Fallstar have launched a crowdfunding campaign for their new album “Please Set Me On Fire.” Fans can donate via Indiegogo.. Vocalist Chris commented:
“Hi again everyone! I’m so frick’n happy to be starting another new album campaign here on Indiegogo! For those new here, welcome! We are the OG & Eternal Fallstar, your friendly neighborhood metalcore band. We’re from Portland, Oregon and have been playing shows since 2005. We’ve traveled the world playing our songs, and have released 5 full length records. Since 2015 we have existed solely on the support of our fans and friends through crowdfunding. Where many bands would have given up without the support of a traditional record label, we made the decision to trust our fans with our future, and you’ve kept us going to this day! We’re extremely blessed to have y’all supporting us, and not for a single second do we take it for granted.
Today we’re excited to announce our 6th(!!!) full length record, PLEASE SET ME ON FIRE. After the release of our last record SACRED MIRRORS, we got straight to work on this record. With every record we have two goals, to tell the truth, and raise the bar. To do this we need to write lots of songs. Lots of songs! Twice as many songs were written and trashed to get to these final tracks. As many of you know, we’re not trying to make radio hits, we’re trying to make the most “Fallstar” record we can. So many times there’s the temptation to play it safe with our songwriting, and if we did that, we would almost certainly be rewarded with new listeners through the streaming algorithm, but that’s not what we’re after. We will only make music the way WE think it should be made. I think that’s what all of you expect us to do, and we love you for that:)
Originally this record was titled KIKO, which means “joy”. I wanted to have this album be a joyful statement, but as I wrote the lyrics, I didn’t feel joy. This year has been one of the worst I’ve had in a long time, and writing this record has really helped me get through it. The idea for PLEASE SET ME ON FIRE came to me as I was thinking about how dried up and lifeless I felt. Like a tree that was all but dead, and the only hope of life or beauty left, was for it to burn really bright on the way out. Looking back on how I felt, it seems a bit dramatic, but I think there’s something to it. The idea that even though we feel like there’s nothing left for us in this life, there could still be hope that things can get better. Still hope that we won’t always feel stuck, and that we can still become the people we always hoped we could be. When you’re stuck in an all time low, it feels so lonely, but that’s a feeling shared by so many. Things will get better. Sometimes it takes years, but usually things get better, and this record is about that whole process.
As far as music, I am so so excited for y’all to hear! We’re getting better at guitar so there’s more riffs and guitar solos than we’ve ever had on a record. Haha I even bought a special guitar for solos ‘cause I wanted to do some weird divebombs and such. Overall with the choruses, I think we achieved a more haunting and mystical sounding vibe. I don’t know how to describe it really, but they’re all super catchy, and a lot of them feel like they could be the soundtrack to a dark fantasy novel. If you’re thinking that means super slow, moody and artsy… NO! We’ll never be slow and artsy, but yeah, moody is cool:) Of course there’s some wild breakdowns, but we really tried to tap into the flow of a song rather than checking off boxes for what a metalcore song should have. I’ve been listening to some of these songs for years now(haha even my kids sing along to the demos now) and I still sometimes get chills from some of the parts. The 11 songs that will make the record definitely pass the vibe check, and I think will raise the bar for what a Fallstar song is. For this record we will again be returning to Justin Abel for the mix. You’ll notice that since we started working with Justin, our records made a serious leap in quality. He mixed SUNBREATHER and SACRED MIRRORS, and I know he will put the same amount of care into PLEASE SET ME ON FIRE. I can’t imagine meeting someone I trust more with our music than Justin. He feels like another member of our band, and he is responsible for writing most of the synth and electronic parts on our records now. This time around we’re paying for a day of pre-production with him to get him even more involved in the songs and I’m so so excited for that!”