Interview with the band Past the Fall

August 25, 2023

Interview with the band Past the Fall

By Mick Michaels

The Cosmick View: Hello, and welcome to The Cosmick View/MBM Ten Pounder! Thanks for taking some time to chat with us!
Past the Fall: My pleasure!

CV: Describe your definition of the band’s sound and style and how does that definition uniquely describe the music?
Past the Fall: I guess I could start off with the TLDR…Melodeath/groove metal with flavors of grunge/thrash/prog. Its heavy music that encompasses a lot of moods and dynamics but at its heart is always the songwriting first and foremost and placing the emotion and feel of the song above any technicality- although you won’t be short of hearing some fat metal riffs and epic solos!

CV: Today, everyone talks about artist and audience connection. Is such a level of connection actually achievable for an artist and if so, how have you made the connection to your fans?
Past the Fall: I think to some extent its always been that way, perhaps playing in band and promoting it has helped me realize how connected we are to stories and journeys about music, that said I think metal heads are particularly cool because we pride ourselves on music first image last in a lot of cases. For us personally it’s using absolutely everything at our disposal to connect, there’s never been any one magic bullet. So we use social media, mailing lists, live shows, forums, boots on pavement, radio…really it’s our job to be where our fan wants to interact- not the other way around.

CV: Is fan interaction an important part of the band’s inner culture?
Past the Fall: In all honesty, online it’s been a challenge at first because we’re quite private people BUT the irony there is in person we absolutely love to have a natter with people and in that situation its super natural for us just to shoot the breeze with fans, in fact its one of the things we really enjoy about live shows. Rather than say its part of the bands inner culture its perhaps just naturally part of our personality and we’ve learnt to extend that to online platforms.

CV: Can a band truly interact with its fans and still maintain a level of personal privacy without crossing the line and giving up their “personal space” in your opinion?
Past the Fall: I hope so! And I think so, everyone’s different but for me sharing aspects of my personality, and more or less it being in and around the space of the story of the band and the musical life is where I like to come from in regards to my presence online- and then in person its seems really respectful both ways, us to the fans and the fans to us, so its never seemed an issue crossing into that ‘personal space’. I guess it helps thatwere not some desperate fake tan z listers trying to become famous on love island, haha, metal fans are some of the coolest people in the world!

CV: Is music, and its value, viewed differently around the world in your opinion? If so, what do you see as the biggest difference in such multiple views among various cultures?
Past the Fall: Hmm good question. I’ll try just to speak from my own personal experience, I’ve found that scarcity or adversity really increases its value to communities and people. That aspect in of itself can be played out in different ways, for example when we’ve played more economically deprived places the appreciation of live music has been different, and if there’s cultural adversity that we can take for granted in the UK, for example strict orthodox religious sentiment in some places, that can also sometimes mean that meal heads really value live music a lot. Even within the UK I think the pandemic really was a wakeup call on how precious the music scene we have is, perhaps before apathy could set in due to there being too much choice.

CV: Do you feel that a band that has an international appeal, will tend to connect more so to American audiences? Would they be more enticed or intrigued to see the band over indigenous acts because of the foreign flavor?
Past the Fall: Funny you should mention it as we’ve pondered that ourselves! It’s only a gut instinct as we haven’t done much work in the states yet, but so far the reception has been awesome. Sowe dream we can carry on the tradition of cultural rock/metal exchange that’s been happening between the states and the UK since American blues men started it off in the 50’s! Again, also just a gut feeling but sometimes I think there is an element of intrigue with foreign acts- perhaps its because they’ve had to really go for it to get in front of people there. Plus ther are so many shit hot American bands I grew up listening to, it’s kinda part of my DNA, well and literally haha…as my grandad is American! What’s cool I think about the states is that Rock/Metal is really part of the story of the nation, the UK has it too but in the states its really intertwined with the zeitgeist of the nation IMO. So perhaps that’s why there possibly more open to international metal acts if that’s the case.

CV: Has modern-day digital technology made everyone an artist on some level in your opinion? Have the actual lines of what really is an artist been blurred?
Past the Fall: This is just my own opinion, but I don’t think so. My argument for that is about intent and purpose. For example, a piece of poetry generated by AI might solicit an emotional response from someone, that’s a legitimate response obviously- but what makes art is the fact that there is intent/philosophy/message behind the work. Because in a sense the inverse could be true…there’s a case of a bunch of art students using their grant money to go on a beach holiday and got the story picked up by the paper- and they then presented that as there degree piece. The university and country was outraged. Turned out they faked the holiday and planned the whole thing to elicit a response! Also, whether it’s online or not doesn’t make it art, I think someone could create something no one ever sees but its still art at the opposite end of the spectrum.

CV: How would you describe the difference between an artist who follows trends and one who sets them?
Past the Fall: Fortitude, vulnerability, honesty, and risk taking.

CV: Has music overall been splintered into too many sub-genres in an effort to appease fan tastes in your opinion? And has such fan appeasements, in actuality, weakened music’s impact as a whole by dividing audiences?
Past the Fall: Again I will only speak for myself as perhaps this could be contentious, but yes I think so. In fact there’s nothing wrong with all of this music coming out and trying to find an audience, just to be clear, but the process of creating niche sub genres to a microscopic degree I think stunts the most important thing about music- how does it make you feel? I enjoy festival bills that are quite varied for example, but the feeling has a path through the event. To even qualify to be in a certain niche micro genre there is a risk of just having to sound exactly like something to qualify, and then we’re just left with 100’s of bands that sound the same. Basically just 1 band with 1000’s of members…haha! I think people should just go with the personality and chemistry of themselves and their band mates and that’s way cooler than writing to sound like someone else.

CV: What can fans expect to see coming next from you?
Past the Fall: So we’re playing a Bloodstock Open Air a big metal fest in the UK in the next few weeks, we’re pretty stoked about that as we’re on the same day as Megadeth and Sepultura who are heroes of mine. And then we’re heads down working on 3 new tracks hopefully due for release in spring 2024! We’ll be escaping the studio with some one-off shows as well through the rest of 2023.

CV: Thanks again for taking some time and talking. It is greatly appreciated.
Past the Fall: Thanks again for having me, and great questions!

Check out Past the Fall at:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/6C6hcrzZpmfy0Bc4LfTXj6?si=EeDE3M7CRkCemNuvkLvAXg

https://shop.pastthefall.com/

www.pastthefall.com

www.facebook.com/pastthefall

www.instagram.com/pastthefall

www.youtube.com/pastthefall

www.tiktok.com/@pastthefall

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My name is Mick Michaels...I'm an artist, music fan, songwriter, producer, show host, dreamer and guitarist for the traditional Heavy Metal band Corners of Sanctuary. Writing has always been a creative outlet for me; what I couldn't say in speech, I was able to do with the written word. Writing has given me a voice and a way for me to create on a multitude of platforms including music and song, articles, independent screenplays, books and now, artist interviews. The Cosmick View is an opportunity to raise the bar and showcase artists in a positive and inspirational light. For me, it's another out-of-this-world adventure.