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Failure To Follow are a five piece hardcore band from Bristol/Bridgend. From their beginning at the end of 2010, they have released a debut album and have played with numerous bands across the UK.
AltSounds got to ask drummer Ollie Coghill some questions to get an insight into the band.
AltSounds: So, you guys have been together since the latter part of 2010. How did you guys all come together and decide to form a band?
Ollie: Well i met our original vocalist through a friend at college, having gone through various bands, and wanting to form a new one, in the more Hardcore vein of genres. (My previous band was actually a Melodic Death Metal band would you believe!) He knew of a guitarist who was interested as well, which was Russ. The three of us got together and straight from the off me and Russ had an instant chemistry when it came to writing music, infect i think we wrote two or three songs the first time we ever met over the space of four hours.
Russ knew of a bassist through work [Lee] that wanted to join a band, but had never played bass before sounds strange, I know, but we waited for him to buy a bass then he entered the band as well and picked it up super quick!
Unfortunately we then parted ways with our original vocalist, and Tom joined. Russ has known Tom for years, and they were in a popular Hardcore band a few years back called Start Of Nothing.
And then our newbie Harry joined a few months back, learnt all the songs in one practise on a Sunday, then put all his lead parts over the top, then played a gig with us supporting Hang The Bastard at The Croft the following Friday, and recorded our CD with us the Sunday a few days after! He's a quick learner is our Harry, and we love having him in the band.
AltSounds: Where did the name 'Failure To Follow' originate from?
Ollie: Well... there's the fun version, and the rather shall we say… un-imaginative boring version...
The fun version is that we were all out in China, and a fucking tiger started chasing us, so we had to run like hell. At that point, some Ninja's came down off of the roof, and starting battling some pirates… and well, that's a long story...
The name actually derived off of the back of the door in our practise room in RS Studios, it stated...
We spent about an hour trying to come up with random words and meshing them together, when Russ just pointed at the sign and said, "What about that?" and thus, Failure To Follow was born.
To be fair it's a lot better then "When Echo's Fall" which somebody wanted, thank Christ. Also, to this day, the fact that the "t" of "to" is a capital on our Facebook etc, drives me insane. I'm a bit of a 'Grammar Nazi.'
AltSounds: You describe your music as 'Melodic Hardcore'. What most influences your songwriting? And what comes first: the lyrics or the music?
Ollie: Funny you should bring that up, actually, because we all class ourselves as different things haha! Russ, who is the main songwriter, doesn't even class us really as a hardcore band, in fact, i don't really know what he classes us as. We have a lot of Metal, Hardcore, Hip Hop, Rap, Punk, Electronica and Rock influences, and we all listen to different stuff.
Usually what happens is Russ will come in with an original riff or idea, and that might be for a chorus, outro, intro, bridge or whatever, and then myself and Russ will sort of, create and mould the song around that one riff. I don't even play guitar, but i'll sort of "say" the way the riff should go, and Russ tries his best to translate that on the fret board!
I mean, for example, 'Wasting Away', we had those original melodic intro chords sitting on the pile for MONTHS! We just couldn't figure out what to go with it next, then one day we just wrote another riff for a song, and found out it fit with the 'Wasting Away' intro, and the rest of the song just flowed out in one play through! The hard part was then remembering what we'd just played! None of us have any real musical knowledge either, so a lot of riffs get called like "The bouncy bit" or "The Travis Barker section" for example. If anyone else came in with any knowledge, they'd most likely say "What the fuck are you guys on about!"
Listen: 'Wasting Away'
AltSounds: You've recently released your debut 'Wasting Away'. What kind of feedback are you getting from it?
Ollie: Oh the feedback so far has been insane! I don't think we've actually heard a bad word about it, we're all really, really happy with that. Those six songs are at least a good year or so of our lives, so we were very excited but also quite nervous with releasing it!
It was recorded for £1000 in just three days, and a lot of people are commenting on how good the production value is of it, and that's really all down to Kev at Anemic Studio's in Bristol, that dude really knows what he's doing! One of the nicest people you'll ever meet as well.
