Empires Fall Interview

First of all guys, thanks for taking the time to answer these questions for the readers. Would you like to introduce yourselves and tell everyone what you do in the band?

Sean: No worries, my name’s Sean McDonnell and I play Lead Guitar.

Josh: Hello, I'm Josh and I front the band.

Earlier this year you released the bands debut EP 'The Tyrants Genocide' which I love by the way. Can you tell us a bit about the process you went through to record it and how much time was spent from the beginning to printed onto disc?

Sean: We played a show with Boris in late November in Geelong and Roman hit us up after the show. We planned to begin recording right after New Years for roughly two working weeks, so we had about a month to write the majority of the E.P. We travelled up from Geelong to Roman’s studio each day and with the help of Roman and his lovely dogs the whole process was a good time and good escape from our typical working lives. Due to Romans busy schedule between touring and recording it took a few months to get the final, mastered mix and then it was straight to the printers and then into every venue we played and every website/blogsite which wanted it.

Josh: Also a lot of personal time and late night went into the writing process, I can think of countless nights I spent locked away in my room writing lyrics and not sleeping or eating, it was such a different experience trying to keep the theme relevant and make sure each song is saying what it needs to.

We also did some pre-prod sessions before hitting up Roman and had a rough idea of what we wanted to achieve as far as tones and song structures which we all worked really hard on for a good nine or so months of writing.

How did the band come about? Were you all mates to begin with and do you think this current line-up will be stable for the future?

Sean: So many line-up changes over the years! I came in right before the recording of the first demo so the Veteran-dog Josh has this one covered. I’m more than content with saying everyone in this band is sticking around for the future, but these things can be unpredictable I guess.

Josh: Yeah this band went through a lot of shit before we got a steady line up. We started by just jamming at a local classroom after hours just writing shit songs and finding our feet as a band, the original line up was Joe on Drums, Trav on vocals, Simon on guitar, Barry on bass and myself on guitar. We then made the choice to start aiming for a heavier sound, play a lot more shows and travel any chance we get and parted ways with Trav. Then, while writing and playing loads of gigs the band had members come and go until we found the solid lineup consisting of Joe, Sean, Nick, Simon and myself, which has resulted in us touring through AUS and doing more with our name than ever. I feel confident in the current line up and hope we can push this name together.

What are some bands that influence your sound?

Sean: Pantera, all about the Dime.

Josh: Slipknot, Korn, Aborted and of course the TRS guys influenced myself a lot growing up with them just owning our local scene.

When did you first start getting into heavy music and what were the bands that made you fall in love with the genre?

Sean: It was definitely a gateway from bands like Metallica and Slayer at about 12 years to say, Slipknot and Job For A Cowboy thereafter. Once the boundaries of “Ultimate Heaviness” were broken by lots of notable bands; any song that was well structured became the main point of listening for me.

Josh: I would listen to Rob Zombie or Marlin Manson while my Nan would look after me when I was like 4. I have always loved horror movies and heavy tunes. I try to listen to as much music as I can and be as open minded as possible. As far as metal goes, it was love at first sight.

It's hard to make money in the underground scene, especially Death Metal. Which is why most bands rely on selling merch at shows and online. Have you guys found it hard at all? What makes it all worth it?

Sean: It can be a battle between full time work and the band, but ultimately, as long as we’re enjoying fucking around on our instruments of choice then that’s all that matters and if we happen to be able to make a living off of it, than that’s just a bonus.

Josh: I am constantly broke, and although it may seem flashy to be in a band most of these people are at shows on tour with no money in the bank and bills at home. It is one of the hardest things to fund and keep running yet without it I find myself lost. It’s just life and money is always going to be an issue. What’s important to me is playing as many venues and to as many people as I can.

There are a lot of bands these days releasing digital only copies of albums. Personally I think you can't beat owning a physical copy of a CD. What are your thoughts on downloading music for free? Is it a matter of any exposure for the band is good exposure?

Sean: I’m the same man, I enjoy having the legit copy of the CD but the way of the world is different now. I’m happy so long as the people downloading our shit can enjoy what we’ve worked hard for and if so support us and other bands by turning up to the shows and buying merch is always a huge help too.

Josh: I think marketing is marketing, if a band can think of a way to get lots of people to hear them, they should do it.

What is your favourite album of 2012?

Sean: Definitely Blood Duster – KVLT. Unreal production.

Josh: Rise Against – Endgame.

If Empires Fall could tour with any 3 bands in the World, who would you choose?
 

Josh: Slipknot, The Acacia Strain and Nickleback!!!!!

Sean: I back Josh's call, but maybe swap Slipknot with Rolf Harris and I'd be a happy man.

Where would you like to go with the band and can we expect a full length album in the future?

Josh: I think we will take it as far as we can and you will hear many full length albums coming from us along with tours you name it.

Sean: We'll push this as hard as we can. To start with we've all been quite naive, but we're finding our feet with things now and starting to slowly figure out the life of a serious band by learning things for ourselves and going at it on our own. It's only up from here.

One last thing, are there any other Aussie bands you'd like to give a shout out to that readers should go and check out?

Josh: Hunt The Haunted, Athenas Wake, This Fiasco, Boris The Blade, A Dead Silence, Aversions Crown and Who Invited The Wolf.

Sean: Paradise In Exile, Exposures, The Seraphim Veil, I Shall Devour, What Hunts You, I Exalt, Medusa's Mirror, Nicholas Cage Fighter, In Elegance and obviously all the good c*nts Josh mentioned.

Thanks fellas, I look forward to catching an Empires Fall show really soon and hearing some new material. 

Be sure to visit http://empiresfall.bigcartel.com/ and buy a copy of 'The Tyrants Genocide' and suss out their merch while you're there.