Interview By: Natalie Perez(Metal Editor)
When it comes to loud, aggressive, intensifying music, what usually comes to mind? People screaming until blood is pouring out of them? Maybe doing something completely out of this world? In any case, it varies... In this case, there's a group that crafts together a unique sound, one that defines the band's creative roots as a whole. Follow Your Failure is the name, and music making is their game. I met-up with four out of five of the guys from Follow Your Failure, who spoke to me about how the band came together.
NP: Where did the name "Follow Your Failure" come from?
Ben: Nothing spectacular, I came up with a whole bunch of names, spent a couple of days, brainstorming; kept writing them down. Then presented the list to the guys, but we ended up with Follow Your Failure.
NP: How did the band form?
Ben: A long time coming... 2 years ago, I had the urge to play music again. So I grabbed my guitar and messed around with the numerous demos I had laying around. I then called up Kevin, and he was like "Sure, let's do this!" Several Craigslist ADs later, Nate came in and became our drummer. Six months later, it was just the three of us, playing rock/pop material then went on break for the holiday season. "Something Wrong," had come to mind and that defined the new sound I was aiming for.
Zac: Nate's girlfriend lived in my apartment, I was in another band and we had lost our drummer. So I went up to Nate's girlfriend and asked, Nate if he was in.
Ben: I knew what I wanted, so we auditioned some singers. There were some flakes here and there, then Levi had messaged me, and he came out after recording his demo. He became our front man. What we really like about this band is that no one is mean to each other, and we all maintain a great chemistry.
NP: What could you tell me about your EP?
Ben: It started off with 'we need something to show off to the world.' Be able to have an idea on what the band sounds like and something the people can enjoy, learn and then sing-along with at shows. For some reason though, we couldn't get the producers we had wanted, so we took it into our own hands and tracked it all ourselves. There was a lack of studio pressure as well, we ended up recording three songs: "Something Wrong," was the first, and "Say Goodbye," was the second song I had written. I'm just proud of the fact that we were able to do it all ourselves.
Zac: That's pretty much it. We had a couple producers, but they weren't available, we were all stoked on how it turned out in the long run.
Kevin: I was pretty against it.
Ben: I had this whole thing where I had to push to get to this achievement with forming this band and have something to offer. In short, we're proud with what we have.
NP: Tell me about the Chain Reaction show.
Zac: We're stoked! We Are Machines are throwing together their CD release party, so they asked us to play. It's our first time playing the Chain Reaction. Levi is flying out from Washington just for this show.
Ben: What we plan on doing after the show, is heading to the studio and tracking a few songs until the early morning hours. So I have a huge weekend ahead of me. I would have loved if Levi would have tracked all of these newbie songs ahead of time, but overall for the Chain, we're stoked. We head down there meet new people, making new friends, talking to kids, hearing back from them via MySpace.
Zac: During the Spring/Summer we had been playing within the Hollywood/Los Angeles Area and heading down to the Chain Reaction area is a whole new environment.
NP: What types of alcoholic beverages do you prefer?
Ben: I'm a Redbull/vodka/cranberry-mixer type-of-guy. I rarely drink at all really, just once in a blue moon.
Zac: I would say Downtown Brown.
Nate: I'm a beer guy. Anything makes me happy.
Kevin: I'm a beer guy, Sake, type of guy.
NP: What's the worse and best part of being in a band?
Ben: The best thing is getting together and hanging out. The second best thing is going down to shows, meeting people, establishing friendships. The worse part would be, to try to get five people together at one particular spot.
Nate: Having to hail all the equipment around. When you're performing and everyone is just staring at you not doing much of anything.
Kevin: You play shows, when people hate you *Laughs*.
NP: Describe a Follow Your Failure show.
Ben: You go, wait, play, then when you're done you're all sweaty afterward. Definitely we try to go all out when performing. We try to control our stage show, doing a lot of simple songs that are always cool. Everything comes out nice and solid; we just improve upon it until it is perfected 100%.
Zac: Probably hanging out for a long period of time, then 24 minutes later, you're putting everything away. *Laughs*
NP: What do you guys prefer seeing mosh pits, hardcore dancers, or head-bangers?
Ben: Our music presents itself as more of a moshing vibration. As long as the crowd is enjoying our music, that makes us happy.
Nate: Anything but just staring.
NP: What do you hope to accomplish as a band?
Nate: WORLD DOMINATION!
Zac: Just accomplish enough, that people are not only excited, but to have energy, that people really get hungry for our music.
Kevin: I want there to be a mutual playing vibration, when performing having the audience wanting it more than we do.
NP: Any last words?
Ben/Nate: Hmmm I hope that what we're doing brings excitement and helps gets the listeners through their everyday lifestyles. Such as traffic hour, relationship problems, family situations, or simply being exposed in some way or another that our music has really impacted their lives.
