An Interview with Falls for The Elderly

A brutal but brilliant new album release from Falls for the Elderly comes through with a powerful approach that blends thrash metal with elements of hardcore, punk, and more all rolled up into this massively sonically driving soundscape that all hits like a sucker punch to the gut.

The Ai Suicide album certainly doesn't waste too much time delivering an impactful and blistering sound with their first track on the record, "Failure to Thrive" which is an excellent introduction to the album as a whole because it gives you some of the staple fields that you're going to hear throughout the record including an electrifying and sort of dripping tonality guitar-wise.

You get deepening, thick, heavy-handed riffs that have a bit of a bounce to them, along with some pitch harmonics giving them a tasteful approach and adding a little color to the edginess.

The drums are absolutely slamming, and the drumming on the record as a whole is really what drives this thing through the roof.

The drumming on this record is the element that pushes the rest of the band and I don't mean that in a way that diminishes anyone else or what they're doing in the band at all.

The drums just have this element of life to them. They are always in the pocket and definitely pack a punch, but have a liveliness with some great fills and just a high-energy, high-octane and fiery approach, which I feel like a lot of the rest of the band follows in terms of having the drums lead the way in a sense.

Now, having said that, of course, the guitar work, as I mentioned, is absolutely intense and provides the chunkiness of the record. The riffs border on that hardcore and metal approach with some genius intricacies, but still have this sense of looseness to them that also adds to the whole, alive and breathing feeling that the songs give off.

Again, listening to this first track gives you a sense of what you may expect to hear, but only checking out a few songs from this record will not do.

Listening to one or two songs will give you the idea, but it will not give you the full spectrum of what the album has to offer as a whole.

This is important because there are tons of surprises around the corners, super inventive and outside the box approaches, and just blistering, rumbling, and fierce songwriting that you're either going to headbang to, shout along with with your fists in the air, or move the couch back so you can jump around the living room.

That's the kind of record this is. It's infectious right from the start.

Tracks like "Bmx2" give off more of a punk rock undertone with not just the rhythm, but the approach.

The bass guitar tone is always thick and gives that intense low end, which also adds to the drive of the entire soundscape.

Vocals are absolutely on fire throughout this entire thing. The vocalist can be anthemic, but also destructive with the screaming.

One of the things I really dig about how he performs the screaming sections is that it's in the middle register. It's not like a low death metal grueling vocal approach. It's also not a super high screech either.

The register of the tonality vocally is right in the center in terms of the screaming, so it fits perfectly and blends with the music in a way that makes sense.

Most of all, the energy levels of those vocals matched the intensity of the music, which can't be easy to do because musically, the band is just through the roof in terms of their energy and intensity.

As a matter of fact, it almost feels like these songs may have been recorded live on the floor, to an extent, and everyone involved was just feeding off each other's energies the entire time.

Even if I'm wrong about that, because let's face it, I wasn't there when they recorded this thing, listening to the record makes you want to go see them perform it live in your face.

If you can capture this kind of energy and aesthetic on record so well that seeing it live would be a real face-melter, and that's what I would expect from a band like this.

This was a ferocious record that hit all the sweet spots of heavy music and bent those genres to their will amazingly.

With the release of such an awesome album, we had a chat with Falls for the Elderly to find out where this all came from and what might be next for the band.

Here's what went down.

Let's talk about the Ai Suicide record! This was such a great blend of melodic and thrash metal with all kinds of other heavy rock attributes involved! Where did this record come from?

Falls for the Elderly has multiple songwriters which brings us to the progressive style of music! Recorded in the summer of 2023 Ontario Canada. Released January 26th 2024 the band was looking to bring all the sounds of each member into what has become Ai Suicide. The Album is about a lot of emotions with everyday life, relationships and working in Nursing Homes during Covid. It was hard to promote this album in Canada as the word Suicide is a no go but we have now gained attention especially from our high energy live performances. We as a band switch instruments to bring the sound of 2 bands to 1 which has proved to work very well for us.  Ai Suicide is the beginning of what's to come in the near future. 

I'm hearing a few different approaches on this record! Who are some of your biggest musical influences?

Our biggest influences during the time creating these songs is our amazing Hardcore/Metal scene in London Ontario! Listening to Reflections, Gojira, Bird Problems, Counterparts, Touché Amore, Fit For An Autopsy, Deftones, Idealism and Mastodon helped create the new sound of the band compared to "EP1". Covid ended as we were just noodling around with jamming as friends but being able to see most of the bands live the same year was an big boost of motivation. 

Are you guys performing live right now? Any touring in support of this release?

We are playing a few shows in 2025 around Ontario and some festivals including NXNE Toronto! We have been strictly working on writing and recording our new album We did play a lot of shows for Ai Suicide in 2024 including playing Montréal, the first time we have played out of Ontario, was very successful and a big milestone for the band.

Did you guys record this in a home studio setup, or did you go to a big studio for this?

Ai Suicide was recorded at Conjure Recording Studio in St. Thomas Ontario which is a professional home studio. Mixed and Mastered by Chris Costa.

Now that this is out, what's next for the band?

Falls for the Elderly is almost finished our next Album being mixed at The Sugar Shack Recording Studio by Kyle Ashbourne and will be mastered at Graphic Nature Audio by Will Putney of Fit For An Autopsy/Better Lovers which is a massive for us! Once released we will be touring extensively across Northern America and possibly Europe. This album is a HUGE improvement since Ai Suicide as with have 2 new members in the band, Jordan on bass and Adam on drums. People will hear a big difference in production and overall quality of the music we play. PS we never had any bass on Ai Suicide. 

Are you planning any music videos in the near future?

We just released a high production music video for Suicide our 2nd single off Ai Suicide filmed by Live It Video Productions Alex Telfer and Jordan Chatten Media out of Vancouver. We are filming 2 new music videos for our next album and the first on will be released on the same day the first single drops in the near future.

Who's in all your headphones right now?

Jacob White and Wyatt Wilcox of the band have been working recording/editing stringed instruments on the new album with only listening to other bands when hanging out with others or going to live shows. The rest of us are into Loathe, Gojira, Candiria, Down, Lamb of God, Helmet, Fleshwater, Reflections, Static Dress and a lot of Lo-fi music.

This was a pretty big record! Was it a big undertaking? How long did it take to finish this?

It was awhile for the songs to become what they are today with constant improvements/new gear as the whole band worked together with Conjure Recording Studio. Well we would practice i would have a room mic set up to listen back to and that helped lots with ideas of where to put the songs in the order of the album starting with a in your face heavy song "Failure to Thrive" and ending on a softer note "Suicide". With Trazodone a Lo-Fi style song in the middle helped bring all kinds of emotions. Ai Suicide is meant to be listened in full.

What would you tell people they can expect on this release?

You can expect high energy screams, soft clean vocal choruses and massive guitar riffs exploding as you feel the drums in your soul. Ai Suicide helps bring progressive metalcore to humans that don't listen to heavy music. 

Before we go, what would you like to express to fans of the music? 

This is just the very beginning of Falls for the Elderly and what is to come. Go to a local show, support your local music scene. EveRy BaNd WaS a LoCaL BaNd OnCe

Thanks guys! 

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