It's really helping us to open more doors in the industry as well, just like signing to London-based ITG Records, who're a great, hardworking independent label. There's no contracts, only verbal agreements, so nobody gets screwed over.
AltSounds: What are your main musical influences?
Ollie: I myself listen to a lot of Hardcore, be that original old style stuff such as Black Flag, Madball, Bad Brains etc, or newer styles such as Gallows, The Ghost Inside, The Ghost Of A Thousand, Cancer Bats etc. But even with all that, Slash is God to me! I am a HUGE fan of old school Rock N' Roll. My first tattoo was even John Bonham of Led Zeppelin's "logo" so to speak, the three connecting rings.
Tom is also a massive old school Hardcore fan, he doesn't listen to much else, but also comes from more of a Hip-Hop background. something that goes hand in hand with Hardcore, actually. He has the Madball logo on the back of his calf as well.
Russ listens to a lot of everything really, from Limp Bizkit, Funeral For A Friend, The Ghost Inside, Hundredth, It Prevails, to even what he'd probably tell you is his favourite artists, Rihanna! He just likes stuff which is interesting and has a good melody.
Lee listens to a lot more emotive stuff as well, such as City And Colour, La Dispute and Funeral. But since being in the band, he's got into a lot of the new, metal infused hardcore as well, such as The Ghost Inside and Hundredth.
Harry is a big fan of what we'd probably call "beatdown hardcore/ metal" so bands like, Confessions, Parkway Drive… basically anything with a heavy-as-sin breakdown in it!
AltSounds: You've got a lot of gigs under your belt, playing with numerous bands including OFF!, The Carrier and Bury Tomorrow. What is your favourite song to perform live and why?
Ollie: My personal favourite live is 'No Vision', that's the most fun to play drum-wise for me, and i get to be a bit of a show off. But 'Strike Back' is also amazing because that's the one that always sets the crowd off!
I know Russ and Lee love playing 'No Unity' live, and Harry likes 'The Burn'. As for Tom, i think his favourite is also 'Strike Back'.
We almost didn't re-record 'Wasting Away', but everyone (the crowd, fans etc) seems to love that song, so i fought for it to stay! It almost got dropped from the set list as well at one point, but i made sure it wasn't! We've all fallen back in love with it again now, and i think that's due to Harry putting his spin on things.
AltSounds: Who would you really like to share a stage with?
Ollie: Hmm, that's a tough one...
I know myself, Russell, Lee and even Harry are all absolutely still in shock and blown away that I managed to secure us the Vanna/ Hundredth and The Greenery show in Reading, mainly because we are all HUGE Hundredth fans, so one of those dreams is actually coming true!
But I'd also say probably Parkway Drive for us four as well, because all of their shows seem to be insane!
Tom would probably say Madball though, but he's already played with them in his old band as well! I guess you could say we've been fairly lucky.
AltSounds: Any places you guys really want to perform?
Ollie: I think i can say we would all love to play Australia, so many good bands come from that country, and all the kids go nuts for it. I would also say Canada, because of all the amazing bands that come out of there as well!
AltSounds: Have any of you had any embarrassing moments on stage?
Ollie: I know i've hit myself in the face with a drum stick a few times, that always sets you back a bit... Apart from that, I don't really think so, we've done all right so far!
AltSounds: You are currently competing in the Red Bull Bedroom Jam. What would it mean to you if you won?
Ollie: Well i think it would mean the same for any band to win it, just total and utter amazement and shock, really. It's most band's dream to play festivals, and to get the chance to play Download, Sonisphere and Hevy fest, tour the UK with a large band, record an album in the Redbull Studios and make a music video free of charge is just too much to even comprehend. All of that stuff is just priceless.
AltSounds: And finally, any upcoming shows for people to catch Failure To Follow?
Ollie: Of course! We're always booking up shows all over the place, it's what we live for!
We're playing the 17th of Feb at The Cooler in Bristol with The Bled on their last ever tour, the Vanna/ Hundredth and The Greenery show on the 23rd of Feb in Reading. And this weekend we're doing a weekender with Demoraliser and The Departed in Grimsby and Kent, and a few more which I can't announce yet around the country. Hopefully we'll see you at a show!
