Reborn From Flames – Winner Feb 2011 King’s Feast Talent Search
admin | Mar 04, 2011 | Comments 1
The King’s Feast Talent Search: TTK sits down with the contest winners Reborn From Flames
Marc Johnson for TheToneKing.com
When TheToneKing.com launched The King’s Feast Talent Search, we never expected that we would get such a huge response. In less than 72 hours, the bands that entered received over 500 votes from you guys and gals. Not surprising given the amazing quality of the bands that entered. All of them rocked, but, in the end, Reborn In Flames took home the gold.
Dynamic is the best way to describe Reborn In Flames. Brutally heavy driving rhythms underneath melodic lead lines are reminiscent of bands like Avenged Sevenfold, In Flames, and Killswitch Engage. Although intricate, the guitar lines drive home those crushing metal riffs that you’ll be craving long after the first listen. TTK got a chance to sit down with the five contest winners – Zach, Avi, J-Cap, Nate, and Lev – and find out what makes up Reborn In Flames.
TTK: Congratulations on winning The King’s Feast Talent Search. Your demo is killer. How did you guys start Reborn In Flames?
Zach: Well, Lev and I grew up next to each other. So, we knew each other before either of us even picked up a guitar. Lev and Nate went to high school together and had some small stuff together before I joined the band.
Avi: Well, Lev is my brother, and we would always jam at home. Then, he got involved with Nate and Zach and we started something new and fresh. I went to middle school with Yishai (J-Cap). I always knew he played drums, but didn’t know he was this good until I saw it for myself.
J-Cap: I met Zach through his younger brother, who I happened to graduate from elementary school with. Zach offered me a spot. I came and met the guys, and they asked me to play for the band.
Nate: Lev and I decided to make a band after we ditched a class trip to go to Baltimore to an Avenged Sevenfold concert. When we got back home to New York the following day, Lev took out the guitar, and I got a piece of paper and pen, and we starting writing a song that came to be called “Troubles Within”.
TTK: Even though your song “Queen of Darkness” is definitely heavy, it has a lot of melodic breaks. How do you guys write your songs?
Zach : It always starts with guitars. Either Lev will come to me with a riff, or I’ll show something to him. Then, we just write. From there, I’ll write a bass line, and then we turn it over to Jesse. Lev and I usually have pretty good idea of how we want the drums to sound, and Jesse can do anything we ask him to. But he definitely throws in his own style and personal touch on things. Once that’s all done Nate will craft a melody, and Lev and I will make any final changes to the song as a whole
J-Cap: Like Zach said, when we write our songs, most of the time Zach or Lev will just show me the riff and I’ll make the beat. We usually just play through the songs and then modify it to our liking as we make the finished product of the song.
TTK: Nate, when I listened to the verse in “Until the Future Dies,” I was surprised because it didn’t sound like the same singer as on “Queen of Darkness.” You are adept at both singing and growling. What singers have influenced your voice the most and why?
Nate: I work on a range of different screams and singing techniques to add diversity to our songs and to be able to appeal to everyone who enjoys music from the metal genre. And, ultimately, so our songs don’t all sound the same. The singers that have most influenced me are M. Shadows and Kenneth Nixon from Framing Hanley.
TTK: What’s your favorite song to sing? Why?
Nate: My favorite song to sing is a song called “Breath,” which will be coming out this august. I love this song because its about a father’s writing goodbye to his family in war when hopes of living seem grim, which I can relate to be cause I’m currently in the military.
TTK: Your demo sounds amazing. How did you record it?
Zach: I think the key to our tone on the demo was tracking every guitar twice. We actually played every single guitar part twice, note for note (outside of solos), with two completely different EQs. One track would be a little scooped, a little bass-heavy to get that really heavy tone. The other was very mid-heavy to give it that bite and crunch. Lev actually found some guy with a studio in his attic and he only charged about 30 an hour. For us, that was great and gave us the time to really get everything perfect. Oh, and all the guitars were mic’d with a Shure SM57, and bass was recorded direct.
