I thought it was just
about time to check into the local heavy music scene and see what some of these
bands are achieving, none other than Far West Battlefront stood out among the
rest. Having toured extensively and only having recently released their debut
album, Chapters; they were definitely
making some noise! Lead vocalist, Adam, gave us the low-down on the band, Chapters, Touring and well a whole lot
more.
For someone who has never heard of you, how would you describe Far West
Battlefront?
Imagine if something
really ugly and heavy fell in love with something light and pretty, then they
decided to conceive a child on a big piano while an orchestra was being
conducted in the background, we're kind of like that. To spice things up
though, also imagine if Gollum from Lord
Of The Rings took vocal lessons from Satan but also had the occasional
tendency to sing melodically, that's basically me as a front man!
How did you form and what’s the story behind the band’s name?
The band was started by
guitarists Nic and Chad; they had always played in bands since they were kids
but never together. When they moved to Adelaide for university they started
jamming with each other. Not too long after, I (Adam) moved to Adelaide from
London in the UK, having also always been in and out of bands I responded to an
advert Nic posted on an online forum. We met, clicked and I joined the band.
Next, Chad's brother Todd came to Adelaide, having played in all of Chad's
bands previously Todd became a full time member off the bat. Bassist Luke was a
childhood friend of Nic and Chad and joined after the previous bass player
left. As for the name, Nic made it up while intoxicated out the back of a club,
it was either Far West Battlefront or The Underwater Club, which would you have
picked?
Who do you sight as your musical influences? And which bands are you
personally loving currently?
The band as whole is
influenced by a large number of different musical styles ranging from real
heavy stuff, to hip-hop, to indie, to classic rock and even dance music. Some
of the bands within our genre however, that have played a part in influencing
us are probably Behemoth, Deftones, Whitechapel, Anime Fire, Bring Me The
Horizon and Misery Signals to name a few, and while we don't necessarily sound
like any of those bands we definitely owe them thanks in one way or another. We
all have a lot of different stuff circulating our CD/mp3/iTunes/Spotify
circuits at any given time, I know some of the boys are listening to the new
The Ghost Inside record, most recent Molotov Solution, new Whitechapel, new
Architects and possibly a bit of Fleshgod Apocalypse too! For me personally,
I’m on one of my frequent nostalgia kicks, smashing a lot of Slipknot (self-titled
and Iowa), Korn (first 4 albums),
Linkin Park (first 2 albums and Reanimation)
and a UK band I like called Keane (Hopes and Fears album). We also dig a fair
whack of newer Australian releases like Aversions Crown's Servitude, Make Them Suffers' Neverbloom,
Resist The Thought's Sovereignty and
the latest Northlane album Discoveries,
it's important to keep up to date with your peers and stay current!
You’ve recently released your debut album, Chapters; tell us a bit about it.
We tried really hard to
make sure that the album wasn’t following any fads or trends; we believe a lot
of popular stuff comes across as fake and wanted something containing real
emotion that people can get attached to. After we’d written 4 or 5 songs for
the album that we were actually happy with it was clear they were taking on a
similar direction and theme, around then the concept started. If you look at
the artwork, each song is related to one of the individuals depicted on the
front cover, and each lyric sheet in the booklet has an item specific to that
character which represents a key theme within that song.
We managed to catch the
eye of Skull & Bones records who
helped us out in the final stages of its release, which is awesome because
they’ve put records from some of our favourite Australian artists and really
believe in what we are doing.
Talk us through the writing, recordings and meanings of Chapters.
Pretty much all of the
album was written and pre-pro’d in Adelaide and the decision to record at
Complex Studio’s in Melbourne with Roman Koester was largely due to his proven
track record at producing some of the heaviest releases to come out of this
country. Mixing and mastering was handled by Fredrik Nordstrom over at Studio
Fredman in Sweden, having a name like his attached to the album is such a
privilege for us as we’ve all been listening to music he’s recorded and
produced since we were kids.
Chapters is a concept album, however not in the traditional sense
that it follows a single narrative from start to finish but rather a collection
of individually contained stories told through the eyes of the characters that
we created. Although sometimes the subject matter of each song is exaggerated
and intensified for dramatic effect, each situation depicted is something most
of us have or will feel and come into contact with in the future. We tell tales
of crumbling relationships, young couples destroying themselves through
arguments, drug abuse and promiscuity but all the time being held together by
an undying love and obsession for each other.
We talk about those
feelings we have for others, where the fear of ruining a friendship or just not
having the courage to say it out loud causes that one opportunity to slip
through your fingers. Domestic violence and sexual abuse occur all over the
world in the least likely of places, so many cries for help go unanswered, and
no one ever puts themselves in the shoes of the person feeling the pain to try
and figure out why they let it happen on a daily basis. We discuss how at some
point everyone feels disdain towards humanity, a feeling of wanting to wipe the
slate clean and just let the world be, all because of our own selfish actions.
And of course the fickle nature of friendships, how simple things make that
seemingly unbreakable bond become nothing in an instant.
We want people to
develop an attachment and be moved by the journey this album takes, and
hopefully they’ll want to keep revisiting, either specific parts, or the CD as
a whole. With any luck, Chapters will
give people the same feelings, emotions and enjoyment we experienced while
writing and recording it.
