Interview with As December Falls

As December Falls are an alternative rock band from Nottingham who I recently discovered due to their creative ways of advertising the band, and staying because I loved their sound. I am so excited to share this interview with you today, everyone I spoke to in the band was lovely and they were really keen to answer some questions for us, which I am super thankful for. Make sure you go and listen to As December Falls new singles 'Afterglow' and 'I Don't Feel Like Feeling Great' and support them in any way you can as they are a completely independent band. These answers are from Bethany, the frontwoman of the band.

Hi guys, first of all, how are you?

The pandemic has hit us all really hard this last year, and now we’re going into a third lockdown here in the UK too!

You have been a band for a few years now, but how did it all start?

I’ve always been a bit of a performing arts kid, I grew up dancing and was always on a stage. And then when I was 15 I had some singing lessons that I really enjoyed. I started playing a few acoustic gigs, until I was approached on Facebook by Timmy who asked me to audition for the band! From there we started writing songs (I had never written a song before in my life so I was super nervous,) and gradually we found Lukas and then Ande!

For readers who are not familiar with your music, how would you describe the sound of As December Falls?

I would say we are pop rock. We’ve got riffs, heavy drums, clean vocals, and some sassy lyrics. I would definitely say our new album is more mature sounding and gritty!

Who would you say are the bands biggest inspirations?

I listen to all sorts, like I vary from Architects to Lady Gaga! I love unique voices, and super enjoy bands like My Chemical Romance, and Billy Talent. My vocal inspirations are the likes of, Gwen Stefani, Freddie Mercury, and Christina! But in regards to sounds that inspire As December Falls, I’d go with Stand Atlantic, and old school Fall Out Boy!

Your new single ‘Afterglow’ is full of energy, exciting guitar riffs, and a driven rhythm section which I love. What was the main inspiration behind the song?

So this song actually started as a ‘joke riff’ that Timmy wrote. He used to play this guitar riff that used to annoy Ande because it was completely out of key originally and Ande is very into his music theory! We worked from this to create the music, and this is actually one of the songs we actually wrote all the music too before I even started with the lyrics. As soon as I heard everything put together, I knew that we needed a super fast paced melody!

Can you explain more about the lyrics of the song, and what you want listeners to take away from it?

Afterglow is about people who talk about you when they don’t know you, and have never been a part of your life, it’s saying, keep my name out of your mouth. ‘Leave me out when you re-tell your history.’ That sounds incredibly rude, and always makes me feel a bit harsh when I say that, but that’s the truth!

‘Afterglow’ is the first song from your upcoming sophomore album ‘Happier’, what can you tell us about the album? What should we be expecting?

I am super excited but also nervous about our upcoming album! It is a little different to our first album, I’d say it’s definitely more mature especially in themes for the lyrics! But I love EVERY song on the album! It’s got some classic ADF bops that you can’t help but dance to, and it’s also got some heavier emo anthems on there.

I only recently discovered the band, but I discovered you through the promotion of your 2016 EP ‘When You Figure Out You’re Wrong, Come Back To Me’ which you are currently giving away for free. I think this is a really cool way of promoting your music and connecting with your listeners, especially during a pandemic. It’s not something I have really seen before. What was the reasoning behind this?

Our goal is for as many people to hear our music as possible! What better way than to give our EP away?! We just know that people who dig it will spread the word, maybe buy a tee, come to a show etc so it’s worth it!

I think seeing As December Falls live would be incredible, especially with the energy your songs have. What do you miss the most about touring at the moment?

Touring is my favourite element of being in As December Falls! I love performing live, I love hearing fans screaming the lyrics I wrote back in my face, that feeling is just indescribable!

What can we expect from As December Falls live, when touring is finally allowed again?

We will have new songs that we’ve never performed, and with us, you can always expect a high energy set!! We always try our best to meet you all after our shows as well!

Lastly, what music have you guys been listening to recently to get you through the pandemic?

I’ve gone super chill recently, I think it’s from yoga. I always listen to the likes of Novo Amor, Ben Howard when I’m stretching it out, and I think it’s just stuck with me at the moment!

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer these questions for us, it’s really appreciated. Good luck with the release of ‘Happier’ and hopefully we can see you soon in a crowd somewhere.

Thank you so much again to As December Falls for taking the time to answer these questions for us! Make sure you go and pre-order the sophomore album 'Happier' and support the band on social media as well, all will be linked below.

Thank you for reading, until next time...

Listen to Afterglow on Spotify here.

Follow As December Falls on Spotify here.

Follow As December Falls on Instagram here.

Go to As December Falls website here.

All the After Midnight links are here.

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