Hailing from the musical hotbed that is South Wales, Falling With Style may look young but they’ve been in existent since the tender age of 15. Over the past five years, they have been refining their sound and honing in on their post-hardcore sound. Now with their a new mini-album in the form of ‘Lost and Found’ out in the open, the Pontypridd five-piece are set to hit the road in the coming months.
The aforementioned ‘Lost and Found’ sees the young quintet maturing with tracks such as ‘Half Measures’ and ‘Deathbeds’ showcasing a more focused approach incorporating soaring pop punk elements and melodic hardcore parts along the way. At its core is a band who are distinctively influenced by a bucket load of modern band, yet on ‘Lost and Found’ Falling With Style have developed an identity and showed progression.
To learn more about Falling With Style, we recently spoke to vocalist Lucas Woodland who discussed the bands young (but lengthy) history, ‘Lost And Found’, how playing shows with Kids In Glass Houses, Lower Then Atlantis and Don Broco has shaped them, their local music scene and more.
AH: According the always trustworthy Facebook, you’ve been together since 2010. Can you give us a brief history on Falling With Style?
Lucas: We have indeed! We met up at a rock school course at the ripe age of 15. Myself and Scott (Carey – Guitar/Vocals) were in the same school and looking for band members, Thom (Pike = Drums), Ryan (James – Guitar) and Ben (Elliott – Bass) were also in the same boat and everything just seemed to fit too perfectly to not try and follow up. We started off playing cover sets in curry bars and over time started writing our own stuff. I don’t believe the Falling With Style we are today really existed until about 2012 though. It took us a long time to find our feet, but we’re grateful for the graft, as, I like to think, we came out the other end a really comfortable unit.
AH: So now you’re set to release a new mini-album called ‘Lost And Found’. For those who haven’t heard of FWS before, what they can expect from it?
Lucas: The five of us bring very different things to the table, and in doing so we cover a lot of different areas. I’d say musically, we’re a classic post-hardcore band, but take influence from melodic hardcore, pop punk and whatever else we feel can spice things up a little bit. On record we sound a little soft, but that’s only because I sing like a bit of a girl. We’ve spent a lot of time gigging alongside heavy bands, and we feel our live show is quite vicious because of that. Overall I’d say it’s something most music fans will be familiar with, but put together in a quite unique package.
AH: From hearing ‘Lost and Found’, there is a mix of melodic and heavy elements. Who do you consider to be your influences?
Lucas:
Like I said in the last question, we listen to a lot of music. I’m just going to bung out a list here; Alexisonfire, Thrice, Underoath, Fightstar, Funeral For A Friend, Counterparts, Being As An Ocean, The Wonder Years, State Champs, Paramore, Periphery, and even bands like My Chemical Romance and Brand New. We’re definitely a 2000’s band.
AH: Compared to past releases, how has the band developed on ‘Lost and Found’?
Lucas:
This is our fourth (I know, right?) release, and with every release we feel we’ve grown better as individuals and as a unit, whether that’s our playing abilities or our song-writing abilities. So for a start, I feel ‘Lost And Found’ is us at the best we’ve ever been in every aspect. I feel one of the coolest things in this release is the way we’ve tried to, not just write and perform post-hardcore, but redefine it. Everything we’ve ever tried to do we’ve pushed to the max here, and not one single song is the same, which is also something we’re very proud of. I feel to really get this release you need to sit down and swallow it as a whole, as it’s a journey more than a collection of songs.
AH: To give fans an idea of what to expect from the mini-album, you recently released a video for the track ‘Half Measures’. How has the feedback been to the track and video?
Lucas:
It’s been awesome! The gap between our last EP ‘This Hell You Call Home’ and the release of ‘Half Measures’ was the longest time we’ve gone as a band without releasing material. As you can imagine, the wait for it was borderline painful for us, but the reception made it all worth it. Lyrics are a big thing for me with this release. I feel I’ve really stepped up my game on that side of things, so finally getting what I had to say out to the world, accompanied by one of the best songs we’ve ever written and a brilliantly made video (Big up Storm+Shelter), it was a beautiful weight to let off our shoulders.
AH: I hear in the past you’ve played alongside Kids In Glass Houses, Lower Then Atlantis and Don Broco, as well as earning a slot at Download Festival. How have those experiences influences FWS to what you are now?
Lucas: As I mentioned earlier, we’ve cut our teeth playing alongside Deathcore bands in smelly pubs… Playing on bigger stages with bigger bands that are a lot more similar to our sound should be more of a challenge for us, but luckily I think it just comes quite naturally to us. A great thing about the UK scene is how enclosed everything is, being given the chance to support the likes of We Are The Ocean and The Blackout in venues we’ve grown up watching bands in is such a privilege, though the pressure is also very full on. Knowing some of your idols are a wall away or even in eye shot of you is a crazy nervous feeling, but I’m happy with how we present ourselves in those situations.
AH: You’re heading out on a UK tour with The Hiding Place. Are you looking forward to the shows? What can gig-goers expect from these shows?
Lucas: It’s going to be our first ever tour, which is mental when you think how many shows we’ve played, but regardless of the gigs, we’re all the best of friends and the prospect of travelling the UK together for nearly two weeks is awesome. On top of that it’s a load of awesome gigs in new locations as well. We like to make a mark in every venue we play, no matter how many people we play to. We promise to put on a show/
AH: You hail from Pontypridd in South Wales, which has a history of producing noteworthy bands. How would you sum up the music scene at the moment?
Lucas: When we started getting into the local music scene and listening to local music, we were often told of how good the scene ‘was’. It got to the point where we felt like we’d arrived late to the party. Bullet, Funeral and Kids were all 3+ albums into their careers and nothing new had broken through in the meantime. These days though, so many phenomenal bands are making waves in South Wales. And we have the sincere pleasure of being best friends with a lot of them. Big up our music scene, 100%.
AH: Are there any up-and-coming bands we should be made aware of?
Lucas: Oooooh, this is a horrible question to answer as I could name about 30 and still miss some awesome bands out! I’ll give a shout out to From Her Eyes, Breathe In The Silence, When We Were Wolves and Casey off the bat though. I’m not going to overthink it too much or the guilt will eat me alive! And also, even though they’re from Essex, I’m going to have to warn you about how massive Create To Inspire are going to be someday. What a band.
’Lost and Found’ by Falling With Style is out now.
Falling With Style links: Facebook|Twitter
Words by Sean Reid (@SeanReid86)