More information on Failure To Follow can be found on the band's Facebook page.
AltSounds got to ask drummer Ollie Coghill some questions to get an insight into the band.
AltSounds: So, you guys have been together since the latter part of 2010. How did you guys all come together and decide to form a band?
Ollie: Well i met our original vocalist through a friend at college, having gone through various bands, and wanting to form a new one, in the more Hardcore vein of genres. (My previous band was actually a Melodic Death Metal band would you believe!) He knew of a guitarist who was interested as well, which was Russ. The three of us got together and straight from the off me and Russ had an instant chemistry when it came to writing music, infect i think we wrote two or three songs the first time we ever met over the space of four hours.
Russ knew of a bassist through work [Lee] that wanted to join a band, but had never played bass before sounds strange, I know, but we waited for him to buy a bass then he entered the band as well and picked it up super quick!
Unfortunately we then parted ways with our original vocalist, and Tom joined. Russ has known Tom for years, and they were in a popular Hardcore band a few years back called Start Of Nothing.
And then our newbie Harry joined a few months back, learnt all the songs in one practise on a Sunday, then put all his lead parts over the top, then played a gig with us supporting Hang The Bastard at The Croft the following Friday, and recorded our CD with us the Sunday a few days after! He's a quick learner is our Harry, and we love having him in the band.
AltSounds: Where did the name 'Failure To Follow' originate from?
Ollie: Well... there's the fun version, and the rather shall we say… un-imaginative boring version...
The fun version is that we were all out in China, and a fucking tiger started chasing us, so we had to run like hell. At that point, some Ninja's came down off of the roof, and starting battling some pirates… and well, that's a long story...
The name actually derived off of the back of the door in our practise room in RS Studios, it stated...
..."No smoking, drug taking, or damages will be tolerated. Failure To Follow these rules will lead to severe consequences."
To be fair it's a lot better then "When Echo's Fall" which somebody wanted, thank Christ. Also, to this day, the fact that the "t" of "to" is a capital on our Facebook etc, drives me insane. I'm a bit of a 'Grammar Nazi.'
AltSounds: You describe your music as 'Melodic Hardcore'. What most influences your songwriting? And what comes first: the lyrics or the music?
Ollie: Funny you should bring that up, actually, because we all class ourselves as different things haha! Russ, who is the main songwriter, doesn't even class us really as a hardcore band, in fact, i don't really know what he classes us as. We have a lot of Metal, Hardcore, Hip Hop, Rap, Punk, Electronica and Rock influences, and we all listen to different stuff.
Usually what happens is Russ will come in with an original riff or idea, and that might be for a chorus, outro, intro, bridge or whatever, and then myself and Russ will sort of, create and mould the song around that one riff. I don't even play guitar, but i'll sort of "say" the way the riff should go, and Russ tries his best to translate that on the fret board!
I mean, for example, 'Wasting Away', we had those original melodic intro chords sitting on the pile for MONTHS! We just couldn't figure out what to go with it next, then one day we just wrote another riff for a song, and found out it fit with the 'Wasting Away' intro, and the rest of the song just flowed out in one play through! The hard part was then remembering what we'd just played! None of us have any real musical knowledge either, so a lot of riffs get called like "The bouncy bit" or "The Travis Barker section" for example. If anyone else came in with any knowledge, they'd most likely say "What the fuck are you guys on about!"
Listen: 'Wasting Away'
AltSounds: You've recently released your debut 'Wasting Away'. What kind of feedback are you getting from it?
Ollie: Oh the feedback so far has been insane! I don't think we've actually heard a bad word about it, we're all really, really happy with that. Those six songs are at least a good year or so of our lives, so we were very excited but also quite nervous with releasing it!
It was recorded for £1000 in just three days, and a lot of people are commenting on how good the production value is of it, and that's really all down to Kev at Anemic Studio's in Bristol, that dude really knows what he's doing! One of the nicest people you'll ever meet as well.
It's really helping us to open more doors in the industry as well, just like signing to London-based ITG Records, who're a great, hardworking independent label. There's no contracts, only verbal agreements, so nobody gets screwed over.
