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An Interview with Rainbow and Michael Falcore of The Birthday Massacre
Posted: Sunday, December 30, 2007
By: Ilker Yücel
Editor

The Birthday Massacre certainly is quite the success story in the goth/electro rock underground. From their humble beginnings in London, Ontario as Imagica to the series of limited editions demos, the Nothing and Nowhere EP, and multiple releases of their debut album Violet, the sextet of Chibi, Rainbow, Michael Falcore, O.E., Owen, and Rhim has been making waves across the world, seeing their music released in such countries as the USA, the UK, South America, Germany, Hungary, Switzerland, and beyond, along with playing an assortment of shows and tours with both heavy hitters like KMFDM and Orgy and such fellow up-and-comers as Deadstar Assembly and Lunarclick. Signing to Metropolis Records in the USA, the band not only re-released Violet and Nothing and Nowhere, but also now released Walking with Strangers, co-produced by Dave "Rave" Ogilvie. Further evolving their skills as musicians and songwriters and continuing to develop their live presence, The Birthday Massacre remains one of today's strongest independent acts. Chief songwriters and guitarists Rainbow and Michael Falcore spoke with ReGen on the eve of the European leg of their tour on the development of the band's sound on the new album, Ogilvie's influence in the studio, and the recent fascination with '80s-inspired music in the underground, not to mention some reminiscences about Rainbow Brite.

To start with the tour, since The Birthday Massacre has been performing live for quite awhile, how would you say that touring this time around was different, if at all?

Rainbow: The lineup's a little different, since we have O.E. on bass; before we had Aslan, so that adds a new dimension to it. He does backup vocals and whatnot, and he's been a really good friend of ours for awhile, so it's really cool to have him along. The shows are always different because the audiences are always different, and we love performing live. I think it's kind of an evolution. The performance is always changing, and we always try to keep it interesting for ourselves. It's never really the same for me.

Falcore: I think that there's a little more energy from everybody, and we've also made improvements in the sound and the integrity of our live show, so it just sounds better.

Rainbow: We like to think so.

Falcore: It probably sounds worse, but we're probably just drinking a lot more before the shows. [Laughs.]

You mentioned O.E'.s return, and on Walking with Strangers, he did contribute to the songwriting on several tracks. He used to be the drummer for the band some years ago.

Rainbow: Yeah, what year was that?

Falcore: It was in like '99 or 2000.

Rainbow: When we first moved to Toronto, we met him in London, in college. We just really got along and he played drums for a couple of years. Then he worked on Il Attire, his project that he fronts and sings and writes the majority of the music for. Then he came back to help out with the album and to play bass for us, which was really cool. A lot of what he contributed...I think he's really strong at coming up with a lot of vocal ideas. He contributed to a lot of those; 'Looking Glass' and 'Red Stars' were something he helped us work through. The song 'Unfamiliar' started with a thing that he came up with. Those are the contributions that come to mind that he put into the album.

It's good that you mention the vocals, because that's something that really stood out on Walking with Strangers, especially on Chibi's part. In the past, there was always the juxtaposition of the melodic singing with the harsher, more malevolent tones, like on 'Blue' and 'Lovers End.' She does more melodic singing on Walking with Strangers. Did that have a lot to do with O.E.'s influence?

Rainbow: I wouldn't say so. I think it was just that those were the melodies that we came up with that sort of felt right for those songs. I don't think it was a conscious decision to tone down one particular type of vocal style or anything like that. If anything, we did have a couple of parts that were more visceral and growling. It's actually kind of funny, because we worked with Dave Ogilvie, who's obviously worked with Skinny Puppy and a lot of aggressive bands, and you'd think that he would be the one to go right into that, but if anything, he was probably the motivating factor in saying, 'Well, why don't we try to be a little bit more melodic here?' It was funny that he wound up being the one who was encouraging us to be more musical and more melodic with the vocals.

Coming from industrial and harsher music as he has, what was it like to work with Dave Ogilvie? How did you find that his styles and methods complemented your music?

