Attila
Metalcore masters Attila hailing from Atlanta, Georgia is celebrating the release of their new album Chaos. Across The Ocean got to speak to lead singer and front man Chris “Fronzilla” Fronzak about the process of making this album and how they worked through all the material they prepared before going in to the studio as well the importance of building their Australia fan base so they can tour here.
Is it exciting times with the new album Chaos coming out in the first week of November?
We’re super happy with the finished product and we wouldn’t change a thing so now we are waiting for the world to hear it, hopefully everyone will pick it up and love it as much as we do.
Was the process of making this record challenging as you thought presenting the usual sorts of problems that a band has to overcome?
I would say that we went through the usual challenges but the big benefit this time around was the fact that we were working with a producer that was extremely hands on. As musicians if we’ve reached a block whether that would be the middle of a song where we would need a part or our creativity is running low our producer was always there to pick us back up. That was the great thing about working with Eric that he was able to keep us creative and keep us going not to mention the fact that we were in the studio for nearly two full months which is a long time. In the past we would spend a month or less in the studio or even just a few weeks. This was a big help for the process by being able to take our time and ensure that it was just what we wanted.
Was that something hard to get used to having that hands on approach?
Not at all, that was really welcomed and we knew he would be very hands on, which is why we wanted to work with him. Going in to it we wanted someone who would help contribute a lot and help on the production aspect of the album.
Did you initial ideas change much when you started the recording process?
I would say a little bit but nothing drastic. We went in to the studio with tonnes and tonnes of material that we had been working on. There are some songs that are virtually untouched which we didn’t change at all and some that we took pieces out of and combined with others. There was the typical run around but we were open minded. There are two types of musicians, the ones that are really stubborn in what they write and that’s all there is and no changing it, no budging. Then there are people like us where we’re pretty much down for anything and open to any constructive criticism. We appreciate having a fresh new ear to help us out.
How did you work through that amount material and get down to the final dozen or so songs?
It wasn’t that tough because we knew what we wanted for this album and we planned it out. We looked at the album as a whole and made a chart where we want the most diverse album that we’ve ever made. We want some stubborn rock songs, we want some rap new metal songs, we want some super heavy songs and we also want to leave some room to do some unique tracks that we have never done before like a EDM collaboration or a more rock ‘n roll song with some singing in it. We put the record up in to multiple different chunks to try and make it diverse. It made it easier to write and record this album because we knew what we needed to make a full, balanced and complete album.
Do those songs that didn’t make it end up somewhere else or are they essentially dead and buried or even revisited at some stage?
We don’t have any full songs that got buried except one which we recorded. It is a funny story but we recorded all these songs then we realised we almost had too much music so we decided it would be fun to take one of the songs from the album and not release it but maybe release it on a future date, who knows maybe like next summer, maybe over the holidays having a random track that no one has ever heard.
Was there any particular themes or ideas that were important to you to push on this album?
The musical ideas start with me, some start our guitarist or bass player and honestly we do it old school. We meet up in the basement and jam out to see what we like, whether we’re feeling a certain vibe or mood and I’ll try and convey that thought to the band then we’ll create it from the ground up. I usually try and pick a theme for each song lyrically and stick with that theme and create something around that idea that’s full.
Did the band think have to think strategically about how to release this album given that Attila is offering some really cool album packages for fans to purchase reducing the incentive to illegally download?
Definitely, I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that we’re not like any other band. We’re very business orientated and first and foremost we’re artists and musicians but I would like to view the band as a business that needs to function properly and be healthy to survive. For a band in our position, this is our sixth full length album and it is really make or break. Our lives are on the line and we have to put everything in to this album to really present it to the world as well as possible or otherwise we’re going to sink.
With all of the packages we put ourselves in the fans shoes and what would the fans want? What would make them happy? What would I want? That’s what we based everything off of. Another huge thing that we are doing for this release which I don’t see any band doing is that any of those packages or even if you just ordered the CD itself we are going to hand sign every copy. Every single person who pre-orders our album we have been hand signing them. It’s crazy! Every day before the show we spend one to two hours signing albums, it takes us so long but we don’t really give a fuck because we feel that our fans deserve this. They have stuck with us for so long we owe it to them to give them a signed album and take that extra step above. Once again it is more incentive for someone not to illegally download the album. Why would you do that when you can get a physical CD that we have signed with really amazing album artwork, lyrics and our story is in there it is so much more valuable.
Are the any plans to tour Australia?
There’s still a little more to play out but I’ll tell you completely honest that the band loves Australia. It is one of our favourite countries that we have ever been to and we’ve always had an amazing time when we were there. We just need to build a bigger fan base there in Australia. The difference between Australia and a lot of other countries that we have been to is that build a good fan base in Australia you need to be on big support tours with really large Australian bands or festivals. The fact is we’ve never done anything like that, we’ve never done a big tour in Australia or a big festival or any of that. We’re in a tough position to where we would like to come out by ourselves again but it doesn’t really make sense to do that until someone brings us out or get on a big festival so we can build our following. Who knows, we might blow up in Australia and our fan base grows. As soon as something like that happens we’re coming back right away because we love it there so much.
Whether it is rummaging through vinyl at record stores such as Clarity and Title finding hidden gems to scouring the internet to find that album by the next big thing or chasing bands to get that elusive autograph and photo his passion is music all the way.
- Aversions Crown - January 27, 2017
- Sick Of It All - January 19, 2017
- Refused - January 11, 2017
