Fear Before The March of Flames Interview

Interview
David Marion
Fear Before The March of Flames

Lineup:
Rupert - guitar, vocals
Brandon Proff - drums
Dave Marion - screams
Mike Madruga - bass

Underoath
Hopesfall
The Chariot
These Arms Are Snakes
FEAR BEFORE THE MARCH OF FLAMES
HOB
4/19/05
Interviewer: Erika Kristen Watt
Photos: Karma E. Omowale

Transcription: Maggie Solum

Dave Marion of Fear Before The March of Flames (Photo: Karma E. Omowale)

"It feels completely awkward for us to play to a room that doesn't want anything to do with it."

When is art not art? Fear Before The March Of Flames. A mouth full, right? With an intro like that, you can only imagine what roughneck musicians make up such a spectacle. The melancholy punk rockers from Colorado were also brilliant enough to conjure a most disturbing video with Slayer-like imagery that would leave you speechless. Their J-cards, merch, right down to the band’s website is a graphic designer’s wet dream. What else could they possibly have up their sleeves? World domination?!? Maybe too lofty but maybe the shy lead screamer would like to settle on just getting your attention among other things. In this candid portrayal with front man Dave, he explains this very concept and more. Has anyone ever stopped to think that performing can sometimes be uncomfortable for the artist as well? Hmmmm, go on…

Dave: I think what we try to do as a band…you mean the word 'fear'? (Laughter) I was like ''oh I'm gonna answer this question about the band'' oh wait…is it supposed to be deeper? (Laughs) No, this band, we've always done it because it was fun. We started just being friends, it started that way and it continues to be that way. We never wanted it just to be anything other than that. We just want to be different and do our own thing and not let a lot of things that cloud other bands and different mind sets get in the way. We just try to do our own thing and have fun doing it. I think we've come 10 million times further than any of us expected and we want to just keep doing it, because it's still true to who we are.

Erika: Okay, because you guys, if I'm not mistaken, please correct me if I'm wrong, you guys put out two albums within one year? Or did they just release two albums within one year?

Dave: Well, Equal Vision re-released our CD and then, the re-release and our new CD came out together. But on our previous label our old CD came out before then.

Erika: What do attribute to the fact that you guys are young and there's like a lot of other bands that are pretty young but they have a very distinctive sound. What do attribute to that?

Erika: Because a lot of people are really deceptive of that, though. I guess you're doing something right. (Laughs)

Dave: It's just we all listen to extremely different things. And if we try to do one little part of who we are as a band, then none of us would have fun doing it. We all take influence from a lot of different things and are very different people within the band. That totally has a lot to do with it. And just, we never want to write that just to be popular. We want to write the songs we want to write, that's mainly it.

Erika: We'll touch on that later too (Laughs) The song writing. How did you guys connect with Underoath? How did you guys get on this tour?

Dave: We met them a long time ago just from playing shows whenever they'd come through Denver. I've met them a few time through friend's bands and stuff. And we've played shows here and there with them. And then last year we ended up doing their CD release tour for They're Only Chasing Safety and it was also 18 Vision's CD release tour for Obsession, so it was on that tour that we'd really like spent a lot of time together and they'd offered us this tour and we couldn't really say no, so.

Erika: Good, excellent. In preparation for your writing and recording, do you collaborate as a group or do one or two people take charge?

Dave: Let me try to think, how long have I been out of high school. (Laughs) Maybe six years, Zach? Six, seven years we've known each other? How long have we known each other? Seven or eight...?

Dave: Wow! (Laughter ensues) So yeah, I guess it has been longer than it feels, but it's cool.

Dave: I lost my train of thought. The song writing, it's mainly been like Adam, our guitar player coming up with guitar parts that he would present to Brandon, our drummer, and they would work out the framing of the song, and then bass and vocals come later. I think with this record we're going to have more time to write. I think we're going to take a lot of time out and do things altogether and see what that would bring, because I think that would add a lot to how we're doing rather than things evolving, we're just gonna start with this huge mess of ideas and hopefully that'll translate into even more complex songs and better songs, hopefully.

Erika: How do you guys, do you do any recording on the road? Jot down ideas?

