FALSET
The son of a Dream Theater legend is kicking back against his prog roots and going against the grain
HEAVY METAL IS
hereditary.
It’s a glorious gift that passes from generation to generation. How many of us started our long and fruitful musical journeys by hearing our parents put Black Sabbath or Powerslave on in the car? Or by an older sibling graciously lending us their well-worn copy of Master Of Puppets?
Drummer Chance LaBrie takes inheriting the metal bug to a whole new level. The son of Dream Theater vocalist James LaBrie, Chance was a veteran of the rock’n’roll lifestyle long before he even started making music. “I got to grow up living in this industry and see that this is what I wanted to do when I was older,” he explains. “Going out on tour as a kid, seeing how much fun it is, and seeing that there is a loyal team that always sticks together… it just seems like an awesome family.”
Fast-forward to 2018, and Chance has been able to create his own extended musical family in Falset, a melodic metalcore quartet booming out of Toronto. Armed with their declarative debut EP, Here We Are, and a monumental music video to boot, this is an up-and-coming band who are beginning to make their own, unique footprint in the heavy metal sand.
The group – Chance, together with vocalist Mike Julian and Zach Copeland and Braeden Kozy on guitar – mix hard-hitting anthems with hammering grooves, subdued harmonies and dulcet piano riffs: a direct result of their liberal and unrestricted approach to songwriting.
“Music is art, so you can’t force anything. When you do force it, it becomes terrible,” reasons Chance. “We’re not trying to label it in any way. We’re just writing, seeing what comes out of it and we’re happy with it. Dream Theater fans love progressive music, so they look at me and [Mike’s son]
Max Portnoy as the next generation. But I don’t believe the difficulty level of your music defines how good your music is.”
BE THAT AS
it may, Falset’s tunes also remain far from simplistic. Two singles were released online in the lead-up to Here We Are: the rhythmic and clean What Are You Waiting For followed by the more aggressive hit Falling Off. The duo established differing musical poles, and every other track on the EP lies somewhere in between.
“The two songs that we released first are a good representation of the rest of the album. With Falling Off you get the heavier side and with What Are You
“I don’T ThInk ThE dIFFICULTY LEvEL oF
YoUR MUSIC dEFInES hoW Good IT IS”
Waiting For you get the lighter side of us. That’s a good representation of what this EP’s going to be. And there’s a bit of a progressive element in some of the songs with the guitar solos, which some people will be happy about.”
The dynamic brilliance of Here We
Are will surely function as Falset’s springboard, sending these promising youngsters soaring into the melodic stratosphere. The band have a solid footing that they fully plan to capitalise on. “We’ve talked to some labels and they are excited,” Chance concludes with an optimistic tone. “That’s what we’re really hoping for this release: that it will get our name out there.” FALSET’S DEBUT EP, HERE WE
ARE, LAnDS LATER THIS YEAR