AltSounds: What are your main musical influences?
Ollie: I myself listen to a lot of Hardcore, be that original old style stuff such as Black Flag, Madball, Bad Brains etc, or newer styles such as Gallows, The Ghost Inside, The Ghost Of A Thousand, Cancer Bats etc. But even with all that, Slash is God to me! I am a HUGE fan of old school Rock N' Roll. My first tattoo was even John Bonham of Led Zeppelin's "logo" so to speak, the three connecting rings.
Tom is also a massive old school Hardcore fan, he doesn't listen to much else, but also comes from more of a Hip-Hop background. something that goes hand in hand with Hardcore, actually. He has the Madball logo on the back of his calf as well.
Russ listens to a lot of everything really, from Limp Bizkit, Funeral For A Friend, The Ghost Inside, Hundredth, It Prevails, to even what he'd probably tell you is his favourite artists, Rihanna! He just likes stuff which is interesting and has a good melody.
Lee listens to a lot more emotive stuff as well, such as City And Colour, La Dispute and Funeral. But since being in the band, he's got into a lot of the new, metal infused hardcore as well, such as The Ghost Inside and Hundredth.
Harry is a big fan of what we'd probably call "beatdown hardcore/ metal" so bands like, Confessions, Parkway Drive… basically anything with a heavy-as-sin breakdown in it!
AltSounds: You've got a lot of gigs under your belt, playing with numerous bands including OFF!, The Carrier and Bury Tomorrow. What is your favourite song to perform live and why?
Ollie: My personal favourite live is 'No Vision', that's the most fun to play drum-wise for me, and i get to be a bit of a show off. But 'Strike Back' is also amazing because that's the one that always sets the crowd off!
I know Russ and Lee love playing 'No Unity' live, and Harry likes 'The Burn'. As for Tom, i think his favourite is also 'Strike Back'.
We almost didn't re-record 'Wasting Away', but everyone (the crowd, fans etc) seems to love that song, so i fought for it to stay! It almost got dropped from the set list as well at one point, but i made sure it wasn't! We've all fallen back in love with it again now, and i think that's due to Harry putting his spin on things.
AltSounds: Who would you really like to share a stage with?
Ollie: Hmm, that's a tough one...
I know myself, Russell, Lee and even Harry are all absolutely still in shock and blown away that I managed to secure us the Vanna/ Hundredth and The Greenery show in Reading, mainly because we are all HUGE Hundredth fans, so one of those dreams is actually coming true!
But I'd also say probably Parkway Drive for us four as well, because all of their shows seem to be insane!
Tom would probably say Madball though, but he's already played with them in his old band as well! I guess you could say we've been fairly lucky.
AltSounds: Any places you guys really want to perform?
Ollie: I think i can say we would all love to play Australia, so many good bands come from that country, and all the kids go nuts for it. I would also say Canada, because of all the amazing bands that come out of there as well!
AltSounds: Have any of you had any embarrassing moments on stage?
Ollie: I know i've hit myself in the face with a drum stick a few times, that always sets you back a bit... Apart from that, I don't really think so, we've done all right so far!
AltSounds: You are currently competing in the Red Bull Bedroom Jam. What would it mean to you if you won?
Ollie: Well i think it would mean the same for any band to win it, just total and utter amazement and shock, really. It's most band's dream to play festivals, and to get the chance to play Download, Sonisphere and Hevy fest, tour the UK with a large band, record an album in the Redbull Studios and make a music video free of charge is just too much to even comprehend. All of that stuff is just priceless.
AltSounds: And finally, any upcoming shows for people to catch Failure To Follow?
Ollie: Of course! We're always booking up shows all over the place, it's what we live for!
We're playing the 17th of Feb at The Cooler in Bristol with The Bled on their last ever tour, the Vanna/ Hundredth and The Greenery show on the 23rd of Feb in Reading. And this weekend we're doing a weekender with Demoraliser and The Departed in Grimsby and Kent, and a few more which I can't announce yet around the country. Hopefully we'll see you at a show!
More information on Failure To Follow can be found on the band's Facebook page.
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