FALLEN ORDER

TKM – True Kiwi Metal

Ihre Debüt-EP ‚The Age of Kings’ macht gerade im Underground Furore, ja, FALLEN ORDER aus dem Großraum Wellington/Neuseeland gehören zum Besten, was das Genre aktuell hergibt. Streetclip.tv/Strike fragte bei Bandgründer/Leadgitarrist Ben Jays (29) nach, worauf wir uns in Sachen Edelstahl from Down Under noch freuen dürfen. Aus Gründen der Authentizität haben wir das Interview im englischen Original belassen. Los geht’s!

Can you tell us something about the beginning of FALLEN ORDER?

The beginnings of what would become Fallen Order started off around 2004 with Tooley and I jamming on riffs and a mate of ours on vocals. Eventually we had a few songs together, found ourselves a drummer, came up with the name and started playing shows around the end of 2005.

Which background do you have as musicians?

I think for most of us our backgrounds as musicians are in heavy metal music although there are other forms of music that we also enjoy. We’ve all been involved with music for a fairly long time, myself starting to play guitar when I was 8 years old. We’ve all been in other bands prior to Fallen Order, most notably Kieran has played with other New Zealand bands Magnum Opus and Integracia.

How was the current Lineup built up?

The current lineup was built over a number of years – as mentioned earlier Tooley and I were both in the original gigging line up. In 2006 Niki Terror joined Fallen Order on drums as has remained ever since. It would have been around 2007 when Hamish became the vocalist and after gigging as a four-piece for a couple of years we picked up Kieran up on guitar duties in 2009.

Who is the main-songwriter or did you write everything together?

Hamish generally writes the lyrics, there are a few songs on the EP where some of the lyrical ideas have come from the rest of us but with the more recent songs we are currently working on this has been Hamish’s area.

Generally the riffs and basic song structure will come from me, then it’s a process of working through it together as a band – tweaking things to come up with a final structure, adding harmony parts, solos etc. It can be a lengthy process for us at times but a worthwhile and rewarding one.

What are your main musical influences?

Personally my main influences are Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, early Metallica… these bands all play a big part in what I do and are probably some of the main musical influences in Fallen Order. Iced Earth and Manowar are big influences on some of the other guys – especially Hamish and his vocal delivery.

In which direction do you want the band to go?

I’m really enjoying what we’re doing at the moment, the way the new songs are coming out is really pleasing. I think there is something to be said for songs with straightforward structures that are still interesting and capture people’s imaginations – this is something I think we do fairly well.

How are the reactions concerning ‚The Age of Kings‘?

The response has been great so far, really positive. We’ve had many great reviews and have almost sold out of our first pressing. We also have a licensing deal with Stormspell records in the states who will be releasing the EP worldwide late this month I believe, so if you haven’t already be sure to grab yourselves a copy!

What do you expect from the Stormspell-Deal?

Well I think it’s a given that we’ll be able to reach a wider audience through the deal and that is probably the main thing we hope to achieve at this stage. We’re really grateful for the opportunity.

When can we expect a complete album?

We’re working on new material constantly and have a number of quality songs that would be ready to be recorded right now. We do have a New Zealand tour in the pipeline so all we can really say at this stage is that it will be some time after this. I would hope that we would have some more material out within the next year or so however we don’t want to go making too many promises!

Can you describe the metal-scene in NZ? How is it compared to australia?

A difficult question as I haven’t spent all that much time in Australia however the scene over there is obviously bigger than it is in NZ as they have a much larger population and some very big cities. As such Australia tends to get more international acts and quite often NZ fans (such as ourselves) will travel to Australia to see these shows. In terms of “home-grown” metal a lot of what we have in NZ would probably best be classified as death or black metal variants however in recent times there have been a few more traditional styled metal bands popping up such as Razorwyre, Red Dawn, Forsaken Age & Stormforge which is really good to see. We have been fortunate enough to share the stage with a couple of great Australian bands in Lord and Vanishing Point when they have visited NZ and we hope to get across there at some point soon to play some shows and check out more of the scene over there.

What are your dream-destinations to play live? Have you heard of the german undergrund-festivals like Keep it True or the Headbangers Open Air?

Being able to go on tour and play metal on the other side of the world would be the dream – anywhere in Europe really. I have heard of the festivals you mention, it would be awesome to play festivals like those – hopefully we’ll make it over there one day in the not too distant future.

What NZ-Bands can you recommend? (Traditional metal, Thrash, etc.)

I would recommend checking out the four bands I mentioned earlier – Red Dawn, Forsaken Age, Razorwyre & Stormforge. All great NZ bands.

Is it true, that RAZORWYRE are about to disband?

They have been quiet lately although it is probably best not to speculate. They’re a great band, I certainly hope this is not the case.

Thank you very much!!

Thanks for having me! For more info or if you want to follow us go to fallenorderband.com, the link directs you to our facebook page – and our brand new website will be arriving soon.