A Q&A with Fake News

Melodic punk rock from Queensland, Australia – here’s Nick from Fake News…

What’s the title of your latest release, and what does it mean to you?
‘Take Me Away’ is our latest 4 track EP. It is a follow up to our 2021 full length album Everyday Warrior. We are super keen to get another release out to the world. It is cut from the same cloth as Everyday Warrior and we know that it will be just as well received by our fans.

What was the hardest part about putting this release together, and why?
The hardest parts are always the finishing touches. The artwork, film clip, getting the right mix master done. Patience is the key because at this stage the music is all written and recorded. You feel like the album is done and ready to be released but until you have every piece of the puzzle in place you can’t. It is so hard to sit on something like this for so long whilst assembling everything in the background you need to make it a successful release. To give you an idea, I recorded my bass to this EP in April 2022 with guitars and vocals done shortly after that. So it has been sitting there for a while waiting for the right time to release & that is finally upon is.

Who produced the release – what did they bring to it?
We do all the tracking ourselves with the help of our good friend Shaun Smith from Dreamvault Studios. He helps to bring an outside opinion to our songs and will encourage us to try different things that we normally wouldn’t think of and most of the time it works. He is a great ally to have in our corner. John Harcus Audio helped in the editing process also. We chose Daly George to do the final mix/master on this album and we are glad we did. It was the first time working with him and he nailed it straight up which is exactly what we were hoping for. Needless to say without these guys assistance we wouldn’t be able to put together such a quality release.

What do you want the listener to take away from listening to your music?
Take away – nice pun! We want our music to make the listener feel something from it. I know how music can change how I’m feeling in an instant and if we can have that same effect on others I cant ask for more than that. Most of our songs would tend to be on the positive side and it’s fast paced and gets you going. There are some great melodies and solos in there to groove on. I’m sure there will be plenty of people that can relate with the lyrics also to really hit home. Basically it’s a whole feel good mood changing package.

How does a track normally come together? Can you tell us something about the process?
Most of the time Mick or Darren will bring in a guitar riff and it goes from there. We find that if we get a quick demo recorded with a basic song structure we can then send it off to everyone to add their own personal flair, drums, vocals etc. This is the most efficient way to do it by far rather than jamming a riff over and over to get it to the stage that it resembles a song. We know when we have a good one because it just clicks and normally finishes itself quickly. We don’t tend to waste time on one song going over it again and again to make it work. Its either going to work form the start or its not. If not move on there are plenty more in the pipeline.

What band/artists have influenced you the most since you started this project, and why?
Since we started this project? That would change the answer considerably. We all have our own influences coming into this band & many of them are common relating back to great 90’s punk bands. Think FAT Wreck chords and Epitaph days. These are the underlying bands that really shape our musical influence. More recently though since Fake News has been around I would have to say some of the modern bands to inspire us are Nerdlinger, Bash Brothers, Caskitt, Counterpunch, The Human Project, Iron Chic, Neck Deep, One Hidden Frame, Our Darkest Days, PMX, Sic Waiting. These guys are all flying the flag for the new age of punk rock and we love what they are doing.

What countries would you like to tour? Are there any standout venues you’d like to play in?
All of them! We would love to get overseas. Europe and America would be awesome but more realistically we would probably look at Japan or south-east Asia just because its closer and would be far cheaper. There are some really cool venues over there and they seem to go crazy over live music ,especially touring bands, so let’s start with that.

If you could pick one track for our readers to listen to in order to get a taste of your music, what would you pick, and why?
Oh no, the old pick one question. I hate these because it’s so hard. It’s like saying who is your favourite child? There is no one right answer for this because each of our songs has a slightly different flavour to it, but I am going to with the new single ‘Rise & Fall’. It covers all the bases.

What ambitions do you have for the band/your career?
We just want to be able to keep making music and if that means we can actually get paid to do it and potentially turn it into our full time job then great. I gave up on that dream a long time ago but it didn’t stop me wanting to be in a punk band and making good new music. I love it either way but if we were to get paid for it that would be amazing.

Finally, as you leave the stage, what are your parting words?
Stay true to yourself. If you have a dream go for it. You never know till you try and don’t let others stand in your way or drag you down. If you live by this you will go far.

For more info visit: facebook.com/fakenewspunk