The Joy Of New Toys

When we sit down to talk, things are going well for guitarist Eric Lambert and Blessthefall. It's almost six months since the release of the band's fourth record, Hollow Bodies, and the metalcore community is still collectively losing its shit over the album. The tours for the band have gotten bigger and the line-up's held stable for a couple of years.

Asked about the American band's recipe for success, Lambert thinks it's a simple formula. Make a great record, have great things happen. Hardly rocket science.

“It's been a crazy record man. We've definitely seen a change in the fanbase since we've put it out. Even the music we've written for Hollow Bodies goes over way better than the older stuff when we play it live. It's crazy because right now we're playing five new songs. And that's crazy; usually for a band that's out of the question. You don't play that much new stuff when you release an album, but we were just so excited to play it and the reactions to the new songs have been way better than the reactions to the old songs, so it's been definitely a positive.”

Lambert says that when fans started heaping praise on Hollow Bodies, Blessthefall knew they needed to make sure they put some thought into presenting the material live. Especially since much of the record's charm lies in the glitchy electronics and ambient passages that course through its interior. Presenting that live isn't the easiest thing, but the guitarist explains it was something they felt needed to be done well.

“It definitely wasn't just a plug in and go kind of deal. We had to sit down and think about what we were going to do. We had to go and buy some new equipment to take out on tour with us, because we wanted the show to have the same impact that Hollow Bodies has when you put it on in your car, or you are playing it in your headphones. But that was all a lot of fun. It was fun buying some new toys and messing around to make it all come together.

“We basically went to an electronics store and went to town and fucked around with a bunch of toys. It's been a lot of fun because the new record definitely has a more electronic type of vibe to it and there's a lot of ambient and emotional parts, so it's kind of cool to portray that all live.

“It sucks when you hear a band sound sonically amazing on the album and then you go and see them live and they suck. So we're very proud of the fact that we can always pull it off live and that everything sounds really full. Because that's something we work really hard making sure we're not cheating the fans or anything like that.”

Six months of touring Hollow Bodies have made Lambert confident about how the band is presenting the album's material. Ahead of the band's return to Australia to headline the annual Boys of Summer tour, the guitarist has no doubt fans are in for a good show.

“I think a lot of kids are going to walk away being stoked. Because we definitely like to have fun at our shows – no parents, no rules. Anything could happen… Our frontman's crazy. Totally out of his mind. He gets a different idea every night about how to get the crowd involved, and his goal is to make sure everyone's having a fucking awesome time.

“I think Hollow Bodies helped us find a niche and the direction that we need to go in when we write more music. And that's a direction that I've been wanting to go now for quite a long time now. Into darker, more pissed off music. It's just fun to play… And so we already have an idea of the direction we want to go on the next record because of all of that.”

As for when new music might surface, Lambert is unsure. What he does know is that the band are going to push as hard as they can to capitalise on the success of Hollow Bodies.

“We just started thinking about what's going to come next. Because our singer's going to have a kid so that means some time off, so we might as well get back to writing the new record. But we're also thinking about all of the headlining shows we're going to be playing this year, because we really want to be able to see where this album can help to take our career, so we're going to try and headline as many shows as possible… I think 2014 is going to be one big stress test for the band. But bring it on, y'know.”