SHADOWS FALL's BRIAN FAIR Launches 'Metal Hippy Workout' Video Series On YouTube

To celebrate his 49th birthday, SHADOWS FALL frontman Brian Fair has launched a new exercise series on YouTube, "Metal Hippy Workout".

In the introductory video, which can be seen below, Fair, who now lives in St. Louis, Missouri with his wife and their two kids, said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "What's happening, party people? It is Brian Fair. It is also my 49th birthday. Almost to a half a century. And honestly, I'm in some of the best shape of my life.

"I've been getting really into my own personal fitness over the last few years, focusing a lot on high-intensity interval training, a little bit of dumbbell and a lot of core. So I figured to celebrate my 49th birthday and to show you that even when you're old, you can still stay fit, still be ready to rock those stages, we're gonna run through a five-minute plank challenge. We're gonna test the core. We're gonna use the full body. It's going to be 30 seconds on, no breaks.

"The key to this, try not to put those knees down. Try not to break that plank form. We're gonna do 30 seconds on for each exercise. These are gonna be all kind of moving planks. So we're gonna do a wide variety. We're gonna hit every part of the body. And don't forget, it's not about stopping when you get tired; it's about stopping when you're done or when you've given it everything you got.

"All right, we're gonna get into this. This is the beginning of the 'Metal Hippy Workout'. We're gonna get shredded, we're gonna get ready for the stage."

Exercises in Brian Fair's "Metal Hippy Workout":

01. Elbow plank marches
02. Bear plank toe touched
03. Elbow plank reaches.
04. Shoulder taps
05. Side plank left
06. Side plank right
07. Elbow plank spider crunches
08. Upright plank knee to elbow
09. Elbow plank hip dips
10. Up / Down plank

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.

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."

Regarding whether 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."

Asked by "The Jasta Show" host Jamey Jasta if SHADOWS FALL would be open to going out on a more extensive tour, possibly as the support act for an arena band, Fair said: "We're not averse to that. It takes a lot of logistics now, with the rest of my guys being in legendary thrash bands, like ANTHRAX and OVERKILL and whatnot. But if we can do it, we would love to. Right now, festivals have been something we can pull off. But I would love to do short tours or even a month-long tour. Or at least some long weekends where we hit each coast or do New England and then Midwest and then a West Coast thing. But we'll see. We're not saying 'no' to anything. We're gonna listen. So we'll see, if things make sense and if we can make it work."

He added: "I've been in dad mode, just working nine to five for a while, so getting back on the pirate ship is pretty enticing at this point."

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.