Interviews: The Fall of Troy
I recently sat down with the rhythm section of the Fall of Troy for a brief babble over a Bud in the basement of a Levittown, NY...venue, in between sets at the stop of their tour with Anterrabae and Protest the Hero. You can click Read More for the hard-earned transcript.
The band released their second full-length, Doppelgänger, last year on Equal Vision.
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Please state your name and what you do in the band.
ANDREW: I'm Andrew Forsman and I play drums.
TIM: I'm Tim Ward, and I play bass guitar.
How's the tour been going so far?
A: It's really good; we've had some sold out shows, and I like the bands we're on tour with a lot.
T: We've made friends with everyone… The shows on the coast have been good, and the shows in the Midwest have been good, but you can't beat the coast.
A: Yeah, agreed.
How would you describe your band to my grandmother?
A: It's pretty heavy, pretty fast. For older people, it usually causes them to plug their ears.
Not to state the obvious, but many of Doppelgänger's songs were just the redux versions off the self-titled. Did you really find that many problems on it [the self-titled] that you needed to fix, no matter what?
A: Personally, I always hear the parts I mess up on on recordings every time I hear the song [of an older version]. It was nice to actually have a version that was perfect, where I could listen to it and be like "Alright, I did good that time." But a part of it was also that Equal Vision wanted us to redo some songs because the first album hadn't been out for that long, and they thought the songs still had some life in them.
T: You said it…man!
[ANDREW laughs]
If things keep progressing the way they have so far, it would just make sense; we'd eventually move to [a major label]. But we're not looking at it in any time of the near future; we're really happy with our label, and we have a lot left to do with them.
Four of the Ghostship demos leaked late last year. In a recent interview, you said the album likely wouldn't be out until 2007 or `08--
A: No, don't -- there's no year. Whenever it comes around, it'll be there.
What exactly is the deal with that album? Are we looking at a full-length,or an EP…?
A: Yeah--
…conceptual…?
A: It'll be a full-length. It's going to be 8 movements, but it's going to be broken up, because I think to qualify as a full-length it has to be broken up into 10-plus songs…
Well, it could be whatever [number]. Cave In's Jupiter was 8 songs…
A: Yeah, I don't know, we'll figure it out--
T: We just don't really know.
A: We're saving that gem for when we have a really good plan. We want to make that one absolutely perfect.
T: When we do it, we'll do it right.
A: We don't want to fuck it up. [laughs]
T: You can't say "fuck."
A: Yes I can.
He can, it's a webzine…
A: Fuck yeah I can, punk rock man. [TIM mutters "fuck fuck fuck fuck"]
By this point, you're almost a nationally recognized band, between Spin placing you in a bracket for the Band of the Year voting competition, your album even debuting on Billboard… Could you see yourself on a major?
A: Oh yeah, eventually. If things keep progressing the way they have so far, it would just make sense; we'd eventually move to one. But we're not looking at it in any time of the near future; we're really happy with our label, and we have a lot left to do with them. We're excited.
T: We're in a position where Equal Vision is doing more than I would expect anyone else to do.
A: They're good.
Did the conjointed twins on Doppelgänger's artwork symbolize anything?
A: It's the doppelgänger myth. Supposedly there's somebody else out there that looks exactly the same as you, and right before you die you see them. So even if you're not a twin, you have somebody else out there that looks like you… You get what I'm sayin'. [exchanges laughter with TIM over stumbling of words]
If I'm not mistaken, you're shooting a video for "F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X.?"
A & T: We shot that.
T: It looks really cool.
A: I'm pretty happy with it.
What's the general theme surrounding [it]?
A: It's a performance piece, with some green screen stuff with the drums--
T: It's got visual tricks--
A: It has some cool visual tricks, like…I don't know, it's interesting, you'll see it…hopefully.
T: Hopefully!
A: Hopefully on TV.
What's your favorite album of 2005?
A: I like Bear vs. Shark's album a lot.
T: Yep, yep.
A: …and I'm super bummed that they broke up.
T: A very under the radar gem.
Seriously…and I never got to see them live--
A: Ahhw, that's too bad…
…so I was annoyed with myself…
A: It's okay; maybe they'll get back together some day [laughs]. I'll bug them every time I see them.
[TIM mumbles something figuratively about a reunion show coming up]
A: They should come back, they were all really cool.
What are the plans for the rest of the year?
T: Write and record and do whatever.
A: I'll give you the actual version [TIM laughs]. We're going to the UK for ten shows the beginning of March, then we do South by Southwest, and then we'll be out with Posion the Well and HORSE the Band from the end of March to the end of April…
T: And then "Oprah!"
A: --and then we're going out with He Is Legend after that, but there'll be breaks in between. We're just going to tour.
T: And we're goin' on--
A: And we're goin' on "Oprah." [TIM laughs]
A lot of disappointment from home about the Seahawks [Super Bowl loss]?
A: Yeah, that's why we cancelled our Pennsylvania shows.
T: Fuck that man, we're not playing Pennsylvania now.
A: No, I'm just joking, that was out of our hands actually. I puked all over myself I was so sad. [TIM laughs]