FACING THE GALLOWS

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MIKE BELL PHOTOGRAPHY
WEBSITE: www.myspace.com/facingthegallows
COUNTRY: South Africa STYLE: Metal / Hardcore / Thrash

Interview Answered by Rick Cadillac

FACING THE GALLOWS HAS A FEW SONGS ONLINE. THE BIG QUESTION I GUESS IS WHEN ARE YOU PLANNING TO RELEASE AN EP OR ALBUM?

Hhmmm, well, at the moment we're tracking some new and old material to release soon, and we most likely will release those with our video in a few weeks time. We're still trying to think of a clever type of release if that makes sense at all. Sort of something "better than an album" that band’s haven't done yet... So far, it's going slow. Otherwise we'll stick to the album idea.

HAVING MADE A NAME FOR YOURSELVES AS A LIVE BAND DO YOU THINK THAT YOU HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFUL IN GATHERING A CORE FAN BASE?

Yeah I'd think so. We've built a solid fan base in Joburg, people here are awesome, without them we'd die. As for the rest of the country, Durban has been great to us, we've made awesome friends down there, as well as Cape Town. We also have some rad friends down in PE. This year we're concentrating on the rest of the country, we have some rad tours planned. We're super grateful for everyone who comes to our shows!

FACING THE GALLOWS PLAYED RAMFEST IN CAPE TOWN A WHILE BACK. WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO PLAY OUTSIDE OF JOHANNESBURG AGAIN AND DID THE CROWDS HERE IN CAPE TOWN REACT A BIT DIFFERENTLY TO YOUR MUSIC THAN THE CROWDS IN JOBURG?

Ah Ramfest was INSANE! By far the best festival I have ever been to! The crowds down there are fun, we had a pigs head thrown on stage during our set, I guess that's second best to biting a bats head off on stage! I suppose people react differently everywhere. If you play in places that are far away, people tend to party more while we play cos they don't see us as often as Joburg and Pretoria peeps do. We love playing outside Joburg, it's alway a huge party!

DOES HAVING A VOCALIST THAT WEARS BLUE RUNNING SHORT’S HELP WHEN IT COMES TO EXITING THE WOMEN IN THE CROWD?

Well... I've heard mixed emotions about Bryan's shorts. Some girls think it's "cute" and others get freaked out. One girl once told me; "It was so gross, you could see his balls!" But I suppose you can only see them if you look at them, right?

THE BEST AND WORST LIVE SHOW / EXPERIENCE FOR THE BAND SO FAR?

Wow, that's always a tough one. I think one of our best shows was at Seasons Wither 2, wow that was insane! Also Thornfest, that was super wild, we had a slipped disc in the crowd as a result of a stage dive! I can't wait for the 3rd! Black Dahlia is always fun for us as well.

As for the worst show... I'd say a show we DIDN'T play at Boogaloos in Monte Casino, where security shut down the show as we were about to go on, after we had been there all day and night supporting other bands. But the organisers took care of us! Thanks Kyle :)

WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK ABOUT THE WAY SHOWS ARE ORGANIZED AND RUN THESE DAYS AND WHAT CAN BE DONE TO GET MORE PEOPLE TO SHOWS IN YOUR OPINION?

Generally shows are run well, and bands are treated well too, so I can't really complain. The only thing(s) I can think of are, lower cover charge... Joburg has the most expensive shows ever. I constantly hear about people not being able to come to shows because they're too expensive, and huge shows with a million bands on a million stages, no one ever has time to watch a full set because they have to run off to watch the next band...

EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT THE INTERNET HAS MADE THE WORLD ALLOT “SMALLER”. HAS YOUR MUSIC GAINED POPULARITY OUTSIDE OF SOUTH AFRICA WITH THE HELP OF MYSPACE, FACEBOOK AND ANY OTHER SOCIAL NETWORKING PLATFORM?

Yeah, definitely! We have quite a large fan base in Australia, they're awesome, and like keeping in contact with us which I think is great. We also have a lot of fans in the States and all over Europe too. It blows my mind when I see add from places like Finland and Mexico and all sorts of fascinating countries!

LOOKING AT YOUR MYSPACE AND FACEBOOK YOU GUYS SEEM TO HAVE ALLOT OF FUN WITH THIS BAND BUT IN WHAT WAYS DO YOU TAKE YOUR MUSIC AND SONG WRITING SERIOUSLY?

