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Sonisphere 2010 - Failsafe: ‘This Is What We Do Day Jobs For’

The Preston rockers have been on the cusp of big things for years. Could their Sonisphere set be the one that turns the tide?

Failsafe have been blowing this writer's fragile little mind for over five years, but they remain stuck playing slots typically reserved for new bands. Last night they were scheduled against Alice Cooper and while they didn't win the battle of attendance they certainly won a few new fans.

How did you enjoy the set? You had a tough battle with scheduling...
Matt: “We were a bit worried about our timeslot with Alice Cooper playing at the same time, but it filled up. It was better than we thought it’d be! When we got added to the festival and saw we were playing then we knew it could be a blessing or a curse. I remember watching Million Dead with about 10 people at Leeds one year when Metallica were headlining...”

Does it feel like you’ve been away for a while?
Jim: “Maybe we just slipped off the radar a little bit, but we’re working it on our favour.”
Matt: “The new sound has developed again from what we’ve been doing in the past, and hopefully it’ll reach a wider audience.”

Do you feel like the more you do and see in this industry the harder it gets?”
Jim “You see a lot of bands come on the scene and blow up, and they’ve had the right people in place. And we’ve also seen bands go round and round in circles. We never wanted to be a flash-in-the-pan. But there is an element of frustration, because we always want to become bigger and better.”

How far do you look in the future
Matt: “We have timelines for the next few years, like which festivals we want to try and get on each year. We’re trying to work out what we can do so we don’t get frustrated, rather than hammering ourselves into the ground. You look at bands who are selective about what they do, and it works.”

Do you find the industry interesting or daunting?
Matt: “It’s interesting... and it’s also scary to know that a few people have the power to put your career on hold if they want to. That is a bit depressing sometimes, and if you’re not flavour of the month then you can be put back a year. All we’ve ever done is strive to play hard and give a good account of each other every time.”

With that in mind, tell me about the new album...
Jim: ”It’s written and demoed. We’ve got 16 tracks to take into the studio, two definitely will be singles and have videos for the October tour and it’ll come out next year. It’s all up in the air where we’ll record it. If we can’t find the funding to do it then we’ll work out another way to do it!”

Are you aware that recording a third album is itself a milestone?
Jim: ”Yeah. When we recorded the first album we didn’t even envisage the second one for a while, and when we got back into the studio we were like, ‘Oh my God... how do we write songs?!’”
Matt:”It took us eight months to write one song. Not only were we touring all the time but we were total amateurs. It’s a good stage to be at. We’re always striving to challenge ourselves.”

Do you still enjoy it as much?
Matt: ”Yeah, it’s why we do our day jobs. We’ve already done far more than we ever thought – we’ve played in America and all over Europe – and I’ll always be happy about that.”

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