Lucy Rash, Forest Falls
Which images, ideas, or emotions do the two words forest and falls conjure up for you? Let your mind go a little AWOL for a second; there’s no correct answer to that question, by the way. For the six of us in this band, the name Forest Falls epitomizes in a single statement why it is we make music. It’s the embodiment of a journey: from how we met to where we want to go. It’s equal parts history book and travel guide. It’s what inspires us every day, as six equals and six best friends, to write and perform our music.
Why did we want to write this blog? Because we’d love to offer you a taste of it too; what it feels like to be following the creative path you were always meant to take. Our music is honest. No facades, lies or cover-ups. We want to share that feeling!
Forest Falls is a band born out of a love for collaboration. It’s such a cool idea really, that a whole can be greater than the sum of its parts. Think about what that actually means! We can do in a group what we can’t do on our own.
It was this idea that started everything: the imperative for our lead singer, Jon, to create music with others. When he left Perth a few years ago, he piled his life into a Tarago and headed off to Melbourne in a bid to meet other like-minded musicians. Jon met Jamie, who knew Jez, who knew Gabe, who met Shaun, who knew Lucy from Uni. It was almost as if it was meant to happen this way. The evolution of the band which you now see is the evolution which finally feels as if it fits. That incredible feeling has a massive (positive) implication on our sound. Because we are a band of six equals, of six best friends, we are empowered to do things that we can’t achieve as individuals.
The most exciting thing about our band is that the sound we create can’t be replicated organically by a single person. There can’t be any less than six people involved in the process to produce a sound this lush and immense. Sure, we sometimes perform as a smaller, stripped-back formation to adapt to a particular venue or with a smaller sound or occasion in mind. But in our full representation, five part harmonies and instruments to boot can’t be easily replicated by one person, unless you’re an octopus with a loop pedal. To be in the audience when five musicians are belting out five-part harmonies is a completely different feeling to vocals looped over themselves. It’s real, and it brings you smack, bang into the middle of the moment.
All this makes for an incredibly exciting songwriting process. Most often, Jon will come to the group with lyrics or a riff and we’ll go from there. This is where we each play our different roles; it’s why the Forest Falls combination of people works so very well together.
Lucy arranges, and Gabe and Shaun add their brilliant and incredibly dexterous guitar work. Then, Jez takes a step back, reflects, and grounds everything with a mind-melting, but beautifully understated baseline, and Jamo ties everything together with ingenious and constantly evolving beats. Everyone has their specialty, but it doesn’t mean we can’t dabble.
The brilliant thing about being in a band of six is that ideas are constantly placed on the table. There’s never a dull moment in a room of six. And when the six people in the room are as multi-talented, driven, understanding and thoughtful as this, it’s nothing less than exhilarating.
Our energy is currently focused on touring our forthcoming EP Hounds. A small-scale acoustic East coast Australian tour at the end of 2014 allowed us to really zone in on the core of our sound: harmonies and rich instrumentation, which are elements we bring to the fore in the new release. Hounds is a swaggering, soul-peppered tune full of life and color. It even features a very tasteful sax solo by the band’s good mate Jesse! Penned by frontman Jon, it centers on the idea that a hound is an animal which can be docile one minute, but bear its teeth the next. The clip is something we’re incredibly proud of too. We worked with amazing outfit An Architect Photographed My Undies. As confronting as the name sounds, they are genius and a dream to work with.
Having come this far on our journey, we’ve realized just how important it is to be true to what you want. Take note of when your heart and mind says, “HELL YES!” and follow that feeling as far as it will take you. Put the time and effort and money in. Now trust us: people spend more money on far worse things! As long as it’s sustained, it will always pay off.
We’d love to share our work with you. Have a look at the links below. Come and say hello at the merch desk after one of our upcoming tour gigs. Visit our website or send us a like on Facebook.
We’re here because it’s worth sharing things.
Lucy Rash, Forest Falls
ForestFallsBand.com
@forestfallsband
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Hounds EP pre-orders:
http://itunes.apple.com/au/album/hounds-e.p.-ep/id979576819