Armed with a mighty debut single and video in the form of the inspiring Both Sides, alternative rock duo Maddison Falls kindly stopped by for an interview.
We talk about the creative process for the new song, their aspirations as a band, their values, and what fans can look out for next. Here’s the conversation in full.
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Hi Julien and Joel – thanks for the interview, and huge congrats for the launch of the debut single! Both Sides is stunning – not only for a debut but when considered amidst the current alternative landscape overall.
The song leads with a grunge-like progression, briefly reminiscent of the stripped back Nirvana offerings, but with a melodic optimism, a clear twist of character, and a mighty hook.
What was the creative process like, what came first, and how long did it take to complete the track?
Julien: Hello! This song has sort of a cool story. Me and my dad were driving and it was raining pretty hard out, the windshield wipers were creating this rhythmic beat in my head and I immediately started singing… “I spilled some beats, On the drums, It reminds me of, when I was young” in the melody that is in the final song now. My dad was like ‘what was that…’ I said – ‘I don’t know, I just made it up…’ he said ‘do it again’, so I did…. We got home, picked up guitars and BOTH SIDES was born….
The lyrics came to me very easily sort of like the melody did. We have a studio at home and started recording that very day. Later we played it with Joel at the studio and he added his flavors to it, as well as my mom and dad did… they produced it and helped arrange it (Both being professional musicians most their lives.. comes in handy, LOL). The song was born and completed within a couple sessions. We love it and hope audiences do too, we are grateful for every single listen we get!
What does the song mean or represent for you?
Julien: It means that there are two sides to every story, the dark and the light. Fireworks represent beautiful explosions and butterflies represent the light, the fun, the lighter side of life. The song Both Sides means that life can be what ever you want it to be and every person has their own view on whatever it is they are feeling like at any given time, ya know?
Is there a video on the way, or a longer project – do you have many more songs written?
YES, the video is done and up on YouTube now… www.wearemaddisonfalls.com/links that gets you to the song and the video. WE LOVE it. My dad is an Emmy Award-winning director so it comes in handy, my mom and dad are both musicians and Joel’s family is also musically inspired, basically we are extremely lucky to be supported in every way! Grateful too!
How important is live performance in terms of your plans, and have you debuted this single on stage yet – if so, how did that experience feel?
We actually just did perform this in a Battle Of The Bands at my school – SCARTS SGV. The Judges were amazing and included Butch Vig producer / musician extraordinaire and Rudy Sarzo, Bass Player extraordinaire. We had to audition, it was our first show ever, we made it – 12 out of 28 bands. We didn’t win but Butch Vig and Rudy Sarzo both came up to us and said how much they loved our single. We were unbelievably stoked. Was such a surreal moment, those guys are legends and they got to see us play. So cool!
Your lyrics are brilliantly poetic – where does that come from, do you read much?
Julien: I listen to lots and lots and lots of music and read lots of lyrics. Yes, I also read books, so lyrics to me are very meaningful and important to make a song great! It gives you a chance to have a hook and that is everything!
Fantastic guitar solo – who plays that, and was there a trial-and-error process to finding the right sound, or did you just jam it out and stick with how it went?
Joel: Well, that is me! I live and breathe guitar, I idolize guys like Eddie van Halen and Jimi Hendrix, which is what makes Julien and I fit so well together, we like the same stuff of course but also like very different stuff with different styles!!!! Guitar tones and solos inspire me so much, I truly feel one with my guitar and playing for me comes easy. Of course I need to woodshed and practice to become great but it certainly is not work, it’s FUN – every moment!
Do you think there’s a benefit to you both being so young – a kind of fearless commitment to ideas and lyrics – and do you worry that this authenticity might fade as your audience grows and you become more aware of what they want or what they respond well to?
Julien/Joel: we are thrilled that we are here today, our song out on all platforms, a music video that is getting some traction and a tribe of people surrounding us that believe we can really be rock stars. Age doesn’t really come into play for us right now, like we don’t want people to like us because we are young, we want people to love us because we are great! Yes we are young, yes our voices may change, yes we will drive soon, yes life will certainly change, but our hope is that Maddison Falls stays together forever – 2 young kids making it last!
What’s your biggest aspiration / ambition right now, and what are the steps you’ll take to achieve it?
Write, Write and Write… along with practicing to be the best players we can be, we want to be an original band and not play covers, to do that we need to write great songs, we have about 6 that are close to being done. Our goal is to release one single every 4-6 weeks for the rest of this year so we can play a full set of original music. We know we can get there and we wont stop til we do!
What’s the best thing about being in Maddison Falls?
Friendship and collaboration. That means the world to us. Our families have become true friends too and to watch that is an amazing feeling, right now it is just flowing perfectly!
Is there anything else we need to know?
Our fans should know that we are responsive, we will be very active on Instagram and answer any questions we can. We will be doing giveaways and we will be playing lots of shows. You can buy our merchandise at www.wearemaddisonfalls.com/store and every penny goes to support the band, we don’t take any money, we pay friends to help us and give any money we make back to the Maddison Falls tribe! Once we make enough we will start to support a music for kids charity, which would one so awesome.
Lastly we are sponsored by www.fenderaudio.com and will be giving a speaker away next month through our social media. THANK YOU all so much!
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Find Maddison Falls on Instagram.