Rainbow: In terms of production, the album was basically written by the time we started working with him. We went to Dave for a kind of fresh perspective on the songs, and he worked a little bit with Chibi with the vocals, because he re-recorded the vocals and tweaked a few things in the studio. As far as the music and the sounds that we used, his input was pretty minimal.

Falcore: He didn't want to interfere with it too much, with the natural chemistry of the band. We have already established our style, and he didn't really want to get in there and meddle too much, which is partially a compliment.

Rainbow: We had a strong idea of what we wanted to do to begin with, and I think he just wanted to facilitate that, and he really sort of helped us more with the mixing, because we mixed the album together in Vancouver.

The two of you are the primary songwriters overall, and you have been together for quite awhile, so what is the dynamic like between the two of you as songwriters? How have the two of you managed to not get on each other's nerves to the point of breaking up?

Falcore: Very, very carefully. [Laughs.]

Rainbow: Mike and I have known each other for ages, since grade four. We've always been creative in one way or another together. I don't know. It is what it is. I don't think we really think about it too much. We both work on our own things, then we just show each other, and if that sparks an idea with one or the other, then we'll contribute.

Falcore: We have different styles, but they complement each other. It's not like we're drastically different. It's our personalities. We're very similar in certain ways, but also very different in other ways that work well together.

Rainbow: I think also, because we've known each other so long, that if there's something we're not sure about or the other is not 100 percent on, then we respect each other's opinions enough to try something new or take criticism. It's just really comfortable in that way. Obviously, we're going to step on one another's toes at one point or another, but it's not in an awkward way. It's in a way like we're used to; I suppose that's the best way of putting it.

Falcore: It is hard, and I can totally see why people just can't work together. It's hard to collaborate, especially on music, something so personal. With a movie, you have to collaborate because it's such a huge project, but with a song, it can be a one-man job, but that depends on the artist. It's rare when you have a group that can write together.

Rainbow: I think usually there's someone that sparks the idea, and then the other will see it as that person's vision, and you can add to it and help with it and work on it if you're inspired to. We respect one another. If one of us starts a project or starts a song, we don't try to dive in and try to change this or that or completely make it how we would do it if we were on our own, because in the end, that would wind up taking away from the song.

Because you did just re-release Nothing and Nowhere on Metropolis only a few months before Walking with Strangers, what would you say were the most significant changes, besides the lineup, since the original release?

Falcore: I think experience.

Rainbow: A lot of experience in all different aspects of the music industry.

Falcore: We've been growing the whole time, and it hasn't reached the point yet where we feel like we're going backwards or that we're going stale. It's still unfolding, for better or for worse.

Rainbow: With each release that we've done, we do a majority of the work ourselves with the recording and the production. Doing the albums and the band as a whole has given us an opportunity to grow not just as musicians and songwriters, but also in terms of production and software, familiarizing ourselves with the different tools and evolving in that way.

Falcore: And slowly, gradually getting better at guitar.

Rainbow: I think the band's come a really long way, particular in our live show and just the performance aspect of the band. Maybe it's because we've just been doing it so much, touring so much, but I feel like it's a really strong point of the band.

The Birthday Massacre has a very distinct visual presentation, and you've stated that the use of purple was a mixture of the hot and the cold, red and blue, and that it's a regal image coupled with the silhouetted rabbits. On Walking with Strangers, it looks more like children wearing rabbit ears as opposed to actual rabbits.

Rainbow: Some of the aesthetic we were going for was sort of a schoolyard aesthetic. When we started writing Walking with Strangers, we were interested in the school institution, basically because it mirrored a lot of the fundamental rules and struggles and social cliques that are found in adult society. It's the place where our personalities really evolved and were refined. Obviously, everybody's experienced those years that follow us into adulthood, that define a lot of who we are, so for that reason, we really wanted the school institution to be reflected in the mood and aesthetic of Walking with Strangers. The themes on the albums—visually and even in terms of the music and the atmosphere—we wanted the album to feel like someone walking through the halls of their childhood elementary school. We wanted the album to be very colorful yet dark, so we brought some of that aesthetic to the album.

On the subject of visuals, you guys did a video for 'Blue' with Daniel Oulette. Are there any plans to do a video for a song on Walking with Strangers?

