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Between
my most recently posted interview and this one with UK’s best kept
secret Fall of Efrafa there were a couple that fell through for
different reasons. The problem is very simple, people come to
Deaf Sparrow to find out about bold new artists period. If I
send you the questions, no matter how lame they are, I’d
appreciate it if you put some effort to answer them. From now
on, those that do a quarter-assed job are communicated that you know, thanks
for the time but no thanks. Boy, was I glad to have picked Fall
of Efrafa for the next interview. Not only is their latest
album Elil one of the best records inside and out of the
last couple of years, but there is a lot to this band; there is a concept,
there are ideas, there is a philosophy…all of which
vocalist/artist/main lyricist Alex was happy to answer. The guy
is a dream interview. Read on and spread the word!
- What was the first idea you had in mind when Fall of Efrafa
came together?
Originally, I came up with the idea of creating a concept around
the political mythology in the book Watership Down by Richard
Adams. Its a metaphorical journey about a group of rabbits who
escape their warren just before it is destroyed by man. They
encounter various other rabbit warrens that have adopted ‘human’
political institutions, the last of which is Efrafa, a fascist
dictatorship. The story is the classic fight for freedom. It’s
also drenched in ideology, religious and political oppression. I
felt that an interpretation of this story would be perfect for
the music I wanted us to play. Initially, I had a lot of trouble
finding people to be in the band, until I met Mikey (bass) and
Neil (guitar); they both shared a similar love of music and were
also huge geeks and felt (and contributed) to the concept. Our
plan was ambitious and a bit naive, but worked out well in the
end.
- In the
beginning what were the sounds in your heads and how close is
that to how the band sounds now?
As far as sound, it’s difficult; somewhere between post rock,
diy screamo, d beat hardcore and avant garde metal. We were all
into various kinds of music, yet pulling together and becoming
the band we are now only occurred after three drummers and two
guitarists. I convinced George (drums) and Steve (guitar) to
move to Brighton and join the band. For a time we had a guy
called John on cello, which was something we would have loved to
have been a permanent fixture but with so many sound problems
live, we decided to stick to just the five of us. We became a
lot more cohesive and focused and shared a similar goal with the
band. I think when you start a band you have ideals, but you're
never too sure if the outcome will be anything like that
original concept. It may have been my initial idea, but it soon
became a totally shared goal, and we all contributed equally to
the band from the start. Thankfully, Steve and George brought
the perfect skills and influences to the band that complimented
Neil, Mikey and I and allowed us to make the music we play now.
- Tell us a little bit about your recordings and sound so far?
We decided to write a trilogy of records, collectively known as
The Warren of Snares; Owsla (guardian), Elil
(enemy) and Inle (death). The story I tell in the lyrics
is cyclical, Owsla being the first, and the last part of the
story. Our first album was our first recording effort as a band
and although we are proud of that record, Elil, the
second part of the trilogy, was where we really tried to bring
all our different music tastes together and create something
that really represented us. Since we started, we've matured and
we're influenced by all kinds of music. Trying to describe our
sound is difficult. I guess something like ‘avant-garde post
rock d beat ambient folk black metal infused hardcore’ which
sounds ridiculous! It’s just heavy and long and melodic at the
end of the day.
- What does Fall of Efrafa represent? And how does it relate to
what you are trying to get across with your music?
Fall of Efrafa represents the fall of all forms of oppression,
be that religious, political and emotional. We played on the
religious metaphor in the original book; the rabbit ‘religion’
mirrors christianity - a holy trinity. ‘Frith’ - their god, ‘El
Ehrairah’ - the christ figure and ‘Inle’, the holy spirit. Our
artwork and lyrics reflect the idea that this society is
struggling to turn away from these ideologies in the face of
adversity, to rely on one another instead of false deities. To
us, ‘Efrafa’ represents humanity, and ‘owsla’ which means
guardian, the last vestiges of nature. The story plays out as a
war between these opposing sides. We try to make what we say as
important as the music itself, although I’m not sure how
successful this is. We also wanted to make something engaging,
to give it something more so people can relate to it not only on
a political level but also as an aesthetic, create characters
and a mythology that does not exist in the book we are based on.
As a professional artist I apply the same anally retentive
detail to the band as I do my own work. I think the same can be
said for the rest of the band, Neil applies his technical
knowledge, Steve uses a lot of distinct literature and film to
inspire his song writing. The same can be said for Mikey and
George, whose musical knowledge and skills help us at least try
to be as creative and as original as possible. We take our
passion and focus it on our role as part of Fall of Efrafa; be
that technically, visually, the things we want people to think
of when they hear us. We may fail at all of this, but there is
no harm in trying.
