By Jill Hughes

Futures End released their debut album Memoirs of a Broken Man last year to rave reviews, including being honored as #1 on our Top 2009 prog metal albums poll. It was a remarkable first year for them, so I took the opportunity to ask a few questions to the band.

USA Progressive Music:  As a debut album, Memoirs of a Broken Man has received a lot of buzz and probably some of the highest record sales for Nightmare Records.  What do you think contributed to this?  What has been your reaction to the overwhelming response to your album?

Christian David Wentz: I am totally blown away at the response the record has gotten. It is the kind of thing that when you release the album, you have your fingers and toes crossed, having faith that what you have created will stir something in people that makes them talk about your music. When the reviews started coming in, I kept waiting for that one bad review that I felt was inevitable. Not everyone is going to love what you do, and not everyone loves what we have done, but the bad reviews haven't come in - yet!

I think that we made an honest record. What we have created is true to what we feel is our sound and our conceptual identity as a band. We weren't ever worried about adding something that would make the music more fashionable, or copying anyone else's ideas for the sake of selling records.

USAProgMusic: Most bands have to wait a few years before they are asked to play ProgPower USA (showcase or main stage), yet you were a sensation overnight and got asked to play the Showcase 2009 as the opening band before your debut album even was released.  How did that come about?  Is it because you are all seasoned musicians?

Christian: <laughs> It's not what you know, it's WHO you know! Seriously, Shane Dubose is the promoter for the Progpower Showcase. We were in Texas recording vocal tracks for the album in August of '08 and Shane stopped by the studio. He heard what we were doing, looked at me and said, “Oh man, this stuff is amazing! You have to play my show!"

I let him know that he had screwed up with that invitation because I would now bug him every single day until he made the announcement that we were playing. And essentially, I did. I texted, called, and emailed him relentlessly until he finally called me and told me that he was about to make it public, and that we were on the bill.

USAProgMusic:  How did Futures End come about?  How did you choose the current line-up?

Christian: Marc Pattison and I have known each other for about 20 years. We had played in 'rival' bands in the past. The death of a mutual friend had us reconnect at his funeral. We started talking guitars and music and talking about the old days. We decided to join forces on a progressive metal project. We really had no expectations and it was more an issue of curiosity than anything else. As soon as we started working together we came up with the riffs that are now “Your Decay” and we knew we had something special. Fred [Marshall] and Marc had worked together in the past and he was the obvious choice for vocals. Steve [D’Giorgio] and Marc had talked for years about doing something together, and Jon Allen has been playing with Steve for 25 years so it was kind of the ultimate package deal!

USAProgMusic:  Are you still looking for a keyboardist for the band?  What are you looking for in that additional member?  Will the absence of a keyboardist keep you from touring?

Christian: We have long considered a keyboard player as a full-time member. We have been talking to Michael T. Ross (Lita Ford Band, Lizzy Borden) for a while. The problem is that while we have keyboards in the music, having a full time player would bring another set of ideas to the band that may not jibe with our heavy guitar-oriented style. So while it is not off the table, we are taking care to make the right choice to be fair to the band and to the music.

Touring isn’t a problem. We have resources to bring the full Futures End sound to the live show.

USAProgMusic: Are you working on new material?  When can your fans expect a new release?

Marc Pattison: Yes, we are working on new material. The fans can expect it to sound like Futures End, stylistically, but if the 4 songs we are working on now are a sign of what’s to come, they can also expect a step in the direction of growth and further branching out and adding even more of our metal influences to the new material. That means they will hear sides of us they haven’t heard before, but not so much that there won’t be continuity with our past material.  Also, Steve has taken more of a hands-on approach on the new material, so they will also hear more stand-out bass parts and sections featuring his bass stylings. So far we are very excited with the direction things are going. We are also even better technically this time around, so we are continuing to challenge ourselves and spicing things up on the technical end of our music.

Christian: We would love to get the record out this year. We are working on it, but there is no pressure to do it any faster than it needs to take. We are interested more in a quality product than schedules!

USAProgMusic:  Looking at the past year, many might think you’ve had pretty smooth sailing as a new band. What are some challenges (if any) that you may have found breaking into the prog metal genre as a new band?  

Christian: There are so many amazing bands in this genre out there that it would be easy to get lost in it all. Progressive metal fans also tend to be very monogamous with their bands. You really have to knock their socks off to make an impression. It is also hard in terms of scoring the killer gigs because the touring possibilities in this genre can be limited by the fact that the more established bands tend to tour together leaving little room for us newbies to get on with them. It is also such a niche genre that there is little tour support from labels and promoters to put up the money to get the band on the road. However, we have been very fortunate in how the world has received what it is that we do, which has created some killer opportunities for us.

