Failsafe Interview: SXSW 2010

Posted on Feb 22nd 2010 2:10PM by John DeBlanc
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Based out of Preston, England, Failsafe started as a bunch of school chums, with its current incarnation delivering a hard-driving but melodic sound. Since releasing their first two albums 'What We Are Today' and 'The Truth Is...' they have been fine-tuning their sound and live shows by touring heavily, playing at most of the major UK festivals this year. This will be their first SXSW show. Spinner caught up with them on the road.

What are your biggest musical influences?

We're influenced by a wide range of bands and artists. Varying from bands like Thrice, Rx Bandits, The Beatsteaks, Hot Water Music and many many more. Over time we've developed a sound we can call our own.

How did you come up with your name?

We were brainstorming ideas for weeks when Andy suggested the name Failsafe to our old bass player Scott Bampton who loved it. It's a fairly positive name, easy to remember and at the time we didn't want a long name, so we stuck with it.

In your own words, how would you describe your sound?

Our music is a constant mixture of melodic and aggressive rock influenced by punk, alternative rock and heavy and ambient music. It's often a good thing that we all listen to different types of music, as we can explore different musical while writing without even realizing it. A band like ours, both on and off the same page musically, allows for a much wider spectrum of music to explore, but this doesn't make life easy all the time!

How did the band get together?

The current band name and line up came about in 2005, but the roots of the band go way back to 2000. Each member of the band has been playing with other bands and we were aware of each other through friends, eventually grouping together to form Failsafe. Initially, we started the band to have fun and be creative, as all bands should, but somewhere along the line we decided to take it far more seriously than I think anyone expected. Some of us gave up universities, jobs and other commitments. We feel very lucky about that because it's not always easy to find five guys who are equally committed to something like this.

What's your musical guilty pleasure?

As long as you actually like them, then all musical pleasures are guilt free! I get the feeling some people listen to certain music these days for fear of being branded 'uncool' if they didn't! Jim likes the UK band McFly, so maybe that's one. Though I'm not sure exactly how guilty he feels about it.

Beatles or Stones?

Beatles. One band wrote the same song their whole career and the other changed and developed with every album.

Speaking of that, how hard is it to change and develop with each album?

Writing our third album has been a big challenge. We always wanted to make sure we don't write the same record twice, but without there being a forced change. We wanted to keep hold of the old Failsafe and develop and improve our sound. I feel like we've made a huge progression lately and the new album is going to be our best by far in my opinion. It's a huge challenge, but one we're all excited about and working hard at. Stay tuned!

As a band, what has been the wildest thing you guys have been involved in on the road?

The first time we played in a town called Den Helder in Holland turned into an insane party going on until about 5 am. Somehow we ended up completely naked. Anyway, the next time we came back, a girl showed us a newspaper article featuring the band which we all thought was awesome, until she translated it back to us. It said "the crazy, naked English band are back in Den Helder" and as you can imagine, the same happened again only this time the entire bar, including it's staff got naked. We did the conga for about an hour before everyone fell asleep one after the other, Rob being the last one awake as always.

What is your biggest vice?

Caffeine! After all the energy drinks and brews we go through, it's confusing that we still manage to sleep! Our friends all seem to know they need to stock up on tea bags when we're coming to their towns and we're very grateful!

What is in your festival survivor kit?

Bogroll [toilet paper], wet wipes and booze. What else do you need at a festival, other than a good line up?

John DeBlanc is a contributor from Seed.com. Learn how you can contribute here.