Purvis farthest and least blurry to right
Some people discover their passions early in life; that elect few who were simply "born to do it," whatever 'it' may be. We see these schmucks all the time on youtube flaunting their effortless preteen mastery of an instrument you spent the better part of your life merely becoming competent with.
Of course, other people find themselves stationed halfway across the world before 'it' breaks a seven-string over their heads. This is the case of Chris Purvis, rising guitar talent and founder of up and coming DC-based metal band, Friend for a Foe. In addition to possessing an incredible feel for visceral and memorable songwriting, Purvis also carries one of the most remarkable paths to his passion I have heard from nearly any musician. He's also one friggin' cool dude.
BS: FFaF started off as your own solo project; how did the group come together?
CP: It started off as a solo project that I really just did to waste time and for fun, but I grew into it more and started learning production more and really expand my sounds. Eventually it got to the point where I really enjoyed it and started building up a fan base. Over the years I slowly began to want this to become an actual band vice a solo effort so I hit up a few folks I knew that played music in the same vein such as our guitarist Tony Marshall, who was previously in Periphery back in the Jake Veredika days, and one of our vocalists Benjamin Guarino, who I used to be in Maryland-based band Earthborn with. I made the whole process open for anyone that was interested and scoured the internet for like-minded musicians which Jason Novalis came to mind. His Animals as Leaders drum covers almost landed him a role in that band, but when his personal life wouldn't allow for it at the time, I eventually approached him about FFaF which he was more than thrilled to be a part of.
BS: I noticed that you serve in the U.S. Navy. Did you enlist before you started FFaF? If so, did you have time to write while abroad or have any musical outlets at your disposal?
CP: Music was always something I did in my spare time, but I didn't realize how much I enjoyed doing it until I joined the service. By joining I actually had the financial backing to afford decent gear. Since I could now afford equipment I wanted instead of equipment I just had to deal with, the door was wide open for creativity.
BS: That's really interesting. Serving in the U.S. Navy is certainly not your standard "bussing tables" musician's day job. How have you balanced writing/recording/producing with your service?
CP: I spent two and a half years out in the Middle East and, if you're not working, you aren't doing a whole lot of anything since your options are limited on extracurricular activities out there so I had a lot of time to focus on music
BS: Will FFaF have any capacity to tour in the near future?
CP: When I get out, music will hopefully envelope every facet of my life, be it performing or production. FFaF, though my baby, is no longer a "me" show. Me being in service will NOT hold the band back. We will be touring extensively in the U.S. and likely in Europe with the way things are going right now. Unfortunately, I won't be able to make all the tour dates, but I'll be enlisting several guitarist in the U.S. and abroad to take my place on the road.
It'll be depressing watching my band tour without me, but I'll take a sense of pride knowing that something I've worked at for so long will finally be coming to fruition. I'll make what dates I can, but me being a touring member will have to wait until I'm out of the Navy.
It's a bit surreal to be honest. This past year has been a whirlwind of activity and 2011 is going to be even more insane. It helps having a solid fanbase and good management that will do anything for you promotion wise. It's nearing the point where we aren't having to whore ourselves as much as the fans and management are taking control of that.
Anderson "The Silver Fox" Cooper reminds you kindly to Keep FFaF away from the little ones.
BS: You mentioned that FFaF is no longer a "me show." Is there much in the way of collaboration between you and your band mates?
CP: Oh there's plenty of collaboration. A lot of the stuff for our upcoming EP is new versions of established material just as a fan service, but we all jam out ideas as a group. It usually starts with me recording some riff ideas and sequencing basic drums and then rest of the guys come in and add their own touches to everything. The same goes for anyone in the band; if they have an idea, we try to record it as soon as possible, usually at my abode since all the recording gear is mine (laughs).
BS: That's really neat. A lot of these newer "djent"/tech metal bands seem to form mostly as a work of one member with other musicians to fill out the live roster. It's good to hear that there's still some teamwork in the metal world.
One thing I noticed, in particular, about your sound that seems to stand out a bit from these other acts is a certain tasteful sense of technicality. Progressive metal these days almost seems to be a contest as to who can be the fastest, heaviest, most wanktastic band out there. FFaF's music seems to step away from this trend.
CP: Glad you notice that as well as the fans. A lot of people comment on that actually. We're perfectly capable of squishing as many notes as possible into the smallest space possible and writing in time signatures that would confuse people, but really, what's the point? Yes, being technically impressive is technically impressive, but there's more to music than that.
Dare I say we try to be a "musicians band," but try to adhere to a more listener friendly style. We want everyone to enjoy our music. I don't want to say mainstream or radio-friendly since we'll probably never be played on the radio (laughs).
We'll write with polyrhythms, but we try to keep a steady 4/4 feel so people can continuously bob their head throughout the song and not have to stop to adjust their bobbing because they're confused.
BS: Yeah, you can really throw out a disk like that.
