Twinmusix got to speak to Sam from Fallujah about their upcoming album and more.
TM - Hi, this is Amelia and Elizabeth from Twinmusix and we are here with Sam from Fallujah. Thank you for having this interview with us today we appreciate it.
SM - Thank you for having me.
TM - What can fans expect from your new album "Xenotaph"?
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SM - This album is special and it is definitely a Falluja album. It stands in its own light. It is a concept album, and the lyrics tell a story the whole way through. It is very cohesive thanks to Kyle our vocalist. He had a very strong vision for the story that he wanted to tell and he tells it over eight tracks. It is also a very dense record in the way that we are very proud and happy with. There is a lot of riffs layers and changes and a lot of interesting stuff going on musically. We definitely wrote something dense. We have an album with a lot going on and that is very energetic and atmospheric. I am excited to hear what people think about this story and the lyrics themselves. I would love to know that people are listening to the album from start to finish and reading and following along with the lyrics.
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TM - What was your writing and recording process for "Xenotaph"?
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SM - The writing process took a little under a year and it was very collaborative. We were writing and crafting the whole album and I can't talk about previous for Fallujah albums because this is the first one I have been a part of as the newest member of the band. This albums recording process was, two of us would get in a room and work things out and just start writing and listening to each other's ideas. We were in different States and we would get in video calls together and hash things out. There are instances where I had pre-recorded material and brought it to the table and showed everybody. Scott will just pick up his guitar and start improvising riffs and start recording, then everyone else in the room will say that's the one. He is very receptive to that and he will just save ideas and we will put everything together at the end. We did almost all the recordings ourselves except for the drums. The vocals, guitar and bass were all recorded at home individually. The drums were recorded in Nashville with Mike Lowe Engineering. Dave took all the recorded parts and mixed the album for us and mastered it.
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TM - Do you have a favourite song on your new album?
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SM - Our title track "Xenotaph", It is for a couple of different reasons. one, I love that song and another reason is I am a big fan of songs that close out the album. The last song is a special song usually you will hear the band choose their last song it's a song that has to end the album.
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TM - How did you come up with your Album cover for "Xenotaph"?
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SM - Peters art has been used for Fallujah covers, the artwork that we used is pre-existing. They are not custom or commissioned work. Kyle and i without even talking about it we're going through his portfolio and saving all our favourite pieces that we thought we could use as album art and we both chose the same favourite one and that's what became "Dreamless and Empyrean" album covers. I think we decided early on that the album art is by Peterthe album cover.
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TM - How did you come up with your video for "Labyrinth of Stone"?
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SM - Traditionally, the band has done one music video for an album. We will do a lyric video or a visual video for some of our singles and on this album. We thought how cool would it be to do a music video for every single. We had a budget and wanted the videos to be up to a certain caliper. We thought it would be cool if We could do our own video. I do professional video work for bands and artists. I said I will do a video for us, as it is a fun challenge. I wanted to do a rap video, I thought it would be a fun departure from what you would see from a metal band and I know that rap videos have been done before, but I wanted to do it in a way that was extra fun and I didn't want it to be super serious. I just wanted to have this silly aspect to it. I thought, how crazy would it be if we could get these cars and tattoos and throw a party, and it's spiralled into what it became, just us having fun.
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TM - If you could have any band play one of your songs what band would it be what song would it be and would it be in your style or their style?
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SM - My favourite band is "The Mars Volta" and to hear them play a "Fallujah" song would be pretty wild in their style just to be exter crazy i would like them to play "The Obsidian Architect".
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TM - Who was the first band you saw live and can you tell us a story?
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SM - Megadeth, In Flames and High on Fire was the first Metal show i saw. I just remember seeing Dave Mustaine and I must have been 10 years old. My dad is a Metalhead and he got me into thrash metal back in the day so for him it was easy. He was like you wanted to go to Megadeth let's go to the show, and me being a kid who just picked up the guitar and listening to Megadeth records with my dad, I just remember being blown away by the whole experience it's set the stage for what I wanted to do in my life.
TM - Anything else you want to say to your fans?
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SM - We hope you enjoy the new album, we put a lot of hours into it and obsessed over this album. Thank You to everyone who has listened to our singles and who is picking up a new copy of the album and everyone who is going to listen to the album when it drops, we are nothing but appreciative.