The following interview is made via e-mail with the vocalist Alex of british postrock/hardcore/avant garde-metalband Fall of Efrafa, check out their latest album "Elil", released on several european and american labels.
Hi Alex, vocalist in Fall of Efrafa, you were recently on a small euro tour with the swedish band Icos. How was it?
The tour was inspiring. We toured with our good friend timo, who runs alerta antifascista records, which was great as we all get on like family. As soon as we met icos, it was as though we had known them for years and we all got on very well. Musically they are in a very similar position to us, playing music that falls between diy punk and avante garde metal, so i guess we have similar ideas on music. We played some of the best shows in the five years we've been together as a band, we got to see friends (like you!) and meet lots of great people. A guy travelled from mexico to see us play, and he had a fall of efrafa tattoo, which was incredible, the countries we played and the overall feeling was heartwarming.
It was also very weird for me, as my mum was rushed to hospital on the day we left for tour, and i was having the time of my life whilst constantly worrying about her. luckily on the last night of the tour i found out she was ok, and i played with a smile on my face, despite george breaking the kick drum and mikey breaking the bass cab half way through the set! i think tours like this just make you realise why you do it - for the experience, the friends and the amazing european food!
It seems to me that you are a pretty well-known band by now, but for those who yet haven't heard about you, please explain what Fall of Efrafa is all about. What are your ideology? The theme of your records (please explain the meaning of words such as "Efrafa", "Elil", "Owsla" etc)? The music itself?
Fall of efrafa is a post rock/post metal/ d beat hardcore concept band, based around our own re-imagining of the political mythology in the book "watership down" by richard adams. As a band we had all read the book and found that it had a unique metaphorical tale of failed human political institutions. We decided to write a trilogy of records collectively known as "the warren of snares" the story follows a group of rabbits who flee their home as it is destroyed by humans, and go on a journey to find sanctuary. Each rabbit warren they encounter has its own unique politic, and the final warren is "efrafa" - a fascist state ruled over by a dictatorship. Efrafa therefor represents fascism, and oppressive belief systems. Fall of Efrafa means "the fall of all forms of oppression" Owsla was the name of our first album and means "guardian" and the Owsla in the book are defenders of the warren. "Elil" was the name of our second album and means enemy, and represents those who would kill the rabbits - man, foxes, natural predators. To us elil is religion - predatory belief systems that prey on weak minds. Our final record will be "inle" and means death. We are currently writing this.
I really like your thoughts on religion, but I can think of people who doesn't agree. Have you received any negative comments on your lyrics?
The only comments i get for my lyrics is that they are cheesy and make no sense to people! To be honest i guess when you write lyrics based on a concept, unless the listener pays a little more attention, those ideas will be lost on them, and they will come across as a lot of metaphorical nonsense. We only really get positive responses to our opinions on religion, but that may be because most people who listen to this kind of music are atheist in any case!
On your latest effort, the album known as "Elil", you have taken a big step musically since your debut album "Owsla". What reactions have you received from "old" listeners?
Most people seemed to like it, but understandably a lot of people didn't like it, but to be honest thats fair enough. Our music was never supposed to be just punk - we wrote our first record before we had this line up and a lot changed after steve (guitar) and george (drums) joined the band. We really took time to write Elil, we wanted something that contained all of our music tastes. As a band, punk is only one aspect of the music we are passionate about. personally i listen to mainly post rock, post metal, steve and neil who write most of the songs have very eclectic tastes in music and we never had any intention of writing another record like "owsla". for some reason it upsets people that we aren't a "crust" band, but ethically we are as DIY as we always were, i think there are a lot of bands coming out of the diy hardcore scene who are growing up and discovering new music and bringing it all together. its refreshing and important for music to evolve.
What are your influences? I hear traces of crusty bands such as Remains of the Day, Madame Germen and Oroku, as well as Neurosis, Cult of Luna and Isis.
i would say we sit between all of the bands you mentioned! also bands like earth, sunn, envy, mogwai, his hero is gone - basically bands that pushed their own writing ability. the bands that stand out in these music genres and those who didn't try to be anything. we really have no idea what we are!
You seem to be close friends within the band. Did you know each other before Fall of Efrafa started? Previous bands?
i knew everyone! i have been friends with steve for years, george too, i met mikey and neil when i moved to brighton, and after some line up changes i convinced steve and george to move to brighton, and bullied them into joining the band! we're all close, we piss each other off, but thats typical of bands!
When I first met you at the Be-Part Fest in Germany last summer, you told me that the plan for the band is to release a trilogy of albums known as "The Warren of Snares", and then break up the band. Is this still the plan?
yes, we are planning to write a record with Icos, which i guess will be another album, but this will be separate from the trilogy. we will release this before the final record, but as far as fall of efrafa is concerned, our last recording effort will be Inle. we will tour after this is released, but there wont be anything else after this.
When will you start recording "Inlé"?
we have written one full song for Inle so far, its about 12 minutes long (short for us!) and we have ideas and parts for a few more. musically its different again to Elil. hopefully people will like it! not sure when we will record, possibly at the end of this year.
On your Myspace-blog you write about a novella on the story of Fall of Efrafa. Tell us about it! Will it be released as a book?
I am currently writing something that will explain what is happening in the story behind the lyrics. It will hopefully be released with a remix of one of the songs from Elil later this year.
Are any of you involved in other bands?
steve and neil have started a heavy rock and roll metal band called "Blackstorm" influenced by a lot of 70¨s bands like black sabbath and more modern bands like old man gloom. I saw them play recently and it was very different from Fall of efrafa, but amazing!
Ok then, thank you for you time, and good luck with everything!
thank you!
Fall of Efrafa på Myspace
Officiell hemsida
Fall of Efrafa live at 1000 Fryd, Aalborg, Denmark 4/4 -08.
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