We sat down with Brian Fair lead singer of Shadows Falls who talked to us about how the band inked their deal with Atlantic Records, Guitar Hero video game and who did the artwork for their latest album "Threads of Life" among other things.

Shadows Fall

FES: Shadows Fall recently inked a deal with Atlantic Records. Can you tell us how did this come about?

Brian: We we’re with Century Media for about seven (7) years, five full length records or whatever, our contract came up and we kind of played the free agent role, talking to everybody. We kind of came with a deal we already wanted, we were like here’s what we’ll sign, so if you’re not into it then see you later and that cut out a lot of interest pretty quick, but after ten years we knew what we wanted and Atlantic was there the whole time totally into what we had planned out, there were some other labels that offered more money, but we felt more comfortable with there with the people we we’re working with it was an easy switch and sign, a year later the record is finally out. Everything has been going great.

FES: RoadRunner Records is handling the band’s international release with Atlantic handling the domestic, is it normal for a band to have two labels distributing your records?

Brian: No, not really. We we’re pretty lucky, we carved out all the territories we’re we felt being on a major would really be a detriment. We’re getting established in Europe but definitely don’t have the kind of track record or sales presence we have here so we have kind gotten lost in the shuffle we’re they really wouldn’t be familiar with the band and didn’t really know what to do with us so we signed with Atlantic just for the U.S. and ended up working out a deal with RoadRunner for Europe, Japan, Australia and we cleared a few other territories with a few other small indies like Korea with Dope Records. We we’re able to work out the perfect kind of thing but like I said after ten years we knew exactly what we wanted and if we couldn’t do it we just do it ourselves. Everyone is cool with it. Now RoadRunner and Atlantic are owned by the same company anyway so it doesn’t really matter. Soon everyone is going to be owned by Warner Music Group anyway. [Laughs]. There’s no company lines to cross anymore so it’s been real easy.

FES: How long did it take the band to record "Threads of Life?

Brian: We we’re actually in the studio close to two months, but we we’re writing, demoing and rewriting with Nick over most of 2006.

FES: How did the band decide which songs will be released as singles?

Brian: It was a discussion between us and the label. We knew “Redemption” was going to be the first track we were going to release everywhere, [video, myspace, radio] we knew that was going to be the first track really after we recorded it and we were like wow this is a good microcosm of the whole record. It also has a good enough hook to get it out there. We’ll ride Redemption for a while and see what to do next.

FES: How many videos will Shadows Fall do for Threads of Life?

Brian: We try to do three videos a record. Redemption we definitely pushed the budget a little bit. We’ll have to see if there is any money left to do a second and third video. Hopefully that will be coming down.

FES: Was there a time limit on filming the video for Redemption?

Brian: Yeah, this one we shot all in one day, performance and all the plot stuff, literally we had to do it that exact day, because Matt and I had to fly to Europe for a press tour.

FES: "Threads of Life" was leaked on to the internet before its scheduled release date. When something like this happens do you feel it hinders or helps record sales?

FES: It definitely hurts record sales. Everything hurts record sales right now. [Laughs] Unfortunately people aren’t buying records. It’s funny they’re like well, we still come see the bands live and buy merch and that’s great, but if you don’t actually buy the record the record label won’t pay anyone to make records. Soon music probably will be free it will be stolen from everyone and people are going to have to record on little home pro tools studios by themselves and those big giant records are going to be gone. Unfortunately it’s the music fans that don’t think they are doing anything wrong that are actually ruining it. We we’re lucky ours leaked a little bit before it came out but not months; like Killswitch’s record was [leaked] months before it came out; Machinehead the same thing and that really kills it. After a month you already know the record back and forth you’re like well, I want to buy it but well… What’s the point? And I understand that why would you? You already have it and probably played it out before it even came out. It ruins that whole anticipation, I remember as a kid getting psyched going down to the store picking up the new Metallica, getting the packaging and seeing who [was] on the thanks list. Kids just don’t care anymore. It’s too bad.

FES: Do you get offended when fans say, I dig your music but I downloaded from Limewire?

Brian: You don’t get really pissed off or nothing but you’re missing out on a lot of cool things with the record plus MP3’s don’t sound as good as the CD. They’re compressed files and a lower quality so you’re not getting the full spectrum.

FES: Who did the cover artwork for "Threads of Life?"

Brian: This guy Angry Johnny. He’s probably most famous for all the Dinosaur Jr., covers back in the 1980s. He did a ton of stuff for them. He’s from Northampton, Massachusetts, a local boy that lives in a little crazy studio/trailer/hell where he paints everything on giant pieces of plywood it’s not even on canvas. We gave him the album title, a 30 pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon and he just painted for three days while loading shotguns and shooting them at the actual pieces of art. The last webisode will be a feature on Angry Johnny so you’ll be able to check him out in all his insane glory.

FES: How did "The Light that Blinds" get included as a bonus track in the video game Guitar Hero II and "Burning the Lives" in the video game Burnout Dominator?

Brian: Thanks to our publishers and record label especially with the Burnout one. With Guitar Hero when the first one came out we contacted them and we’re like we want to be involved in anyway possible even if it’s just doing promotions for playing the game. So the second one came around and they wanted to use “The Blinds” luckily they didn’t do the cover band thing either, they used the actual audio track because some of the songs are played by studio bands. It would have been kind of funny to hear someone else do it. I was glad they used our own so the kids actually hear our music.

FES: Do you play the game?

Brian: A decent amount. Now that it’s out on Xbox 360 we’ll probably get one, because that’s what we have on the bus. We were playing it a bunch before we left on tour.

FES: Can you tell us how Shadows Fall, a band hailing from Springfield, Massachusetts has evolved into what critics are calling one of the top bands in Metal today?

Brian: I have no idea. [Laughs] We we’re just a bunch of Massachusetts metal heads trying to play at local VFW halls with our friends that’s how it all started, then slowly started playing out long weekends then got picked up by Century Media and really haven’t come home since. We toured relentlessly playing fifty dollar shows for 10 people anywhere we could and it just built and built and built. We’re still the same Massholes we were and probably always will be, but now we get to travel around and make music it’s pretty cool but we have no idea how it happened.

FES: Do you have anything to say to people who read this interview?

Brian: Check out “Threads of Life” we feel we’re finally getting to the point where we’ve always wanted to be as a band and capturing that on tape. We’ll see you on tour because we will definitely be out and about all year.

FES: Brian, thank you for your time I wish you guys much success.

Brain: Thank you very much I appreciate it.

Shadows Fall are from Springfield, Ma and tour on a regular basis. Their latest record "Threads of Life," is available at the usual outlets.

Shadows Fall Is:

Jonathan Donais - Lead Guitar/Vocals
Brian Fair - Lead Vocals
Paul Romanko - Bass
Matthew Bachand - Guitar/Vocals
Jason Bittner - Drums

For more artist information log onto the official Shadows Fall Website.

To sample music visit the Shadows Fall page at myspace.com.

Musician Interview by Michael Montes – Copyright © 2007 Florida Entertainment Scene – All Rights Reserved.