Music to be good, doesn’t always have to be in your face, loud and obnoxious. Sure, sometimes we just like it that way, but we have to sometimes take a moment to hear what else is out there, and we found it with our new Indie Band of the Week: Fate Under Fire.
Fronted by an incredibly talented singer, David James, Fate Under Fire is an alternative band out of California. Along with John Gillis, David has moved some amazing mountains. They’ve been beating the online virtual pavement getting their band’s name out there. Their EP, “What Dreams Are Made Of” came out in June, mixed by Eric Robinson (Taylor Swift, Natasha Bedingfield, Brooke Fraser) and mastered by Eric Boulanger (One Republic, Plain White Ts, Colbie Caillat), and produced by David James, along with Jeremy Smith (ZOOmania).
What better band than this to be an Indie Band of the Week?! They have the desire, the talent, the connections, and with all that, they’ve gotten their music out there on regular rotation on MTV, as well as being featured on FUSE and Uplifting Entertainment. Plus, if you watch T.V. with any kind of frequency, you’ve probably heard their music in the T.V. reality show “All In.”
With all of those credits to their career, how could we NOT give them the title of Indie Band of the Week! RockRevolt was able to snag a few moments with lead singer David James to talk about the band, himself, and the struggles for the indie band of today.
Tell us something few people know about you, but if they knew, they would really know you.
If you’ve been to our shows, you might know this, but the cover of our last cd was done by my mom when she was in her 20s. She always wanted to be an artist or a writer, but she lived her life as a nurse to make her dad happy. She passed away five years ago, and that was my way to show her artwork to the world. I went to where she was raised, and got it out of an old house that her great grandmother lived in, near the Oregon border. I scanned it in from a big cloth that she did it on.
Very Nice. Tell us about you. What makes you tick?
Thank you. So, what the band is about (what I am about), besides writing music that connects with people, I like to talk to about cancer. That is what my mother passed away from. Alternative cancer therapies are what I like to talk to people about.
Such as?
There are a few that I think have good merit. One is the GRESON therapy. There are some documentaries on Netflix about it. It is really becoming more available to the world and it works pretty well, especially for Melanoma. There is BUDWIG, and CESIUM, which is a little bit more intense. There is an organization called “People Against Cancer,” and it’s headed by a man who traveled the world and found different doctors who were curing specific cancers, and he wanted to see what they all had in common. He drew up this organization. Basically, if you have cancer, or if you know somebody with it, you can send in your records, and they will go to an international team of doctors, and they will find out what the best approach is for you.
It’s kind of a depressing thing to talk about. (laughs)
Depressing yes, but also a lot of passion – where does that passion come from?
A lot of it comes from how my life got turned upside down with what happened with my mother. A lot of it comes from life and not knowing where to go, or where to turn to. I do get a lot of inspiration from new artists and new music, but you can get inspiration from anything, you know? New music inspires me the most though. If it’s something new, and something you’ve never heard before, it gets your brain working a little bit.
The passion comes from a lot of hurt (laughs). Usually when I write, it’s when I’m hurting more. I try to fight that. I try to write hopeful songs, but I want to be real as well.
You said that you get inspired by new music that you hear, and it just creeps into your head. What song is in there now?
Aw man! I can’t even tell you which song it is. I heard One Republic playing something live just yesterday. It’s not released yet (I don’t think). It’s fresh, exciting, it’s a different style, he sings totally differently, and he’s reinventing himself almost. I think every artist, whether you are a singer, photographer, or whatever, you have to reinvent yourself. I always think about how to change, but still be true to who I am.
I’m a vocal coach, and I work with over 70 singers at this point, and a lot of them are coming out with songs, but most of them are pop. I was never really into Top 40 Pop, but over the years I’ve become much less judgmental and have had to appreciate things for what they are. I hate to say that Top 40 is influencing me, but if I can believe the singer, even if he is talking about something horrible, it gets me. When I hear Bono from U2, even though he has horrible vocal technique, his voice still touches me.
RockRevolt Magazine is more rock and roll, but I heard something in your music…
I was really heavy into rock when I was in high school – Deftones, Soulfly, Incubus – and throughout the years, I’ve become more “spongy” and I’ve been acquiring more of the style that I’m around the most. Rock has definitely changed over the past years though.
That it has. Your song ‘On the Water’ was picked up by CBS for the show ‘All In.” How does it feel to know that when people tune-in to some prime time, they are hearing the fruit of your endeavors?
Yes! It’s cool! It’s flattering! It’s a really good feeling. I’m a composer and I’ve done some background music for Bravo Channel (some reality shows on there). I’ve done a few things in the past, but this is definitely a more well-known national television sort of thing.
Watch Fate Under Fire’s “On The Water”
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And you have another piece that is going to be showing up?
Yes! Our song “All I Ever Wanted” is going to be on Cougar Town with Courtney Cox. It hasn’t been announced yet, but it has been announced now! (laughs) I don’t know which episode, but I know it’s going to be on it somewhere.
Very nice! What do you feel has been the biggest struggle thus far as an indie musician?
Ooh! That’s a really hard question! Can I pick more than one? (laughs)The music industry is SO hard to do anything with. I’m a vocal coach because music doesn’t pay the bills. Being willing to let go of the right thing at the right time is important. I think everything happens when it’s supposed to happen. Another one of the biggest struggles is dealing with band members! (laughs) Dealing with band members and knowing when and how to let them go. It’s hard to fire somebody, or say good bye. Also, understanding what your strengths and weaknesses are in a group, and applying those. I think another issue is getting other people to contribute, or want it as bad as me – if you want me to be completely honest! (laughs)
(laughs) Touring has also become really difficult, as has paying for gas. That is probably our weak point right now. I bought an RV just for this, and we’ve only used it once so far. I would like to use it more, but getting guarantees just for gas is a hard thing to do when you are not on a major label. If you don’t have over $100,000 behind you, promoting you on radio, people don’t who you are and they want to stay at home. People don’t even want to go to sports events when they can watch them from home. There is so much access at home that it is difficult to get them to come out to shows.
We appreciate honesty! We really do! Thank you so much for being so candid! We hope you can get that RV out on the road soon!
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