I’d like to introduce you to a Northern based band I happened upon a short while back.
Fallen Edge are an alternate-rock five piece with a hard-hitting kick that drives their momentum throughout their self titled 5 track EP ‘Fallen Edge’.
Their songs have a unique blend of powerful female driven vocals and riffs that are littered with hints of inspiration from bands like Funeral for a Friend and Bullet For My Valentine while holding its own original identity. The energetic instrumentals are complimented perfectly by a blend of emotive lyrics and dark undertones, the intensity of which is magnified by contrasting melodic choruses and gritty verses.
I got the chance to talk to Chris about the life inside and out of the band, their expanding fan base and future plans so without further ado I introduce you to Fallen Edge :-
How about an introduction, who are you?
I’m Chris (guitar), there’s my sister Jenn (vocals), our cousin James (drums) and we’re joined by friends Danny (guitar) and Jon (bass)
What do you do outside of the band?
We all do very different things outside of the band which I think is healthy for a group at our level, you can’t focus on being a rock-star 24 hours of the day after all. I am the head of swimming at the University of Bath and I also study sports performance there, Jenn works at the O2 Academy in Newcastle and has a degree in the performing arts/drama, James studies music performance/production at the University of Huddersfield, Jon works part time and just finished his film/TV degree at Northumbria University and Danny works as an apprentice in our home town as well as teaching guitar. Obviously we all live in different areas of the country but we make it work for us.
How did you all get together?
I used to live in Australia for about 7 years due to my sporting endeavours, so I had started a little jam group over there and I had a great time playing music with them. So when I moved back to the UK I asked Jenn and James if they would be interested in just jamming together and working on some songs that I had already wrote while I was away. Once I got back it moved pretty quickly and before we knew it we had a full band and had played a couple of shows. We had a few line up changes in the early days but last summer Jon and Danny came into the band and that’s how it’s been since. It’s funny because I had never met Jon and Danny before the band, but Jenn and James knew them already from collage or other musical things they had done so I trusted their judgement with it and it’s worked out very well.
How did you come across the name for the band?
The name was carried over from the group I jammed with in Australia, I put it to Jenn and James when we first started the band in the UK and they liked it so it’s stuck. There is no particular meaning to the name, we all just thought it sounded cool and worked with the sound that we seem to have gone for.
What would you say your main influences are?
Funeral for a friend are definitely one of the big ones, you could ask all of us who are personal influences are and they would be very different, but funeral are a band that we all agree on. I know that for me bands like Thrice and Dream Theater are big influences, they showed me that thinking outside the box when you are writing is important and that you should never be constrained by any particular genre or style.
What would you say has been the highlight for you so far?
We have had so many great opportunities this year, we have played in places that we could only have dreamed off when we started the band. I would say that playing the Newcastle O2 and the Cavern Club have been big highlights in terms the venue, but playing in London was a massive thing for us.
Have you come across any superfan types yet?
We have some very cool fans out there that really enjoy what we do, and for us that is the most important thing. We could only have 20 fans that love our music but knowing that those people have been affected by your music in some way is a great feeling. We have been realizing lately that we have a lot of fans overseas, especially in South America. We have been getting a lot of messages via Facebook and Twitter from fans there telling us how much they enjoy us and want us to play there! Our message to them is we will try our best to get there, and in the mean time just keep enjoying our music and tell your friends about us.
So with an expanding fan base do you have any plans for world domination?
We have plans in the pipe line, and they will be coming out in the next couple of months. Right now we have a lot of new music floating about and we are trying to go through all of it to figure out what could potentially be on the next album. We have plans for the future to record a full album, and we are working towards that week by week. So for all you waiting out there, it is coming!
http://www.facebook.com/FallenEdge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMy3Lxl4AYs
Conheci a “Fallen Edge” por acaso no youtube quando tentava encontrar um cover rock da musica ‘set fire to the rain’ da adele, e desde então, após ver a versão que eles fizeram eu me apaixonei … comecei a ouvir as musicas próprias, foi então que me tornei fã de verdade!
Moro no Brasil e faço parte da leva de fãs que eles tem na America do Sul e tenho certeza que eles irão rodar o mundo todo porque talento não falta e eles merecem todo sucesso do mundo pois tocam rock de qualidade!! \m/,
Great interview Linzi. I love this band and have seen them struggle and work hard and play blistering sets to few and many alike. Fame and fortune awaits them I hope, but they are living proof that some people care more about music and fans than money! New album soon I hope 🙂