FALLEN WISDOM – Interview with Radu

There were some problems with getting the CD from this band… it was delayed – a custom within the music industry. When I finally got it, it took a while to digest… Now, at long last, I can present this interview with Radu the Fallen – lead singer of the band.

Hi, Radu! I won't bother you with too many questions so…

I can't type for shit so forgive any spelling horrors.

No need to worry! I'll take care of that matter! Wuzz up? How are you?

I'm very busy as of late. We were asked to redo a song for the album because they were interested in releasing it for radio. Everyone took vocal lessons and we went back in the studio to redo them. When the mastering was done we once again were not happy with the song, even though it was supposed to be a happy song it came out too fucking happy, but the song overshadowed everything we had done on the album. So we thought long and hard and decided to redo the whole album. We have thus far redone all the tracks and placed a bonus track. We have a couple of Misfits covers that we are looking at adding for the CD as well and some Ramones. We'll see what happens. Corporate bullshit (re-releasing the album, and the label wanting some say in the album release) and money are the only opponents we face right now. Also JC and I are doing some work for independent musician's e-zines Space Junkies Magazine (www.spacejunkies.net). I do a column where I can fucking rant and JC does the Tour diary where he can fucking rant. JC is our drummer… sorry I think that we are all high school buddies in the world. He's also writing a comic book and short stories (horror of course). The band is writing new material for the new album, which will have lyrical contributions by all members (or so it seems, you never know until the end) and putting together the second leg of our “Pleasure in Touring” States tour. You can see the dates at our website www.fallenwisdom.com. Of course right now it's pretty bare but what the hell, prance around and let us know what you think. Boy I talk too much!

Not at all… So, your CD is out now… has it received praise in other zines and mags? What is the response from the fans?

We were interviewed at Space Junkies (before we started helping out…just in case!), we had a couple of street zines review the album and interview us but they never came out. We are the bearers of bad luck so be careful Metalcentre!!!! Fans love the album, the problem beside the lack of talent and writing skills and terrible vocals is that the album was terribly mastered and produced. Jon Scrip (Testament, Manowar) and Anand Bhatt re-re-re-re mastered it without the original masters and still got it sounding like it was recorded in my shower. We have fixed that and strangely enough now people want the original… makes no sense. They say it's a raw representation of us…we would have fucking marketed it that way: “A raw representation of crap”. Anyway, we had some fans come down to the studio and listen to the new songs they hated “Unavoidable Choice” (like us) but loved the rest of the album. Our #1 (only) fan said that the new versions were heavier and more us. So from that huge compliment we know something's right. Like the top of the interview says we are a little hard to swallow.

Tell me a little about the history of the band… keep it short ; )

Short: 5 Spics meet in San Juan Puerto Rico. We do not play what's considered commercial music in the island and we don't write our lyrics in Spanish. We decide to move to the states. 2 piggies stay. We get a distribution deal days after hitting the states. We search for a guitar player, get a great ass solo master kick ass Pantera loving Georgia native. We hire Stephanie for the missing guitar spot we call her Fallen Steph. We lose the other guitar player. We decide that auditions suck so we keep Steph and drive her nutz with our shit. Fill the name of record label here_________________ turned us down because we had no fan base and their job's easier if we already did all the work while they put the same album out over and over with their shitty radio clone bands or wannabe radio clone bands (how pathetic is to try and be the clone of a clone…anyway). We go on tour and release our album. Get a manager, booker and regroup for the second leg of the tour and get more fans. Re-release of the album w/ three new tracks. Halloween show in Chicago Nov 1st and a full-scale tour and promo coming our way done by us of course. We play a strange mixture of old school Misfits with new Danzig, and very influenced by Iron Maiden w/out the talent of course.

Who are the band members and what do they do besides playing in the band?

· Radu- vocals, majority of lyrics, fan club, mailing list

· JC Wisdom- drums, booking, webmaster

· Fallen Steph- guitar, booking, drawings and band art

· Gonzi Wisdom- bass, shipper and printer

What is the meaning behind your band name?

Fallen Wisdom is the point in your life where you decide that the doctrines of religion that you have had from the beginning are not quite right. And you start thinking for yourself and not following like sheep to the slaughter. These days people believe in church just because when they die they don't want to “burn in hell”. What the fuck is that????!!!! Where is your faith? People don't like to have their faith challenged because they are not sure in what they believe in. If you ask them why did God do this or that they can't answer you, they don't know what the fuck they are following, they are sheep. And if you refuse to be a sheep you are a heretic. Well, we indulge in our fucking Fallen Wisdom, because words on a book or a robe can't control us, we don't believe in control we think for ourselves. We have been going through this all our lives separately and we never came with a correct word. Then we loved the ring of it in a Danzig lyric and did our homework and voila!!! What we believed in was now our name.

Do you believe in God or do you consider yourself irreligious?

Both… religion was a good idea, but the problem was that it gave power. Power corrupts the weak, and mentally weak people are usually in power. The strong are the ones that have to cope with their shit. My attitude is this: it's a circus. You go to church and follow the ring leader (priest, or whatever the fuck he's called today).

Listening to your CD I labelled it as old-school hardcore/ rock with a sinister touch to it. Bands such as Misfits, Life of Agony and Pist-On came to mind. Are those your influences?

You are the first person to compare us to Pist-On but Life of Agony came once and the Misfits have followed us since we moved to the states. As a band we are influenced by all Danzig (Misfits, Samhain and the Danzig band), Iron Maiden and Ramones. I am personally influenced by Glen Danzig, AFI, Maiden, Moonspell, Type O Negative, Cradle of Filth, Therion, Peter Tägtgren, Ramones, Overkill and more. They are too many to mention but lots of punk bands (real ones) and lots of old school metal, and death, trash and black metal for a full list e-mail me back… LOL.

Being a lead singer, I listen a lot to the voice of the vocalist. Your voice is strong and melodic but you also have the ability to show some real power. What came to mind was Keith from Life of Agony and Danzig. I guess you're tired of these comparisons, so here's a new one: when you sing in Spanish you sound like the singer of Natas! (a stoner-rock band from Buenos Aires, Argentina). Do you have any comments on these matters?

Wao!! Thanx for the compliment on my vocals. I am honoured. It's a pleasure to be compared to Natas even though I only heard three tracks on a CD that someone had burned. I thought it was good, it got my ear. I will go and look for more of them and let you know. I don't mind the Danzig or Life Of Agony comparisons. For obvious reasons I have “Soul Searching Sun” by LOA and it's Killer.

What is the thought behind the lyrics, what are they all about? Is there a general message in your music?

Well if there was a general message it would be to think for yourself, but so far no, there is not. Each song is a story of it's own even though there is a trick on our album. If you play the songs in a certain order (w/out the Spanish version of Tres Velas) they are all a story. One day we'll give out the details.

Do you think that Glen Danzig is sexy.. : ) ?

We met Glen in CA and told him that we were ripping him off. He laughed it off. We have it all on video it was the most important event in our lives. And yes he's a sexy beast!

What are your plans for the future (touring etc)?

Second leg of the tour, re-releasing the album, maybe some radio airplay and a first video that will not be on TRL (top 10 countdown of MTV America). If we get there it must be our way if not we'll be four unhappy Spics.

What would you like to say to the readers of Metal Centre? Have I forgotten any important question?