These underrated metalcore favorites announced their most emotionally charged album to date early this summer, and now they are getting ready to close out the season with that very piece of music.
Now two years out from their acclaimed second record, Welcome To The Chaos, Fame on Fire have returned. With their return came with the announcement of their new album, The Death Card, which is out on September 6. The band has stunned the rockers of the internet for years with their hit cover songs, but it is their original music that strikes a true chord. The music Fame on Fire write always finds a way to deliver powerful messages with commanding deliveries.
There is an abundance to be excited about in this era of the band, too – not just new tracks that pack a punch (which they do). Fans can expect something unique from the band, and if they haven’t noticed yet, every song is based on a different tarot card therefore they have dual meanings. The music itself has such a vast nuance to it and all the songs on this 12-track album could be a hit, but the concept of conflicting, self-observing tarot cards creating a through-line is something new, distinctive, and special in itself.
We had the chance to chat with the full band about the album and everything leading up to it. After reading the conversation below and listening to the singles out thus far, you, too, will realize that it’s going to be the year of Fame on Fire – just wait and see.
First question has to be about The Death Card, which is out on September 6. Tell me about releasing your third LP and getting to this point.
Bryan: We’re really honored to be doing it. We’re very proud of it. It feels like we’ve been working our entire musical career up to this point; this is the best of what we got. We put everything on the table and the music is all cohesive on this one. The lyrics are cohesive, everything works well together, and we’re super proud of it.
Every Fame on Fire record showcases you guys playing with different sounds, but with this one, every song is an entirely different soundscape. It’s so interesting to listen to. Tell me about tackling every track individually.
Paul: I think the goal for this record was to not really have expectations when it comes to the sound. It was more so about writing to write music rather than writing to create the catchiest song or to have a specific purpose. I think we were able to be a lot more creative with this album cycle when it came to writing and inspirations. There were no rules or criteria whatsoever. We were able to get the most creative and ‘out there’ thing for us.
That makes perfect sense – realizing there are no boundaries. Now tell me about the tarot card aspect of this record, because every track has a tarot card associated with it.
Bryan: The tarot card idea was one of the original ideas for the record. We really wanted to have a strong tarot card theme. Each song has its own tarot card associated with it based on the lyrics of the song. There were some songs we would just name, like “The Moon” – that was always named “The Moon,” and so what we did with that one was, we learned a lot about tarot cards. That song is about the tarot card ‘the moon’ and also how it relates to our lives – my life. That one is very specific to that. There are also cards where we would write and I would work on lyrics. “Well, this card doesn’t really fit this theme anymore, so we’re going to see what card works best with it.” That’s why for “Spiral (Justice),” that’s the song that works best with the spiral card. “Nightmare (The Devil)” is a song where the card that works best with Nightmare, because that is pretty much the to-the-tee meaning of that card. That’s the whole tarot card meaning behind it.
That is so interesting. Were there songs that you were having arguments over? “No, this song should be ‘The Fool!’ No, that song should be ‘The Fool!'”
Bryan: No, actually. Everyone was pretty much, “That is ‘The Fool.'” It was a lot easier to figure out the cards while writing the songs. There were some songs that, afterwards when we would go through it, we’d go “Eh, that doesn’t make total sense.” Then we went through and changed the card on that one, because another card had a better meaning. We were all on the same page throughout this entire process which is really great.
Do you feel that learning about tarot cards has changed the songwriting process, or do you feel it’s similar to what you’ve always done?
Bryan: It definitely made it harder. I don’t know if it totally changed it, but it definitely made it harder. “If this song is called “The Fool,” this is what I have to work with.” I have to make the lyrics make sense with all of this. It did make it a little harder for some songs, but for some other songs it made it easier, because you knew what you were going to write about. You had to focus. You had an idea which made writing lyrics a lot easier at times.
That makes sense, because it’s not just the endless possibilities. Now, this is the first time the band has worked with a producer. Tell me about Erik Ron [Panic! At the Disco, Godsmack] and any experiences with him.
Blake: Working with Erik Ron was actually one of the best experiences we’ve ever been a part of as a band. I’m really happy the record is done and set to release in September. However, I kind of wish we were back in the studio. It was such a cool experience. We’ve developed a band as a DIY project and everyone inside of this phone call right now has a different role and a different strength. We’ve always done it DIY, so this is our first time branching out and working specifically with a music producer. Instantly upon the first session with Erik Ron we were like, “Wow, this guy gets it. He understands our vision. He understands what we’re going for.” He is not only like a fifth member of the band, but – to an extent – the band dad. He’s our age, but he had to babysit the four of us in the room. It was really cool! I think one of the main attributes to working with Erik was he pulled the absolute best out of us. We seem to think we know our own standard, but of course when someone as good as Erik Ron is next to us, you can always pull out a little more – especially on the vocals. I think this record in particular is very, very, very, vocal driven. I think the performances from Bryan are on another level. I’m not saying that because I’m biased, but because I was there in the other room and I watched Erik pull the best out of Bryan. Even if it was a little friction based, and maybe we weren’t aligning on certain things, at the end of the day we got the best stuff we could get by working with Erik Ron. It was an all-around awesome experience.
As someone who has been following Fame on Fire since Levels (2020), I do believe this is your best record yet. I imagine that’s also got to be tough, being DIY for so long and giving another person creative control.
