Interview with Fall to June; Vocalist Ben Badger Introduces the Band and Their Self-Titled Debut

Florida-based hard rockers, Fall to June, are a relatively new outfit who are set to release their self-titled debut on April 21, 2015 via Megaforce Records/Sony Red/Ballistic Audio. Sure the band itself is new, but the group’s musicians are both seasoned and well-versed in writing powerful, chart-topping music. Featuring former Cold bassist Jeremy Marshall and former Shinedown member Jasin Todd – the self-titled release was also produced by Stan Martell at Ballistic Audio Productions (Fuel, Saliva) – Fall to June is managed by Brad Stewart (original/former member of Shinedown, current member of Fuel). To delve into the world of this new group, we chatted via email with vocalist Ben Badger, check it out.

For those not familiar with your band can you tell us a little bit about yourselves?
Badger: Fall to June is a down-home, hard-hitting rock band with a stage show that keeps you on your toes and a solid goal of, both, being reminded and helping remind others about the joy in music and life!

Your new self-titled disc is soon to be released. Now that it is complete how do you feel about it, and what has been the response so far?
Badger: As with any artist, there comes a time when you have to move on to the next creation, but you always see room for growth in the process. That being said, we are extremely excited and proud of the product that we spent so long putting together. A lot of self-reflection, soul searching, tears and beers went into this thing… and as for the response, we couldn’t have expected in our wildest dreams for a warmer reception! People really seem to have grabbed a hold of the story we are telling and the energy we put out there.

What is your writing process like?
Badger: We are all about going with the energy in the room and riding that to where it takes us. Some days we have an idea of chord structure or melodic transitions, but when the vibe hits you, you just have to join in and love the freedom of creation that moment has given you. And hopefully, the lyrics provide a window of that moment to the listener!

When you write do you do so with the live setting in mind or do you write a song just for the song’s sake?
Badger: If you ever plan on playing a song live, then you MUST take into consideration during the writing process how it will present to the audience. We are such a live vibe type band, that it isn’t even a question… when we write a song, it is going to be played live, so it has to work in that environment or we trash it.

Along those same lines do you take advantage of technology and email riffs and parts back and forth, or do you get together in a room in a more traditional sense and write together?
Badger: Yeah, we certainly use email to bounce ideas around, but in the end it all ends up in the rehearsal room… you just can’t replace real sweat! That is where the ideas really come together.

What’s the story behind the name of the band?
Badger: Fall to June is a time and a place… if you consider that in fall the school year begins and in June it typically is done for summer. We want to learn something new every day, both about life in general and about ourselves. So Fall to June is exactly that, our education in being us.

Check out the song “Unbreakable” here.

What do you think of the current state of the rock/metal world?
Badger: Not too sure about metal, but rock fans are amazing… passionate, and loyal. Obviously, the goal is for EVERYONE to fall deeply in love with your band, but that just isn’t realistic. So we try to make music that we want to listen to in hopes that there are a bunch of other people that have similar tastes, without worrying too much about trends or fads. Timeless music is the key to longevity and strong fan presence.

Do you receive a lot of support from your local scene and fans in general?
Badger: Our local scene is spread over a couple different States where we live or have a large family presence… and absolutely they have been more supportive than we could have ever hoped for!

Do you have any rituals before you hit the stage? If so, what are they?
Badger: We each have our own thing to get our heads right before we get on stage, so we each take time to do that before we get together and have our “Pow Wow” as a unit and discuss technical stage points and just get our energy locked for each other and for the crowd. We each say something either motivational or ridiculous or whatever, just to make sure we all have our happy place intact and can share it with the people.

Do you have any touring plans in support of the new recording?
Badger: Definitely! We are about to head out on some Southern dates and are building more dates as we go. We plan to be on the road most of the remainder of 2015.