- All the members of Fall of Efrafa are vegans and atheists. If
the band was to change a member, would this be a requirement?
We would never replace a member of Fall of Efrafa. We are like a
dysfunctional family. We are all very different individuals but
we are Fall of Efrafa. If someone left, chances are we would
just break up. When Fall of Efrafa formed as the band it is now,
we were either all vegan or vegetarian. Over time I think we all
learned a lot more about ourselves and what we care about, and I
guess we cemented our beliefs. We made that statement after a
few discussions about what we wanted our message to be. None of
us were in any way religious. I guess atheism is almost a
prerequisite in the diy scene. I am somewhat devout in my
atheism, and this comes across in my lyrics. In this case we
were lucky to all agree from word one. The idea behind the band
is intrinsic to what we wanted to do. Animal rights and atheism
go hand in hand. Knowledge allows us to understand the plight of
others, it also opens you to understanding what life is; the
result of millions of years of evolution. Respect for life is
more important than the respect for man made belief. Religion
demands respect for nothing, nature deserves respect because
without it humanity wouldn't exist.
- There seems to be a deep philosophy to Fall of Efrafa, how was
this formed/instilled in you?
From the point of view of the metaphorical tale behind the band;
the story is about desperation, as the ‘Efrafa’ encroach more
and more upon the earth, what is left for those who share this
space with us? The story is a war of will, not only to stand
your ground, but also not to give in to the crutch of misguided
belief. From the point of view of us as a band it has a lot to
do with our lives outside this; what we cherish and think about,
what we read. We are all very involved in the idea; it creates a
platform to tell stories through imagery, but how do you create
a concept idea without it coming across as horribly pretentious?
There are thousands of bands with positive messages, messages
exactly the same as our own. We've all been in bands before Fall
of Efrafa, and we have all made those political statements that
mean so much to us, but don’t always reach the right ears or
have any effect. I guess with Fall of Efrafa, we care so much
about what we are doing as a group of friends, as people
obsessed with music and obsessed with creating something that,
at the end of the day, is really for us. If you want to
contribute something to the world I guess you want it to mean
something. It’s far from perfect, but you almost create your own
geeky universe and keep adding to it with artwork and music and
messages. You create something you care too much about, and
sometimes it hurts when people misunderstand what you are doing,
or pigeon hole, because you hope you have put so much effort
into it that it is obvious what you are doing. But then again
music is often very esoteric and can be seen as arrogant or, as
I said before, pretentious. Either way you run the risk of just
putting people off. I’m sure we put people off with our
ideologies or our take on what they think we are. Some people
will call us a ‘insert genre here’ band and then tell us we are
‘raping that music’. But because we are not a crust band or a
post metal band, we don’t really fit anywhere, and therefore
sometimes don’t deserve that response. I think our message is
sometimes lost in countries currently in religious upheaval,
especially in America. I have read reviews recently that people
like our music, but don't agree with our message. I'm not sure
how I feel about that. The two should go together.
- Your songs are very long and seem to contain several passages
where the melody and the tempo is changed. Could you give us
some insight into the songwriting process? Are songs tackled as
one, or are the melodies created totally separate and then you
paste them together…..? I am just wondering because it must be
difficult to make one long song that in the end makes sense…
It’s a very long process, most of the songs were written by one
person over a period of months, and will only really get aired
at practice when they are near completion. Neil wrote most of
Owsla, Steve pretty much wrote Elil, although we all have
a say in how the song is put together, we don't really ever try
to create a particular sound. We may say ‘I want this song to be
very sombre, or melancholy, or uplifting’ and Steve will write
some parts and then Neil will write some parts and we will start
constructing all these sections, each part building up to the
next. We allow room for each other, which is very refreshing,
but we are also very hard on ourselves, it has to make us feel
something, we call it the ‘oh shit!’ moment. One time Steve
wrote a part and Mikey grinned from ear to ear with joy and
exclaimed ‘oh shit!’’. It has to give us those emotional peaks,
and then it becomes part of the song. We're currently writing
our last record and we have given this a lot more time to
breath, the songs appear to be shorter, but it’s not a conscious
decision, just as it was not a conscious decision for Elil
to be so long. It just was! Practicing those songs is a pain in
the ass! I guess we want them to be one long song, cut up into
movements. They can stand a lone but they are part and parcel of
each other.
- In my review of Elil I made reference to some
similarities I found between your sound and that of Neurosis.
