SHADOWS FALL Frontman On "Retribution': 'This Is My Favorite Record That We've Done'

Scott Alisoglu of MetalManiacs.com recently conducted an interview with SHADOWS FALL frontman Brian Fair. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

MetalManiacs.com: With the new album even though you never went away you still see folks saying things like "SHADOWS FALL is back." That may have more to do with the excellence of the new album than anything else. Have you gotten that vibe?

Fair: Yeah, from other people. We never feel like we ever went away [laughs]. I mean the last record ["Threads of Life"] sold like 120,000 copies, which for a metal band is pretty awesome. We went on tour for like a year and a half. We do feel like this record was a come-out-swinging record sonically. The first tune we wrote was I think "Public Execution" and it kind of set the tone of the whole record of just being a little bit more up-tempo than the last one, a little bit more thrash metal. We also felt like we pushed the melodic envelope pretty far with the last record, so we were trying to do something a little different.

MetalManiacs.com: Do you think some folks felt you went too far in the melodic direction with the last album?

Fair: It's possible because they may have only heard a couple of the video tunes. Like "Redemption" has a very melodic chorus even though it has a technical little breakdown. And "Another Hero Lost" is a straight-up power ballad, so if those are the two songs that people have heard then maybe, but with songs like "Failure of the Devout" and "Dread Uprising" they were as fast and heavy as anything we've ever done. So there may have been a perception based on a few of the singles or whatever. If you can call them singles [laughs].

MetalManiacs.com: Some of the perception too, ridiculously so, is fueled by your signing to Atlantic.

Fair: Exactly! That's always going to happen as well. Any time a band makes a change like that the expectations are going to be, "Oh, they're being forced by the label to do this and that." But with "Threads of Life", people at the label didn't hear it until it was mastered, so their input was completely nonexistent [laughs].

MetalManiacs.com: Let's go back to the Atlantic singing then and get up to date. You mentioned that "Threads of Life" sold 120,000 copies, but I think "The War Within" sold like 250,000 copies on Century Media.

Fair: Yeah, "The War Within", I think, was around 300,000, which was great, but it was also a time when people bought records. The industry, in general, has had such a huge percentage cut just across the board. You see like the number one album in the country now will be like 60 or 70,000, whereas back then it was 100 or 200,000. It's just a different time. Honestly, for a metal band, record sales are at a secondary kind of stage where things are at now. It's really about who is coming to see us play live. But with Atlantic, we had a great experience, but a lot of the people who we signed with were gone. Our A&R guy was no longer there, the president of the label was no longer there, so we kind of felt a little lost there because the people that were there that we felt confident with to put our name down on the contract were no longer there. So a way to change things up was instead of taking the option, we renegotiated for a buyout where we got a chunk of money up front and then we worked a distro deal with their parent company, which is Warner Bros., through their Independent Label Group. And that's honestly the way a lot of bands are trying to head anyway because you get control of the record now. You can figure out how to spend every dime, the royalty rate is in favor of the band; as opposed to the 10 or 12 percent you used to get, it's now like 75 to 80 percent. It's just a huge difference business model-wise. You flip the pyramid basically. With a traditional record deal the band gets paid last; it's a trickle-down effect and everyone takes their cut along the way. And trying to recoup is difficult because they'll spend money on things that you feel are unnecessary. So now that we're able to make those decisions and after 10 years of the band understanding what we need that works and what we don't need that's a waste we're able to keep a very tight grip on that. That's a great feeling. There are no excuses anymore like, "Oh, the label should have done this or done that." Well, now it's our fault. The responsibility is bigger too, a little but more daily work, but totally worth it.

MetalManiacs.com: To clarify, explain a bit more how all the pieces fit together, like the Independent Label Group, Everblack Industries, and Ferret.

Fair: Basically, the Independent Label Group is the retail force for us. They're the ones that are putting the records physically in the stores and doing all that, which is something we love having, the leverage of a major label doing that. We wouldn't be able to call up Best Buy and get ourselves in there and all that; that's what they do very well. But as far as the promotion of the band we just feel like the way a major label would do things were really unnecessary for a band like us. And also just waiting three weeks to get an answer sometimes because it had to get across six people down the line… We're used to a little bit more immediacy to get things done. So that's really where it changed. But they still have that leverage to get us in the stores the way we need. Then out of their percentage they hired Ferret Records to do the everyday kind of press and things like that. So we've got a forward thinking DIY kind of label doing all the everyday stuff, but a major label kicking down doors to get the album in the stores. So it's really a perfect situation.

MetalManiacs.com: And then Everblack…

Fair: That's like our imprint through them. Hopefully, in the future we do want to expand it beyond just the SHADOWS FALL realm. We would love to find other bands and try to work things out, but for right now it's just about getting our record out. In the future we'll see what happens.

MetalManiacs.com: You mentioned the Billboard chart too and "Retribution" landed at, like, number 35. Is that the highest chart position you've gotten?

Fair: "The War Within" might have been a little bit higher, but not by much. That's scary because it's a lot higher than the last one, even though the numbers of actual sales are relatively similar, even a little less. That again just shows you how much the industry has changed from year to year. You can chart higher by selling less [laughs].

MetalManiacs.com: We've seen a lot of that lately, whether it's THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER or CANNIBAL CORPSE or whomever. More metal bands are charting and, granted, it's because it doesn't take as many records to chart, but you wonder if it's also because metal fans still like to buy the CD.

Fair: Exactly. Pop fans don't need the cover art or the liner notes because there is not much to it. It is usually a picture of the person on the front and sometimes the lyrics aren't even in there. For a metal band you take the artwork a lot more seriously, you want fans to read the lyrics… Especially for me, you'd want to run out and read all this stuff and get the cool artwork and keep the CD. I think metal fans are still doing that more than other genres. Our release was such a huge week for metal bands. You had MEGADETH, ourselves, EVERY TIME I DIE, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, and all of that on the same day. It was great to see everyone taking over the charts kind of. I think that's a sign that metal fans are one of the last bastions of actual record sales.

MetalManiacs.com: How do you feel overall that "Retribution" stacks up against your other releases?

Fair: Honestly, I know every band says they love their new record the most, but for us that's really how it should work. I feel like this is the best we've played in the studio, the best we've sounded in the studio, and the songwriting is a perfect balance of all our influences. At 10 years as a band, you start to read each other's minds, everyone understands their role, and what they do well and what they bring to the table. And also how not to step on each other's toes; when to let certain things to take the forefront. You also get a confidence where you're not worried about letting all the influences out. You're going to have all the melodic death metal and thrash metal influences, but we're not afraid to show the rock and roll side, we're not afraid to bring in those arena rock melodies and stuff like that too. I think as soon as you have that confidence you stop second guessing yourself and you really let the inspiration come out much more the natural way. So to me this is my favorite record that we've done and hopefully the next one will destroy it [laughs].

Read the entire interview from MetalManiacs.com.

Fan-filmed video footage of SHADOWS FALL's October 8, 2009 performance in Boston, Massachusetts can be viewed below (courtesy of "TripKore").