GOLD COAST ROCKERS THESE FOUR WALLS ARE ALL FIRED UP AND READY TO TAKE ON THE WORLD WITH THEIR BRAND NEW TUNE FIRE AWAY PREMIERING TODAY ON THE SOUNDCHECK.
Settling on the sunny shores of the Gold Coast (via Auckland, New Zealand), hard rockers These Four Walls have gripped a significant following since their inception, sharing stages along the way with everyone from Disturbed, Nickelback, Trivium as well as local legends Karnivool and The Butterfly Effect. And with two albums lodged firmly in their rockin' pockets, there's a tantalising sense of vigor with each new release this quartet unveil, and their latest track Fire Away follows suit with crushing textures, mighty melodics and an undeniable sense of polished intensity impossible to resist.
A band firmly dedicated to finding the positives and growth in the world around them, Fire Away sharply wields military rhythmics beneath a whirlwind of thunderous ebbs and flows as frontman Steve Gibb's powerful vocals clutch you with the song's title and warcry, urging you into a bombastic barrel of heavy bliss. But as with most creations, this soaring tune wasn't always in its final state:
“Musically, the song has had a few incarnations since its original inception and I think a lot of that has to do with the more collaborative approach we have to song writing now and everyone in the band having such a strong musical voice.There’s an appetite in the band now that wants to be challenging, to try things that we’ve never done before and be more open to experimentation. There are elements to this song we wouldn’t have even considered 10 years ago, and now we’re open to all and any possibilities for where a song can go." - Gray Vickers, guitarist
With a radio premiere last night for Fire Away on MMM Hard N Heavy's Down Under and a hometown Single Release Party at Woolly Mammoth Mane Stage on Saturday December 7th, These Four Walls are poised to bash down the walls with their latest endeavour, and it's certainly going to be exciting times ahead for 2020 from this lot - stay tuned!
CATCH A SNEAKY LISTEN TO FIRE AWAY FROM THESE FOUR WALLS BELOW BEFORE IT OFFICIALLY UNVEILS VIA ALL THE USUAL STREAMING SUSPECTS THIS FRIDAY. AND AS AN ADDED BONUS, WE CHATTED WITH GUITARIST GRAY VICKERS TO FIND OUT A BIT MORE ABOUT THE WORLD OF THESE FOUR WALLS ON THE BRINK OF THEIR LATEST RELEASE.
INTERVIEW BELOW THE NEW TUNE!
THESE FOUR WALLS VERY OWN GRAY VICKERS FIRES AWAY ABOUT FIRE AWAY
TIANA SPETER: Hello and a massive congrats on the amazing new song Fire Away. It’s a huge tune with some huge lyrical concepts. Can you talk me through a bit about how the song came to life?
GRAY VICKERS: First of all, thank you very much! This track is actually one of the oldest that made the record. About 3 years ago we started working properly on this record. After the disruptions of movie to Australia, finding a new bass player, and generally starting again over here we’d finally all settled in and really got to work on this project that we dubbed “Meteor”. Essentially a concept record that came from in part from Steve’s fascination with dystopian themes and settings, and my obsession with the game Final Fantasy VII. Near the end of the game when a Meteor is about to hit, there’s a discussion around the fact that there’s only 7 days left until the planet is wiped out and that the characters needed to go to their loved ones to find what they’re fighting for. So the record was essentially that – what we would do when confronted with the reality that we had a week left to live and no control at all over the situation. Ultimately the project was scrapped because we found writing music in a box like that didn’t work for us, but there are a few songs and ideas that survived the sessions, and Fire Away is one of those. Musically, the song has had a few incarnations since its original inception and I think a lot of that has to do with the more collaborative approach we have to song writing now and everyone in the band having such a strong musical voice. There’s an appetite in the band now that wants to be challenging, to try things that we’ve never done before and be more open to experimentation. There are elements to this song we wouldn’t have even considered 10 years ago, and now we’re open to all and any possibilities for where a song can go.
TIANA: You touch on apocalyptic devastation, particularly toying with the idea of how we would react in the fact of potential annihilation; a particularly relevant concept given all that is going on around the globe right now. But I love the overriding positivity of ultimately staring down the chaos no matter what the outcome may be, and your tunes seem to always carry this sensation of intense passion and upbeat conviction amongst all the epic riffs and soaring melodics. Is this something as a band you are dedicated to, shining a lyrical and musical light at the end of the tunnel?
