Photo: Alex Rauch
Post-hardcore Epitaph-signed band, Falling In Reverse, released their début album, The Drug In Me Is You, this July–much to the joy of loyal fans, especially those of insanely popular lead singer Ronnie Radke.
Once part of another band in the post-hardcore scene called Escape The Fate, Radke moved on and formed a band with guitarist Jacky Vincent, drummer Ryan Seaman, bassist Mika Horiuchi, and rhythm guitarist Derek Jones.
Since the release of The Drug In Me Is You, the album has reached number 19 on the Billboard 200 with their music video for single “I’m Not A Vampire” garnering about 1.7 million views since its release in the last week of October.
Despite the cancellation of some recent tour dates, Falling In Reverse showed off their brash, provocative post-hardcore sound and chatted with Nicole Alvarez during an exclusive live webcast at the Red Bull Sound Space at KROQ on Tuesday evening. The band talked about what artist they were planning on jokingly playing, what Radke would have done if he were in a different state of mind, and alludes to a band he has major beef with.
Watch us perform LIVE tonight at @KROQ 5pm PST / 8pm EST — kroq.radio.com/SoundSpace/ #FIRsoundspace—
Falling In Reverse (@FIROfficial) November 08, 2011
Before Falling in Reverse’s set, Radke told Nicole Alvarez that he “got sober and wrote the best record of my life. ” Alvarez commended him for being an inspiration and persevering despite his sabbatical.
Photo: Alex Rauch
Although the band came together in a time of hardship, Jones said that one of the perks of being in the band has been the extensive touring and that him and Radke vibed when their bands got signed to Epitaph around the same time:
“I just like touring a lot. That’s my favorite thing about being in the band…Ronnie and I have been friends for five years, six years. Our bands got signed around the same time to Epitaph.”
Photo: Alex Rauch
Some of their most devout, or as Alvarez would call them, passionate, fans are from Brazil–as evidenced by both the Ustream chat and the messages the band gets from their Brazilian fans. Falling In Reverse made a joking example of a message they might get:
“A family died in a plane crash and they had to eat each other to survive…come to Brazil!”
Thankfully for Falling in Reverse’s Brazilian fans, Radke promised at the end of his set that he’d “come there soon.”
A joke that didn’t come to fruition was Falling in Reverse’s plans to play an all Cannibal Corpse set:
“We were gonna play a joke. We were gonna play all Cannibal Corpse songs, but we decided we wanted to further our career…It would have been funny, you guys probably wouldn’t have got it.”
Falling in Reverse played the high-octane “Raised By Wolves,” fully delivered on the confrontational lyrics of “Tragic Magic” and the incredible guitar shredding by Vincent on “Pick Up The Phone” with its vicious answering machine “f**k you” at the end of the song. For their fourth song, Falling in Reverse played their infectious “I’m Not A Vampire.”
Before they played their beastly “Sink or Swim,” complete with guttural screams by Seaman, Radke decided to give away a t-shirt to the person that came from farthest (seven hours only, not Brazil) and asked if the audience was at “church” and if they were permitted to “move around a little bit.”
Photo: Alex Rauch
Someone who doesn’t have problems moving around? Radke.
The frontman talked about the effects of Red Bull on him (massive amounts of energy) and introduced the song as “one really long Lord of the Rings type of song. We have some time. We technically have two songs left. Technically.”
After energetically playing five songs, the whole band was dripping with sweat. An audience member asked the black-clad Radke to “take it off.” Radke at first replied somewhat seriously, but then lightened up the tone by calling himself a Juggalo.
Photo: Alex Rauch
“If I was high I would. All my inhibitions go out the window. This is KROQ, dude. This isn’t Jumbo’s Clown Fest for the juggalo gathering…I love Juggalos. That’s because I am one. Just Kidding.”
Even though Falling in Reverse had two more songs slotted, “Sink or Swim” was so massively epic that they only played one more song, “The Drug In Me Is You.”
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Though most of his personal dramas were gracefully untouched, Radke mischievously slipped in a message to his previous band:
“This song’s called ‘Escape The Fate Still Owes Me Royalties’…Where’s the camera? I’m coming for you motherf**kers.”
Let the battle of the record sales commence.
Photo: Alex Rauch
