The Metal Resource – mauce.nl

The Forerunner is a five-piece talented metalcore/hardcore band out of Las Vegas. Here are some questions to the band, answered by vocalist John. The band recently released their first album Deceptions on Red Cord Records. John speaks about Deceptions, band name, their future plan, musical background and much more …

TMR: Hello to you from´The Metal Resource’ Holland, how are things going there in Las Vegas?

Things are going great here in Vegas. It’s starting to get hot. It will be in the hundreds soon so pray we don’t melt.

TMR: Will you Introduce yourself and the band please [name and instrument]

My name is John and I do the yelling/screaming. We also have Austin who plays lead guitar and sings, Juan who does rhythm guitar and yells, Jake who plays bass, and Adan who plays the drums and yells.

TMR: Describe your family situation [for everyone personal]

Well right now I am coming up on my one year anniversary with my beautiful wife Edita. We met a few years back and decided to get married last June. It’s been an amazing year. No one else in the band is married. There’s a few guys with serious relationships that hopefully we lead to marriage one day depending on Gods will for them.

TMR: Tell us the brief history of ‘The Forerunner’.

It’s crazy to say but we’ve been a band for almost 3 years now. We formend in the summer of 2009 with one goal and that was to play music for the glory of God. Our band name comes from John the Baptist who was the forerunner who went out before Christ and told the people about His coming. We are doing the same thing upon His return again.

TMR: Are you guys full time musicians ? If not what kind of job or school do you do beside the band ?

We wish we were. We all have jobs. Some of us have two or three jobs. They range from working at a print shop to working as a teacher at a school. Being a full time musician is hard. So right now we work for a few months then tour for a month. Work for a few months then tour for a month and so on.

TMR: What is your musical background ? [for everyone personal]

I’ve (John) have been yelling in different bands for almost 15 years. I grew up on bands like Rage Against the Machine and the Deftones so I covered a lot of their songs back in the day. Austin is more of a metal fan whereas Juan likes more hardcore stuff. When you listen to our newest album Deceptions which came out a few weeks ago you can hear both influences. They both have been playing guitar for a while not only in The Forerunner but other bands in Vegas. Jake has been playing the bass for a few years. He pretty much loves every style of music. Adan has been drumming since he was super young. He is probably the best overall musician in the band. Not only is he one of the best drummers I’ve ever played with but he can play guitar and scream/sing. The crazy thing is he’s only 17.

TMR: Why the name ‘The Forerunner’ ? Is there a story behind it ?

Sorry I jumped ahead and already answered that, lol.

TMR: Who writes the music/lyrics in ‘The Forerunner’ ? .. how do you get in the mood for writing music? And which bands/situations have influences you for writing music and lyrics ?

I mostly write the lyrics but on our last album everyone contributed to writing. All the guys depending on the song have lyrics to add for example Jake wrote all the lyrics for 3/23/09 which talks about his dads suicide. I have no idea how we get in the mood to write music. It just happens. When you least expect it you find yourself writing stuff that’s pretty cool (to us anyways). You might be working on something completey different then all of a sudden you’ve finished a song you didn’t even know you wrote. All of our lyrics are christian based talking about our walk with God, different struggles God has helped us through, and so on. He’s the reason why we play music.

TMR: How do you describe the music of ‘The Forerunner’ the best ?

I have no idea. We want every song to be different and I believe we pulled that off with our album Deceptions. One song might be more metal, one song might be more melodic, one song might be more hardcore, etc. You will have to let us know what you think .

TMR: How does ‘The Forerunner’ stands in life till events in the world, religion and politics and in which proportion stands that till your music and lyrics ?

As I said before all our lyrics are based around Jesus. It’s not about religion, it’s about the relationship we’ve had with Him and how He saved us. I will be honest, there was a point in my life when I wanted to die and I was about to kill myself, but Christ saved me and ever since then (for about 6 years now) my life has been competely different. I’m not saying there hasn’t been trials and tribulations, but my life is just different. It’s hard to explain the joy and peace that surrounds me knowing God is with me. I used to write a lot about politics in other bands but I stopped because politics just makes me upset.

TMR: For a lot of bands the lyrics are just a accidental circumstance, but for some bands they use them to communicate ! ..can you tell us how that is for ‘The Forerunner’ ?

Some people might say we are crazy for saying this, but we all pray before we write and believe it’s the Holy Spirit working through us to help write the lyrics.

TMR: Is there a highlight you will always remember, since the beginning of ‘The Forerunner’ ?

The highlight for us is meeting kids who are hurting and just loving on them. The youth of this generation are lost and most have no where to turn. We just want them to know that there is hope in Christ. We play shows not to make fans, but to truly make friends and show them that we honestly care. We don’t just show up, hang out in our van, play the show, and leave. We show up, hang out with the kids, play the show, then hang out some more. That’s what it’s about.

