We Are the Fallen bassist Marty O'Brien shares his views on debut album and opening for HIM

4-11-10 Originally published on Examiner.com by Tracy Heck

We Are the Fallen are preparing for the release of their debut album Tear the World Down on May 11.  The rock band is currently touring North America opening for popular Finnish rock band HIM.

c: Tracy Heck

Friday night the tour made a stop in Chicago at the House of Blues.  Before the show, We Are the Fallen bassist Marty O'Brien met me at my hotel to talk about the upcoming album, the band's origins and the tour.

Q:  The album comes out May 11.  Where did you record it at?
A:  John [LeCompt, guitarist] and Rocky [Gray, drummer] live in Arkansas.  Ben [Moody, guitarist and founder of the band] and I live in Los Angeles and Carly [Smithson, vocalist and former American Idol contestant] lives in San Diego but everybody converges upon Los Angeles when it's time for writing, recording or rehearsing.  Everybody meets there.  So everybody came out for the writing process and then came out again for the recording process and we recorded for about two months at Energy Recording in North Hollywood.
Q:  How did the process go?
A:  It was great.  It was amazing.  I wasn't sure how it was going to go.  I knew we could write good songs but I didn't think it would come together as fast as it did.  It was like we're going to write from this date to this date and we're going to record later in November and I was like okay.  I was thinking we were going to end up with a small handful of songs but from the beginning to the end we just wrote the entire album over like a six-week period.  It just kind of happened.
Q:  I read somewhere that you weren't even talking about doing an entire album.  You were just going to release some tracks online.
A:  Yeah what happened was we put the band together and we were like we just want to hit the road and what better way to do it then just hit the road and we'll start selling music as we go and we'll take some short breaks and record a couple of songs.  That was the plan originally but once we started writing songs we were like we're on to something here and it just kept going and we sat back and it was like we have an entire album, not just a collection of songs but a album with a beginning, middle and an end.
Q:  You and Carly are the only two members of the band who weren't in Evanescence.  How did you get hooked up with the rest of the band?
A:  Soon before Ben left Evanescence I met him outside of the Viper Room in Hollywood and I went up to him because I'd actually sent him an email right before Evanescence came out because I'd heard that they didn't have a bass player yet for their live shows about a year and a half before I met him and said if you still need a bass player let me know but I didn't really connect with that.  So I meet him and we touched base and we talked for a bit and then soon after he quit Evanescence and he moved to L.A. and right away we started collaborating and writing songs together and I've played bass on almost every session he's written on and recorded on and produced and all that so we've been working together for six years now.  So I keep telling people that even though the band is brand new, the band is nine months old but it feels like I've been in it for six years because to me nothing changed.  It's still Ben and I doing our thing.  A lot had to do with clicking with John and Rocky as people and I clicked with Carly too and was already connected with Ben.
Q:  There has been some criticism that the band sounds too much like Evanescence but how do you think that it is different?
A:  It's definitely different and some people pick apart similarities in the music and I think the people that do that are really uneducated.  It's like once in awhile you read a comment that says "Their music sounds like Evanescence" and I don't think they know that of course it does.  When Ben Moody sits down at a piano you go, wow, there's that signature Evanescence sound and the chord progressions.  It's kind of like I always joke with people that would be like if Led Zeppelin got a new singer and then you say the music sounds like Led Zeppelin well what else would Jimmy Page sound like!  That's my attitude.
Q:  You've played with a lot of people as a studio and live bassist.  Is there anybody you enjoyed working with the most?
A:  I toured a lot with Tommy Lee and he's just a fun guy to be around.  I had a lot of fun years with him.  I've been lucky that every band I toured with has been great.  I've never had a bad experience.  I've heard a lot of bad stories but every band I've played with was amazing.  A lot of fun.
Q:  Is there anyone you want to work with in the future?
A:  Um, I don't even know.  I want to work with anybody.  Because before this for the past six years I was mostly doing recording sessions in L.A. just playing bass on any session whoever needed it.  A lot of pop albums.  Everyone from Kelly Clarkson to Chris Cornell and Celine Dion.  Just random stuff.  That's a lot of fun because one day you think you're just going to the park and all of a sudden someone calls you and you're recording.  The variety and the spontaneous aspect of it is pretty cool.
Q:  With the new album is there a song that stands out for you?
A:  There's a song called Burn that I love so much.  It's really heavy but catchy and there's a song called Tear the World Down, the title track, because we recorded a 21-piece string session and then brought in a 17-person choir and then we doubled them so it's a huge undertaking.  That song in particular utilizes all those elements and starts out with a minute long string intro and it's the last song on the album and it trails off with the choir and a lot of percussion.  It's like the most epic movie you've ever seen but with a rock band behind it.  It's awesome.  Those are two of my favorites.
Q:  How is the tour going so far?
A:  It's going great because you always worry about the fact that there is no album out yet so people don't know the songs and you have to rely on your performance to really sell it and it's been going great.  I can't believe how you get off stage and go to your hotel and there's already Youtube videos from every possible angle you can imagine from the same show.  You can find four or five and go here's a balcony version, a front row version.  Every show we've done so far I can find.
Q:  What's it like touring with the other bands?
A:  It's been great.
Q:  How did you get involved with this tour?
A:  I think we share the same booking agent and they were like who would be compatible and right away they were like HIM has an album coming out at the same time and talk about a perfect audience.  One really cool thing about doing this is when you tour and people don't know your music the first instinct is to come out and play all of your heaviest, hardest, fastest songs and stay away from the slow ones but then what happened was a couple of nights into it after watching the band Dommin, who plays before us their music is kind of slow and pulsating and HIM has a similar style with lower tempo, pulsating songs and we were like we may be able to pull off a slower song or two.  We've been working them into the set and I'm so surprised people are really loving it.
Q:  You've been doing the Like A Prayer cover.  Are there any other covers on the album?
A:  That's the only one.  We were trying to think of what would be a great eighties song that we all grew up on that wasn't really a rock song but that we could turn it into one.  To me the best covers are when someone does a completely different version of it like everything stripped away and redone completely like when Marilyn Manson did the Sweet Dreams cover.  Just the melody and the elements are there.  So when we were writing for the album we took a little break and Ben was camping and heard it on the radio and called us and said "I've got it!".  The Madonna version of that song is a gospel choir and we were like what if we made it into a minor key and made it darker but instead of using a gospel choir used like a gothic sounding choir and there's actually parts where they're chanting Latin phrases and it just worked out so well it's amazing.  It's not going on the album but it's recorded full blown with the orchestra and the strings and the whole bit.  It was going to be on the album but now we'll find a special way to release it.  Maybe in a movie soundtrack or something cool.  A fun way to deliver it to the fans.
Q:  Do you know what the next single is going to be?
A:  I have a feeling that it's the song Without You but I'm not confirmed on that.  It's gone up on our website and people are reacting to it.
Q:  Any future plans after this tour?
A:  After this leg ends on May 9 we're going to stay in New York to do some press for the album.  Then in June we've booked all the huge European festivals like Rock Am Ring and Rock Im Park in Germany and then the Download festival.  So when this leg ends we have like a small two and a half week gap to fill up so they're booking a small headlining tour for us.  So that's the plan.
Q:  Do you get to get out and do much while you're on tour?
A:  Yeah.  I always, especially if it's in a real touristy place or a place to sight see like Europe I"m setting my alarm and I'm up and taking advantage of the situation and I'm all over the place.  I've been on tours where bands just drank all night and slept late and I'm like no way man I set my alarm and I'm in the coliseum by myself with the camera.  Especially if we have a break in between dates like we did before this show.