INTRO BY JOE HERNANDEZ
INTERVIEW BY CAMI LIBERTY
PHOTO COURTESY OF FALL FLAVORED
Reforming in 2017 with a new frontwoman and line-up, the French punk rock band Fall Flavored is back with new music. The group is now a full four piece band led by the powerfully voiced Yasmine, and as of February 2018 have released their debut album 180. Fall Flavored sits somewhere between that of Sum 41 and MUSE. The group blurs the lines separating punk and post rock, and incorporate aspects of both genres in their unique sound. With the debut album out, Fall Flavored has plenty of ideas and goals to push the band even further.
How long have you guys been a band and how did you come together?
Benji: "Fall Flavored started with just two friends (me and a friend) playing in a band near Lille, north of France. The band stopped but we still wanted to play some punk rock and we started a new band. In october 2014, we released our first EP and found the name of the band. The EP was a bit melancholic, perfect for rainy days. At that moment of the year, the outside smelled fallen leaves. So we thought “Fall Flavored”! It sounds good and poetic. After that, we recruited an official drummer (Phil) and a bassist (Pierre) a few times after. 2 years after the creation, the singer chose to leave the band and we have recruited Yasmine, our new front-women."
In your own words, how would you describe your music?
Benji: "It’s a catchy edgy rocky punk boum boum sound."
Who are some of your musical influences?
Phil: "Our influences are very wide, I’m a big fan of MUSE atmosphere, more particularly the way Dominic Howard plays (drums): very dynamic and direct style. But some references like Green Day, sum 41 or David Bowie make my day too!!!"
Pierre: "Yes, like Phil said, it’s very wide. All of us listen to lots of different styles of music. Benji is our punk rock guy, big listener of bands like Sum 41 and Anti Flag. And I prefer Alternative Rock like Paramore, Post Rock/Math Rock like And So I Watch From Afar and Metalcore/Easycore like Bring Me The Horizon."
Benji: "I also like japan rock bands like One Ok Rock, Uplift Spice, Ellegarden. The Japanese rock scene is very impressive."
Yasmine: "I’m more on Metal with bands like Avenged Sevenfold, August Burns Red, A Day To Remember, While She Sleeps. But in fact, I listen to a lot of things too, as long as I like it. I don’t want any restriction about my influences."
You recently released your debut album, “180”. Can you tell us a little about the album and the process creating it?
Yasmine: "We have a common cloud platform. Benji, Pierre and I post our ideas of songs (most of the time, it’s just some chords and melodies). We discuss of it, change the structure, chords or some riffs. When it’s done, I start writing the voice parts and the text. After that, we start playing the song together in rehearsals. And finally, when all of this is done, we do a DIY record of it with our recording gear to be sure of how it sounds. And we improve the song again and again until we finally record it on an album (or not!)."
Pierre: "We try not to put musicals frontiers to our compositions. We wanted to explore multiple registers of music at the same time, but without denying our punk rock legacy. Our sound is definitely a melodic punk rock sound with influences such as Anti Flag or Sum 41, but there's also some 'MUSE-ish' or 'KOBAIN-ish', even post-rock sounds that are very recognizable. We’ve mix every of this and put all of our energy and inspirations in the last album."
Yasmine: "For the lyrics… I write everything. I’m inspired by common life scenes. There is so much to say about people. I don’t need any cause to defend or so. I want to communicate with people who might recognize themselves in my lyrics, and why not, gather them into the Flavored community so they may find support or anything. I want to discuss with them about them."
What song off the album are you most proud of?
Benji: "Character in a role play. At the beginning I was the only one who wanted it on the album. But Pierre convinced everyone with the WTF intro (laughs)."
PHOTO COURTESY OF FALL FLAVORED
How do you hope to continue to evolve as a band?
Benji: "I hope we will always do something new. I don’t want to record hundred times the same songs."
Is there anything else we can expect from you guys in the near future?
Benji: "Touring! Touring! Touring! Touring a lot! And probably new songs at the end of the year 2018. We still have a lot of idea to record so stay tuned."