Dave: We've never done well at writing on the road. It just doesn't, it's hard to find time and get focused enough, for us, to do that. But we do have a drum machine now and I think Adam did one song when we had like a week off in Austin, but usually it's all when we're home and we actually have time to get away from the distractions of touring. Even when you're not doing anything, while you're on the road and not doing anything, it's still kind of a pain to get focused.

Dave: Yeah, we had all the songs done. We went into pre-production where we sat in with our producer for a few days and kind of reworked a couple things and made song work better as far as the way they flowed and different time changes and what not, or certain amounts of times we play things. But besides that, it was almost a month total of tracking and mixing and pre-production and that.

Dave: Oh, yeah. Most of us don't listen to too much within the genre. I don't know. We enjoy all things. I find myself listening to Pearl Jam and Sigur Rós and Radiohead and stuff like that, way more away from bands we'd be able to tour with, bands like Sigur Rós (Laughs)

Dave: We like all kinds of music. It varies from all of us, very different. So it's pretty awesome.

Erika: As far as... some of your song titles (Laughs) I'm gonna jump into that. Let's take a couple of lyrical explanations. “Whiskey Is Alright In Its Place, But Its Place Is In Hell…”?

Dave: There's a venue in Bakersfield, California and outside the venue there's a mural painted on the side and it's for prohibition. That's the right word, right? (Laughs) Yeah, okay. There's a sign they were holding up that said that and we just thought it was funny; we always jot stuff down that we think is funny or maybe we'd use later and stuff. Adam titled the song that; we just thought it was funny. Not many people do, but we do. A lot of people think we're straight edge because of that, which isn't really what we want to portray.

Erika: “The Story of the Curious Oysters”? I just love the title of that one.

Dave: That one is a reference to Alice of Wonderland, the walrus leading them to their death, just kind of following them like nothing would happen or be wrong, but that's the end of it. It kind of like has a lot to do with the music industry. Like the way we see major labels might try to ruin what we have or ruin other bands that are good about music and stuff.

Erika: What do you think of the music industry today? What are your thoughts?

Dave: I think the music industry's more confused than anybody. Especially like the iPods and downloading and their extreme loss in revenue. You know, they're all majors of buying each other out and all withering down and people are out of jobs and stuff. I don't know, I think they're trying to find that one thing and they don't understand this music, I don't think, at all, and they're trying to pretend that they do so they're trying to pick bands that they think will do well in a broader scheme. I think a lot of bands should do what they're doing already and let it grow, I don't think these bands need major labels to do what they're doing. I think they just need to work hard and I think a lot of them are just copping out. Just major labels and stuff...we're just about doing it on our own.

We've had the offers, we've had all that stuff, and seen it, just cheesy and lame. I think the worst part about the major labels is they have all the money to basically, to get their product out there. They're training kids to not really know what they're listening to, they just like it because it's there. I think magazine covers are the same way, you see a certain thing and you're taught to like it. You see it on MTV and you're taught to like it. A lot of these kids that come out, even these shows, because Underoath's getting a lot more popular on MTV and stuff, and these kids really haven't seen any of this kind of music before and they're opening their eyes to it, and I think they can really grow from that. I think kids are smart and they only listen to bad music because they don't know anything else. I think once that can kind of change... Like MTV2, hopefully it stays trying to open new doors for smaller bands and stuff, and if it doesn't happen we're cool with that too. We've done a few years now with the band without it, we don't need it, but it would be nice for there to be more kids into it because there's not reason - there should be more kids who get to hear it. Like in Middle America, that don't really have places they can go to buy indie music. Like Best Buy and Wal-Mart is the only place, they can buy music. Eh – I'm kind of rambling.

Erika: No no no, it's coming together. Actually, when you touch on MTV2, because I saw the video, I was wondering – what did MTV do when you guys submitted that?

Dave: It was just recently submitted, and I actually don't know what I think of it.

Karma: It comes on at least three or four times during the two-hour segment.

Dave: Kaminski, he's basically had a little experience doing it in the past. And he tracked down some people that would work on the video for free and they came all the way from Salt Lake City to LA. To work on this video over night that we had little or no budget for, we were just gonna do it pretty bare minimum. And we played a show in Pomona, we were on tour with Zao at the time, we played a show, we rolled out of there as fast as we could, we got to LA. At around midnight and we shot the video from midnight to 2 in the afternoon or something like that. So we got like an hour and a half sleep while they were setting up.

