Interview w/ John Falls of Egypt Central

John and Egypt Central play the Hayloft in the 'Clem tomorrow night.

To paraphrase the Grateful Dead (one of the rare times you’ll ever hear me do that), but for Memphis band Egypt Central, it has been one long, strange trip so far. The band released their independent self-titled release back in 2005, only for the album to get picked up by a bigger label and receive its re-release in early 2008. After a significant amount of touring behind that album, the band is gearing up to get back in the studio and work on their sophomore release, due out sometime early in 2011.

But until the band hits the studio again, the band is out on a month long tour with Nonpoint, with dates going through October 7^th. As the band started on the opening night on the tour, I had a chance to talk with lead singer John Falls. John and I discussed the tone of the upcoming record and the struggling with the two releases of the first album.

Here’s my interview with John:

AM: How is the new material coming along so far?
JF: So far, its going really good and really excited about it. For us, it’s like our first big Christmas- that level of excitement before you get a really good gift. It’s kinda like getting my first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle (laughs). We’ve been fortunate to make music like this and when I sit back and start to listen to the new music, I just sit there amazed and can’t believe that this is us. There is a lot more maturity on this album and the music so far shows that. It’s all happening real fast.

AM: What do you consider to be the major differences about the band’s current mindset versus your previous album?
JF: There have been some changes in the band’s management and that has helped stabilize things. We wrote the album throughout most of 2009, and finished up the writing process earlier this year. We expected to be recording a lot sooner, but with the re-release of the album in 2008, we spent most of 2009 on the road. Once the touring was done, we all needed some fresh faces and ideas and went about making the appropriate alterations. Our original guitarist, Jeff James, also came back into the band- which helped make the writing easier this time around.

AM: What do you think will be the mood and sound of the album?
JF: I may be a little biased, but Joey Chicago (bassist) is one of my favorite writers around and brought a lot of stuff to the table. The other guys in the band really stepped it up a notch. We were advised about taking different approaches, but at the same time- we didn’t want to lose our edge. We like to maintain a positive, yet aggressive edge to us. I think with this new album, it will portraying the energy of what you see out of us live more than anything.

AM: Did the success of the band’s first two singles give you guys some vindication?
JF: Oh, most definitely. For as many people that told us no over the years, there is some vindication when you have some success like that. It’s not a hateful attitude towards them, but more of a victory for us, our fans and anybody who supported us along the way. It’s as much a victory for them as it is for us.

AM: When looking back at that first album, what do you consider the strengths and weaknesses of that album?
JF: When I look back at it, I think a lot of why the first album wasn’t a bigger success than it was due to the fact of timing. We released the first version in 2005, and did the re-release in 2008, so it was an uphill battle with the industry all the way. A lot of people were hearing us for the first time when it was re-released, but to the industry- we were trying to sell them something that they had first heard a couple years back. Because of that, we never had the full on push on the charts that we will have the chance to do this time around.

Egypt Central plays at the Hayloft Liquor Stand this Thursday (September 9^th). Tickets are $12 and are available at www.ticketmaster.com. Additional tour dates and band info can be found at www.egyptcentral.net.