CP: Exactly. When I listen to music and you get to a certain part where you get chills because the amount of awesome is at that level, it makes the song perfect at that moment. They did something right at that section and we try to accomplish that in all our songs
BS: Speaking of chills, I think your "new" instrumental, "The Sky and the Fall," is a great example of that. When the second solo section kicks in, sans the 17/4 polyrhythm, that's really a perfect climax right there.
FFaF's not so new, but very awesome instrumental to appear on their upcoming EP
CP: Thanks! Honestly, it comes back to the writing process. We initially approach it in a very formulaic manner (i.e. verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, outro) and make subtle changes to the order or stick to what works in songs. Before this was a full band, I really had no vocalist so the instrumentals had to speak for the lack of lyrics. If you can convey an emotion with instruments alone, you've already done more for the song than the majority of bands do with a full line-up. Now that we have the addition of vocals, you add a whole other aspect that adds much more atmosphere and much more emotion or "feel" to the song.
BS: As far as vocals go, FFaF has taken somewhat of a unique approach with a dual vocal assault comprised of two singers who can both scream and genuinely sing. Was this always in the plans or was this something that just came together?
CP: I envisioned FFaF to have something unique about it. I initially wanted to have three guitarists, since a lot of the songs are very layered and recreating parts in a live environment can be tricky with just two guitarists, but Periphery ended up going that route. I didn't want to seem too much like them or appear to be riding the bandwagon, but comparisons are inevitable since we're from the same area, know the same people, have the same influences, and play in the same vein of music. Hell, we have two former members in our band.
As far as the two vocalists, FFaF was initially set to just have one, which Ben Guarino was my first choice since I had been in a band with him previously and knew what he was capable of. FFaF becoming a full-fledged band, was just in it's beginnings and right as that was happening, Chris was unfortunately/fortunately dropped from Periphery and he immediately hit us up to offer his vocal services since he had been following us for a while. Since I wanted this project to have something unique about it, I jumped on the opportunity since Chris is a phenomenal vocalist and his name alone has a fan-base which definitely wouldn't have hurt the cause of making us a viable competitor in the music industry.
Granted, the two vocalist thing has been done before such as with Fell Silent/Monuments, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to have two great vocalists compliment one another. It's funny because we were on the fence since both guys have very different writing styles, but once they were in the same room together, their vocal style and writing ability meshed so well together that you can't help but cheese it big time when those two are at work.
BS: Niacin, that's the vital nutrient in bread right? What's the deal with the title of your first single?
FFaF's first single featuring vocals from both Chris Barretto and Benjamin Guarino
CP: A lot of people have speculated on the naming of that song; it comes down to this: I can't remember which energy drink it was, but there was a warning about in-taking too much which would lead to an accelerated heart rate and your blood vessels rushing to the surface of your skin (sort of like hot flashes). This is called a "niacin flush" and when we wrote Niacin, Tony and I were cranked on Red Bulls and some Starbucks Mocha drinks ... Needless to say we experienced too much caffeine intake and were jittery beyond belief. So we named it Niacin after that little warning label I vaguely remembered (laughs).
BS: That might be 5 Hour Energy. I pound those things like nobody's business.
CP: Actually it is! And to think, I was probably going to lose sleep over that.
BS: You learn something new everyday. Supposedly you guys have a new EP dropping this month. Can you say anything more on that?
CP: Well, kind of. We have some stuff in the works which is behind the reasoning of everything (I can't go into detail on the record), BUT unfortunately for everyone, the EP will likely get pushed to February since we're going to be releasing some additional material on top of the original six tracks. One of which is a remake of an older track featuring some guest vocals and a guest guitar solo! The bad thing is the late release; the good thing is it's to give people more than originally planned.
BS: Nice. What can we expect to see, hear, taste from FFaF in 2011?
CP:
Hear: Our EP and likely our full-length
Taste: Cookies
Feel: Our music when it's played loudly through PA speakers at a venue near you
See: Us live extensively in the US and likely abroad
Smell: Our gas when we've eaten nothing but dollar menu for two weeks on tour (I kid, we'll try to be healthy!)
BS: That's awesome, man. Anything else you'd like to add?
CP: I hope everyone enjoys our music to be completely honest. We're hypercritical of the stuff we write to the point of us disliking everything we do since it never feels complete and always half-assed (even though we spent months writing something). So, if even one person enjoys it, that makes us tolerate it a bit more. So help us enjoy our music by listening and "fanning" us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/friendforafoe
Selfish plug ... oh yeah.
BS: That's completely allowed. Hopefully 2011 is a great year for FFaF.
CP: Cheers man! It was my pleasure! Indeed ... fingers crossed at the possibilities.
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To hear more Friend for a Foe visit www.myspace.com/friendforafoe2 or hit up their facebook above. Also, keep an eye out for their debut EP available next month at the online music vendor of your choice ... Maybe!
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