Erika: Maybe that had something to do with all the energy that was in it. I mean, it was almost chaotic in the presentation.

Dave: Yeah, we had little or no time but we made it work. Then that day, as soon as we were done we showered all the fake blood off and then we drove all the way to San Diego and played that night. It was like the exhaustion I've ever had, I just felt nauseous for like three days after that. Just, it was bad.

Dave: Yeah, we had no other time to shoot the video and we really wanted to get it out and finish it because that was our only time to do it. We did it and it sucked, but it came out good.

Erika: It looks good, I love all the blood play. (Laughs) It was edited well.

Dave: We had the blood idea in mind for so long, it's basically inspired from The Shining, like I always wanted it to come down – it's not exact, but that was the idea, I just wanted it to flood and fill the room and stuff.

Erika: It was getting there too, and the video cut off just before it was supposed to get a little bit higher, so they ended it really well.

Dave: Yeah, they shot it in the Fight Club basement, where all the fight scenes were in Fight Club, in the basement in L.A. So it was an experience, it felt very weird doing it, but it was cool.

Erika: And as far as – just in case they don't play it on MTV2, is it going to be on a DVD? Do you have any plans for that?

Dave: We actually are giving away samplers – they're Equal Vision Records, our label. It has a couple of our songs, a couple of Bane songs, a BearVsShark song, we're handing those out and it's enhanced and it has videos on there so it has ours on it – so if you're going to a show I'm sure you'll get one. And it's available online for download, it should also be on Fuse too. We hope.

Erika: Oh, they will. I'm sure they will. And the commercial – can you explain that?

Erika: It was a little segment, a little commercial; it was filmed in a park...

Dave: That (pauses) we were given a very small budget from out label to make a commercial that was when the album first came out, we were gonna tour with Norma Jean and Throwdown. And we were just brainstorming on what we could do that would be different that nobody's really done before and would catch people's eye or just be funny to us. So we rented a cow costume in Orange County and our manager was the cow. (Laughter) We rented the costume and all bought gallons of milk and went to town, and I can tell you now that the is the worst idea ever – because it was in the summer heat and we're drinking milk that's getting warmer and warmer by, like, the minute, and after you drink about half of a gallon of milk. (Train of thought derailed as tape runs out, switching to another recorder)

After you drink about a half gallon of milk, you can taste why it taste that why. A cow eats hay and milk taste like hay, you just don't know it until you drink a lot of it and it gets warm and it gets gross!

Dave: After that it's just a bad move! It was funny; I can't believe they aired it!

Dave: Well that's us and it was us going crazy. It was goofy and it worked I think. I mean they aired it on TV and it is what it was.

Dave: It's just that we've grown away from that style I think as a band because that song was extremely poppy. When we make the new album and with what we're doing right now and what we're gonna be doing in the future, it just doesn't make sense. It wouldn't flow right, also knowing we don't enjoy playing it, and it doesn't translate well live. We've got to do what we we're doing, hopefully kids will understand.

Erika: What's going on in the scene in Denver? Are you guys still active and involved in the scene? Which bands from Denver do you want to see blow up?

Dave: Let's see, it's hard to say because we're gone all the time but I've been trying to get out there. Denver has a hard time 'cos a lot of bands never think to do it on their own. They wait for things out there have a hard time because they just wait for things to happen for them. They wait for their big break and they think it just comes like that. It's us and this band Vaux. They just got signed to a major label. They used to be on Volcom and they're good friends of ours. Hopefully, their CD does really well when it comes out. There's a band called Lenore that we're friends with and their CD's really good; they are like a metalcore band and they definitely have potential. Other than that, I haven’t been in touch enough to say.

Dave: Umm, this year in the past two months we've only been home for a day. We were just home a couple of days ago when we were driving through. It's rough to write because last year we were on the road for 284 days. We wrote the album like early in the year and then we went out to Boston, recorded it, and then toured nonstop. So we really haven't been home for more than a couple of months in a while. When you're at home, you get on a roll. Like when you're at home, you're you used to being at home and when you're on the road, you're used to being on the road. Some days you don't feel like driving or want to be on the road. You do have complete freedom but in a sense, you have no freedom. Like you have to get from point A to point B and that's the way it is! I mean it's a gig and I like it and that's the way it is!

