Though the band has been around for three years, enduring several lineup changes throughout that period, things seem to be finally in place for Fall Children. "I started the band solo, and released our first demo, Make Punk Rock Great Again, in 2017 recording all the parts," Fall Children vocalist/guitarist Sasha Guleff told No Echo via email earlier this week. "I then decided I wanted to be in a consistently touring band and taught one of my friends [Luca Szabo] how to play bass real quick, and also asked an old-school mate of mine [Logan Elliot] if he would like to play drums."
Based out of Ukiah, a city in Northern California's Mendocino County, Fall Children play a hardcore punk style that is balls-out aggressive, citing such heavy-hitters as Dead Kennedys, Gorilla Biscuits, and Minor Threat as their prime influences early on. With the membership shifts, Sasha and his band mates decided to bring in different styles into the stew. You can hear the results on Battery Acid, Fall Children's new EP.
"We focused on reinventing our sound because of our new focus with bands like Acrylics, Gag, Drain, Power Trip, Lumpy and the Dumpers, Bib, and Fury, but most importantly of all, Ceremony. Battery Acid was the most personal I've gotten with music. At the time, I was struggling with a cocaine addiction (which I have since overcome), and I would sit in my dark room after our first nationwide tour insanely depressed, constantly playing these riffs over and over again."
Sasha also told No Echo about some of the real-life inspiration behind the Battery Acid EP material: "During our second nationwide tour in October, I had learned that my father was diagnosed with cancer, and a couple months after, on December 31st, he passed away. The lyrics of 'Calavera' specifically narrated my experience taking care of him through those two intense short months. It was a period of time where I felt the world had been very dishonest towards me and this was the best way to express it. Not only the world but myself, cocaine is a dishonest drug no matter how you look at it.
"The latest release was, however, the first time I felt the songs that I brought to the band where elevated by the talent around me. Everyone's musical ability, I feel, was taken to the next level once we where able to really get in a room and practice, which wasn't generally how writing music was for the band. We recorded the EP in November of last year, scrapped the whole thing becasue we knew we could work on it and do better, and that's exactly what we did."
No Echo asked Sasha about the punk scene up in the Ukiah area. "Our local scene has a total of 4/5 bands, so we where very well-received at first, but after so long, we were almost forced to branch out because of the lack of opportunity. In our scene, we did grow a kinship with R4ID, Dirty Rice, Legal Disaster, Scythe, and our friends in Incredulous. But after branching out, we made such good friends with the people in Anti-Vision in Las Vegas, Slutbomb in Cincinnati, Anti-Feds in Indianapolis, Noogy in Dallas, Tuck Knee from Denver, GACK from Denver, Rats in San Antonio, Voice of God from Dayton, Molotov Cockroach from Phoenix, and FCON from Seattle.
"The DIY community has legitimately saved our lives in the sense of giving us purpose, and happiness. All of those bands I've listed have inspired us to do better and made it possible for us to enjoy what we love to do.
Fall Children on social media: Facebook | Instagram
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