Falling In Reverse

It isn't everyday that a band is surrounded by as much as hype as Falling In Reverse were before even playing their first show. Formed by ex-Escape The Fate lead singer, Ronnie Radke, while he was still in prison the band had high expectations to live up to and many critics to silence. While recently releasing their debut album, "The Drug In Me Is You" and heading out on their first live tours, the notorious Ronnie Radke took sometime out of his busy schedule to chat about all things Falling In Reverse.  

Hey Ronnie, Thanks for chatting with Kill Your Stereo, how are you?

I’m doing great, I’m very tired. I just played Warped Tour, it’s a big festival and the sun was out, it is quite tiring, it was really fun though.

Your band’s debut album, “The Drug In Me Is You” was recently released. What was the build up like?

It was extremely awkward and nerve wracking while waiting for it to come out. I was excited too. I think I felt a whole bunch of emotions combined into one thing. But mainly very excited. I was stoked when it came out.

It isn’t often that a band’s debut album has so much hype surrounding its release. How did you and the band deal with the expectation?

I was fuelled by all the expectation, I just did it you know, I wasn’t even nervous while we were making it all, I was just nervous as the excitement built up to it. I knew it was going to explode but I didn’t think it was going to be like that though. It did pretty good numbers in the first week, especially for a band that had never played a show. Yeah there was a lot of pressure before it came out.

Have you found that people knowing who you are has made starting a new band easier or more difficult?

I think a lot easier. Because over two years we formed, ya know, we formed a band over two years. It has made it way easier; cause our guitar player Jack he was a fan and he is like the best guitar player and I’m a fan of him now. You know, he is AMAZING, he is such an amazing guitar player, if you have heard the record, he is so good. It is extreme, so it’s just really awesome.

All the songs on the album are very personal to you. How did you go about writing the songs?

I pretty much wrote the whole thing in prison and then I went to the studio and let it all out there. How it translated in the studio was pretty much how it got written. I wrote all the instruments completely by myself, I sang the guitars and I played the drums with my hands on my knees, it was easy to sing the melodies and stuff.

What does it feel like being in a band and recording again? Have your past experiences in the music industry helped you a lot?

I came out today; I walked out on stage to 3000 people. It was the most intense thing that has ever happened to me. I walked out in front of 3000 people all screaming, it was insane. I couldn’t even walk because people were tackling me. It has never been like that before. I was so happy, it was so amazing. I got more popular when I went to prison.

There has been a fair bit of positive feedback to the album. Was that the kind of response you were expecting?

Of course. When I made the record I was thinking ‘This is going to blow up” I knew it, I knew it. It was gnarly. It was very expected, I knew in my heart that it was going to blow up.

You guys recently played some secret shows under the name “Goodbye Graceful.” What was it like finally getting to play with a band again?

The shows were just a warm up, incase we had any mess-ups or anything like that. Just some warm up shows so we could get our feet wet. The shows sold out both times, we were really happy.

What is your favourite song off the album and why?

I’m not sure, I pick all of them. I can’t decide yet, I have tried to decide but I can’t. I love them all.

Are there any plans for a Falling In Reverse Australian tour in the near future?

I plan on doing Soundwave in February, we are open for it

There are so many fans that have stuck by you throughout your journey. Did that kind of positivity help you out a lot in the decision to get back into music?

Oh yeah, they have definitely helped me out a lot. It was definitely thanks to them. I can’t believe they were so strong, that’s gnarly that they would do that. I didn’t think they would stuck with me, I thought that they would have forgetten about me, but it’s pretty cool that they didn’t. Last time I played back in 2007 I walked out to about 1000 people, right now I walked out to 3000 people. It was just amazing.

What are the next few months going to be like for Falling In Reverse?

I don’t know, we will see. We are going to go on a headlining tour in September then we are going to do another tour that I am not allowed to talk about right now in November, but it’ll come out soon. The next couple of months will just be touring for the album.

Do you feel like Falling In Reverse is in some ways stuck in the shadow of Escape The Fate, with all the comparisons that are being made? How do you deal with trying to start afresh?

I think everyone can tell the difference from the first record to this record, and I wrote the first record and I wrote this record. And if you listen to Escape The Fate’s second and third record it is obvious that there has been a drastic change. When I left the music drastically changed. Their first record sounds kind of like this record and that’s because I wrote it. I pretty much wrote the first record by myself, obviously the rest of the band was there and they helped with the riffs and stuff, but for the majority it was just me. What made me angry was that no one ever gave me credit for it, and now I am finally getting that credit. People, like big industry people, are saying “Okay, now I understand, this guy writes pretty good music because this is his second shot and he has again made another amazing record” as opposed to when I left [Escape The Fate] which saw the slow decline of the band. And it was blatantly obvious.

Is there anything else you want to say to your Australian fans that have stuck around and are really excited about this album?

I just want to say thank you so much, I can’t wait to see you all, all you Aussies, I can’t wait to see you guys. I want to eat a meat pie. I can’t wait to come to Australia, I want to live in Australia. I will be there soon, I promise.