TMR: And the worst thing were ? [if there is one]

There has been some stuff that we thought was bad at first but looking back it was a blessing. Don’t judge a situation until it’s completely over and done with. You never know what you can learn or take away from it.

TMR: First record you bought? 

My first record I ever bought was a cassette tape of Green Day back in the 90’s.

TMR: What makes you laugh? 

My wife.

TMR: How do you promote your band and shows ?

We mostly do it through all the social media sites like facebook, twitter, instagram, etc. We hardly pass out flyers any more.

TMR: How do you prepare for a show? 

Pray

TMR: Describe your show, visual and musically ? And tell us about your next shows and why we should be there.

Intense. When we are up on stage it’s about worship for us. Most people would think we are angry up on stage but that’s not the case at all. When you love something so much you want to give your all and that’s what we do on stage. Give everything we have.

But you should come hang out at a show because they are packed with energy. Most people love the live shows and aren’t beleivers. We are planning a tour in July for a couple weeks that should be amazing.

TMR: Name some of your favorite bands to play with live [past and future] and tell us why ?

Alive in me from Las Vegas is amazing. They put on a killer show, are great dudes, and play some super heavy music. You also need to check out Rugged Spud from Bakersfield, CA. Man those guys are awesome and their live show is insane. Leaders is a great band on facedown records from Cali as well.

TMR: What is the dumbest question you have ever been asked? 

There are no dumb questions.

TMR: Do you have a life philosophy? 

I can answer for everyone on this. Our philosophy is to show the love of Christ in everything we do.

TMR: Are you visiting many gigs and what do you listen to these days? 

Because I don’t have a CD player in the car I mainly listen to a lot of Christian radio. Jake said he’s been listening to a ton of As hell retreats, Stick to your guns, Nothing Til Blood. Sorry those are the only guys I could get a hold of for this question.

TMR: Tell us about the hardrock/metal scene in your area please?

It’s on and off. The scene in Vegas needs to better with supporting eachother. It’s hard though because we don’t have a solid venue. Venue’s open and close every 6 months which makes the scene coming together a tough task.

TMR: What’s your outlook on the record industry today?

Good question. The record industry for big labels is dying. People can get music for free, they don’t have to go to store any more and that kills the big labels. For smaller labels who adapt to the times and work well with social media then they will survive.

TMR: ‘Deceptions’, was released on April 24. What can you tell about the album [such as the songs, recording process, artwork etc].

A lot of the songs are calling Christians out to stand bold in their faith. We see so many so called believers cower in the face of the enemy and it’s pathetic. There’s also songs on their that deal with sin, the loss of family, and questions for non believers (check out the song Freedom). The album artwork is a girl holding a mask with looking out at two paths she can take. One leads to life and the other to death. The mask represents how no matter what path we take, there’s still parts of us that are fake depending on the situations we are in. That’s why the album is called Deceptions. The recording process was cool. We toured to Rockford, IL in October, recorded for two weeks, then toured back. The studio Red Cord had was very nice and the engineer (Chris) knew what he was doing which is always a good thing.

TMR: The album is released by ‘Red Cord Records’. How did you get signed by them ?

A friend of a friend of a friend, lol. A buddy of ours Steve contaced us and said Red Cord was interested in signing us. At that point we had no idea who they were. We did some research and prayed about the situation. Six months later we decided to sign with them. They have a bright future and can’t wait to see what’s in store.

TMR: What are your plans for this year or the near future ? [European Tour maybe]

Dude a European tour would be sick. We have to figure out the financial aspects of all that but we are definately praying about that. We are hoping to get back in the studio either at the end of the year or the beginning of next year. We are just waiting to hear from Red Cord on that.

TMR: What advice would you give to fellow bands?

Don’t play music to become famous. Play music to connect with the kids. If you truly want to play music for a living then you’re gonna have to be strong, practice a lot, and be able to take criticism without getting upset. If you’re in a christian band then you better be playing for the glory of God and not for the glory of yourself.

TMR: Guys thanks for your time and the interview, we wish ‘The Forerunner’ all the best … Is there anything you wanna say at last? [any final statement ?]

Sorry if there’s a lot of gramatical errors for some reason spell check wouldn’t work with the Dutch version of word, lol. In all seriousness thank you for the time. We really appreciate it.

Band members:
Adan-drumz
Austin-Lead Guitarz + vox
John-Lead Vox
Juan-Rhythm Guitarz
Jake-Bass

Upcoming tour Dates:
Jun 28 @ The Sanctuary, North Las Vegas, NV

Weblinks: Facebook / Twitter / Reverbnation