Altsounds: The music press seem to be having a hard time pigeon-holing you. How would you describe your band and your sound?
First Signs Of Frost [Si]: I think it's a shame that bands get pigeon-holed at all, so many bands now go into the industry thinking "oh we need to be able to be labelled in a certain way to succeed", it kinda sucks the originality out of anything. If someone is trying to be a little bit different, the industry shuns them for being too difficult to categorise, there are of course exceptions, but it's a common problem!
Whenever anyone has asked me about my band I tend to just say (probably to their annoyance) "Music for your ears", we're heavy, melodic and dynamic. I tend not to hear music as genres, each band or artist has their own character and that's what I try and hook into. I actually don't think we're TRYING to sound different, that's just what comes out, it's very natural, everyone in the band has such wide-ranging tastes that it really does lend itself to interesting song-writing.
Altsounds: How's the album coming along?
First Signs Of Frost [Dan]: Great! I can't wait to get it finished and on the shelf. I'm really proud of how it's all sounding. We've spent a long time on every aspect of the music and we are definitely on the top of our game.
Altsounds: Who did you choose to produce in the end?
First Signs Of Frost [Owen]: We've gone with Acle Kahney, a mate of ours who actually produced our album demo track on Myspace 'Through the Exterior' he's a bit of a whiz kid with mixing and getting a phat sound overall so we're really pleased to be working with him again.
Altsounds: How many tracks from the EP's can we expect?
First Signs Of Frost [Si]: There's three songs from that EP that are going onto the main album, The Saviour, Expert In Trickery & Day Of The Collapse. Like Owen said, we were a little uncomfortable at first about using slightly older material, and I think if we'd done the album as a 4 piece, we wouldn't have used them. Having Dan join the band really revived those songs though, the arrangements have been bettered. We can now obviously do the songs justice with Dan's voice, they now sound the way we wanted them to sound before, and we definitely want more people to hear them! What's kinda nice and strangely liberating is that from this point forward it's all new songs, these three we've used from the EP are very probably the last 'look into the past' as it were.
Altsounds: You'll have been together around 5 years when the album is released, but it's refreshing to see a band pay their dues before releasing their debut album. Was it a conscious effort to bide your time, and not rush things, or was it simply a case of not having the opportunity until now?
First Signs Of Frost [Si]: It was a little bit of both really, the band has evolved a fair bit since that 5 year inception you mention, I joined around 3 years ago and Dan joined around a year ago. So it's been a time of getting our proverbial shit together during each period. We put the EP out and we toured that for a year or so, then the EP was released in Japan and did pretty well considering we haven't been there yet. Then we actually started writing, we had a couple of album songs in the bag when Dan joined, but since then it's all come together pretty quickly....it clicked!. We've also now got a great team behind us, of people who believe in the band as much as we do, and what's really exciting is that the team is growing constantly. I get incredibly excited about the music we make, and it's amazing when others feel the same!
Altsounds: You have a sound that see you do well in America, is it somewhere you'd really like to break?
First Signs Of Frost [Dan]: Yeah we have a certain amount of interest from the US so I'm sure if the opportunity came along it would be a great experience to do a release and tour America.
Altsounds: After your April Fool break up, what do you have planned for next April 1st?
First Signs Of Frost [Owen]: Haha, nothing quite as extreme I'm sure!
Altsounds: You are going to get asked who your influences are a hell of a lot in the future, and probably already have many times, so who inspires you by being so awful? Who's place would you gladly take in the charts?
First Signs Of Frost [Si]: Scouting For Girls. I'm not a very negative person, and generally I try and respect anyone who gets up and entertains, but these guys are pushing their luck with me Haha. They completely and utterly dumb down their songs, I get offended almost about how pre-school and self-derivative they sound! And it's not the fact that it's pop, Ben Weinman of Dillinger Escape Plan admitted he quite liked Maroon 5, and I agree with him, some of the stuff they write is really cheesy, but at least the music is intelligently put together.
We're not, by far, a 'technical' band, but we get classed as such because we throw in some time changes here and there, the majority of people aren't sure what they're hearing because of said 'chart' bands singing nursery rhymes at them. It's all about ejamacation (sic)
Altsounds: You guys are known for your technical abilities, and I know it's never considered cool to admit this, but did any of you have lessons?
First Signs Of Frost [Dan]: I had singing lessons for around 2 months around 5 years ago but apart from that there's been no professional input for me. I took the time to work hard and develop my own voice, which I'm very proud of. I get a real sense of achievement knowing that I got to where I am today by my own blood, sweat and tears!
First Signs Of Frost [Si]: Yes I've had lessons in the past, and when I can afford it, I still take lessons now....always will! It's a shame that people think it's not considered 'cool', improve yourself and be proud of it. Music is one of those things, like life, that you never stop learning!. I know some phenomenal players, infinitely better than me, who still take lessons! I didn't go to any schools like BassTech, and so from that point of view I've done a lot of self-learning. But even just playing with the FSOF guys I've learnt a lot!
First Signs Of Frost [Owen]: I had lessons for a while when I first started out at the age of like 11 to about 13 I guess, but I've taught myself a lot over the years, probably picked up some bad habits along the way as well! I did study at the Guitar Institute for a year when I was 19 but if I'm totally honest I didn't take much from it. I'm more interested by song-writing and composing than technique. I think there's a lot of bands out there that let themselves down at times by concentrating on being as technical as possible which detracts from any form structure or melodic content.
Altsounds: So many bands seem to be appearing on Guitar Hero/Rock Band nowadays. Would you like to do it?
First Signs Of Frost [Owen]: Ah, it would awesome! I think that's when a band knows they've made it. Haha being on guitar hero!
Well thanks very much to the First Signs Of Frost guys for taking the time to have a chat with us and enjoy their music below:
http://www.myspace.com/firstsignsoffrost
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Say No More interview 18/4/08
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Q&A Interview with First Signs of Frost
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