Elil is great and after spinning it several times, I see how
it stands on its own pretty apart from the sounds of Neurosis.
You had written me about this and about how there are always
comparisons made between Fall of Efrafa and other bands? How do
you see this? Is this something you are taking into
consideration when composing new material? Or this won’t affect
at all the way in which the band works?
It’s funny, Neurosis has a sound, a very definite sound, but
they never sound the same on each album. I think Neurosis are
possibly one of the most important bands in modern progressive
music, and they deserve credit for being a massive influence on
not only us, but on the entire avant garde metal scene. But as
much as Neurosis are an important band, we never ever try to
emulate any bands, because our band would be redundant if we did
that. I guess you can say, we are five people, with five
separate and mixed tastes in music. We try to bring together
sounds which compliment each other; post rock, punk, hardcore,
ambient folk black metal, crust, drone, sludge, everything. Some
people say we sound just like ‘insert band’ and then another
will say we rip off ‘insert band’. I guess at the end of the day
this is a sign of the times; a lot of heavy progressive music is
becoming homogenized. Wolves in the Throne Room sometimes sound
like Ekkaia, Ekkaia sometimes sound like His Hero is Gone and so
on. So in a way we take influence from a lot of complementary
music, which in turn takes influence, maybe not even directly,
from each other and it’s all subconscious.
- Elil has a great sound. It was produced with Peter
Miles? Who is he?
Pete Miles is a very talented record producer based in Devon,
England. He is also the brother of our drummer. He has recorded
many many bands, from mainstream acts, to a whole host of DIY
bands. He is also a very talented musician and so knows the
ropes, knows our music and has recorded everything we have
produced. We recorded Elil over four days, we did not
have much time and a lot of what we wanted to do was abandoned
due to this lack of time, so we are very happy that it came out
so well, regardless of this. Pete will also record our last
recording efforts.
- How
happy are you with the results?
It’s almost exactly what we wanted, apart from the lack of
cello. I think most of us would have preferred to have the time
to work on it for a little while longer, but such is life. It
was a great learning process and we plan to have a lot more time
devoted to Inle, our last record.
- Have you
written any new songs? Sonically, are they similar to those form
Elil?
Yes, we have written half of the new record. Musically it still
sounds like us, but I would say it is a lot more focused, and
each song compliments each other. The songs are slightly shorter
and reined in, I'd say its a lot more sombre, and there is more
emotion in it. We want it to be more uplifting.
- What can you tell us about the Tharn release? Is this a
collaborative project between you and Paper Aeroplane or is it
just them? Please elaborate…
Paper Aeroplane are good friends of ours, they play a mixture of
instrumental indie, pop and post rock. They took the original
master of the second song on our last album entitled "Dominion
Theology" and reworked it, adding over 40 layers of extra sound.
It’s a beautiful song, it still sounds like us, but with the
addition of strings and piano, and a lot of hard work. Tharn
means ‘struck with fear’ and is a metaphor for the original
point of the song, the controlling mechanism of religion is
fear. The fear of reason.
- Please list your favorite albums.
Favourite current albums:
Wolves
in the Throne Room - Two Hunters
/Diadem of Twelve Stars. Amazing eco black
metal, beautiful yet menacing
Icos- a lovely bunch of guys playing atmospheric doom
laden slow hardcore, with ambient post metal leanings.
Protestant - pummeling d beat hardcore, a
light spattering of epic melody only to be reigned in with post
apocalyptic desolation.
Neurosis - need I say more?
Ghostlimb - Bearing and Distance -
Graf Orlock hardcore punk side project, first and
second albums are incredible
Ekkaia - everything - one of the best neo - screamo - d
beat - black metal cross over bands ever.
Austrasian Goat - drone drone soaring melody drone..
Scraps
of Tape - beautiful Swedish post rock
played by punks
- What’s
next for Fall of Efrafa?
Next is to finish writing our final record. Then, we go on tour
in America in March next year with the ever crushing Protestant.
Once we're back we hope to begin work on a crossover project
with Icos from Sweden, we hope to write a record between the two
of us, sharing vocals, ideas and a concept. We hope that they
will come over to the UK and tour a little with us and then we
shall go to Pete Miles's recording studio and work on it in the
summer. I guess this will be the final Fall of Efrafa recording
effort. We plan to go on permanent hiatus at the end of next
year, which is sad, and unfortunate, but I don’t think we want
to milk the band to death, and we will all be moving off and
doing new things. We all have side projects in the works, so as
much as I would like to keep the band together for as long as
possible, there are five of us and we all have separate lives to
lead.
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