Blake: Absolutely! I appreciate that. We do also believe this is our best body of work thus far. At the end of the day though, allowing someone to come into our creative space (especially if you’re so used to doing it ourselves) wasn’t as big of a struggle as you may think. We knew where we wanted to go and not just with the sound of the record like Paul was saying. Overall, we knew we wanted to go into this third record using tarot cards as the tool (of course not the crutch), because we finally feel we’re at a place in our career where we no longer have to prove to anyone on the fan side or even the industry side that we’re not just a cover band. We now feel like we’re past that and we’re a “real band.” A part of us ultimately had to let go of how we used to be the underdogs. We used to think of ourselves as having to prove to everyone we’re not that band. You have to kill that side of us off in order for a new side to begin, and that’s exactly what The Death Card represents. Having our north star/compass be the tarot theme, working with Erik Ron had all the pieces align. We’re students of music and students of life anyway. We were taking notes! If it wasn’t our turn to do something in the room we were watching and observing the overall experience.
When Levels first came out you were still being referred to as the cover band. With the singles that we’re seeing from The Death Card currently, reception has finally been strong in recognizing you not as a cover band. I feel like this is such a cohesive album. Was it tricky to pick singles? I feel like you guys really nailed the pace on this one.
Bryan: Picking singles is always so hard, but for this record it was definitely way harder. I think it was the hardest.
Paul: The flow of the album was something really important to me. We wanted to do a concept record without doing a concept record. To be honest, once we figured out, “Hey, we want it to be themed this way,” and after we wrote the first couple of songs, everything else came kind of naturally! We didn’t have to try to make it flow. It all fell into place. We didn’t really spend too much time saying, “Oh, this song has to go there and that song has to go there.” It happened naturally.
Bryan: We were also all on the same page and we all had the same goal in mind. We all knew how we wanted it to sound in the end. The way it sounds in the end almost isn’t surprising, which is different because we knew what we wanted for this record.
Switching gears a bit, Fame on Fire is three records deep and still with Hopeless Records. Clearly there’s something good going on with that partnership, so with this third time around, how are you and they feeling?
Bryan: Third time around has been the best time around! Sometimes it’s hard being an artist on a label. For this record, and everything that’s come along so far with the third album, they’ve been absolutely amazing for us. They were willing to bend and break their own rules in order to give us what we needed to make this record really special. It is our last album with them, but there could be more in the future. We’re just really happy with the effort they put in on this.
Is it tricky when you know this is your last contractual obligated record with Hopeless? Are you looking at other labels? Is it way too early to tell?
Bryan: I think it’s way too early to tell, but the thing is that they’re all on the same page with us when we say, “Hey, this means a lot. We need to give this our all. There can be no slacking allowed.” If you’re not going to give it your all then what’s the point?
That’s a sign of a good partnership. If you’re giving it your all in the music, you want to feel they’re giving it all on their end pushing it. I do want to get your opinion on one song in particular. The song “Chains (The Tower)” really spoke to me as a music journalist. Any insight you have into the writing process we would appreciate!
Bryan: Yeah, so this song is one of the first songs we wrote for this record and we demo-ed this out before we went to Erik Ron. “Chains” was all of us in the studio one day. Funny enough, this song actually had two different choruses to it! Blake and I will do a lot of melodies together, so there was a chorus where one melody was my melody and one melody was Blake’s melody. We recorded both of them. (We just had lyrics at the time.) It was almost a 50/50 split between what was the better vocal melody for the hook of this song. It got so deep that we just didn’t know. “Let’s go on Instagram and ask our fans!” We literally posted two clips: one of one chorus and one of the other chorus and we said “Which one do you guys prefer?” Ultimately the fans ended up voting on the chorus we didn’t use. It was a close race, but they voted 52% to 48% for the one we didn’t use. We all looked at it and said, “Fuck it. They don’t decide. We decide it.” Blake’s chorus won in the end [Laughs]. Obviously I think we chose right. I think it’s one of the catchiest song we’ve ever written. There’s just something so special about that song to me.
Thank you so much for hoping on this call, talking with me, talking with The Aquarian. If every person could say one thing they want their fans or readers of The Aquarian that might not know Fame on Fire, to take away from The Death Card, what would it be?
Paul: I feel like with this record there’s a lot of emotions and a lot of feeling in it. I just want everyone to know it’s ok to feel and express that way – like we did in this record. I feel like that is something that was missing on the first two records. It was still there, but this one we went in 100%. Yeah, it’s ok to feel and it’s ok to have emotions.
Blake: I don’t know how you can top that! Coming through the lense of Fame on Fire, as we’ve stated and as you’ve stated Valentino, we believe this is easily our best record. It means so much to us. We were able to pull those emotions and put it on paper. I just hope that everyone can tap into that and give it a good listen; less judge and more feel. We’re at a point in life where everyone is so judge-y. Let’s take a step back, feel, be human, tap into emotions again. Everyone wants to suppress everything and everyone is so distracted by external factors. The Death Card, for us, is the introspective angle. We looked inside to change and to move forward rather than to look outside.
Bryan: There’s no way I’m topping any of this. I just want people to punch the air, dance, just feel it! Punch the wall! Listen to The Death Card and punch your wall [Laughs].
Alex: I was going to say, but Paul said it; I feel like this album captured so much emotion. There’s so much to feel in this album. Like Blake said, too, just listen to it, feel it, and embrace it. I think people will resonate with that. They’ll understand how we’re feeling and relate it to themselves.
FOR MORE ON FAME ON FIRE, CLICK HERE! PRE-ORDER THE NEW ALBUM, OUT 9/6, HERE!
