Fall of Troy talks about latest album and return to the road
It’s not every day that a band that started in high school is still playing shows 20 years later. But in 2002, Thomas Erak and Andrew Forsman started The 30 Years War, eventually changing the name to The Fall of Troy, and they’re still playing shows today.
The band is making a tour stop at Easton’s Once 1 Centre Square on Nov. 21 to give their album, “Doppelganger,” the “Sweet 16 treatment — a full set of shows playing the album front to back in its entirety for its 16th anniversary.
The Mukilteo, Washington-based band combines elements of screamo, hardcore, pop-punk, math-rock and metal, blending melodic vocals with screaming, and playing with time signatures that take songs from danceable toe-tappers into vast displays of technical musicianship, and back again.
The band broke up in 2010 and then made a return in 2013 and have continued to push forward ever since.
We had a chance to chat with drummer, Andrew Forsman, about the
“Sweet 16 tour, their latest album “Mukiltearth,” vinyl, possible new music from the band, and the Seattle music scene that influenced their sound.
Jay Honstetter for The Morning Call: You guys are on tour performing “Doppelganger” in its entirety for its 16th anniversary. What made you decide to do that now, and what’s it like running a whole album front to back from start to finish? What have the shows been like so far? Andrew Forsman:
We wanted to do some shows for Doppelganger’s 15th anniversary in 2020, but for obvious reasons that didn’t work out, so we figured a “Sweet 16 run of shows was still acceptable. Playing the album is always a little bit challenging.
Because of the way the songs are ordered, I think the album flows well and maintains high energy throughout its entirety, but that also means when we’re playing live there are very few moments of recovery. I’m glad the order is what it is, but we would almost never order a setlist in the same way, because it leaves all of us drained by the middle. The shows have been like Christmas or the last day of school — everyone seems really happy that we made it to a place where we are participating in live music again, and there feels like unadulterated joy in the air.
Your latest release “Mukiltearth” sees you guys rerecording some of the earliest Fall of Troy (or 30 Years War as the and was called at the time) tracks mixed with new songs. What was it like returning to these older songs and recreating them for the album? How did they feel next to the newer songs?
It was a really powerful dose of nostalgia recording the old songs. It brought me back to doing our first demo of the same songs when we were 16 and it gave me a chance to reflect on my gratitude for the longevity we’ve had as a band. Putting the old songs next to the new songs was also a nice summary of where we started, what happened, and where we are now. I think it’s easy to hear the through-line when listening to the album.
You guys have released a lot of limited pressings of your albums (some on eBay and Discogs go for well over $100), what made you guys decide to release them this way? Are you guys big record collectors?
Limited vinyl is mostly done for two reasons, it’s hard to figure out exactly how many records will sell, and collectors love it. We’ve also done a few unlimited preorders, where we allow people to place orders in a set period of time, so that everyone has a chance to own the album on vinyl. No one should have to pay crazy prices to own an album on vinyl. If you want to own a specific version of that album that might be a different story. I have what I would consider a small vinyl collection, less than 150 records, but I don’t think either of the other guys have any vinyl.
Fall of Troy’s sound has been described as mathcore, post-hardcore, progressive rock, screamo, and the list goes on because of your tendency to toy with melody and time-signatures and switch back and forth between poppier vocal melodies and screaming. I’m curious to know how you guys approach songwriting and how much of a collaborative effort it is or if maybe the bones of each song comes in through one member with ideas in place?
Usually, the bones are from one member, generally Thomas (guitar). For the newest songs, the drums were written first, and there have been instances where a bassline is the first thing that’s written. The instrumental portion always happens first with vocals following. Other than that, there isn’t a set method. We’ve tried lots of different ways from jamming to programming parts on a computer and then learning them.
Who would you say are some of the biggest influences on your music?
I think the bands that came before us in the Seattle music scene were pretty large influences — Botch, Blood Brothers, Minus the Bear, Pretty Girls Make Graves, Akimbo, Sharks Keep Moving, and Kill Sadie all spring to mind, at least as far as starting influences. As we’ve grown we all split off into what musical stuff we moved toward. Speaking for myself, I am a big electronic music fan, Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, and Boards of Canada are the big three I
always come back to.
What’s next for the band after you wrap up your current tour?
We’re thinking about writing more music, but not quite in that process yet, we’ll see if we get there. We’re hoping to do something fun for the anniversary of our album Manipulator as well.