Interviews: Fading Moments

On this new occasion, we have had the opportunity to interview the Melodic Hardcore band Fading Moments, from Belgium. Check out the interview and follow the band on their FACEBOOK PAGE.

1. Where did you get the idea for the band name, you planned it or came out just like that?

We had this record of a German metalcore band ‘Destiny’. On their record “The Tracy Chapter” they have a song that’s called “Passing Moments”. That was part of our inspiration for the band name. We also think Fading Moments captures well how our lives are a sequence of distinct moments, that come and go as time passes. We thought that was a nice analogy that describes us, as a band. 

2. Why did you want to play this genre?

We started making music back in 2003 and our inspiration was a mix of melodic punk rock bands and modern hardcore bands. We always wanted to make something fast and melodic, but with the occasional heavy breakdown that makes your Spider sense tingle. We even have one older song called ‘The punk and metal way’, it describes perfectly how we are trying to merge different musical hemispheres. It describes our desire to be more than the sum of our parts. We are unsure what the genre is that describes our music but we are not overly concerned with that. As long as we can put a smile on a listener’s face, or be a source of inspiration to others, we are happy. We prefer not to be labelled, we have been ‘in the game’ too long for that to matter even the slightest. 

However, what is really important to us is that we convey a positive message. That people who listen to our music, live or on album, feel better about themselves after listening. Growing up listening to bands that really put positive messages out there, we developed an affinity with positive hardcore. Fading Moments has always been a place where we can vent and release energy, but we prefer that energy to be positive. We felt that echoing that positive message through our music and our presence at live shows was a great way for us to pass on our energy to others. We’ve always felt out of place playing with ‘tough-guy bands’ where it is all about the image, and ultimately often about hating others because they are different than us. It’s just modern day xenofobia, just packaged in something we are supposed to like (i.e. hardcore or punk rock). We feel very comfortable where we are now, void of a true genre, but picking and choosing snippets from inspirational musicians and bands. We are in a place where we can be who we truly are, and we hope people who enjoy our music can feel that, and in some cases it may even inspire them..

3. Did you know each other before the band was formed?

Fading Moments was founded in 2005 out of the ashes of Frogroin and Out of hand. These bands played a lot of shows together, and at one point we thought, why not merge and see where it takes us. Job (vocals), Mathias (bass) and his twin brother Frederic (guitar) started playing together when they were just 13 years old, in their first year of highschool. Timme (guitar) and DIzze (drums) joined a little while later. From then on we have been Fading Moments and while we have had some guest musicians here and there, we have had the same line-up since 2005. That means we have been together longer than the average marriage, I love that statistic. Now most of us have families, and we live 20.000 km apart (Job lives in Sydney, Australia), yet we have still managed to record a new album released less than a month ago: ‘The end starts here’.

4. Each band member favourite band?

That is a very interesting question to ask us, and I think that that is why we are more than the sum of our parts. You can perhaps find a little of all of these bands in Fading Moments, but FM does not sound like any of them (at least not to us) Mathias: Beastie boys Frederic: Explosions in the sky Timme: .letlive Dizze: boysetsfire Job: Pulley

5. Who or what inspires you to write songs?

Most of the lyrics are inspired by two things: our sense of a bond with our community e.g. ‘Our Passion’ on ‘Eyes in the silence. Voices in the dark’ or on books e.g. ‘The game has changed the stakes’ on ‘The end starts here’. But really I think a lot of the inspiration to write songs in FM comes from being together, sharing sounds you like. The usual process is for all of us to write the songs together. The guitars usually come up with a few melodies that are cool, but from there we build it into a song that we all feel great with. That kind of writing is maybe a bit slower, and we won’t be churning out two albums every three years, but we feel good with the music we make, it has a little from every band member. Our song-writing process is also quite an open process, we work on songs for months picking up inspiration from bands we like at the moment, critically analysing what we have already put together, and thinking about what people would like to hear from us. And if the song ultimately fits within FM’s philosophy as a band, we make it. And if we end up not liking it, we just put it aside and focus on something else. As you can tell we are very proud of being a collective, where everyone is valued equally.

6. Where was your last gig?

It is always a little sad when it is difficult to remember a band’s last gig, but we guess it was in 2012. We played in a really small venue with a band called ‘Across the Ocean’, at their release party.

7. Where would you like to act?

We honestly do not care much, we have played in front of big crowds and no crowds. We have fun either way. But of course every band’s dream is a smoky venue, with room for 100 people, but with 200 people crammed in. So any small bar that will have us, gets the venue filled to the brink and has cold beer on tap is our dream venue. Maybe we could also state that if the crowd is thick enough so there can’t be one of those tough-guy moshpits that scare away the average crowd so it feels like we are playing in an empty room, that would be a bonus too. Oh, and if the people there have some silly dance moves they want to show off that is even better!

