Review Fix chats with Falling Still Bassist Brett Hamilton, who discusses the band’s new EP, as well as their creative process and goals for the future.
Review Fix: How was the band formed?
Brett Hamilton: The band was formed by the unifying of three kindred spirits desperate to get out of Akron, Ohio. So we all moved to Los Angeles and decided we really wanted to try and find some success with our music.
Review Fix: You guys sound a lot like older Foo Fighters records. What are your influences?
Hamilton: Well, we have some pretty prevalent grunge influences. But if that has resulted in a band that sounds like the Foo Fighters, we may have made a mistake somewhere along the line. Perhaps we’ll start leaning on our other influences a little harder, which can span anywhere from pop music to black metal. It’s pretty easy to find inspiration in just about anything if you look at it with the right attitude.
Review Fix: What’s the band’s creative process like?
Hamilton: Our creative process is a real team effort. We know what our strengths and weaknesses are, and we’ve come up with a pretty efficient songwriting strategy. Since we’ve been together for so long, everyone knows his role. We can all work on our parts separately and come together to create something that resembles a finished song. From there, things move along pretty fast when we can trust each other to find all the right pieces to the puzzle.
Review Fix: What did you learn from this EP that you think will affect the band moving forward?
Hamilton: We learned that the best thing a creative person can do to find some sort of success is to continue to follow instincts. It’s always good to listen to advice and try things out, but the second you stop using your own voice, your creation will become uninteresting.
Review Fix: What was the inspiration for “If You Stay”? How was it written?
Hamilton:“If U Stay” is a song about being stuck somewhere. It was written on a cold night when I was sleeping in a garage, thinking about staying in Los Angeles for the rest of my life. But it’s not really about Los Angeles specifically. It’s about staying anywhere your whole life, and how easy it is to feel trapped and uninspired.
Review Fix: What are your goals for 2013?
Hamilton: We’ll be playing a lot around Southern California and hopefully saving up for a tour. We have a video coming out soon for our song “Stupid Girl” and we’ve been writing a lot, so it shouldn’t be terribly long until we’re back in the studio again.
Review Fix: How do you want this EP to be remembered?
Hamilton: We want this EP to be remembered as a group of songs that can be listened to by just about anyone without them thinking, “Well, that didn’t suck.”
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