Interviews

A Quick Chat With FALLS

• 18th May 2016

Humans of the internet! Behold, we recently caught up with bearded freak show FALLS to get under the skin of the self-proclaimed “f*&k rockers” following the release of their brand new EP ‘One Hundred Percent Strong’ on the 13th May 2016.

When we first started playing music…
We were all young, teenage idiots with no clue and even less skill. Nowadays we are just older idiots with no clue and slightly more skill. Martin played sensual acoustic sets in pubs, Ben and Steff played in Welsh language prog-rock bands and I (Philip, hi) played in hardcore bands. We came together (lol) 5 years ago out of boredom and FALLS evolved.

If we had to choose a new name for the band it would be…
*DESTINY’S CHILD* because our releases would get a lot of buzz and we’d probably have a sold out tour and a million downloads before the lawyers caught up with us.

We knew we were on to something when…
Our very first bedroom demos were picked up by BBC introducing. There are very obvious influences throughout our music but when respected industry types started talking about our originality and imagination we realised we may have accidentally stumbled upon something at least three people might like to listen to.

Our biggest non-musical influence is…
Gary Oldman. Humble, restrained, dignified, talented…everything we are not.

We’re most proud of…
Getting to ACTUALLY do this. We get to go to rooms and prance about and have a little sing. We’re invited to do so and people tend to join in. It’s great. We recently played a (relatively tiny) 500 cap show with Enter Shikari and it WENT OFF and it WENT DOWN and it was a moment of genuine pride.

Our ideal support slot would be…
There are so many great options. In reality, System of a Down is the dream, they were the band that got me in to heavy, interesting music. They went a trifle out of vogue with the purist, muso crowd but SHOW ME SOMEONE WHO DOESN’T LOSE THEIR MIND AND LIMBS TO THE TOXICITY ALBUM AND I WILL SHOW YOU A LIAR.

Something we haven’t achieved yet which we’d like to is…
The BIG festivals. We are lucky enough to be playing ArcTanGent this summer, we’ve played Focus Wales, Swn, Truck Fest, some really great festivals, but we’d love to do a summer of Leeds, Reading, Glastonbury, Download, the BIG BOYS.

Our favourite places to hang out are…
The bowling alley, the milkshake joint, a car repair shop, behind the bleachers at high school. It’s a shame, really, we all have homes and responsibilities, Martin and I have kids, we often go to the pub but we mostly have to live vicariously through the cast of Grease.

We can’t stop listening to…
Our parent’s groans of disappointment. I used to play the fucking EUPHONIUM you know, now I take my clothes off and skip about with a heavily distorted guitar. I jest, my Dad is a Rammstein fan. In the van we’re currently spinning: Enter Shikari, Letlive., Prince, A compilation of 90s TV themes eerily and bizarrely punctuated by cheering children, Coheed & Cambria, Blacklisters, Rihanna, Press to MECO, Justin Bieber, Blood Orange, Louis CK, Doug Stanhope, Athletico Mince.

We’re not ashamed to admit…
That we have absolutely no political agenda within our music. Some bands ‘do’ politics and agendas and fantastically nuanced social commentary and that’s FINE but it really is difficult to wiggle your bum whilst worrying about the poverty levels in East Timor. Prince was a bonafide GENIUS, and most of his back catalogue was about smooching and dancing.

If we had a magic wand and could make anything in the world happen…
It would be that all Giraffes wore hats. Sure there’s a resolution to the crisis in Syria, the implementation of new economic initiatives to ensure a fair and just distribution of wealth, the end of war, etc etc. BUT, giraffes in hats, that’s something we can all get behind.

Someone you might not have heard of that you should check out is…
MAMMOTH WEED WIZARD BASTARD. Female-fronted stoner doom from some good pals of ours in Wrexham. We’re lucky enough to HOBNOB with some real great bands, but you’ll have heard of them, so go listen to MMWB because they’re great and you may not have yet heard of them.

One Hundred Percent Strong is out now.