interview with Fallen

Have any of you played in other bands? As of now we don’t play in other band. But in the past every one of our current and previous members used to have sideprojects to keep them busy. Sadly none of these made it anywhere while we were still at it while others did just fine with more dedicated musicians. Our first and foremost band ever was “Fallen”.
How is it that you started playing music? With lots of passion basically. Every one of us has his individual story really and every one of it has the love of music in it.
What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you? As of now the band has a total of three members. Georgi - vocals and keyboards; Plamen - rhythm guitars and back vocals and Alexander - bass guitar. We three are all roughly 23-24 years old.
Have you had other previous members? Yes, and quite a few at that. Mainly drummers. I believe there were a total of 4 drummers previously at least one guitarist and one vocalist. It goes like this: Nikolay Nikolaev - drums (until autumn 2010); Nikolay Stankov - drums (until autumn 2012); Yordan - drums (until winter/spring 2014); Svetlin - drums (until sometime in 2015); Ivan - lead guitars (until autumn 2015); Borko - vocals (until spring 2010). There may be one or two former members that we missed.
Did you make music even when you were young? Some of us, yes. The vocalist/keyboard player makes music since 15/16 y-o other current members started later on (with the band itself more or less).
Where are you from? We are “Fallen” from Ruse, Bulgaria. Nice of you to ask us for this interview.
What year did the band form? “Fallen” was formed in very early 2010 and almost immediately followed a major member changes as the members gathered at that time became the core of the band while other members changed eventually.
What's your style of genre? We play the style of Melodic Death Metal with somewhat emphasis on orchestral compositions.
What inspires you? Inspiration is funny and very complicated thing. Virtually anything can inspire us. Usually the musical idea just pops up in someone (more frequently than not the guitarists). But a song can spring from a single most random word or a phrase really (eg. Ashen Angel; or some as of yet unrealised songs).
How often and where do you rehearse? As we are short on members for now we just talk ideas rather than rehearsing but normally we try and make 2 or 3 rehearsals a week. Most of our rehearsals are taking place in a dedicated room we hire and equip while others are done in the rhythms guitarist’s flat.
How have you developed since you started with the music? We’ve been playing together for 5 years and while we’ve tried to keep our style consistent, we’ve surely grown up and our music with us.
Do you have other interests of work outside the band? Well, yes. We are all of various sorts, interests and education fields. While everyone fully desires the band’s success we are also striving to finish our studies and get to work to support both ourselves, our families and ultimately the band itself.
Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that? So far we’ve only booked our shows through personal invitations and our own initiative but booking agency in general is a great idea though mainly for abroad gigs in the times to come.
Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that? We are happy with our independence as it allow us to manage the time in the band and our lives the way we can do it. We move at our own pace which sometimes feel a bit slow but we do not stop. Not ever. Label is not totally out of the table but its not something we are really looking forward to and seeking.
What made you decide to make this music? The love for music itself. The band started as a desire to create really heavy yet melodic music in the Melodic Death Metal genre as opposed to the original rock band of the founding drummer (Nikolaev). After that it was just a matter of finding the right guys to keep up the flame.
What are your songs about? The lyrics of the songs follow a very loose concept of hatred and desperation towards cosmic forces (natural disasters, wars, destiny, gods etc.) on a grand scale in a consistent fictional universe, created by the vocalist. Every song presents an emotional chunk of a barebone story. They are equally generalising as they are story-specific.
Who does the composing and writes the lyrics? Composing is mainly done by the guitarists (especially the former lead guitarist and band godfather - Ivan). Arrangements are performed by the band as a whole with each member developing their parts while we still watch out for and help out the others to make the songs better. The final part in music are the orchestras which are solely arranged by the keyboardist. The lyrics are mainly written by the guy too but we keep it open and basically anyone can suggest more or less developed lyrcal ideas that are later edited and fitted into the concept by Georgi.
Do you start with the music or the lyrics? Both. Depending on the songs. For now we have more songs that start off with the musical idea but we have also a few songs already made or in the making that start from the lyrics up.
Do you compose in a certain environment? Nothing special. We either gather together to discuss ideas and later on lay them at home or we start straight at home then expand the ideas at rehearsals. Anything is possible and is almost certainly already done.
Have you done any covers live? We started our live career with very few original songs (3) but we still had to fill at least 20 more minutes of stage time so we have had our great share of covers. We still perform one or two covers a show just to keep things familiar with whomever might not know us at the gig (a fair amount of visitors that is).
What language do you sing in? We prefer English as our main medium. Some of our lyrics include also Latin phrases but other languages may come into play in the future should we decide its appropriate.
What are the least and most people to attend one of your gigs? We are a small band. We’ve had more that a 100 people attending our gigs at small bar which we considered not too shabby for our current (as of then - our first up to three gigs) experience and fame. Sadly we’ve had a show with only 3 visitors too.