What’s your favourite lyric from the record?
I really couldn't pick
a favourite lyric, each song has its own special place and the lyrics take on a
different meaning depending on your mood, although shouting "You will pay
up, worthless spit fuck" at complete strangers is very enjoyable!
Usually a debut record is like a first impression like when you meet
someone, what kind of impression are you aiming for? How do you want people to
remember Far West Battlefront?
I guess honesty would
be the biggest thing as a first impression, everyone wants to be the heaviest,
or the most technical or have the catchiest choruses, but as for the real
substance, something you really believe in, something you know about and a
listener can relate to, that tends to get left by the wayside unfortunately.
Although we don't necessarily have first-hand experience in the topics we
cover, each situation is something almost everyone will, or has come in to
contact with in some way throughout their lives. We want people to be able to
see the truth in what we're talking about and hopefully take something away
from it.
So I guess many people want to see you live now, what’s happening in
the touring sides of things?
Touring has been good;
we've played some great shows with some exceptional bands! Crew seem to be
getting on-board with what we're doing live and it's really awesome to see
people from around the country that you've never met moving to or singing along
with something we made from scratch. We plan on touring as much as we possibly
can over the next few months to maintain a solid presence across Australia and
show everyone Adelaide still has what it takes to go 12 rounds with the big
boys!
How would you sum up your live show in 3 words?
Gollum, with music!
You’ve been lucky to support many bands in the past including Escape
The Fate. Who has been your favourite to play with and why?
I don't think
personally there has been a specific band that is a favourite to play with,
although Escape The Fate was probably a favourite show. Getting to play in
front of 1500 kids and watching them bounce and move on command is the most surreal
and satisfying feeling, definitely a memory to savour and something the 5 of us
could get used to doing every night for sure!
So If a fan was at JB Hi-Fi and could only purchase one CD; either Far
West Battlefront’s Chapters or Justin Bieber’s Believe. How would you convince
them to buy yours?
Justin Bieber is only
18 years old and gets driven around in state-of-the-art tour buses; he gets
flown between shows on first class jets and sleeps in top-dollar hotel rooms!
He owns his own house and drives a fancy car; he has a chef, a maid and
probably a butler too. We all drive ourselves around the country in a rental
van and sleep on mates couches and floors, we all live in rented accommodation
paying someone else's mortgage, we cook, clean and fend for ourselves and
flying to a show in economy class is an expensive luxury! Justin Bieber doesn't
need your money, WE DO! :)
What’s one thing myself and the readers might not know about Far West
Battlefront?
I was a child actor whose
career was riddled with call-backs and near misses. I mainly got catalogue
modelling jobs as a kid and some small bits of British TV, but my ultimate
claim to fame was getting cast as the Artful Dodger in Disney's 1997 adaptation
of Oliver Twist, only for it to fall
through at the last minute due to educational commitments. I was replaced by
everyone's favourite hobbit Elijah Wood, yes; my life could have turned out
very differently! [Laughs]
So what’s next? What are your plans for the next 6 months?
We have a few things
coming up over the next 6 months, we have a small tour coming up in August in
which we're trying to hit a few regional areas and spread the FWB love! We have
another tour in the works for later on this year too which will be a bit more
extensive hitting more major cities and hopefully more touring early 2013.
Apart from that we're looking at releasing another film-clip in the not too
distant future and also getting new material together to start working towards
the next release!
Where would you like to see this band in 3 years?
In 3 years it would be
awesome to have this band be self-sustaining; I believe that living the dream
is not having dumb amounts of cash, but to be able to be in a band as your full
time job. Travelling around the world with your friends and showing people what
you've created while knowing that you can pay off your house, look after your
girlfriend/wife/kids/dog and enjoy the perks of a normal life at the same time
is definitely a dream worth aspiring to!
Any finishing words?
Just a few shout outs
if I may! Thanks to the following bands for their
support/inspiration/friendship, A Dead Silence, Lake Nyos, Infiltraitor, Jack
The Giant Killer, I Exalt, The Green Mile, Boris The Blade, Aversions Crown,
Make Them Suffer, Saviour, Northlane, Thy Art Is Murder, Buried In Verona,
Resist The Thought, In Hearts Wake, Misery Signals/Solace, Bermuda (RIP), State
Of East London (RIP), The Red Shore (RIP), Anime Fire (RIP). Thanks to Dan and
Drew at Skull & Bones Records for
believing in us, thanks to our booking agent Aaron McLachlan at The Brightside
Agency for giving us his all, cheers to Ash Hull for being a top dude, Adam
'Ziggy' Faithow, Nick Lawrence and Trav Robertson for being good mates and good
crew! And especially thanks to anyone who's bought merchandise or an album,
given us a place to sleep or ever come to a show, to watch this thing grow a
bit each day because of all of you is brilliant and the support does not go
un-noticed by the band, truly from the bottom of our hearts THANK YOU!!!
Links:
The Hell-Bound Heart
A big Thank you to Adam for producing some of the longest and best
answers! Wishing Far West Battlefront all the best for the future!
Tori Hyland
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