BRIAN FAIR Says SHADOWS FALL Has Secured Record-Label Home For New Music: 'We're Very Excited'

In a new interview with Sh!t Talk Reviews, SHADOWS FALL frontman Brian Fair spoke about the band's plans to release its first new music in more than a decade. Asked if SHADOWS FALL is shopping for a new record label at the moment, Brian said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We've got something locked up. I don't know if I'm allowed to announce yet, but we definitely have a great partner for the music. We have a very progressive kind of view. They're gonna let us kind of release it in a way that makes sense. So, yeah, we're very excited that we got kind of the infrastructure."

He continued: "It's very different now. The traditional sort of record deal, it doesn't have to be the way it used to be. There was such an industry standard of, like, record a full-length, tour for a year and a half, record a full-length, tour for a year and a half, that kind of cycle. And it's been totally decimated now, 'cause you don't need to do the… The first-week [sales] numbers don't mean what they used to, all that type of shit. So it's cool. But, yeah, we've got a good partnership that hopefully we can announce soon."

Regarding the progress of the songwriting sessions for the fresh SHADOWS FALL material, Brian said: "I'm very excited to be making new SHADOWS FALL music, which we'd always thought would happen, but didn't know for sure. When we kind of stopped touring, it wasn't 'cause we didn't wanna make music together or didn't want to play. We were so burnt out. Life was taking different turns. People were having kids. Jon [Donais, SHADOWS FALL guitarist] ended up in ANTHRAX, so he was in the 'Big Four' [of 1980s thrash metal] all of a sudden. So once we finally got together to start playing shows again a few years ago, the idea of new music came up almost right away. And Jon just had a stockpile of riffs. And so far we've probably, instrumentally, got, say, seven-ish songs recorded that are pretty done. I know there's gonna be some overdubs and some candy tracks. Vocally, I've recorded two all the way through that are done and then have probably four more that are written that are, I'd say, 90 percent there. There's always changes while we track, like little new ideas that pop up, but it's going along super well.

"We're gonna take our time, 'cause there's really no deadline involved," he explained. "Also, I don't think we're gonna release it all at once. I think now, thankfully, modern ways of doing things, you don't have to just drop a 10-song album. You can do a few just like little chunks here and there. So we're hoping to probably get some music out late fall, I'm hoping, at least a couple songs. And my plan, if it all goes according to me, would be to do that, drop two or three songs every chunk and then put 'em all out on vinyl at the end like as one. So in my world, that's what we're doing. We'll see if it actually happens. But, yeah, getting back with [producer] Zeuss [Chris Harris] is just awesome. We've been working with him, really, since the demos before [2000's] 'Of One Blood' [album]. And we're recording most of it at Matt's [Bachand, SHADOWS FALL guitarist] house as well. So when I get back to Massachusetts, it's super comfortable, just get in his basement and just work on tunes. And it's been a blast. So I'm heading back for the New England Metal Fest with OVERCAST and I'm probably gonna do a few more vocal sessions during that weekend as well. So hopefully things keep moving the way they are and we'll get some new tunes out hopefully before the end of the year. That's if everything goes perfect."

Noting that SHADOWS FALL drummer Jason Bittner recently announced his departure from OVERKILL, one of the Sh!t Talk Reviews interviewers then asked if it is "safe to say" that SHADOWS FALL "is back" and is "not going to go anywhere anytime soon." Brian responded: "It's not going anywhere, but I don't think we'll ever be the full-time touring band we were. It's a lot of family stuff and people have just got different things going on. Jon, being in ANTHRAX, that's gonna be kind of his main gig most of the time. Jason, yeah, he left OVERKILL, but he's also got CATEGORY 7 with John Bush and Phil Demmel and all those guys, and that new record's killer. So they'll be busy with that. But we're definitely gonna keep playing shows. We're gonna keep doing festivals. We probably will hopefully do some short tours here and there, especially when new music comes out, but we're gonna kind of pick and choose our battles, which is, again, also a nice place to be in.

