The beginning of Watch Me Fall was actually a random event taking place in –96 when four guys got together to express their visions on music they liked. It took some time to find a decent rehearsal place, and some more time to find a decent line-up. The first months of Watch Me Fall’s history were spent playing various covers and trying to put together some own material. The first written songs can hardly be categorized, but the style was something between gothic metal of the 90’s and progressive rock. The original line-up was vocals, two guitars, bass and drums.
The first attempt to create something permanent was the recording of four songs on December 1997. The tape was imaginatively named as Demo –97 and could be described as somewhat long and immature. During the recording session it became clear that something had to be done in order to make any progress. First thing to do was to employ a keyboard player, Varpu Vahtera. At the same time the name Watch Me Fall was established. First gigs were played, although many changes in crew restricted the frequency of public appearances. Band’s present bassist Ilari Ojala found his way to rehearsal chamber during the changes. After several attempts to find a fitting rhythm guitarist new and old songs were arranged for one guitar. Search for suitable guitarist went on more or less actively, and gigs were played with one guitar only.
After many months of hard training and self-criticism it seemed to be the time for second recording. Increased self-confidence encouraged the booking of a recording session in Astia–Studio in late 1998. The product was the promo-CD named Blood Red Colours, and it showed improvements in song-writing and playing, also signs of present style could be heard with careful listening. Blood Red Colours got fairly good reviews in Finnish music magazines, so it seemed to be reasonable to approach record companies in hope to achieve a contract. Promotion spawned negotiations with few European labels, although true interest towards the band was pretty lame outside Finland. Locally band’s name begun to reach people’s consciousness due to several gigs in Southern Finland.
Finally a recording deal was made with small Finnish label called KTOK-Records, and a period of song-writing and active rehearsing begun. Increased demands of time and talents caused the replacement of the old drummer and parting our ways with vocalist of that time. The present drummer Ville Kaisla was found quite easily, but a fair share of hardships was still to come. Songs for the upcoming album were ready to be recorded as early as the end of year 1999, but the quest for an able vocalist went on. Half a dozen candidates later Niilo Sevänen was found through our connections with another Finnish metal band, Insomnium. At last the line-up had reached its final shape and the songs were arranged without compromises for the first time. After hearing a couple of self-recorded pieces the recording company was able to believe in the forthcoming recording and showed green light for entering the studio.
An intensive search for appropriate studio was made and considering the financial aspects and know-how for metal music the perfect solution seemed to be (despite its name) Pop-Studio. Recordings of Watch Me Fall’s debut album Worn took place on December of 2000 and on January of 2001. The duration of the session was about two weeks, the average day being twelve hours. Recording session can be described as intense and creative, actually the session could be the definition for word intense. As our budget was somehow minimal and time was a luxury we didn’t have, we had to drive ourselves (and our recorder as well) to extremes with every detail of the process. Luckily co-operation with the studio keeper worked beyond expectations and we got everything on tape as intended.
The album was mixed in Astia-Studio soon after recordings. Reason for this choice was the high standard of Astia’s quality and on the other hand the production of the recording: as Worn was totally self-produced, it seemed to be reasonable to hear “outsider’s” opinions in the final phase of the session. And as we had worked in Astia-Studio before in –99 doing the Blood Red Colours with positive results, we knew it would give the album a bit more “international sound” to work there. Few weeks after the mixing we entered Finnvox- studio in Helsinki for the mastering. After that things were on the hands KTOK-Records and we had just to lay down and wait.
Worn was officially released 23.5.2001 which leads us to the present day. The contract with KTOK-Records was only for one album, and considering the limited budgets and capacity for marketing it was obvious that the era with that label had come to its end. So far the promotion of Worn has been quite slow and it has been spread almost hand-to-hand –style. Now as a year has passed since the recording sessions Worn slowly starts to reach different medias throughout Europe. Feedback has been positive all down the line which of course encourages us to believe in the future. The main source of interest towards us has been Scandinavia but surprisingly several contacts have spawned from England and Eastern Europe as well.
During the time of promotion we haven’t been sitting on our hands. A few gigs have been played and some more are to come in order to retain the touch for playing live. Live performances have also improved due to more accurate playing and our sound has become thicker and wider due to employment of a session guitarist. Playing live has been also more fun since people in Southern Finland are slowly getting more familiar with us and our songs. It can also be said that playing the songs from Worn live while composing and arranging new material in rehearsal chamber has improved our song-writing and made the vision for our music more clear and fine-defined.
On summer 2002 North American record label World War III –records happened to receive Worn through KTOK’s promotion agency and got interested in distributing Worn in America. Within a couple of months a licensing agreement was achieved between the two recording companies. No date has been settled by the time of writing this biography. Naturally this kind of contract is a welcome addition to our promotion and should make our name known at least in some circles in America.
As material for the future recordings has been slowly gathering and arranging we are also able to look Worn with more objective eyes and see the strengths and flaws in its entity. For us Worn is now something to be proud of and it was the best we could do at that time. It is also reality for us that next recording will proceed from where Worn ended: the new songs are leading deeper into the realms of melancholy and despair of human mind, being somehow wistful and raw at the same time.
Considering the whole history of Watch Me Fall from the days of 1997 to the present day the name Watch Me Fall itself has gained a new meaning – we have grown from an elusive form of gothic metal into a form of something new and unique. Translating freely a description of us from a Finnish metal magazine Inferno we are “a mature group of adult men walking their snowy path with closed fists and open minds, band’s name implying the attitude and spirit of their nature.” We are here to do what we want and have to, no matter where it may take us.
