EMQ’s With SUNFALL
Hi Everyone! Welcome to another EMQs interview, this time with UK based Nu-core band, Sunfall. Huge thanks to guitarist, Olli, for taking part.
What is your name, what do you play, and can you tell us a little bit about the history of the band?
My name is Olli, and I play guitar for Sunfall. We originally started off as a solo project of mine. Jacob who was our original drummer, had been told by someone that I had demos that he’d really like the sound of, so he reached out to me asking about them. We met up at a local pub and we listened through the demo’s and decided that we both wanted to take this to a live setting as a band. This ultimately led to me finding our bassist James and vocalist Sam who completed the band, allowing Sunfall to become a reality.
How did you come up with your band name?
The band name was a collaborative effort between Sam and I. We were talking about things that meant something to us. so Sam brought up the Sun, having been from Australia, and that ultimately being something that brought him happiness. So, I chose to Juxtapose that with “fall” as that to me represents the struggle with the negative sides of life. We all have our fall and experience “the descent” at some point in life, it never stays on a constant high.
What Country/Region are you from and what is the Metal/Rock scene like there?
Sunfall is from the South of the UK. More accurately, we came together in a town called Guildford. The scene here is pretty good in my opinion. I don’t think the local/underground music scene is anything like it used to be many years ago, but when a show pops off, it pops off on a big level and the atmosphere is amazing.
What is your latest release? (Album, EP, Single, Video)
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Who have been your greatest influences?
I have many influences spanning such a wide range of music, but to name the biggest influences in making me want to even play in bands and heavy music they’d have to be the likes of Slipknot, Metallica, Korn, Linkin Park and System of a down. Then when it’s about influences that had a huge baring on my song writing, it will be all those bands, but also more recent acts (in comparison to those other bands) such as Architects, Northlane, Fit for an Autopsy, and so on.
What first got you into music?
It was my upbringing. I was always, always, surrounded by music. Having grown up living around my cousin as well, who was massively into musicals, and seeing her be passionate about it, I always just felt that attraction and love for music.
If you could collaborate with a current band or musician, who would it be?
I’d love to collaborate with Mick Gordon, the guy behind the Doom soundtrack. As for why…. go listen to a track like ‘BFG Division’, or ‘The Only Thing They Fear Is You’. It will become obvious then hahaha. The man is a genius.
If you could play any festival in the world, which would you choose and why?
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What’s the weirdest gift you have ever received from a fan?
At this stage in the bands career, we haven’t received any weird gifts from fans. I’m not even sure it’s something that happens to the extent it used back in, let’s say, the early 2000’s and earlier.
If you had one message for your fans, what would it be?
It will do wonders for your mental health to log out of all the social media accounts you have, turn off the news, and turn off anything that will bring the darkness of the world into your life. Turn it all off, then go for a walk, listen to music, play video games… do whatever makes you happy.
If you could bring one rock star back from the dead, who would it be?
This is a tough one! It’s between Paul Gray (Slipknot) and Tom Searle (Architects), both were monumental parts of their respective bands.
What do you enjoy the most about being a musician? And what do you hate?
I absolutely love being able to create music and being able to have an impact on other people with the music made. There’s something other worldly about that kind of power and connection. The one thing I hate is just how much money music gear costs, and that ultimately, being a musician who’s taking things seriously, you’re going to end up spending A LOT of money hahaha.
If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
A lot of extortion of small artist.
Name one of your all-time favourite albums?
One of my all-time favourite albums has to be “The Blackening” by Machine head. Absolutely unreal levels of song writing and performances. The album of the decade title it won is absolutely justified, and it says it all about what kind of album it is. One of the greatest metal albums ever written, and probably ever will be written, in my opinion.
What’s best? Vinyl, Cassettes, CDs, or Downloads?
It’s very hard to decide on the best, they all have their individual merits and pitfalls. With Vinyl, you’ve got the entire ritual to enjoy with the huge physical artwork, then lining up the needle with the grooves on the vinyl, but then with CD’s you’ve still got something physical to hold and look at, but at the fraction of the cost of Vinyl. With something like downloads, you must give up the physical experience, but then you get such huge ease of access to a massive range of music, at any time and place.
What’s the best gig that you have played to date?
Our show at the Green Door Store in Brighton a couple of years ago is one of our best shows to date. We all love Brighton as a location, so simply being there is a great start for us for playing a show. The show itself was just perfect start to finish. The other bands on the bill were different to us musically, so there was a nice diversity in music. Then regarding our set, we played to a full room, we had no technical issues which feels like a rare event haha! The energy we gave and received from the audience was intense as well. It was one of those shows where everything fell into place, and we felt like a real band. There are a couple of other shows which come to mind too, which reached this level for us, and we hope to have many more.
If you weren’t a musician, what else would you be doing?
If I wasn’t a musician, I think I’d probably be in the military. Either the army or the air force. I wasn’t too far off enlisting, but then I get accepted into a music university, which ended up in me embracing music in all areas in my life. It was that last push I needed to take music seriously as something I want to be properly involved with.
Which five people would you invite to a dinner party?
I’d invite Daryl Davis, Jim Root, James Hetfield, Jeremy Corbyn, and Thomas Sowell. I think the conversations that would happen at this dinner table would be so profound. I’ve picked a very diverse range of people with a wide range of life experiences, views, and expertise, so that I can just sit there to listen and learn. I wish that I could add more people to this dinner party!
What’s next for the band?
For the time being, it’s just pumping out music. We’ve worked hard getting music together and we are just eager for people to finally hear it all. It means too that if we focus on releases for the time being, when it comes to us hitting the stage again, we can play a whole new live set, and get diverse with what we play.
What Social Media/Website links do you use to get your music out to people?
Our main methods of getting music out to people is via our facebook (https://www.facebook.com/SunfallUK) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/sunfall_UK) then not too long ago we launched our official website at www.sunfalluk.com where we keep updates on new music, merch and so on.
Jaffa Cakes? Are they a cake or a biscuit?
I had a chat with our drummer Ryan about this, and this is what he has to say. “It’s a cake. First, it’s in the name. Then if you think about it… Jaffa cakes get hard when they go stale, just like cakes do whereas biscuits go soft.”
Thank you for your time. Is there anything else that you would like to add?
Thank you for taking the time to speak to us!
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