"When the band was our full-time job, you couldn't stay at home for too long or there wasn't gonna be a home to come home to," Fair explained. "You've gotta go out and grind. So it's nice to not have that pressure, but also to do it because it's fun again. Each show that we've done have all been blockbusters in our minds because there's just enough time between each one that you get that excited again. It ramps up and then it's just like an explosion.

"Me personally, I was so burnt out by the time we stopped touring in 2015. We'd been on a 15-year run where I hadn't been home for more than a few weeks through that whole thing. And physically, my neck was shot, my back was shot. I was burnt mentally as well, so it was time to come home for a while. But then, now I'm, like, 'Okay, cool. Let's go have some fun.'"

"The only way to survive in a band like us… We're not gonna sell 10 million records and have all that stuff," Brian added. "So you've gotta go out there and stay on the road to keep your name in front of people, keep everything exciting. You've gotta sell t-shirts — that's how you make your money, [by staying] out there on the road. And, yeah, if a label is gonna spend a bunch of money to drop a record and do videos, they're, like, 'You've gotta go promote it now. You've gotta get out there and hit it.'

"What's driving us to record now is that we love the songs we're writing. It's not 'cause there's a deadline. And the shows we're playing is because we're just, like, 'That sounds like a party, man. Let's do it.'"

Elaborating on how he and his SHADOWS FALL bandmates chose their new record-label partner, Brian said: "It's totally changed things where they've kind of realized their best role is as a promotional partner and a manufacturer, if you're doing vinyl or whatever. CDs, they still make 'em, I guess, but not in the numbers they used to. And a lot of them downsized, because they had to. So it's more about partnering with the band and label relationship and finding a way to make it make sense for everyone.

"The old model doesn't work," the 48-year-old singer, who now lives in St. Louis, Missouri with his wife and their two kids, added. "It's broken. You can't just throw money at things and think it's gonna hit. People have too many choices. You can put out music yourself, so there's definitely an oversaturation, unfortunately, as well because of that. So there's just so much content, you've gotta find new and innovative ways to share it and keep it special. And I think the labels that are surviving and thriving are the ones who are flexible, willing to evolve, willing to work with the artists' vision as opposed to just, 'Cool, man. Let's stick to the old method.'"

Fair and his SHADOWS FALL bandmates have played a number of reunion concerts so far, including at Blue Ridge Rock Festival in Alton, Virginia, at the Furnace Fest in Birmingham, Alabama, and at the Milwaukee Metal Fest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The long-running Massachusetts-based metallers, who were at the forefront of the New Wave Of American Metal scene that dominated the '00s, celebrated the 20th anniversary of their "The War Within" album by playing the LP in its entirety on March 16 at the Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, New Jersey, the site of the band's many classic shows. It also marked the first time the band has performed in the Garden State in a decade.

In a recent interview with the WSOU 89.5 FM radio station, Fair stated about SHADOWS FALL's new music: "You can tell it's SHADOWS FALL, but, man, it's got new vibes, it's got new influences and it's just kind of a very fresh approach.

"When we first started working on it, we were worried," Brian admitted. "We were, like, 'Is this gonna sound like us?' We hadn't written songs together in five to six years, where it's gonna be. And, man, right out of the gate, we were, like, 'This is the SHADS. We're back.'"

Elaborating on the musical direction of the new SHADOWS FALL material, Fair said: "Honestly, it's gonna be everything that we've always done, plus more. And we're probably about — I'd say we've got six or seven songs that are actually songs. They're still gonna get some some tweaks here and there, with a few other ideas still floating around that need to be worked on."

He continued: "But I'm super excited about these songs. I've also been pushing myself as a singer to really expand my range to try new ideas, and having the time to work through that has been really helpful. 'Cause even when SHADOWS FALL was doing downtime, I was doing different projects and trying to really bring some new elements to what I do, and I'm putting all that into this record. So it'll sound like SHADOWS FALL, but there'll definitely be some some new interesting ideas and approaches and stuff. So it's really exciting."

