Faithdown

Published on April 13, 2006- Toronto

Written by: Maytina

I first heard Faithdown in March at a show at Lee's Palace. I was specifically there to see/get some photos of Flatlined, and when I walked in Faithdown were on. After one song, I was getting out the camera to snap some pics of these guys too. I'm really hesitant to describe their sound, so just download the song and I wont have to. I will say that Faithdown is made up of four guys who are passionate about and dedicated to their goals, and really, there's nothing hotter than having big dreams.

We've got Justin as vox, Anthony on guitar, Nick behind the kit, and Paolo on bass. They've been going at this for six years now and show no signs of slowing down. In mid-April, Anthony did an email interview with me, about their newly recorded work, and their decision to hold off on releasing an album.

So to set the stage, Anthony and Nick are brothers, and Paolo is a longtime friend. The three of them used to, 'get together and jam until one day we realized that we had some cool song ideas without vocals', says Anthony, 'so [we] decided to search for the right singer and ultimately found Justin to complete Faithdown.' Get Right, I think, is a really good song to hear the cohesion of the musical elements of the band, and how underlined it is with Justin’s vocals pulling it all together.

Faithdown go with a basic template for writing songs, something Anthony says comes naturally, 'they start off as a basic template and then they are introduced and played in rehearsal with the entire band. From there they are pre produced. Any changes would be done and then vocal melodies, harmonies and whatever else happens until we feel it's complete.'

The way they're going about getting their music out is different from the general record-release-promo approach. 'At this time we are concentrating on just making demos of our songs and have decided not to officially release a CD', explains Anthony, 'we want a full on deal. We will make our songs available to the public off the stage at our shows.' I love the concept of not releasing the CDs, but giving the show-goers a little something to pick up. So far, recording has been done at Messenger Sounds in Toronto with Rob Berger and Adam Messenger (up for a Juno!).

All that's really ever standing in the way is time and money, 'it takes lots of coin to record and have your own rehearsal space and pay for needed gear,' Anthony replies when asked about challenges they faced while recording. Which leads us to label support, and yes, they are looking for label support, as noted earlier, they want a full on deal. Explains Anthony, 'we just want a good, fair deal and want to be able to tour and continue making music knowing that the label backs the band.' And it's not that they're sitting on their asses waiting to be found, they've all been working on every aspect of the band themselves, says Anthony, 'at this point we do all website, graphics, logo's, fliers etc ourselves. I used to work for a graphic house before quitting about a year ago. I love doing graphics and have no problem doing them for the band. We all just love everything to do with getting the band to the level we want to get to.'

I ask a lot of bands what drives them to keep working on their music and playing shows and chasing their dreams and I get a lot of interesting answers, but this is just rad, to this question, Anthony replies, 'we don't know what else to do with ourselves. It's who we are.'

Link: http://www.viruszine.com/_noise/2006/april/faithdown/ - Virus Zine (www.viruszine.com)

Published on December 13, 2006- Toronto

Written by: Ilona Fridman

Q- Your name, Faithdown, what does it mean to you?

A- Justin Humes: It represents those times when all bands are having trouble and downtime, trying to figure out what you are doing with yourself, what you are doing as a band. It’s trying to truly believe in what you are doing, to put your "faith down" to guide the way.

A- Tones Chiarore: It’s not to be mistaken with any religious beliefs.

A- Paolo Debartolo: It’s basically taking all of the responsibilities upon ourselves and not relying on anybody.



Q- Growing up, was there any one song or album that made you stop and say, “That’s what I want to do?”

A- Tones: For me it was heavy bands like Metallica.

A- Paolo: For me it wasn’t necessarily so much a record or an album that led me to do what I was doing. I come from a big family who are all musical, so growing up and watching all of my brothers playing I felt left out, so I picked up an instrument. Now that I’m doing this I love it, wouldn’t change it for the world. If there was a record, I’d probably have to say Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.

A- Tones: Throw ABBA in there too! (jokes).

A- Justin: For myself, I was just lucky to have an older brother, so when I was young he had all of these awesome albums like Metallica Black album, Guns N’ Roses Use Your Illusions I & II, AC/DC The Razor’s Edge. That really got me rockin’.



Q- How about now? What do you have in your CD player now?

A- Paolo: Right now? Besides our disc? The new Papa Roach record.

A- Tones: My CD player is all fucked up… wait, can I swear? Well my CD player sucks! But I have jazz in mine.

A- Justin: I don’t even know. I just put in a bunch of discs in. Today I had The Police Live!



Q- If you could tour with anybody, anybody at all, whom would you want to tour with?

A- Paolo: You know what, at this point I’d tour with anybody! But I’d really love to tour with Metallica. That would be a tough stage to share.

A- Tones: If we had to choose, I’d like to tour with Linkin Park.

A- Justin: Foo Fighters.

A- Tones: Green Day! It would be cool to play with some bands that are rockin’ right now.



Q- Since you spend so much time together, you are probably all very close, but if the four of you were put on the show Survivor, who would win?

A- Tones: Of course me. Because I AM A SURVIVOR! I listen to Destiny’s Child (jokes).



Q- What do you want people to think or feel after seeing your live show?

A- Tones: ‘I wanna go buy their record.’ Or, if they already have it, ‘I wanna go buy another one of their records.’

A- Justin: Well that depends. If you’re playing to a younger audience like an all-ages show we really want to inspire. I was inspired when I was younger and we really want to be able to do that for someone else.



Q- What’s next for Faithdown?

A- Tones: We’re going to keep doing what we do. We’re going to keep writing, keep playing, and eventually, hopefully, very soon sign the name on the dotted line.

A- Justin: We’re working on writing, playing and shopping around.

http://www.myspace.com/faithdown
http://www.faithdown.com


Link: http://www.torontoindie.com/?p=64
- Toronto Indie.com

January 17, 2006

Written by: Lisa- co-owner of Phoenix Fire Radio

I have to say this.... Being a radio station owner I hear thousands of new
bands from around the world. In a nut shell, you have to be the best I have
heard in a while. From those thousands that I have heard, only 4 bands have
made it into our rotation. You have an excellent sound and the band you
have put together is very tight. Without a doubt, in my personal opinion,
you will go very far!
- Phoenix Fire Radio- www.PhoenixFireRadio.com