8. Whom would you like to feature with?

That does not matter to us. If a choir of grandma’s has a positive message to convey, and they are fine having a beer in the venue after, we will play with them. In all seriousness, we don’t care too much. We are too experienced now to care much about our image. I think if we could play with younger, beginning bands, and we can maybe help them get a decent crowd or we could take them under our wings, we would probably prefer that. We will play with anyone anywhere as long as we can wear whatever we want on stage, play the music we want and our audience can do whatever makes them feel good.

9. Whom not?

I think we would no longer fit in playing gigs with bands who are adamant on conveying a negative message, or who feel like their music is an easy way to ram political or religious messages down an audience’s throat. We just want people to feel like they can be themselves, and get rid of some of the tough- guy stigma that hangs around hardcore, or some of the religious or political indoctrination that occured for a while in punk rock. To be brief; we just want everyone to do whatever the hell they feel like as long as it conveys a positive message.

10. Any of you has ever suffered from stage fright? Any tip for beginners on how to beat that?

The first time we were on stage we were only 14 years old. It is like any skill really, if you start young things seem way less daunting than when you start a bit older. But that said, sometimes age gives you maturity as well. I think none of us really suffer from stage fright. All of us get nervous, and we might hit the bathroom more than normal before a show, but nerves keep us sharp and on edge, and when you are sharp you are more ‘in the moment’ and often you enjoy things more too. So the best thing beginners can do is to embrace the nerves. If you are surrounded by the right people, who build you up and not tear you down, nerves are just a byproduct. If you are part of a community that embraces you for trying and making a few mistakes I think you quickly learn how to handle nerves. We have been very fortunate to have been able to be part of good communities, whether they are our families or the music industry in our home towns, where making mistakes was accepted as a growth process, not seen as something negative. Finally, we also think it is important to have fun above all. Things you enjoy are things you keep coming back to. That means, if you have fun, you are likely to practice harder, as a result you will have even more fun. It is a vicious cycle. Don’t take it too seriously.

11. What bands have inspired you the most?

In the past decades wer have been really inspired by bands like Stretch Armstrong, A Day To Remember, Ignite, Strike anywhere, Rise against, Across Five Aprils, the Offspring, Break the Silence, de Heideroosjes, H2O, Death by Stereo, Heaven Shall Burn, Caliban, Destiny, Arkangel, Bury Your Dead, August Burns Red, Counterparts. These bands inspire us for different reasons: because of the message they convey, their music and how they put together catchy songs, but also often because we could find ourselves in their energy. For example, we remember playing with de Heideroosjes in our home town, and even though they were a band who had a really big fan base in Belgium at that time their singer watched our entire show and seemed to enjoy every song. For us, moments like these inspired us to practice harder, make better songs, and pass that message of positivity onto other, younger or less experienced bands.

12. What's the weirdest thing a fan has ever asked you for?

A more appropriate question here is: “What’s the weirdest thing WE ever asked a fan” At a gig right after we released our first album we asked a fan to eat an entire big can of peeled tomatoes for a t-shirt and an album. Some guy in the audience went for it and we hope he is still enjoying his album and shirt. And we hope we did not scare him off tomatoes for the rest of his life.

13. What do you think of your fans?

We are incredibly proud of our fans, they have shown to be extremely loyal. There was radio silence on FM’s end for eight years before we released our last album ‘The end starts here’. Yet we have had amazing feedback from our fans, some of them even said they had feelings of nostalgia and it felt like a trip down memory lane. It is nice to know that in today’s society, where rapid change is the norm, and where the ‘next best thing’ can’t come soon enough, we still had a loyal fan base who care about our music. So to quote ‘Without You’ on ‘Eyes in the silence. Voices in the dark’: “Sweat still dripping from our faces, and it’s all thanks to you. After all these years it’s still you who pull us through’.

14. What do you think of our site?

We love your website. Again, in today’s society it is difficult to keep music and scenes, like punk rock and hardcore alive, because they thrive on community. And since modern communities exist outside of local, physical communities we think it is great you are providing a sense or community online. We also love that you promote all kinds of ‘hard’ music, and it is a great platform for unknown bands to get out there. So thank you! Also, “Breathing the core” is a great name!

15. Something add?

Our new EP “The end stars here” is out now on all platforms like spotify, youtube, bandcamp, deezer, itunes. Check it out, Give it a spin and let us know if you like it. And hopefully we will see you around.