USAProgMusic:  The metal genre is starting to get very saturated. How do you think Futures End stands out in the crowd?

Christian: We just do what we do. I hate saying things that are self-aggrandizing. Lots of bands talk about how great and different they are. Lots of bands tell us how original they are and how they are better than the rest, blah blah blah. I think we have an interesting blend of experience and skill that makes us sound like Futures End. Some people are going to connect with that sound and some aren't. Either way, we are all enjoying what we do in this band. It is hard. There are 5 very strong personalities in this band that all have ideas and the force of creativity to back them. We have all been doing this long enough to where there is no silly band drama, but managing and synchronizing that kind of creative force can be challenging. It all comes out in the music.

USAProgMusic:  You had a couple guest vocalists on the album and at the ProgPower performance.  Why the use of guest vocalists when you have a permanent vocalist in Fred Marshall? 

Fred Marshall (vocalist):  Mainly because the songs with guest vocalists needed that second person feel. Like in “Forsaken”, it is about a man talking to God, and we wanted someone to “play” god in the song. One man shouting to the heavens, and getting a response. Lucho Silva was our first choice to be “God” on the album,  and we love his performance.

“Inner self” is about a man who struggles with his conscience, and since Lance king was in Houston for Rock the Bayou when we were recording that song, we asked him to lend his vocal skills to the song, to be “the conscience”.  

USAProgMusic: How do you go about recording your music?  Do you write separately and record separately or do you come together as a band to write/record?

Christian: Marc, Steve and myself write all of the music in the studio basically creating the pre-production tracks as we go along. Next to nothing is written and then brought into the studio. It is all pretty much recorded on the fly as it is written. Then we decide if what we are doing works or not and make adjustments as we need to. We are very meticulous, considering each riff, each part very carefully before we decide what stays and what goes. It is very time consuming. Some nights we have gotten no more than three seconds of music in a four hour session! We then give the songs to Jon with a click track so he can create his drum parts.

Fred:   On my end, the fellas send me pretty much full songs, then I do a tiny re-arrange on them -  you know, double this, cut that in half, etc. to help with the flow of what the vocals are gonna do. Then, when the time is right, I either fly out there, or they come to Houston, and we record vocals. The rest of the band rarely knows what the vocals are gonna be like, till we start laying tracks.

USAProgMusic:  Anything left over that didn't make it on Memoirs Of A Broken Man that we might hear later?

Christian: <laughs> No. Everything we wrote for the album made it onto the album. It took us nearly two years to write 10 songs. Each song gets the same attention as the previous one. So it takes time.
 
USAProgMusic:  It was announced that the next pressing of the album will showcase a different album cover. What is the story behind this?

Christian: The artist that did the original cover decided once he saw how well the record was doing that he would try and pull more money  out of us by claiming that we didn't pay him for his work. He was pissed off that since his signature was so huge we had to crop it out to make the cover fit the dimensions for the booklet.  He kinda went nuts and called an attorney, then copyrighted his work months after the deal was done. It is a mess, but I don't want to give it any more energy. It has already wasted too much of our time.

Sherry Grandy at SL Grandy Designs has already created all new art for us. It is incredible! We are totally blown away with her work. You can see what she has done on our myspace page at www.myspace.com/futuresendband . She also designed our website at www.futuresendband.com . Her work is outstanding!

So we are going to be releasing a special edition of Memoirs of a Broken Man this summer. It will include a bonus DVD of live material, interviews, studio shots, candid stuff, all kinds of things. It also includes all new artwork and a new booklet. We are pretty stoked about it!

USAProgMusic:  Being that this isn't the first time that Steve & John have played together in the same band at the same time, how does this compare to the other times you've done so; does it become easier or harder each time?"

Steve DiGiorgio (bassist): We have been a bass/drum duo since early in high school. Over the decades and millions of downbeats there is obviously that type of chemistry here akin to a veteran receiver know when his quarterback will put the ball in the air without having to look over his shoulder. We are used to holding down the foundation for different guitarists and singers over the years playing many styles. I suppose there is a sense of growing ease with each different venture, but there is also a bit of pressure to make sure we don't stay locked into any one style - even as a bass/drum team. We want to make sure that the style; song; each part has what makes it sound the best. Sometimes the drums lock down and the bass gets to wander more melodic, sometimes the bass is the thickness of the guitars and the drums are blasting ahead full speed. I would say that if there is a difference to anything we have been a part of together before this band, that in Futures End we are both often melodically contributing within the complexity of the riffs and arrangements but also being the thunderous backbone and relentless attack of rhythm under of all the intricacies of shredding dueling guitar counters, keyboard passages and the harmonies of one of the best singers ever. 

USAProgMusic:  Thanks guys for answering our questions. We look forward to what comes out next from Futures End.

Contributing Writer: N. Lynn