Written by Joscelyn Ervin
Looking for a new, up-and-coming alternative / pop / soft rock band? You’ve come to the right place - “The Faim” fits the bill. Originally from Australia, The Faim has been touring the U.S. with Andy Black from Black Veil Brides since mid-April. The tour comes to Lakewood on May 10 at the Phantasy Concert Club. They’ve worked with writers like Pete Wentz from Fall Out Boy and Josh Dun from Twenty One Pilots, and their lead singer, Josh Raven, has been compared to Panic! At the Disco’s Brendon Urie. Their latest single, “Amelie,” plays with a more alternative sound than their original catchy hit “Summer Is a Curse.” I spoke with guitarist Sam Tye to discuss more about the band and their sound.
What bands have influenced the group's sound or style the most?
A lot of different bands have influenced us individually and also the band as a whole. I'd say for myself a lot of the bands that have influenced me have been bands that I grew up with, that my dad listened to. Bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Audio Slave, and also some more recent bands like The 1975, the Wombats. But for the other guys, you know, all of our tastes vary a lot. Other influences are Frank Sinatra, Nirvana, the Foo Fighters, Coldplay. We really have like a collection of different artists and different sounding artists that we draw from and get inspired by and that we grew up on. I wouldn't say any of them directly influence us in what we want to achieve with our music, but in terms of sound, just through listening to them over the years, they affect us in bigger ways that we can imagine. Yeah, those are some of them. For style, I would say, well definitely for me growing up, and even in the last few years, The 1975 definitely impacted my style through my teenage years and when I was discovering what I felt confident in - like black jeans and dark colors. That was something that I always veered towards. I'm steering out of that a bit more now, but I would say that we're all influenced by the bands that you grow up on style-wise too. I guess it's just a thing that happens.
You mentioned that you all have varying tastes in music, is there like one common band that you all really love?
One common band that we all really love? Well Josh and I really love the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and I like Nirvana, and Linden loves Nirvana - I don't think I share the same passion for Nirvana as he does, but we both like that. Stephen loves classical music and I can get behind that. But I'm not sure. I'm not sure if all four of us have one artist that we all actually listen to. Actually, yes, Stephen just mouthed a band to me in the van and he says Queen. We all listen to Queen I'm pretty sure. And recently on the last tour we just went to see the Bohemian Rhapsody movie and that really spoke to us. Queen, I'm going with Queen.
How do you see the band's style changing in the future?
Musically? I think as we grow as musicians and grow older and listen to new bands and show each other new bands, I think we always just want to be passionate about what we write about. And create meaning and really talk about things that mean something to us. As long as that doesn't change, whichever direction the music goes in, sound-wise, you just can't predict it. I think whichever way it goes, it goes. As long as we stay true to ourselves I think that's the most important thing. I am definitely a rock lover at heart, so I love the heavier type of music. I know Stephen loves some lighter pop music, so we're all sort of bringing our own love of different types of music to the table, so it could honestly go in any direction.
Where has your favorite place been to perform so far?
It's hard because every place has its own sort of character to it and something that we love - whether it's the venue or whether it's the feel of the place we're in itself. Some of my favorites are New York, Vienna in Austria was a favorite of mine. We went to Spain recently and Barcelona was really cool. The thing that makes each and every place special is that every place is different and unique. Sometimes we'll be on a really small stage in a very quiet town and then the next day we'll be in a massive theater in a city. So it's completely different every day and I think that's what makes it special.
What song do you think crowds react to the most?
I think that the crowd reacts differently to a lot of different ones. “Make Believe” is definitely a song that people react to, maybe not necessarily screaming and shouting and jumping around, but they really connect with that song and I've found that it really speaks to a lot of people. We have other songs like “I Can Feel You” that usually gets the crowd jumping the most out of all our other songs. There's like 3 or 4 songs that really entice a large reaction from the crowd. The other songs also create a reaction, it's just a lot different to jumping around and screaming and all that sort of stuff.
You mentioned you play drums and the guitar, do you play any other instruments as well?
I would say I can play drums not very well at all. I think it's just all the simple things. Actually, I can play ukulele but that's pretty much guitar, but smaller and less strings. I kind of dabble in other instruments, but I wouldn't say I can play them, I can get away with sounding like I can play them.
Going back to bands that have influenced you or the group, what album or artist do you love listening to currently?
There's so many. I think recently I've gotten into bands like Don Broco and, well, Billie Eilish just released her new album and I've yet to listen to all of it, but she's doing some really great things and I think it's amazing. She's just got such a unique sound that it's hard to look past it. Nothing But Thieves is a band that I'm starting to listen to recently. I think honestly when we're in the van we're always listening to new music and we put the headphones in and go to Spotify and suggest new artists to each other. It's just ever-evolving, really. But I would say those are the three for me that I am listening to at the moment.