SHADOWS FALL Frontman Says Too Many Kids Are Worrying About 'Scene Police'

Keith Carman of ChartAttack.com recently conducted an interview with SHADOWS FALL frontman Brian Fair. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

On coming under attack for branching out into different musical territory:

Brian Fair: "Too many kids out there are worrying about the scene police. We've been a band for over 10 years. We have the comfort now to say, 'Fuck it' and do what we want. You see a lot of young bands now starting up just to make money at this. When we started, 'metal' was a dirty word. It was as underground as possible so we were doing it 'cause we loved it. Some of these kids do it with an agenda of success where I'm just happy I'm not working at the ice cream store anymore."

On how even heavy metal has become a cash cow these days:

Brian Fair: "Younger bands see us and KILLSWITCH ENGAGE. They think about it too much. When you start thinking, you take the fun out of everything. As soon as the dollar becomes your motivating factor, the music suffers. But then again, some of those bands start out as flavour of the month, but change with time because they start to believe in themselves."

On whether SHADOWS FALL went through some sort of identity crisis when they were starting out:

Brian Fair: "I'm telling you, you can see the change. It was either pop-punk or nu metal bands we were ALWAYS playing with when we started out. But you never see a band with a DJ at the club anymore, thankfully. But that look in their eye hasn't changed. You do see dollar signs in these kids' eyes now, where in the metal scene before you just saw passion. That sucks, man. It's like, 'We've got another kid with rooster hair and tight black jeans. Shit.'"