GRAY: Lyrically, the song really keeps true to what we’ve always been about – trying to find the positives and growth in the world we exist in. Even if it’s in a song about a meteor hurtling towards earth, it’s ultimately a song about facing challenges and never giving up. That’s definitely been something we’ve tried to make sure we’ve stuck to from day one. It’s easy to play a victim, it’s easy to complain about what’s been going in the world and in our lives, but there’s no growth in that – there’s no hope in that – and that’s never been the message of this band. Especially for Steve, as a lyricist, he has to believe in what he’s putting out into the world and for anyone who knows him, he’s an absolute beacon of positivity – even when things aren’t going his way. Thematically, our songs have always come from an internal place. It’s never been about the struggles in the world – we’re not a political band, we’re not an activist band. We all have strong opinions as individuals, but that’s never been what the band has been about. For us, it’s always been about the struggle inside and finding something to hold onto, learn from, and grow with and I believe that’s why people do resonate to what we have to say.
TIANA: This tune comes at an interesting point in the musical career for These Four Walls, particularly as you just a few months back celebrated the release of your debut album Down Falls An Empire, and a few years back it seems you guys as a band really dug into your “signature” sound. How different (or similar!) was the process for this latest material for the band compared to previous releases, do you guys find yourselves approaching your writing differently after all this time?
GRAY: It’s absolutely crazy that Down Falls an Empire came out ten years ago. We finished the final tracking for this new album in August, right when we were getting ready to celebrate the anniversary and it really struck me how much things have changed, how much we’ve evolved as people and a band since we recorded that album. I remember being such a headstrong pain in the ass back then, screaming and arguing with producers over little things like trying a verse without drums, or cutting a solo out for a radio. If someone told me then that our new record would have a song that’s goes 2 and a half minutes without a single guitar part, I may have actually exploded! Now we’re all so excited to challenge ourselves, to try new things, and to remove the “rules” around what we think we can and cannot do musically. I think what’s great is that our sound is the collective of individuals. How Brad hits his drums, how I phrase riffs, how Steve sings – that what would be considered the “These Four Walls” sound can really be anything as long as it’s us doing it. We’ve definitely learnt to embrace that over the last few years as we’ve pieced together this record and it’s been incredibly freeing. It has absolutely allowed us to take a different approach to the process. With Down Falls an Empire and Living To Write the End, there was definitely an idea of “us” and that limited us in how far we could take our ideas, but by realising that it’s always going to sound like us if we’re the ones doing it has simply changed the game creatively for us. Ideas always came to the table so well formed that we couldn’t see them in any other way than how they were presented, now this change constantly, ballads become fast paced rock numbers, guitars are replaced by pianos, tunings have changed – the rules are gone and it’s incredibly liberating.
TIANA: With the new track ready to roll, and the promise of an album on the way – does Fire Away give a pretty sturdy representation of what’s to come with the upcoming album?
GRAY: It does to a degree. This record is incredibly varied musically. There are a lot of different styles and ideas thrown in to the mix. Fire Away is a solid representation of the heavier side of the record for sure. But there are also parts to the track that are a great indicator to the rest of the record, in terms of what people expect to get as opposed to what people are going to get. There are some musical choices in the track that we would have never tried 5 years ago and I hope people hear them and think “Oh, I wasn’t expecting that!” If they do, then great, because that’s what we want people to get out of this new record – in the best possible way! This new record is definitely more aggressive that our previous albums, and there’s a lot more energy in the music and I think Fire Away sets a great benchmark for that.
TIANA: And These Four Walls will obviously also be throwing down at a live launch show in December, joined by Gutterfire. What can we expect from this upcoming show, anything hidden up your sleeves for this one?
GRAY: I’m hoping that everyone just has a good time! Something we got to do a lot of in New Zealand, but haven’t really done a lot over here is a proper “Headline” show. Long sets with lots of twists and turns, and really dynamic elements. With the 30 – 40 minute sets, it’s all foot the floor, go out and come back with nothing in the tank. With the longer shows, there’s so much more we can throw in there to give the crowd something truly awesome. There may be a few surprises, but I’m definitely not letting them out of the bag here! I think with this one in particular, this is our chance to road test some of the new songs that no one has ever heard before – which is super exciting – and always really cool when we can throw something out that we’ve been working really hard on and get that feedback immediately. Also, Gutterfire are going to be awesome. We shared a bill with them recently at a charity event “Rock Beats Depression”, and they’re a rad bunch of guys who’ve also released a couple of banging tracks lately so it’ll be great to see what they can bring to the table as well! It was important for us to have a nice long headline slot and have good quality entertainment for the whole night, which is why we’ve gone with the sole opening band which is super exciting for us.
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BY TIANA SPETER