We love our band, and the stupid things we do. When it comes to writing songs, we have pretty strong opinions; because we obviously want to write good songs, so if someone doesn't like something, they'll let the rest of the band know. Then once we find something awesome, we all freak out like kids, then go swim or something. So band practice is fun, but serious when we need to be. If we weren't serious at times, we would be nowhere.

A PERSON CAN CLEARLY HEAR YOUR “INFLUENCES” IN YOUR SONGS. DO YOU FIND IT HARD SOMETIMES TO GET NEW PEOPLE INTERESTED IN YOUR MUSIC WHEN IT IS AUTOMATICALLY LABELLED UNDER A GENRE AS METALCORE?

Obviously not everyone is going to like your music. Everyone has their opinion, and no matter what genre, there's either good music or bad music... So if people like us, we get amped about it, and love them for it. We would never force someone to like us, that's impossible. Some of my closest friends aren't too fond of our music, but appreciate what goes into it, that's cool! If someone says "Your music sucks, because, I don't know, it just sucks!" Then they can fuck off. If you hate my music, give me a reason and I'll gladly accept it and still love you for it!

MANY BANDS CHANGE THEIR SOUND HALF WAY THROUGH THEIR CAREERS, DO YOU SEE FACING THE GALLOWS DOING THE SAME AT SOME STAGE, BECAUSE YOU CAN’T PLAY THE SAME TYPE OF STUFF FOREVER, CAN YOU?

That's true. I suppose bands get bored with playing the same style for years. But if you can find ways to keep the genre fresh then it's different. I think experimentation is a better word than change. We've started experimenting with singing for instance, but our music hasn't really changed much.

We are working on some more rock n roll/ southern vibes, but we'll incorporate that into our already existing style, so nothing will change, you'll just hear different elements of the genre's we experiment with. So in a sense you can play the same thing for ever, you just have to learn to play it differently... If that makes sense.

2008 WAS A GOOD YEAR FOR YOU, HOW ARE YOU PLANNING TO MAINTAIN THE “HYPE” AROUND YOU GUYS AND TAKE THE BAND TO GREATER HEIGHTS IN 2009?

Yeah it was an awesome year for us! We had some sick shows, amazing tours, made new friends all over tha place and just had a party all year! This year we have a few things in the pipeline. We just shot a music video. Hopefully that will help us more; we had some pretty important people in the film industry that helped us with that, so there will no doubt be an awesome end result once they've finished editing!

We're also trying to concentrate on outside of Joburg, and get more of a name outside of town, spread the love and make some new friends and party with complete strangers, as well as the people we've come to know since we've started.

WHICH ONE OF YOU GUYS IS THE BIGGEST CONTROL FREAK WHEN IT COMES TO ORGANIZING AND HAVING THE BAND RUN SMOOTHLY?

Anyone who knows us will know that I am a complete control freak. I freak out when the guys are late for shows, I freak out if they're late for practice, I pretty much freak out for most things. I do all the management stuff myself so I like to keep things going smoothly, and like to make sure I know of everything that goes on.

I do owe you an apology for the late reply on the interview. I'll buy you a beer sometime :) But yeah, without a control freak there would be no control, and I'm proud of where my control freakness and the freaks I work with has got us.

ANY LAST COMMENTS / ADVICE OR PEOPLE YOU WOULD LIKE TO THANK?

Obviously my band, Ray, Chase, Nem and Bryan. I love you guys! Music Connection has helped us more than anyone so far. Deon (Oom Dad), Bryan's dad, who has only missed something like 7 shows out of over a hundred since we've started. He has all the faith in the world in us, and is one of the reasons we love doing this so much, just to see how amped he gets! Party Pete, for 20 years! And just partying, because that’s what he does, and no one does it better! The boys from The Dead Will Tell, team dangerous for life! Yeah, they help us with all our recordings, Mike and Staab are little studio genius'!

Advice, practice makes perfect, and don't take people's crap, someone will always like your music, so if someone gives you shit, stick a good ol' thumbs up in their face, a good solid nod and keep on rocking and doing what you love! Also thank YOU Neil and projectrfsezine for the interview!