Danny Kenneally - ‘Reviving As Paradise Falls’
It’s been a decent few years since we had a chat to guitarist and mastermind Danny Kenneally behind deathcore experimentalists As Paradise Falls (APF) from Brisbane. The band have undergone some adversity with lineup changes as well as the tragic passing of guitarist Glen Barrie.
Well, the boys are back, and with a massive track. Having just released 'Bleed For The Crown' , one of two songs they’ve got in the pipeline, it’s clear APF are kicking goals and ready to blow your minds.
The new track is really fresh and is filled with various elements. Industrially driven and packed with breakdowns, the song is the ultimate comeback song. ‘Bleed For The Crown’ is stupidly heavy, yet retains technically impressive elements that count for a lot of their talent. The music video is dark, and in true APF style, is smashed with visual effects and enough stimuli to engage you and immerse you fully. Oh, and make sure you get to the end, because that final breakdown will rip your socks off.
It’d be rude for us not to chat with Kenneally again, and check in to see how he and Ravi are going, and where they’re at mentally with some new music in the midst of a very rough year for everyone.
'Bleed For The Crown' just got released and it's a monster track, it's got so much in there - deathcore, industrial elements, blistering breakdowns and riffs for days. Talk us through how the track came about?
“Well over the years of As Paradise Falls (APF), I've always been the main songwriter and my music taste and style always fluctuates depending on my mood or what I'm listening to at the time, so the end product is always influenced by how I'm feeling really.
The writing process for ‘Bleed For The Crown’ was a weird one - it was a time where things seemed real bleak and pretty much everyone in the band wanted their space as they were debating their path in life which pretty much left all APF stuff back with me in a bit of a confused state. It was a long time where I respected the boys' space and waited to see their decisions but as you can imagine it was a stressful frustrating wait. However, once I knew the boys didn't wanna be a part of APF anymore due to personal reasons it was like a weight had lifted off my shoulders and I knew I could then go full steam ahead writing music.
So, ‘Bleed For The Crown’ is influenced a lot from grime music in the UK, it’s aggressive and full of attitude which I feel heavy music can miss out on these days, but good grime artists like Ocean Wisdom, Stormzy, Wiley, Astroid Boys (to name a few) all influenced the vibe of this track and old school deathcore was also in the back of my mind too.
The last time we had a chat (quite a few years ago now) - we talked about how impressive the band's music videos were - and it looks like the trend continues for As Paradise Falls with this new one. Music videos add a lot to the package in terms of a 'single' release - what was it like putting this one together?
This one was SUPER simple and easy going in comparison to other experiences. For instance the clip for ‘Equilibrium’ and ‘Starblind’ were super hard to nail. They had a complex story with a lot of different locations and a message to portray. They came out sick and I was stoked we did them but this time we wanted it simple, aggressive, in your face with cool visuals. I think we got there with it and it came out cool.
At the end of the day, you need a sick video... It's kinda compulsory for us so we'll always break our backs trying to make it happen regardless.
You guys have taken a bit of a break understandably (sorry for your loss) - how's the headspace at the moment for new music? Seems like the creative juices are flowing again?
Thanks man, Yeah it's been a very complicated path for APF, it's certainly not a regular band and I wish things were different but it is what it is. As soon as we had our time and decided to go down the path of the boys stepping away from APF and Ravi rejoining with me, it's been nothing but demos every month building the music we've got to move forward. It's exciting.
Since coming back into the limelight, it looks like you guys have undergone some lineup changes - who are As Paradise Falls today, and how did the new recruits come on board?
APF is myself on guitar and Ravi on vocals. So pretty much how we started as a band back in the day. Ravi was our original vocalist who took a step away after our guitarist Glen passed away when we were recording our album Digital Ritual. After Shaun Coar stepped away from APF to pursue his dad life, Ravi approached me and said he was keen to come back and yeah it all worked out. So right now I write everything, Ravi writes his lyrics and we've been using the legendary Mitchell Fogarty from Alpha Wolf as our session drummer and things are going great.
It seems like 'Bleed For The Crown' is one of two singles on the horizon for you guys - when can we expect the next one and can you tell us anything about it?
So, the next song will be called ‘Burn At The Stake’. It's a hard hitting heavy track with a slightly more mellow vibe in comparison to ‘Bleed For The Crown’, it's a shorter track but I can guarantee you'll have it on repeat.
On Facebook, you've described upcoming material as the "heaviest and hardest hitting music" you've ever made - walk us through that - what’s inspired the heaviness this time around?
I think personally over the years and the history of the band and the way the world is right now, there's been a massive buildup of frustration and aggression with myself and I think people reading this probably feel similar. I feel like now I'm free to be real, there's no boundaries with my music and I'm in a better headspace than I was previously.
So I've been asking bands this quite a lot because of how relevant it is - how have you found the experience of releasing new music in the midst of COVID, without shows or anything?
We are super lucky because we didn't have a world tour lined up, we didn't have shows to reschedule. Some bands really copped it and had to cancel big tours and fly back home mid tour etc. Imagine what that has done to them mentally as well as financially and possibly coming home to no job on top of that!
But you have to remain positive and see the opportunities COVID has for us all. Live streaming will never replace live music but it could be another financial avenue for bands considering the financial downsides of streaming music online. Pros and cons, we have to remain positive and support each other and really hit this new world hard.
What's the writing and recording process been like with the physical restrictions in the past few months (although it seems like it's a bit easier going for you guys in Brisbane compared to me at the moment in Melbourne)?
Brisbane has been a lot better than alot of other countries and cities. I was the producer on the new APF music so I did a lot of tracking at my studio. We did track drums down the Gold Coast during peak COVID and we did have to get a letter from our label as proof of working so we were able to travel to the studio which was an interesting and new experience.
Can we expect an EP or full length come out anytime soon, or just sticking with the two singles for now?
Honestly, I've got enough tracks that are good enough for a solid EP/short album. Let's see what the fans want, but we are looking to break tradition in the way things are done and have a more constant flow of music released.
Anything else you'd like to share with fans, not only in Australia but deathcore fans across the globe?
Just a big thank you to everyone for the support over the years and in particular now. It's a tough time to release music but seeing people spin the track and share the video makes it really worthwhile. Considering we can't play shows at the moment, you can keep supporting us by sharing our stuff on socials, adding our track to your playlists and hitting our merch store at www.asparadisefalls.net and hopefully we'll be back live again soon. Thank you!
Review by Ricky Aarons @rickysaul90
Listen to ‘Bleed For The Crown’ here.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ci6iEiydq30