What ages are most of your concert attendants? Various really. Our concerts are visited both by young and adult and it is not very easy to determine whichever is greater. We do pride ourselves as a band that is liked by many people of various age groups.
Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary? We strife to bring up a couple of new songs to our next gig. And given the fact that we do play rarely it’s ok. Putting up new songs in the set list depends largely on the location of our next gig too. If we play at our home town we try to refresh about half or more of our playlist while keeping the crowds favourites in.
Do you have a regular place you play live often? Well yes. If often mean once a year, haha. It’s that small bar from our first gigs. It’s called “Legacy”. We regularly go back and quake the foundations of the building that houses more than a few families too. They kinda hate us by now (Oops).
What was your first gig like? There were these two Brazilian bands coming for a European tour and we were hired to support them free of charge (we looked at the opportunity to express ourselves live more than to get paid for that). As the night begun it turned out the guys and lady were very nice too. Due to misunderstanding (and partially on purpose) the experienced musicians let us have the headline of the night. The gig turned to a hellish hot sauna when our time to play came by. We still gave our all and won our fans straight of the bat. We were even called out for more but since we played literally anything we had up our sleeves, we performed our first original song - Ashen Angel. That’s still our hymn even four years later. The story continued the night after when our three bands formed a Super group of sorts and played many classical thrash songs at a symbolic entrance price. It was truly an amazing first gig.
What was your latest gig? Sadly it was more than a year ago but was our best gig so far. It was our first gig outside our hometown where we supported the Bulgarian thrash giants Axecutor alongside the hometown boys of System. So far we’ve proved to have fun on stage alongside other bands no matter the experience each has.
Have you had to cancel a gig? May be. It may have happened once but in reality such thing eludes my memories, haha.
Where have you played live this year? Now here. This year we agreed to finish our university education and to reflect the recent band members changes.
Where do you plan to gig the comming year? Wherever. We are not pretentious but we certainly want to hit somewhat big stage at either local rock or metal festival or abroad. With a stop at the “Legacy” beforehand most certainly.
What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records now a days? It’s modern age. It’s the natural thing to do anyways. What I don’t understand is people buying physical copies. Not that it’s wrong or something it just adds expenses to all (publishers, band and even music fans themselves). Nowadays though most bands add some unique features to their CDs and other physical copies that are not available in Digital downloads to make it still worth while for the die-hard fans. For the regular listener that is just not very cost-effective.
How do you think the music industry have changed because of this? Lowering the average price per track and lower cost to both musicians and publishers leaves everyone happy (kinda). Further more digital downloads are the way to go for self-published musicians and that opens up a whole new world of support for the indie bands.
What do you think of my work? You are doing awesome thing to dig up bands less known bands and put them up for the eyes of the world to see. This may give them the desperately needed boost in fan-base too. How do you think and know that this interview will help you in the music business? Only time holds the answer to this. Do you have any role models or idols? As a band we’ve agreed around the music of Arch Enemy, Children of Bodom, Amon Amarth (to name just a few). As individuals though we are inspired by a very broad array of musicians and overall artists going as far and off as Beethoven does for Melodic Death Metal.
Why do you think that they exist? They’ve worked hard for what they have and strife continuously to stay at the top of their game. That’s all there is to success really. A role model is sure to have one.
Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today? Inspiration comes from within. All external forces are just it’s catalysts. Successful band can and are teachers for newer ones with the modern being better at it since they represent music as it is right now when we start to perform not 30 years ago when we were born (or not).
What have been your biggest obstacles? Lack of inspiration and frequent drummer changes more or less. Then there comes the fact that the band is just a side project of our lives more than it is an absolute.
What advice would you give other bands or artists? Rehearse, rehearse and then do more of the same. And when you perform live just give them your all no matter what. Just don’t stop doing what you love. Share the labour of your love - your music - with the people who came at the gig no matter if they are there just for the other big band that plays just after you.
How do you get psyched for a gig? Just get invited and we are there ready to kick ass. None of us has ever been afraid of the stage and when we get there we are all natural even when thing don’t go quite the way we like them.
Do you have any new material? As of the past a years, we’ve put “Fallen” on pause. A pause to reflect that is. We are surely getting back sooner than later and there may be an album to look forward to.
What are your web sites? For now we are only holding on to our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/FallenBandBG/ The Youtube channel is still up but rarely updated. Anyway one can check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/user/FallenBandBG
How can people reach you? Through Facebook for a certain and quick reply.
What are your plans for the future? Finish our album already. And do a little bit more extensive tour here or there (mainly in Bulgaria though). But for now we really hope to find the members we are lacking for sometime now.
Do you have something to add? Thank you for having us at your site. We hope we poked some ghosts. We wish you and your readers all the best and have fun listening to all the guys and ladies you find in obscure parts of the Net.

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