Erika: Well it must be hard especially the closer you get to the end of a tour, it's not hard to understand why you're so worn out!

Dave: Yeah! We've toured so much that it doesn’t even bother us anymore. But a with a lot of bands it ruins them; touring this much causes a lot of bands to get burned out and they just fold. Then they are times where it just sucks because we don’t even know who we are anymore. It's just like we are this thing that goes everywhere. We worked so hard in the last year that we really don’t have to do that again. We got it out the way and we’re able to be more comfortable now. We're going out for long stretches but we’re also able to go home and enjoy ourselves.

Dave: How do we do it? I don't know, I guess we don’t have anything else to fall back on. With what we do, we're very committed; we've saved a lot of money. We've paid ourselves little or nothing for so long that we have a lot of things were bands who have been around maybe 4-5 years longer than us have together. People'll be like, "Oh wow, how did you get this, how did you get that"? And we're able to do that because we sat down and thought about it and we got it done. It makes us feel more comfortable in what we’re doing.

Erika: Well I have to ask since we already went over Hopefall's choices, if you were stranded on a deserted island, whom you loved to be marooned with?

Dave: (Pauses) Sigur Rós, maybe James Brown "Sex Machine"…(laughter ensues) Well I think you need to balance it out because you have to get wholesome too. Dave Marion of Fear Before The March of Flames loves James Brown (Photo: Karma E. Omowale)

Dave Marion of Fear Before The March of Flames loves James Brown (Photo: Karma E. Omowale)

Dave: I'm pretty introverted. At times, I come out pretty extroverted but it's usually when I'm on stage.

Dave: Hmmm, let's see… Vanilla Sky, The Shining, Shawshank Redemption,… I'm trying to go through my collection in my head. Did I say Devil's Advocate?

Dave: Devil's Advocate, and ooh. I don’t just want to throw a movie in there that's not serious. (Laughs) Geez… Spinal Tap.

Dave: Oh, the new Norma Jean CD I like a lot, I listen to Meshuggah a lot…and a band called Circa Survive, they're on Equal Vision. They're not like hardcore/metal or anything but they're just a really good band.

Dave: It's just a red cross on my chest. It's like a band tattoo like Zao. They were the first hardcore band that I listened to when I was in middle school so it's cool that we're friends and I've gotten to go on tour with them and stuff. The tattoos I've gotten so far are musical influences and stuff. Like I want to get a Smashing Pumpkins one when I get home and a Pearl Jam one. It you can always go back when the first time you heard music or you associate memories with CD's you bought when you were in elementary school and middle school, just as a kid. I've always been into music, I've always been a fan boy before I was in a band. I may have only been in band for couple of years, but I've been a fan of music my whole life.

Dave: Well you know at times it's intimidating, you have this frame of mind that sticks out and it may or may not be true. You know I was worried about being let down…you don't want to go in having such high hopes for this person even if they might be having a bad day. And it may ruin your thoughts you had of this person you're whole life…(pauses) I don't know, it's weird now being a band and when kids come up to me and do the same thing I would do to favorite bands and stuff. I mean it's really weird! I try to tell them, "I'm just a dude, I'm just a few years older than you are. I'm just a normal person!" Star struck was at SXSW I was watching The Snake The Cross The Crown's, they're on Equal Vision as well, I look right behind me and James Iha and Darcy from Smashing Pumpkins were watching the set too. I kept turning around and I could tell I was making them really uncomfortable. But it was pretty awesome! That and we saw the band The Cardigans play a show and they had a big room and we had the small room but I got to see their entire show. That was really cool too!

Erika: In closing, what would you like the audiences to say about your band after being on this tour?

Dave: I guess I want the kids to give us a shot, and listen to us. You don’t have to like us but I would like to know that they're accepting and at least open to new ideas, new bands and stuff. Just be respectful even if you don't like it, that's how it boils down. I don’t know, we tend to play to a lot of one track mind people. I mean it’s hard for us to go out on stage, it feels completely awkward for us to play to a room that doesn't want anything to do with it. A lot of shows allows us to have a good time and a lot of them…well it just sucks when those few shows can really get you down. It's silly and it really shouldn't matter but like, yeah, it's hard to go out and be energetic and enthused and excited about playing when the audience isn't very accepting. I guess I try to give them all I have all the time.