Rainbow: It's funny that you mention that because we just talked to him maybe 30 minutes ago. We're going to New York...

Falcore: In a few weeks.

Rainbow: Yeah, and we're doing a video with him for 'Red Stars.'

What was the thinking behind doing a video for that particular song?

Rainbow: It just felt right to do. The pacing of it. And creatively it was a song that Mike, myself, O.E., and Chibi were all a part of creating and bringing to life. We thought it was a song that represented all of us and represented a lot of the spirit of the album. We just thought that it would be a cool song to do. With the videos, it's largely Dan's perception. We'll give him images and we'll sort of tell him what the song is about in terms of the theme, and he'll take that and come back with a treatment and sort of dive right into it. Then we'll spend the rest of the time trying to figure out how we can help, discussing some of the smaller details, but it's largely Dan's brain reacting to the song.

Nothing and Nowhere and Violet shared a lot of the same songs, so obviously you spent time developing your sound and your production, and on Walking with Strangers, you did a remake of 'To Die For.' Why that particular song as opposed to another song like 'Promise Me?'

Rainbow: 'To Die For' was something that we just felt fit thematically into the album. I don't wan to repeat myself with the themes, but 'To Die For' very much comes from that sort of environment and that sort of sound. It just fit in and it felt right to do. It was a song that we put on Nothing and Nowhere, but in terms of production, just on a personal level, I just wasn't finished with it. I wanted to try a couple of other things with it and try to perfect it, and it made its way onto the album.

Are you pleased with the final result?

Rainbow: Yeah, definitely!

This is a personal question on my part. I grew up in the '80s, and obviously The Birthday Massacre has a heavy influence from '80s New Wave and goth rock, but I used to watch Rainbow Brite as a kid.

Falcore: Oh yeah! [Laughs.]

And I have felt that The Birthday Massacre would be the perfect soundtrack to this.

Rainbow: Who knows? [Laughs.]

Falcore: I remember that from when I was a kid. Maybe if they revive it, maybe we'll get the call.

On the subject of the '80s, you are among many bands now that are starting to incorporate the '80s styles of synthesizer music such as Deadstar Assembly, Lunarclick, and even Orgy, all of whom you've toured with. As musicians, what is it about the music of the '80s, and how do you feel that your approach to these styles differs from that of your peers?

Rainbow: For me personally, it's not so much like we're trying to revive that kind of sound. Creatively, a lot of what we do and a lot of the inspiration that we take are memories from our past and where we came from. It's just our roots, and that's where we came from, and it's more about reflecting that within the music and the atmosphere, and reflecting who we are and how we grew up.

Falcore: The '80s was a good time with a lot of emphasis on melody, but melody with more of a pop sensibility, and that's something we gravitate towards. If you're into melody and pop music, you can't avoid or argue the '80s.

Rainbow: It's not like it's a conscious decision, either. As a band, you just have to do what feels right to you, and this is the sound that comes out of us. That's all there is to it.

What would you say are some of your newer influences? What new bands or new music are you listening to now that excites you?

Rainbow: There's a band called White Rose Movement that's pretty cool. The Faint is cool, and IAMX. That's just three bands off the top of my head, and there's a lot of cool music out there.

Falcore: What really inspires me now is the new electronica that's coming out, stuff that's more of a blend. It's not pure electronica, but electronica mixed with guitar samples.

Rainbow: It's a little more organic.

Falcore: It is organic, and IAMX and The Faint are good examples of progressive electronic music.

That's something a lot of people do admire about The Birthday Massacre, that it is a live group with real instruments. Having been a live band for as long as you have, why do you think people now are starting to gravitate back to the more organic sound?

Rainbow: Because bands are awesome and they're fun. [Laughs.]

In terms of the performance, I've always been into bands, and I'd rather go see a band than to watch a DJ. For me, it's more about enjoying the performance and the delivery of the music and seeing how it differs from the album. I think what I like about bands is that it sounds different every time and they're not just replaying something off the computer or a record or something like that. That's part of the appeal for a band like Nine Inch Nails, because the live show is a completely different scene and sound and translation of the song, which I think makes it more interesting.