Shadows Fall’s Brian Fair Says “It’s Been a Blast” Working on New Music
It’s been a minute since we last heard anything about Shadows Fall and the new music they’ve been working on. While fans are left waiting for more concrete information, Shadows Fall frontman Brian Fair recently revealed that things are apparently going well.
The slight update from Fair came during his recent appearance on the Drinks With Johnny internet show (as transcribed by Blabbermouth), hosted by Avenged Sevenfold bassist Johnny Christ. During their chat, Fair discussed the newly reunited act’s ongoing effort to write and record some new tunes.
“It’s been a blast, man. It’s funny, ’cause the older we’ve gotten, it’s gotten a little more brutal, which was not a surprise, ’cause I just figured that would happen. We’re, like, ‘If we’re gonna do it, we’re gonna drop the hammer.’ So it’s been fun, man. I forgot how much of a riff machine Jon [Donais] was. And he’s just like — ideas are just flying out of him. And also in Anthrax, he just gets to solo in the studio. So he’s just, like, ‘Finally I get to write some riffs.’ [Laughs]”
For those that don’t know, it’s pretty much common knowledge that when it comes to writing new Anthrax music, Donais apparently doesn’t have nearly as much creative control as Scott Ian does. But that’s neither here nor there. It’s exciting to think we’re going to get to hear a player like Donais able to flex a bit on guitar with new Shadows Fall music.
As for specifically how things are going in the recording process, Fair said the band is taking it one day at a time in a bid to write “the best music we can.”
“We’re pretty deep into the process. I’d say I’m kind of a slacker, but I’m really focusing on getting things as good as I can vocally because we have no agenda. We have no time frame. We have no record label pressure. We’re just trying to write the best music we can. And it all kind of came about as we started jamming to do the reunion shows. And these guys have — Jon’s [Donais, guitar] been playing in Anthrax and Jason’s [Bittner, drums] been playing in Overkill, so their chops are still at top-notch level. But they had riffs, man. And I was, like, ‘If we’ve got riffs and they sound like Shadows Fall, if we’re gonna get together and jam, let’s make some new music.’ So I’ve got probably seven structured outlines pretty much nailed down. I think they have instrumentally like two or three more. They’ve started tracking with [producer] Zeuss [Chris Harris] already, so some of the foundation’s getting laid down, which has been great, so I can demo to actual guitar tracks and drum tracks. And then we can also, if we need to rearrange, thankfully the modern technology allows for that as well.”
Ever since it was revealed that Shadows Fall was back and working on new music, they’ve been playing some live shows, including the New England Metal and Hardcore Festival, Furnace Fest 2022, and a few one-offs here and there. The band’s got plans to play a special show in New Jersey next March commemorating the 20th anniversary of The War Within.
So who knows? Maybe 2024 is the year we finally get some new Shadows Fall.