TTK: You guys get a lot of good feedback about your shows. Do you guys have any gigs coming up?
Zach: As of right now we don’t. Lev and Nate are both currently in the Israeli army. Though, they comeback in a few months. Right before Lev and Nate went to the army we had an offer to open up for Hawthorne Heights. However, without our vocalist and guitarist we couldn’t do it. But you can bet as soon as they do, we’ll be back!
TTK: Your guitar sound is really brutal in some parts, especially for a demo. What amps are you using?
Zach: Thank you very much! I worked tirelessly getting those tones. It wasn’t easy. It’s actually all from my Bugera 6262 2×12. We both went through that amp and the difference in tones came from our guitars.
TTK: Do you use your amp distortion, or pedals? If you use pedals, what kind do you use?
Zach: Actually both. The basis of my tone will always be a hi-gain tube amp, but I always have an overdrive pedal just to give it that extra something that you cant get from an amp alone. My pedal chain is just an Ibanez TS9 and a Boss DD7 delay for certain leads and solos into the Bugera.
Lev: I’m a little simpler than Zach. I usually run a Boss Metalcore through really whatever I can get my hands on. A lot of times I try and borrow someone’s tube amp, and run the pedal through the front end. We don’t really go clean that often so when we can usually work around the limitations. But hey! Any sponsors? We’re listening.
TTK: What kind of guitars do you use?
Lev: I use a stock ESP LTD MH-301 with passive EMGs. It’s a neck-through, string-through that just sounds great, and I got it for like $300
Zach: I love a guitar with a tremolo system, so I go through my Fender Strat with a Duncan, Hot Rail in the bridge. I think technically its a classic player 60’s. It was actually my first electric guitar.
TTK: J Cap, your drums sound really brutal. What kind of kit do you play?
J-Cap: Right now I use a Tama Superstar Hyper-drive kit with Sabian AAX cymbals. When we recorded these tracks I remember I just banged the Shit out of those drums. Whenever we play live I always make sure everything is in tact and everything is tuned the way I want it to be.
TTK: Avi, what kind of bass equipment do you use?
Avi: I use a Fender standard P-bass. The volume knob has actually been ripped off. I always have it full on. After all you can’t turn off rock and roll right? Then, I go through a Fender Rumble amp – one of the bigger ones. Couldn’t tell you the actual model. It’s a few years old but can get some pretty big tones considering the price.
TTK: You guys just won the Kushner battle of the bands, winning some studio time. What can we expect from the new songs that you’ll be recording?
Zach: Well, the songs have evolved since they’ve been written so we may redo one or two. In addition to that, we’ve got another few songs we’d love to get recorded. The new songs are definitely our same style- heavy riffs, a lot of guitar harmonies and Jesse hammering away.
J-Cap: The new songs that we will be recording are definitely in the same ballpark as the others as far as the heavy riffs and technicality but we will still try to change it up a little bit.
TTK: Where do you see Reborn From Flames going in the next few years?
Zach: To the top!
Avi: As Zach said, to the top. Couldn’t have said it any better than that. This band has a ton of potential, and, with our extremely wide range of creativity and genre interests, we know we’ll be able to come up with some good stuff that will definitely rock the charts.
J-Cap: As long as we keep it up there is no doubt in my mind that we will go very far
Reborn In Flames is:
- Vocals – Nate Schlak
- Guitars – Lev Krup
- Guitars – Zach “Iggy” Sy
- Bass – Avi Krup
- Drums – Jesse “J-Cap” Kaplan
Visit :
- Reborn From Flames on MySpace.com : Click Here
- Reborn From Flames Entry on TheToneKing.com Forum Pages : Click Here
- Reborn From Flames Winner’s Announcement Video on YouTube : Click Here
- Reborn From Flames Winning Poll Pages (Official February Page) : Click Here
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