Getting to Know… Facing Fears | Interview 🎤

For the 148^th interview in the Getting to Know… series, we get the scoop from German ‘modern hard rock’ band Facing Fears.

“We like the clear and flawless sounds of today’s modern records as well as the rough and powerful vibes of 80s rock and metal.” Cool! The featured act on the 148^th entry of our Getting to Know… series is 🎙 Facing Fears.  As the aforementioned quote, excerpted from the answer to our first interview question suggests, the German ‘modern hard rock’ band brings some of the old with the new.  Again, that’s cool, and so are FF, who provide some fine answers to our burning questions.  So, without dragging this intro out any longer than it needs to be, let’s jump right into the interview – Getting to Know… Facing Fears: Interview #148.

Starting things off right, for those who may not be familiar with Facing Fears, what would you say makes your band distinct or unique? How do you rock the audience’s socks off?

🎤 We like the clear and flawless sounds of today’s modern records as well as the rough and powerful vibes of 80s rock and metal. By mixing these attributes with our preference for (almost pop-like) easy song structures and catchy refrains we create our unique style that we call modern hard rock. Our aim is to make you headbang during the main riffs and sing along during the chorus.

Okay, let’s explore some juicy backstories. How did Facing Fears form and what were some of the goals or the visions you had as a band early on?

🎤 Most of us are friends since our school days and we all have been making music in different bands. Eventually, we got the chance to play together for singular events and experienced a really common sense regarding our priorities when it comes to sound, song structures, and groove. This was the perfect basis for our musical journey, fueled by the collective ambitions of living the rock ‘n’ roll dream: Being on the stage together and entertain the crowd with our music. This has been our vision ever since and will always be.

Let’s talk more about goals. Have your goals or your perspectives changed since first starting out? What do your aspirations or goals look like now?

🎤 Our goals grow together with us being a band. In the beginning no one of us had ever heard his own music on a record or a streaming platform – this a goal that we achieved together. No one of us had ever played a live set containing only original songs (which is furthermore capable to entertain a crowd and deliver a great session for the audience) – this is a goal that we achieved together.

No one of us had ever made an album with original songs – this is a goal that we achieved together. Our songwriting is really strong and productive. Our next goal is to hit the stages in wider dimensions, bigger stages, bigger crowds, bigger shows. We want to spread our music and gain new listeners and fans. 

Everybody is influenced by somebody else. Who would you consider some of your biggest musical influences and how are they influential?

🎤 When we get this question there are always the same bands that come to our mind, for example Iron Maiden, A7X, Bullet for my Valentine, Trivium and many others from as well “softer” and “harder” genres. It’s the bands that we are listening to by ourself and that manage to amaze us with their songs and give us a good time. This is the same feeling we want to give to our listeners.

Ah, the fun stuff. What’s your craziest tour story or the wackiest thing that’s happened during a performance? Feel free to be creative.

🎤 Once we played the final of a German-wide contest and we wanted to create a powerful beginning by starting the song behind the stage and running to the front during the intro. The lead guitar had to play a lead during this intro and while running our guitarist tried so stabilize the guitar in order to play the right notes. Unfortunately, he stabilized it by putting his palm on the bridge of the guitar and with the guitar having a Floyd rose system the intonation swayed up and down and not a single note was correct – it sounded more like an ambulance entering stage. We are sure that never in the history of this contest a guitarist was eliminated from the attendants for the “best guitarist of the contest” more quickly. Anyway, we had a great time on stage.

Up until this point in your career, what would you describe as your favorite song you’ve recorded or performed live? What makes that song special?

🎤 This is without doubt 🎵 “Face Your Fears” from our first EP, 💿 Chapter One. This is the first song we wrote together as a band and that defined our musical style until today. As it was our first single including a music video our journey started with this song and until today it is the favorite of our fans during the live shows. This song combines everything our band stands for.

Is there anything else awesome, cool, or left of center the world should know about you? Secret talents or surprising tidbits?

🎤 Some of the rules out of the FF-Codex:

• You don’t have the right choose your name, the other ones will choose it for you and it may vary every time you are addressed
• NO SHORTS ON STAGE (except drummer, but only if the temperature requires it)
• Whoever plays into the silent parts of the songs during rehearsals or shows has to bring a crate of beer. Same applies to playing during sound checks.
• At least one bandana per band member one stage is desired
• No microphone stand for the singer
• Puns about street lamps or traffic lights have to be made every time it is possible (and addressed to Frank)
• When it comes to cocktails, Long Island Iced Tea is the only acceptable order

Closing things out, what is Facing Fears currently working on, promoting that you can share with us or want us to know about? We love secrets, but there’s no pressure.

🎤 As stated earlier, our songwriting is very productive, and we have a lot of material already produced or waiting to be produced. We are in cooperation with our favorite studio and producer and aspire regular recording sessions. Right now, we don’t plan to record a whole album because we think in our situation it is better to keep the content rate high by high frequent single releases. Due to the situation, we had to cancel some appointments with the studio, but we try to use the time reasonably. Also, we hope to hit the stage again as soon as possible.

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer these questions, and best of luck moving forward.

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[📷: Facing Fears, Brent Faulkner, The Musical Hype; Icons made by flaticon]