SHADOWS FALL Singer Explains Band's Decision To Form Own Label

Vocalist Brian Fair of Massachusetts metallers SHADOWS FALL recently spoke to Noisecreep about the band's decision to form their own label in conjunction with Warner Music Group's Independent Label Group and Ferret Music.

"We had an amazing run with Century Media that opened up many doors and taught us even more," he said. "This led to our decision to sign with a major label like Atlantic Records to see what that world was all about. We realized quickly that the entire music industry was in a state of flux and panic as sales figures and profits were dropping by huge percentages each year. It was time to change up the business model in a way that would help break the cycle of large unrecouped budgets and put the power and profits back in the hands of the band."

Fair continued, "In a traditional record deal, the band is fronted large amounts of money by the label and they control the spending for promotion and video that then must be paid back through album sales, leaving the band as the last ones to get paid as the money trickles in. In our current deal, we have the power of a major label distributor combined with the everyday input of an independent label that understands our music and scene."

Fair told Revolver magazine that the band's new songs are similar to those on 2007's "Threads of Life", though darker and almost ballad-free. "There's more like two half-ballads," he said. "There are some acoustic moments and some melodies that let the songs breathe, but there's old-school thrash as well. We've written a lot of fast stuff which is definitely going to be fun to play live."

"Threads of Life" was made available through Atlantic in the U.S. and Roadrunner Records in Europe. The CD shifted around 100,000 copies in the United States since its April 2007 release — a fraction of the 300,000-plus sales total achieved by its predecessor, 2004's "The War Within", which was issued by Century Media.