Interview by Kris Peters
Australia, prepare for the onslaught!
Two of the world's most cutting edge extreme metal bands in Cattle Decapitation and Fallujah have arrived in Australia and already started a run of shows that promises to leave a trail of destruction in their wakes.
Bay Area outfit Fallujah are riding high on the recent release of their brooding and atmospheric masterpiece Empyrean, a step even further into the realms of tech-metal for which the band is fast cementing for themselves a place amongst the genres elite.
HEAVY caught up with vocalist Kyle Schaefer not long before the band departed for their smash and grab six date conquest.
"We fly out for a six date tour with Cattle Decapitation," he enthused, "and then on top of that we've got one additional Fallujah headlining show at the end of that so it's basically one full week of Australian shows. It's gonna be a blast."
It's a grueling run of high intensity shows a long way from home, and as such we ask Schaefer what sorts of things he does to mentally and physically prepare himself for the trip.
"Not a whole lot, actually," he laughed. "It depends on whether I have to learn any material for the set, because that's something I spend a lot more time on, like the memorisation of the music. For example, if I'm filling in for a band or Fallujah is doing different songs that I have not performed with the band before - maybe older stuff from before I joined - then I start preparing further in advance. But for something like this where it's all songs that we've done many times on stage, then I'm not too worried about it. I just try to make sure my voice is in shape by practicing pretty consistently for a few weeks beforehand because sometimes if you haven't done screaming vocals for a month or whatever you pick it up again and it's like 'okay, I've fallen off a bit. I've gotta get my voice back in shape' so that's something I really look out for, to make sure I'm feeling normal with my vocals. Two weeks is usually plenty. That's pretty much it. Other than that I just show up and go with the flow (laughs)."
In the full interview, Kyle talks more about some of the essential items he takes on the road with him, what has changed with the band since last time they toured Australia, what we can expect, how much of Empyrean they will be playing, recreating the album atmospherics live, touring with Cattle Decapitation, having Psycroptic on board for the Sydney show, what's next for Fallujah and more.