Driven Far Off

This Fall of Troy interview was conducted on February 2^nd, 2007 at Alley Katz after the show. I would like to thank Andrew for sitting down with me again to do a follow up interview and being one of the nicest dudes I’ve met. Make sure to pick up their new record in May and attend one of their shows, which will end up being the craziest show you’ve been to.

– State your name and position in the band.

I am Andrew, drummer extraordinaire in The Fall of Troy.

– How would you compare the shows and bands on this tour to other tours?

I think this tour has probably one of the most solid lineups, out of any tour we’ve ever done. I’m not saying that other tours suck, but this one, I watch every band, all night, every night. It’s been a real pleasure, and we got to pick Portugal and Tera Melos. We really didn’t know Dameria, like we haven’t heard them. But they just got signed to Equal Vision, so we’re like “Yeah, we’ll take them out.” And they are the most pleasant surprise at all, because they’re killer. I like them a lot. So yeah, I love this tour.

– What upcoming tours are you looking forward to the most?

I can’t really talk about anything, but there is some big shit in the works.

What are you guys doing after this tour?

We’re going to go home for maybe a month, maybe less. Than we’re going to be back out, hopefully in a month and half. We want to, we’re going to be touring pretty much for the next year. We might do Warped Tour this year, I’m not entirely sure. We might be going out with a pretty big band, that I really respect. Just keep your ears open. I’ll tell you later man, I just can’t leak that shit.

– What has been the most shocking thing you have seen during a show?

Um, trying to think. I mean, I’ve never seen it, but kids have gotten arrested in the middle of our shows. One kid broke his leg, one time. I know it happens, but I’m so far in the back, so I don’t really get to see it all. I’m sure Thomas has seen some fucking crazy stuff.

– How did the recording for the new record go and what new and old elements can be seen on it?

I had probably the best time recording this one. Matt Bayles is probably one of my favorite producers, and than it turned out that he is one of the coolest guys I’ve ever met. And he’s really strict and he pushed us a lot, it was a really good experience for us. As far as how it sounds, I’ll say more of the same, not more of the same, but us, just like bigger. There is a lot more melody I’ll say, there is a little bit more singing than in the past. There are still typical crazy Fall of Troy parts, but than there is a song that only Thomas plays. He played that song tonight, kind of like old Weezer, and than the blues song that we played tonight. I mean, I’ll just say that it’s a pretty diverse album. I hope people aren’t “Aw, they are trying new things”.

– You guys are known for getting song titles from various resources, what are some song titles from the upcoming record and where did they come from?

One of them is “Cut Down All The Trees And Name The Streets After Them.” Actually, it’s a bumper sticker that we saw, and the whole title is “Urban Sprawl – Cut Down All The Trees And Name The Streets After Them” and we just thought it was cool. I mean, there are a lot of songs on this record that are pretty serious titles, like “Semi-Fiction”, that’s one of them and “Caught Up.” We definitely have some like, “Shhh… If You’re Quiet, I’ll Show You a Dinosaur”, that are kind of funny. I’m not saying that we are never going to have long, funny titles again, but on this record, we came up with shorter ones.

– Has the artwork for the new record been chosen? If so, who is doing it and what can we expect?

It hasn’t been chosen yet, but there are a couple of people working on it right now. Tim is working on some stuff, Brandon from Fear Before is working on some stuff, John Gourley from Portugal The Man, the singer, is working on some stuff. They’re all coming up with completely different things, I’m not exactly sure what they are doing. I don’t know, I’m sorry dude, haha.

– What is the idea behind “Manipulator” and “Phantom of the Horizon”, and how are they different from each other?

“Manipulator” is more of a collection of songs, there isn’t one underlying theme. “Phantom of the Horizon” is a story that we thought about when we were younger that we have just been sitting on for a bit. It’s a context record.

Is it going to have stuff from the Ghostship Demos?

Yeah, I mean we are going to rerecord all those songs, probably with some new stuff here and there, so people aren’t like “Ah, it’s exactly the same.”

I was on the message board today to get some ideas for questions and everyone kept talking about what is going to happen to those demos.

Yeah, it’s going to be all rerecorded. We are going to have, I think there are two or three songs that never officially came out, and than we are going to write three more. But there will be a lot of new stuff you haven’t heard on it.

Is that coming out this year?

No, that will be probably next year or like super super early ’09, but I doubt it will be that long. Hopefully we’re shooting for end of ’08 or third quarter of it.

– How would you sum up 2006 and what are you wishing to accomplish in 2007?

2006 was turbulent and awesome. And than 2007, I just want to continue doing what we are doing and keep our integrity, and hopefully get bigger. Getting new fans, I mean, tonight was awesome, like 400 plus kids going nuts. It was really fun. I just want to keep on keeping on.

– If the band was nominated for an award, what award would you want it to be and why?

Oh man, “Best Picture” for an awesome movie that we did, but I doubt that will ever happen, haha.

– What is your opinion on the current state of shows and the things people decide to do at them?

I mean, it’s always good to see kids going crazy and losing it, but at the same time you have to respect that there are people around you, they might not want to have your foot in their face. I mean, if everyone is into it and everyone is crowd surfing, which I don’t think I’ve ever seen happen, but there is always some kid that does it. I like it when kids lose it, but I never liked getting kicked in the face.

There are always some people on the side that end up getting kicked in the face.

Yeah man. I mean, it’s a bummer to go to a show and come out with an injury. It’s one thing to go to a show and crowd surfing and someone dropping you, that’s fucking your fault. If you get kicked in the head and you pass out because of someone else, that’s not cool. Above all us, treat people like you want to be treated. That’s what I think.

– What are some rumors about the band that are you tired of hearing and want to clear up?

Um, I don’t know. I think sometimes kids think we are really well off and have a lot of money, that’s totally the opposite. We’re poor, that’s all. I don’t really worry about them too much, I know what the true story is.

– What are some broken-up bands you wish would get back together and play a reunion show?

Bear vs. Shark and Botch, those are probably my top two.

Didn’t the guy that produce your record produce Botch?

Yeah, he is like best friends with the main guitar player from Botch. But yeah, he’s awesome. It’s cool to talk about old stories about them.

– If you had to choose a group of bands to play the same tour for the rest of your life, what bands would you choose and why?

Probably Fear Before The March of Flames, Tera Melos, and like, I’m just going to go ahead and say Portugal because they are freaking awesome. I mean, those are all really good bands and I think we would have a good time.

If the band was chosen to make a new government and set of laws for the United States, what would some of the laws be?

Everyone has to at least try playing an instrument, haha. You can’t hate music. And everyone be nice. That’s my personal one.

– Has the idea of adding another member come up and what are some of the reasons why you would or wouldn’t do it?

I mean, we’ve had other members in the past, like a keyboard player. We would do it just to fill out the sound a little bit more, making it a little bit crazier. I mean, I really like the fact that we are a three piece and there is not a whole lot of other three pieces out there doing stuff exactly like what we are doing.

Yeah, and sounding so technical and so filled.

Yeah man, I mean Tera Melos is doing a great job as well, they are fucking huge sounding. Yeah, I’ll say that, those are my reasons.

– Anything else you want the readers to know?

Keep on coming out to shows if you have been and if you haven’t come out to see us because I guarantee that you’ll have a good time. Check out the new album, it’s coming out May 1^st called “Manipulator” on Equal Vision and it’s the best thing we’ve ever done.