are a band that you definitely need to keep your eye on.

I caught up with Tom Saunders and Paul Wood a few months ago, Fall Against Fate’s two guitarist’s, to see what they had to say on making it big in the industry; government cuts to Higher Education; Toni and Guy haircuts; and pillow fights in their underwear.

Amy:

Hi guys, nice to meet you both, so Fall Against Fate is a catchy name.Tell me a bit more about yourselves, how did you all meet?

Tom:

It started as a mess around with myself and a few friends. Eventually we realised we wanted this to be more than a mess around, so we introduced a vocalist and started jamming. Since then we have had a hell of a lot of line up changes, whether it be down to commitment issues or simply loss of interest; we have lost members and gained members. But we have finally found a solid line up that produces the exact sound we have been searching for. I met Paul whilst on tour with Versus Akira. I met Ross (vocals) from College (we were on the same course together) I met Dave (drums) through Ross. Lewis (bass) has been my best friend for many years now, he was there from the beginning also.

Paul:

I joined just as Versus Akira were splitting up...the line-up at the time wasn't great, but I could see what Tom was trying to do and that there was loads of potential.

Amy:

It sounds like you’re all pretty close…

Tom:

We are all really close now

Paul:

me and tom = endless banter, god knows what it's gonna be like on our next tour.

Tom:

I hate Paul.

Paul:

haha, we'd give you a few examples, but they're not very PC

Amy:

But I LOVE non PC!

Paul:

lmao, trust me I wouldn't wanna get sued

Amy:

Haha alright, so are you all students?

Paul:

Me and Dave are…Tom’s just finished a music tech qualification.

Tom:

Dave is a student at Guildford, I just finished a National Diploma in Music Technology.

Amy:

You’re all dotted around the place, that must make life quite difficult….

Paul:

Well, it’s basically me that’s far away

Amy:

Leeds is a bit of a trekk Paul, no offence…

Paul:

Haha none taken

Tom:

Myself, Lewis and Ross all live in Watford. Dave travels back from Guildford every week for a practise. We usually practise 2 or 3 times a week, and Paul hails from Luton, so once he comes back we just trade off each other, as we have near enough the same studio set up.

(Amy, being as wise as she is, at this point, chose not to bring up the Watford Vs Luton rivalry that seems to have been going on since the dawn of time…)

Amy:

That’s pretty awesome, not a lot of bands can say that they are that finely tuned to each others wants and needs, how long has your current line up been together?

Paul:

Not long! Tom?

Tom:

Around 3 months now I feel.

Paul:

Yeah, I think that’s about right.

Tom:

We've been out of action for a year. We wanted to take a time out and "re vamp" the band, people weren’t pulling their weight, lack of committed etc... as I mentioned earlier. We had a vision of what we wanted the band to be like, and we have now achieved that I think.

Amy:

You guys are so far from the mainstream acts that are around at the moment, where are you getting all this inspiration from?

Tom:

Yeah we are highly influenced by the American scene. It's extremely refreshing. Bands such as: We Came As Romans, August Burns Red, Woe, Is Me, Blessthefall, Chiodos, Miss May I, Volumes, Periphery. A lot of the bands are slowly becoming our friends also which is rad.

Paul:

I love Woe Is Me, and how they use electronic sounds on top of riffs similar to ours, we haven't gone in that direction with the electronic layers... Yet.

Amy:

I think the main issue the majority of people have with metal is that it isn’t what you would call easy listening. Would you agree?

Paul:

Yeah definitely, it's a bit of a stumbling point, but that's easily overcome with a bit of thought. We try and keep a sense of groove in our song writing. Metal's such a huge genre, there's a lot of bands i'd say are easy to listen to, but it's a case of finding them or having a friend introduce you to ‘em.

Tom:

I personally got into metal and more heavier music due to the excitement it I filled with, there are build ups, massive epic drops and changes that you just can't get in some music. Like you wouldn't have a dance track suddenly drop into a massive beatdown. BUT you would have a massive beatdown drop into an electronic/dance section, and it works.

Amy:

That sounds amazing! But, I hear you’ve managed to sell your EP’s to Tesco’s, tell me more…

Paul:

Haha, yeah, every little helps…

Tom:

We got our first physical USA release out for this record. We managed to get it sold in a Target store in the USA. The first "batch" sold out within the first day which was so overwhelming for us personally.

Amy:

And you aren’t signed…?

Tom:

Nope.

Amy:

You’re doing this all by yourself?

Tom:

Indeed.

Amy:

Guys, you have just inspired hundreds of people struggling in bands out there.

Paul:

It's surprised me how many places a band can get their stuff into, without being signed to a major record label.

Amy:

So what advice would you give to a non - mainstream band trying to make it?

Paul:

I'd say be happy with your sound, no matter how long it takes before you show it off at shows and on CDs etc. It was hard for us, but i don't think we'd be anywhere near as happy with how we're sounding if we'd just 'made do' with where we were going, say, 6 months ago.

Tom:

It takes work and patience and time. If you just keep on pushing your band and finding new original ways of pushing your band then you WILL get noticed. Don't just think an email will do it, companies have phones for reasons, use them, they can't run away from you when you're on the phone to them or face to face with them in their office.

Amy:

Love it!!!

Tom:

Yeah. We scrapped so many tracks, must have re written the drums like 4 times, edited guitar riffs loads, wrote tonnes of vocals…

Amy:

And I am so loving the drums, especially on the intro’s, I find intro’s really make or break a song.

Paul:

Me and tom worked on the drums for probably the last 13 months haha…Dave is also a beast for carrying that into our live shows.

Amy:

And I’m pretty sure every female reader is now imagining his wonderfully toned

forearms…

Paul:

Hahaha

Tom:

Hahaha

Paul:

I’m pretty sure Dave’s single…

Tom:

He’s pretty much nothing but forearm…

Amy:

There you go ladies, forget rugby players, drummers are now in. I think everyone always assumes metal is just bands with long, greasy hair, showing off their riff skills…

Paul:

Haha oh god no, it’s not like that. Nah, we are endorsed by Toni and Guy haha, I think that says it all.

Amy:

I think we are all loving the sound of that. But Paul, being at university yourself, how do you think the government’s plans to cut Higher Education will effect the nation?

Paul:

It's gonna cripple the nation. They seem to be doing everything they can to tell people they were good for the country this election term but this will show itself over the next generation, when labour or whoever else is in power and then we'll be lacking higher-level workers, and moaning once again.

Amy:

You’re definitely not wrong there. And final question, what do you all do for funsies?

Paul:

I hang out with Tom and Lewis a lot. Ross and Dave are new, so I don’t know them as well, but they seem sound. I stay over at Lewis’ a lot, so typical guy sleepover stuff.

Amy:

Pillow fights in your underwear? *raises eyebrows*

Paul:

Hahaha…no comment

Well you heard it here first guys. Fall Against Fate has several tbc gigs lined up for 2011, so get on their Myspace, Facebook and Twitter to check out their latest events, buy some merchandise or even just to say hi. You can even buy their EP at Tesco’s online, Itunes, or even Spotify them. You’d be crazy not to miss out on this wonderful up and coming band, definitely keep your eyes on them in the next few years.