Their roots might be in the Chicago scene, but for the members of October Fall vocalist/guitarist Pat D'Andrea, guitaristClark Harrison, pianist Owen Toomey, bassist Greg Shanahan and drummer Nick Scalise pop music is their passion.
"I'd sit in class, knowing that this is what I was going to do. I just needed to figure out how to get there," remembers D'Andrea. "It was never a thought of if I was going to do it; it was just a matter of how."
As a child, there was always music playing in the D'Andrea house. Johnny Cash, Tom Petty and Stevie Ray Vaughn all became trusted friends, especially when D'Andrea transferred from a public junior high to a private Catholic high school, making him the dreaded "new kid." "I wasn't punk enough for the punks, but I wasn't cool enough for the cool kids," admits D'Andrea. "I was in this in-between world."
And so, D'Andrea would sit in his bedroom, play guitar, vent and, inadvertently, write songs. While attending one of his sister's musicals, D'Andrea met a fellow loner, Clark Harrison, and the two began jamming together as Silver Lining. With lofty aspirations and a budding arsenal of songs, the duo soon changed its name (to October Fall) and solidified a line-up of Chicago's best and brightest players (Toomey, Scalise and Shanahan.)
"At first, we'd play in front of 50 kids, Then 75, Then 100," reminisces D'Andrea. "We were playing shows where we were selling out, and we were the opening band! There'd be 200 people there and then all of a sudden, the next band would go on and half the people would leave." The whole city was taking notice and so was the one of the scene's most-beloved alumni, Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz, who signed the band to his Fueled By Ramen imprint, Decaydance. From there, the band prepared to record their debut album and soon hit the road with pop priestess, Ashlee Simpson.
The inspiration for the title of October Fall's debut, A Season In Hell, comes from a cult classic film that actually premiered in theaters before any of the bands' members (all of which are still in their teens) were even born. "I grew up on the movie Eddie And The Cruisers. [In it, the band] wrote this record and it really took off, but [Eddie] wanted to make something that was going to last forever. He wanted to make something different. The band was signed to this major label in the movie and were going to put out this record called A Season In Hell. It stood for everything he wanted to do. [Eddie] ended up disappearing and the label never put out the record. This is my version of putting out the record he couldn't put out. I stand for everything he believes in."
In summer of 2005, the band migrated West to record at The Green Room in Los Angeles, California, with producer Mike Green (Yellowcard, Rufio, Paramore). However, the songs they traveled with were not the songs that ended up on A Season In Hell, a collection of 11 tracks, all infused with equal parts pop and circumstance. "Originally, when we wrote this record, it sounded like the next 'scene' record. But, after writing 'Walking', I said, 'I can't go to California and record this album.' [Clark and I] started tearing everything apart and rewriting songs. We started making songs that not only people our age can listen to, but maybe even our parents can, too. I don't want to [write] to something that's going to close off people. Lyrically, [I'm] not dwelling on a moment; [I'm] giving us hope."
"Walking," the song that set October Fall's sound in motion, is a piano-driven rocker about a girl who can't look at herself in the mirror. "The chorus is uplifting," explains D'Andrea. "It doesn't matter what other people say. You're going to come out in the end as long as you keep wishing for you want and keep going for your dreams."Not content to simply write about heartaches and heartbreaks, "Hey Hey" tackles the tough tale of a turbulent friendship. "[The song is] about an old best friend of mine who made a lot of mistakes," waxes D'Andrea. "He actually went after one of my girlfriends. I'll always have a little bit of resentment toward him, but I don't care what he does, we just have this connection. He'll always be my friend."
A Season In Hell also features guest appearances by Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump (on "Second Chances") and Paramore's Hayley Williams (on "Keep Dreaming Upside Down.")
"I just want people to hear the music," D'Andrea confesses. "I think they're really going to like it. They just need to give it a chance." After A Season In Hell is released on February 21, 2006, how does October Fall plan to spend the rest of the year? "We're going to tour, tour, tour. That's the best way to get our music out there. I want to be home three days in 2006."
You can catch October Fall this winter on tour with The Click Five in January, The Veronicas in February, and select dates with Fall Out Boy, The All-American Rejects and Hawthorne Heights in March.
Pat D'Andrea - Vocals, guitar Clark Harrison - Guitar Nick Scalise - Drums Owen Toomey - Piano Greg Shanahan - Bass