He added: "For us, it's just been great to be back in the room jamming on new material, 'cause when we got together to do these [reunion] shows, when we're rehearsing, we were, like, 'If we're putting this work in, why not see what happens with new music?' And I couldn't be happier with how it's coming out. So, really exciting."

Last December, Fair told RichardMetalFan about SHADOWS FALL's decision to reunite: "We'd wanted to play shows again for a while and we just wanted the time to be right. And once the pandemic kind of hit, we sort of realized, like, 'Why are we waiting around? It's the time.' So we were lucky that we were able to kind of get everyone's schedules together. And it was incredible. As soon as we started jamming together again, it just felt fun, it felt right. So the shows were a blast. We really rehearsed like crazy for it. And we're probably better prepared for that than anything we'd ever been for before that. And we also realized, like, man, we should have been practicing more when we were together. We used to hate practicing. We always were, like, 'Ah, we tour enough. We don't need to.' And then after we practiced a bunch, we were, like, 'All right. Maybe we really should have.' [Laughs] But then also when we started practicing, we figured if we have ideas, why not write new music as well? If we're gonna get together, let's see what we've got. So that started leading to some new stuff. So [I'm] looking forward to seeing where it heads."

Asked if the next SHADOWS FALL release will be stylistically similar to the band's last album, 2012's "Fire From The Sky", or if it will be "a new beginning" for the band, Brian said: "If you heard these songs, you'd be, like, 'Oh, that's SHADOWS FALL.' But no, it doesn't sound like… It's different. It definitely sounds different."

Fair previously discussed SHADOWS FALL's plans for new music during an episode of "Drinks With Johnny", the Internet TV show hosted by AVENGED SEVENFOLD bassist Johnny Christ. At the time, he said: "We're pretty deep into the process. I'd say I'm kind of a slacker, but I'm really focusing on getting things as good as I can vocally because we have no agenda. We have no time frame. We have no record label pressure. We're just trying to write the best music we can. And it all kind of came about as we started jamming to do the reunion shows. And these guys have — Jon's been playing in ANTHRAX and Jason's been playing in OVERKILL, so their chops are still at top-notch level. But they had riffs, man. And I was, like, 'If we've got riffs and they sound like SHADOWS FALL, if we're gonna get together and jam, let's make some new music.'"

He continued: "It's been a blast, man. It's funny, 'cause the older we've gotten, it's gotten a little more brutal, which was not a surprise, 'cause I just figured that would happen. We're, like, 'If we're gonna do it, we're gonna drop the hammer.' So it's been fun, man. I forgot how much of a riff machine Jon was. And he's just like — ideas are just flying out of him. And also in ANTHRAX, he just gets to solo in the studio. So he's just, like, 'Finally I get to write some riffs.' [Laughs]"

In July 2023, Bittner told the "Nothing Shocking Podcast" about SHADOWS FALL's decision to work with Zeuss again: "[Zeuss] did all of our records except for… Well, he had a hand in all of them except for 'Fire From The Sky'… So he's always been involved with SHADOWS FALL in some way, shape or form. Once this whole reunion thing kind of morphed from being just a one-show thing, we started talking with him, 'cause he still lives two minutes away from Paul [Romanko, bass]. So, it's, like, 'All right. Well, if you guys are getting back together, what's the next step? Are we making another record?' We're, like, 'Well, we don't know.' And he was, like, 'Whatever we're doing, let's get on it.' So kind of, like, we just sort of figured, 'We don't have any money to pay you, because we don't have any money because we don't have a record label or anything.' But he was just, like, 'Well, let's just start doing this and let's do it together.'"

SHADOWS FALL released a statement in August 2014 in which the bandmembers explained that financial difficulties made it virtually impossible for the group to continue as a full-time concern.

In August 2015, SHADOWS FALL played a few reunion shows on the U.S. East Coast, one year after completing what was being billed at the time as the band's "final" European tour.

"Fire From The Sky" was released in May 2012 via Razor & Tie. The CD sold around 10,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 38 on The Billboard 200 chart.