Scene Point Blank: Each album your band has put out has been a distinct departure from the last, what can we expect from the new material?
Jacob: I don't really know what to expect myself. I know what we've got so far, and it's quite varied, actually. We're continuing something we started on Wet From Birth, which is treating each song individually. I do feel like there is a flow to that album, but part of our concept for that record was to not think of it as a whole while we were writing it, like we had done on our previous album. I guess we did think of "How Could I Forget" and "I Disappear" as going together, but at a certain point we had a bunch of songs and thought "What type of songs is this album missing? How could we balance this out? How could we complement the songs we have and what do we want to write?". Then we did "Dropkick the Punks" and finished "Southern Bells and London Sing" in the studio. Right now we have this new group of tunes, and somereally interesting tracks. There's one that's got this obese keyboard sound that I really enjoy playing. It's sort of about tabloid magazine mentality, and being seduced by the celebrity gossip... it's appropriately called "Get Seduced".
Scene Point Blank: On Wet From Birth songs like "Paranoia Attack" carried some political overtones. This might be a better question to ask Joel, but can we expect anything like that on the new album?
Jacob: We purposely try not to be too political in our song writing, but obviously we try to keep up on politics. It's impossible to say it doesn't affect our lives. We don't want to try and influence people's thoughts quite as directly...basically we just don't want to be preachy. We have opinions, and they're going to come out. We're not trying to remain totally objective, it's not like we're making a documentary. There is a song on the new record that some people might say has political overtones and undertones, but that one just kind of happened. It's hard to summarize what that song is about, and I think that's maybe why it came out in a song. It was really a natural process, even though we wrote the track 5 times and finally got it right. It's not quite done though...
Scene Point Blank: Anyone who has seen your band live is aware of the intensity you bring to the stage. How have you guys been preparing for the live show, if you prepare at all?
Jacob: We've been practising about ten hours a day, and preparing two videos for each song that are projected on ten foot screens behind us. We bring in our own lights to get a look for the stage that works with the videos and works for how we set up. We put a lot of work into it, it's a full time job for us, and we don't want to let the fans down.
Scene Point Blank: How important is the visual element to your live show?
Jacob: We want to create an environment that is over-stimulating, and that turns the concert into more of an event or happening. We realize there are people in the back that can't see the stage very well so when we were designing the videos we were thinking we'd make something they could watch, and that would look good as a backdrop to our performance. We have the ability to synchronise the video with music, which not every band does, so we should exploit that. I feel like at this point it's almost a bit of overkill because we got so excited at the prospect of video. There is a lot going on in them, and we're now in the process of reworking them. It's not crucial for live performance, but we want it to be engaging. We want to stimulate more senses than just hearing and watching the band play live.
Scene Point Blank: As a closer; why do you make music and what does it do for you?
Jacob: For me creating music is just a part of the bigger picture. Despite being a musician, I feel that I'm more of an artist, and I think the other members of The Faint feel this way too. We all went to school for visual design, and had always had an interest in playing music, which we've been doing for years now. It's really just an outlet for creative energy and a way to express some ideas that aren't easily expressed otherwise. The current forum for music is very great. It's a lot easier to be a musician, which isn't really a reason for doing it, but it gives more potential for your art to be heard and to reach wider audiences. Music is a very powerful media, second only to film.
Interview: Graham | Graphics: Matt
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