FOLD emerged from a rich 90s music scene, blending grunge influences into their debut album 'At The End Of The Sun,' reflecting introspective themes with a touch of irony.
1. How
did the band FOLD come together, and what inspired the formation of the band?
The formation was quite a long process. Stephan and Michael are friends in
private life, and David and Michael have known each other since their teenage
years when they both played in friendly bands. Our small town had a very active
music scene in the 90s with numerous metal, grunge, and punk bands. Dirk, on
the other hand, was an acquaintance of David, who was also heavily influenced
by grunge music and thus was the perfect fit for the drums. Over the past three
years, songs were written together in various constellations, interrupted by
things like the pandemic or family changes. This process finally led to a very
harmonious band structure at the end of 2023. The band name also went through a
longer process. Originally, the name "unmute" was considered. Since
there was already a band with similar music and the same name, it eventually
shifted to "unfold," which finally became "FOLD." Since the
band members often make ironic jokes about their age, FOLD could also simply
stand for Fxxxxx Old.
2. Your debut album, 'At The End Of The Sun,' features a unique blend of
lumbering riffs, poignant guitar lines, powerful drums, and memorable vocal
melodies. How did you develop this distinctive sound?
The sound of FOLD probably comes from the musical upbringing of each musician.
We all love grunge music and have a particular fondness for "Alice In
Chains." Without consciously taking a direction or trying to copy the
sound, this naturally influenced our sound ideas. Especially the heavy and slow
guitar riffs, but also the occasionally harmonized vocals, come from this
influence. The songwriting itself also has progressive elements and
inspirations from stone rock and punk music.
3. Given your roots in the early 90s rock scene, how do you feel your music
reflects the ethos and spirit of Generation X?
On one hand, many of the songs are characterized by self-doubt and reflections
of a lyrical self on its own emotional instability. In addition to this
contemplation about one's uncertain future, as a fundamental idea of Generation
X, we are all shaped by certain attitudes from that time, such as respect,
tolerance, feminism, but also not inflating one's own ego too much inwardly and
outwardly.
4. 'At The End Of The Sun' includes 13 tracks characterized by subtle
melancholy and philosophical dialectics. Can you share the inspiration behind
the themes and lyrics of this album?
All lyrics were written by Michael. Those who know him know that he is a very
funny, but also very cynical person, who comments on difficult situations with
a good dose of gallows humor. Writing the lyrics often involves self-reflection
of fictional people in critical life situations. Very few autobiographical
aspects flow into the lyrics. Exceptions include "Despicable Youth,"
which revolves around our own musical upbringing, and the song "At The End
Of The Sun," which, though not directly obvious, deals with the theme of
saying goodbye and coping with the death of loved ones.
5. Your music has been compared to bands like 'Alice In Chains,'
'Soundgarden,' and the 'Foo Fighters.' How have these bands influenced your
musical style and direction?
This was partly answered above:
We all love grunge music and have a particular fondness for "Alice In
Chains." Without consciously taking a direction or trying to copy the
sound, this naturally influenced our sound ideas. Especially the heavy and slow
guitar riffs, but also the occasionally harmonized vocals, come from this
influence. The songwriting itself also has progressive elements and
inspirations from stone rock and punk music.
6. The album was recorded at 'The Stone Forge' Studio in Zweibrücken. Can
you describe the recording process and any memorable moments from the studio?
The Stone Forge is Michael's recording studio. He trained as a recording
engineer in the early 2000s and now uses this studio mainly for private
productions and occasional online mixing and mastering jobs. Therefore, the
recordings were not a classic studio session but a continuous recording process
accompanying the songwriting of new songs. The most exciting moment was
certainly when we first heard our song "Part Of The Left Behind" in
its final recording quality and received a lot of positive feedback for it.
7. With a focus on keeping grunge music alive, what do you believe is the
enduring appeal of grunge, and how do you see it evolving in the 2020s?
Grunge music in the 2020s... that's certainly a difficult situation. Without
generalizing people, we perceive a high degree of conformity in identity
formation among today's youth. From our perspective, many young people try to
adapt a self-image propagated by social media. For us, grunge in our youth was
more a way to stand out from others. Today, many seem to strive to be the same,
especially in appearance. As for music, rock music in general plays a very
minor role in today's youth culture. It's currently unlikely that grunge will
make a comeback. On the other hand, things often develop in waves. Maybe a
musical counter-movement will emerge in a few years, like grunge was back then.
However, the whole thing continues to be heavily influenced by the media.
Therefore, grunge music probably won't have the same broad appeal it had 30
years ago and will remain the sound of the aging Gen X.
8. Can you tell us more about the collaboration process within the band,
especially with Daniel Nikola contributing drums on the album?
Since we had a long-standing problem finding an adequate drummer for the band,
Daniel Nikola (a musician friend of Stephan) agreed to play the drums for all
the recording sessions. We are infinitely grateful to him because he did a
great job. Unfortunately, he can't join FOLD as a permanent drummer due to time
constraints. However, we found a more than adequate replacement in Dirk Nilles,
who complements the band musically and personally perfectly.
9. What challenges did you face while creating 'At The End Of The Sun,' and how did you overcome them?
The most challenging part of the whole process was certainly reaching the point where we were really finished with a song without constantly making new detail changes. It certainly helps to know that there's still a lot of unfinished material in the backlog that we want to record and look forward to working on new songs.
10. How do you approach songwriting and composing as a band? Do you have any rituals or processes that help foster creativity?
Most of the songs were written by Michael or David, or both together. There's no specific ritual for songwriting. It usually happens very spontaneously. There are days when you pick up the guitar, suddenly have an idea, and within 20-30 minutes, the individual parts of a song are ready. After that, there's a longer process of arranging and adding. Song ideas often come faster than we can finish them as a band. Therefore, there's already enough raw material for another complete album that just needs to be worked out.
11. In what ways do you hope listeners will connect with your music, and what messages or emotions do you aim to convey through your songs?
We believe that many people who, like us, were musically socialized in the early nineties will find themselves in our sound. Nevertheless, we also hope to convince people who haven't had much contact with grunge music yet through our songs and performance.
12. What are your plans for promoting 'At The End Of The Sun,' and can fans look forward to any upcoming tours or live performances?
After our album release party in early July, we'll take a six-week summer break. Then, in the fall, we'll have various regional concerts in smaller clubs. In parallel, we'll start the first recordings for the follow-up album, as there's already a lot of new material. Maybe there will be another FOLD album in 2025.
Fold (@fold.grunge) • Photos et vidéos Instagram
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