Fear Before the March of Flames Interview

The Gauntlet: What’s up?

Dave: We just started our tour with The Jonbonet. Things are going well.

The Gauntlet: After this tour, will you get a break before starting the Radio Rebellion Tour?

Dave: Yeah, this tour only goes til mid August, then we play Dirt Fest in Michigan. I heard the Radio Rebellion Tour starts in early October.

The Gauntlet: Will you be hitting a lot of new markets? You haven’t done much touring on the West Coast.

Dave: Yeah. I haven’t seen the dates or the venues, but I hear we will be playing all over the US.

The Gauntlet: What are you looking forward to most on the Radio rebellion Tour?

Dave: Hanging out with Norma Jean mostly. We also want to play a lot of these places we haven’t been to lately. We will also be changing our live show and will have new themes for the new album.

The Gauntlet: There are a lot of great bands on this tour like Norma Jean, Misery Signals, Between the Buried and Me, and you guys.

Dave: The guys from Smart Punk put some really good bands on this bill. It will be great touring with these guys.

The Gauntlet: Does a lot of craziness follow you guys on tour?

Dave: I don’t know, we just like to have a good time. We break stuff a lot, but we say sorry, so it’s ok. [laughs]

The Gauntlet: New album is due Sept 19, how does it differ from ‘Art Damage?’

Dave: It is something totally different. We tried to write a completely different album. It goes far beyond many ideas we’ve had. It is another chapter in Fear Before {the March of Flames]. The first record was a lot poppier, the second one was a lot more abrasive and was kind of a ‘F U’ to everyone that expected us to write a pop album. This time we wanted to do again what we did, but in a different way though. We all took our different instruments through and put them together and expanded it and came out with this electronic and heavy awesome thing. It feels like a machine, it’s huge. I can’t wait to get it out there.

The Gauntlet: Have you been playing any of the new material live yet?

Dave: Yeah, we have been playing about four or five songs on the last tour and this one as well. It has been really fun and I love playing the new songs.

The Gauntlet: How has the fan reaction been?

Dave: The response has been good. A lot of kids come up to us after the show and really seem excited for the new material. It’s nice to be able to throw out their skepticism. I think when they see it, they understand it a lot more. We have always been a live band. We wanted to come across that way. We always try to put on the best show we can every night.

The Gauntlet: In what ways are people skeptical? They can hear the new material on your MySpace page.

Dave: They just don’t know what to expect and a lot of people have the wrong idea about our band and what we are trying to accomplish. What we enjoy playing is what we are going to do. But that is what keeps us going. If it weren’t for that, we would have broken up a long time ago. We don’t want to beat ourselves into the ground like most bands. It seems like when bands write the same album 3x in a row and then change, that’s when bands backlash. That’s why we have been doing it all along. We will never write the same album twice.

The Gauntlet: Typically fans of your genre get upset when a band goes from aggressive to melodic. After hearing ‘The Always Open Mouth,’ this is not the case.

Dave: Sometimes they want to much of that. Anything changed is almost bad to some fans. I don’t know. I just play what I like to play.

The Gauntlet: The band has been on the road a lot lately. When did you write the album?

Dave: We actually had a lot of this year off. We spent last year on tour the whole time, but this year we have only toured a few weeks. We recorded in Seattle for a couple months. I’m anxious though since we have been home for so long.

The Gauntlet: Will there be a video?

Dave: We just shot a video in New York City with David Bell and Travis. David Bell was the art director. It was his first co-director spot. They were amazing. They hand built sets and everything. We even had wardrobe. It was a huge video and I can’t wait to see a cut from it. It was a really surreal experience to have 30 people working on this all day long. We had like 20 extras there too and even a making the video crew. It’s going to be really good. We did it for the song ‘Taking Cassandra to the End of the World.’ It basically has to do with this girl that you know is going to lead all these people to their death. We tell all these people to not follow and to stay away and not listen to her. It is a time set piece, like a post-apocalyptic video with monster costumes. It is going to look really good. It should be out around the time of the album in September.


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Tags:  Fear Before the March of Flames  , Dave, interviews

Jason F    July 27, 2006