Exclusive Interview: Fixed Fight talk writing and recording “Antebellum”!

Embracing the cold winter chill with the clenched fist of determination are Copenhagen based Metallic Hardcore Kings Fixed Fight. They unleashed a fiery hell from the cold heart of Denmark with sophomore album “Antebellum” and have since honoured us with a trilogy of exclusive interviews, of which this is the second. So forget Mad Max, The Matrix and Alien, grab a beverage of choice [They’re Danish, it should be Carlsberg ~ Ed] and read on should your heart desire it!

What did you learn from the studio time for 2018’s “Empty Homes” that has helped make recording “Antebellum” better? “Do your homework before showing up, and I can’t stress this enough. For “Empty Homes” we pretty much just jammed out a bunch of songs in our rehearsal space over the course of a year before going in to record them. Then we found out that a bunch of stuff didn’t really work on tape the way we had hoped it would, so there was a bunch of rewriting songs on the fly, songs that got scrapped, songs that ended up lackluster. I still think it’s a decent record, but we all feel it could have been so much better. For “Antebellum” we did extensive pre-production, demoed every song several times, making changes, cutting redundancies, making sure everything would work the way we wanted it to, and probably most important of all, we practiced relentlessly for months before going in to record. By the time we were in the studio, we had already made the album twice over, more or less”

How does the writing process of a new Fixed Fight track start? Melody, riff or rhythm first? “We’ve gotten better at fleshing out ideas at home before introducing them to the rest of the band, so we never just show up with a simple riff or piece of a melody. It helps a lot to avoid frustrations that way, since it’s easier to work on material if there’s a clear idea of where you’re going. There is still room for songs to go different directions once they’re brought in though. Usually, I’ll bring a verse/chorus structure written on guitar, and we’ll just try to play through it, adding changes when needed. “Dust” is a funny song to me because we went through the process of changing out stuff that didn’t really feel like it was the best it could be. Suddenly we had a song that didn’t contain any of the original elements. So, kind of a ship of Theseus thing happening. The process also tends to start in the shower far more often than sitting down with the intention of writing a song. At least it does for me”

What was it like working with legendary producer, Tue Madsen (Meshuggah, August Burns Red, Sick of it All) on the new album? How did you end up working with him? “We’ve never felt freer in a creative sense, than when we’re working with Tue. You can ask for pretty much anything and he can do it. Often before you’re even done explaining your idea. That efficiency allows you to make creative decisions on the fly without losing valuable time, and it helps to settle disputes quickly. He’s very good about only interfering when the song needs a push in the right direction. He allowed the record to develop organically and let us make the record that was our vision, while still driving us to deliver our best and guiding us when we needed it. He also has great stories. If you ever get to talk to him, ask him about the time he spent the night at Steven Seagal’s house. How we got to work with him is still a bit of a mystery to me. I just sent him some demos and an email explaining what kind of record we wanted to make, fully expecting to be blown off. I mean, we don’t have much of a name. Apparently, he listened to the demos, liked what he heard, and got back to us. That simple. Bit of a dream come true for us, since he has worked with bands, we grew up worshiping. Christian has a Sick of it All tattoo that takes up most of his calf”

Having not heard “Empty Homes” before hearing “Antebellum”, the progression is clear and there is a distinctive extra edge to the new cuts. How much of that was organic and how much was born of the frustrations of the past two years? “I think it’s mostly down to us developing as musicians, and people, over time. Covid kind of gave us the opportunity to really immerse ourselves in writing the record, since gigging wasn’t an option for a long time. It’s also down to finding a formula that works, and the years leading up to “Empty Homes”, were quite rough for us on a personal level. Christian went through the tragedy of losing his son, and Rasmus lost his father, so we were all dealing with that shock in different ways. Band cohesion was very low, and we sorely needed a paradigm shift within the group. In the end, our friendship, mutual love and support for each other endured, and we were able to focus our energy on the music again. For me personally, the bad taste that those years left in my mouth, and the desire to make something that was genuinely our very best, is what propelled me to work as hard on the album as I have”

For us gear nerds out there, can you tell us what you’re using gear wise (pedals, strings, drums etc) to get your sound? “We wanted to have a big, roomy, Bonham type of sound to the drums, so we found a studio with a large, reverberant live room. Rasmus really isn’t a metal drummer at all, and he plays a vintage 70’s Ludwig kit, so the task became to see what type of cool shit you could get out of that setup. Tue instantly fell in love with the kick drum because it has bottom for days and it played well with the DW copper snare. The bass is a Fullerton Deluxe LB100 and was played by our good friend Theis (Helhorse). It was recorded as a DI and I have no idea how Tue mixed it, but it sounds awesome. Both me and Jesper play handmade telecasters that I built in my basement workshop, one with a Seymour Duncan Invader in the bridge, and the other with a Bare Knuckle Nailbomb in the bridge. The strings are Ernie Ball .012-.056, which is quite thick, but I find that thick strings give a sharper attack and a more aggressive sound, so I like that.

My rhythm tone was primarily my Driftwood Purple Nightmare amp going into my oversized Hughes & Kettner 412 cab loaded with Celestion CL80’s, blended with a 5150III going into a Mesa Boogie 412 cab with V30’s. Both cabs had a single SM57 on them. Jesper had the same setup, but instead of the Driftwood he used Tue’s Peavey 5150. For some of the more ambient stuff and guitar leads we used Tue’s Randall RM100 modular amp, which he has a bunch of cool modules for. It helps to get something that will sit well in the mix above the rhythm guitars. For the reverb/delay stuff we either used whatever digital plugin sounded right for the job, or my Empress Reverb pedal which I am madly in love with. All the vocals were done with some kind of tube microphone Tue had lying around, and it sounded great. The slight natural distortion and compression tubes give to vocals just add that little bit of magic”

What difference would it make to you as a band if you could land an endorsement from a gear manufacturer? “Well, if people want to give me free stuff, I won’t turn it down, but really, we make do with what we have very well. One thing I would love to have, though, is a custom string set, since we employ a fairly unique tuning, CGCFcc#, which means we have to buy a pack of .012-.056 and then swab out two of the strings so you end up with something that looks like .056, .044, .032, .020, .012, .012. It would be so much easier to just be able to buy one pack of strings and be done”