Metalcore darlings Blessthefall are embarking on a sonic chapter that simultaneously embraces the past and includes the present on their new record, Gallows.
Zooming from his home in Los Angeles on a cozy Thursday afternoon, frontman Beau Bokan flashes a big smile and has a cheery disposition as sunny as a bright West Coast summer day while gesturing to a display of cool artwork featuring Batman painted by his wife, Canadian pop singer Lights, eager to chat about the process of making the band’s addictive and head-bang worthy album.
“It was so different from making every other album because the band had taken a long break and we were sort of tossing around the idea of coming back and we didn’t know what we were going to do. Touring got really hard, and it was one of those things where we all had other jobs at the time. We didn’t necessarily need to play music to survive.” Singles such as “MallxCore, ”one that Bokan describes as a “no frills” song accompanied by a hilarious video that would make any millennial obsessed with 2000s metalcore screech in delight, and “Drag Me Under” featuring Alpha Wolf, and “Fell So Hard, Felt So Right,” featuring Story of the Year, show that the band had not lost touch with making head bangers and signals the band’s aim to combine the sounds of metalcore and update it for the modern rock scene on a fan-focused record.
For Bokan, crafting this album was different in the lack of pressure from record labels and other forces, something that allowed him to write songs as they came to him.
“In the past, a lot of bands would go into the studio for two months and lock themselves away. For us, this was totally different. We needed this freedom, and we needed to miss it.”
Keeping the recording process a secret from social media and the wider industry relieved Bokan and company from the demands and duress of a music industry that seems to operate on a 24/7 schedule.
“Knowing that nobody knew we were doing this was part of it, where we were like ‘Do not post that we’re in here. Do not say anything.’ I don’t even know what we’re doing or if we’re making a record. Let’s just do the opposite of what everyone else does: post themselves [on social media] with the caption ‘Big Things Coming, something I referenced in the video for ‘Mallxcore.’ Instead, let’s just do it on our own time. It all just happened organically. Taking our time with the process and having no pressure was the most important thing for us.”
Creating new music also helped the singer rediscover his passion for music and his purpose.
“The first couple of trips out there to make new music, I felt like I was so out of shape. I could not write, and my voice sounded so bad. I made him burn all those recordings, delete everything. Slowly, it started coming back and the passion started coming back. Like I said, this is different from any other album in that I was going out every few months to write a song and then write another song a few months later. It became something I really looked forward to.”
Making new music together also enabled the band to bond and re-establish ties with each other.
“Going out to Los Angeles, it became this really fun trip every time we would go. We built a cool comradery and found some cool places to eat. It became fun again.”
Bokan sports a surprised tone when he realizes that the band has been around for nearly two decades, becoming reflective in his excitement about their longevity.
“I joined the band in 2008, but they had been a band for a couple of years already and I was in a band before that. It doesn’t really feel like it though. I feel brand new when we do these festivals. We’re going to play Louder Than Life and we did Inkcarceration, Welcome to Rockville, and Warped Tour. Playing these festivals makes me feel like we’re a new band because I see that a good amount of people don’t know who we are and we’re playing next to other bands. It’s like ‘Wow, there’s a whole bunch of people out here who are seeing us for the first time.’ In that case, you don’t feel like the old guys, but in terms of heavy metal and rock, we’re still new—Marilyn Manson and Korn are the veterans. I love playing in front of new people and seeing people hit us up afterwards and follow us [on social media.]”
Gallows is for both die-hard Blessthefall fans and newcomers alike.
“Every song on the album was written from a place of excitement and freedom,” says Bokan. “It shows in the music. It’s exciting and fun. Obviously, it’s dark in places, but it has that energy.”
Everything, down to the order of the track list is made for the fans.
“As older millennials, we like to listen to albums front to back, and I love it when an album can flow, so we really focused on making sure that we can start with one and it takes you on a journey, they all go into each other. We put a lot of thought into it. It’s not just throwing something against the wall and seeing what sticks. We did go back and forth with each other on it and the last song has this big outro. We always do something like that, have a last hurrah on the album.”
This record also served as a method of stretching the band’s skills.
“Making the album was super fun and our producer was good about throwing ideas out there, pushing me vocally and pushing Jared vocally. He sounds better than he’s ever sounded. We learned some new techniques while we were there.”
The band is embarking on a tour across North America in celebration of their aggressive album, one that is coming out just when metalcore is having a resurgence, something that is fun for a band with a 20-year tenure in the rock scene.
“There’s a whole resurgence of this genre and hardcore metal in general. A band like Knocked Loose had taken all of these older early 2000s types of hardcore rock and put it into their music. This is a sound that’s already happened, but they’ve taken it and made it their own. It’s really cool to see.”
Gallows is out on Friday, and you can preorder it from Rise Records. Follow Blessthefall on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for future updates.
Photo Credit: Douglas Sonders
