SHADOWS FALL Frontman: 'We Want To Be Around For A While'

Chad Bowar of About.com recently conducted an interview with SHADOWS FALL frontman Brian Fair. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

About.com: This is your last album for Century Media. You've signed a deal with Atlantic Records, a major label. What led you to make the switch?

Brian Fair: "We've been doing things on the do it yourself level so long. We've learned a lot of the business side of things, mostly because we had to on the fly. We really knew what we wanted going into a record deal. That right away narrowed the playing field. Some labels didn't want to work within our framework of creative control and allotting money for specific marketing. It was more about feeling comfortable. We got to know all the people at Century Media as friends before we signed with them, just by hanging out at shows. It was the same thing with Atlantic. We got to know them throughout the past few years and realized it would definitely work out. That was a huge thing for us, having a comfort level knowing there's a support system that's not just looking to sell records and get out. They know we're not a pop band. We're going to take a slow-build career. We don't want to be a flash in the pan, we want to be around for a while. They understood that we're not going to change what we do, and it worked out. It really felt similar to the building of our relationship with Century Media.

"Atlantic understands how we built our foundation and we don't want to lose touch with that. This type of music is not going to suddenly be all over, blowing up on TV. They know that this is heavy metal. To lose sight of your audience would be silly. To ignore those things wouldn't make any sense. We built our audience by touring and getting in front of as many people and word of mouth, and that will continue."

About.com: Before SHADOWS FALL you were in the band OVERCAST with current KILLSWITCH ENGAGE bassist Mike D'Antonio. You're now re-recording some of that band's old material. How did that come about?

Brian Fair: "We talked about trying to remix or remaster some of the old stuff. When Mike and I were on Ozzfest last summer we realized we were going to have a good chunk of time where we both were going to be in Massachusetts. KILLSWITCH was going to be writing their new record, we were going to be working on ours, so we were both going to be home. We figured this might be our only chance to get together and play some shows. And that idea spawned the idea of re-recording instead of just remixing or remastering. We know we'll never recapture that youthful energy of those first records, and some of what makes it great is that sloppy production, but we figured it would be a way to create the songs in a way we always wanted to hear them. We didn't slow anything down or change anything really crazy, we just did some of the backup vocals we never had a chance to do or some guitar overdubs. All that early stuff was recorded in a few days for a couple hundred bucks. It's been great. We're pretty stoked. It was crazy that all five of us could together. The past few years it just hasn't been an option."

About.com: Do you have a release date or label yet?

Brian Fair: "It's still up in the air. That's one thing we kind of forgot. We were thinking it would be fun to get together with old friends. But as soon as we started moving forward we remembered there was a whole business side of things. KILLSWITCH has a new record coming out, so their label didn't want it released at this time. And of course SHADOWS FALL has a new record. But we're slowly working it out. It will see the light of day, come hell or high water. We'll make sure of that."

Read the entire interview at About.com.