Night Kills The Day
Bassist Timothy Falzone
Jen Cray
Forged upon a lifelong friendship between vocalist Luke Brian and bassist Timothy Falzone, Night Kills The Day draws influence from bands like Depeche Mode, the Cure, and Pink Floyd, yet have found their own footing within the moody scene of NYC. Their debut full length release, The Study of Man… And the Developed Shadow, is set for a March 2007 release on Score Records and an extensive North American tour should hopefully coincide with its release. As the band truly sits on the doorstep of success, Timothy Falzone may have been half asleep when I called him for our interview, but his enthusiasm about the band’s future surged through the phoneline.
You had Joe Blaney (who has worked with The Clash, The Ramones, and Keith Richards to name a few) co-producing your album. Did his input have any effect on the developing of your band’s sound?
Joe is amazing, I love that guy! He’s such an interesting character, he’s like an old cat who has such a good vibe. We co-produced the record, Luke and I definitely put a lot into it as far as the arrangement of songs and pre-production and all that stuff. Joe didn’t really add to the change in our sound, but what Joe can do is that he’s one of the best engineers out there. He just knows how to capture sound in recording, and especially he works very analog and very old school, which was how we recorded the album- on 2-inch tape, all analog equipment instead of digital. That makes a big difference for us because Izzy, who’s the guitar player, and I are both very into vintage gear. All of our guitars, basses, amps, pedals- all of that is from the ’60s and original. To have a producer/engineer like Joe Blaney who can take the warm tones and the things we really cherish and translate them onto the album was really cool.
Did you drill him for any stories about working with The Clash or The Ramones?
Oh hell yeah! We got a lot of stories! He did a lot of work with Prince. He had a lot of stories about all that stuff, but The Clash was definitely where he started, so that was definitely one of the prize things in his life. He’s very proud of his experiences with them.
It’s obvious that you’ve got a lot of musical influences across the board, but there are gonna be a lot of comparisons to Interpol. How would you take such comparisons, as a compliment or would you find it frustrating?
It depends on how far it goes. I take it as a compliment, absolutely, ‘cause I’m a big fan of theirs. It’s kind of funny, I’ve actually known them for a really long time, those guys. I’m actually a friend of Carlos’s girlfriend from like 10 years ago. I’ve seen them play CBGBs and Mercury Lounge with like, 10 people in the audience, and I always thought they were pretty cool. The funny thing is, I sit back and I wonder why we get that comparison. It’s one of those things where people say, “Oh, you sound like so and so,” and you think, “Really? That’s weird.” But I think that Luke has a very distinct voice, you’ll hear it and you’ll know it’s him, but he comes from that place- that sort of deep, droney voice- that Paul has from Interpol, and the guy from She Wants Revenge. It goes all the way back to Joy Division and Bauhaus- anyone who has that kind of voice that comes through is always gonna be thrown in there. But, yeah, I definitely don’t mind those comparisons; they make me happy when I hear that kind of stuff. I know, though, that when somebody really listens they’re gonna hear a lot of other stuff coming through as well.
It’s interesting that you brought up CBGBs. Since it closed recently, I’ve been asking musicians for any stories they have about the venue, whether it’s playing there or seeing shows there… So, what can you tell me?
Oh yeah! I’ve been there many times, and we’ve played there many times! You’re a fan of the Riverboat Gamblers, correct?
Oh yeah, I love them!
Yeah, we actually played with them about 5-6 months ago, at CBs.
That was their first gig there.
Yeah! That was actually really cool, and that was the last time we played there. BUT, unfortunately, our previous memory of CBGBs is one we played a few years ago when we got shut off and kicked out and asked never to play there again. (laughs)
How’d that happen?!
It was kind of funny, it was right when the smoking ban happened in NY- when you weren’t allowed to smoke in bars and clubs anymore. It was my fault, I was smoking onstage, and apparently the sound guy told me- in my monitor- told me not to, and I didn’t hear him, so I continued to. He was pissed, and he didn’t like us, so he just it off. He was like “Fuck this, you guys are done!” We just stood there, he had shut off the vocal mics and everything, and we were wondering what the hell happened. We realized what he did, and Izzy and I knew that our amplifiers hadn’t been turned off so we cranked those up really loud and made a lot of noise. Luke proceeded to say some stuff (laughs), and it just turned into a big brawl. It was just a big argument, and they told us we couldn’t play there anymore. A couple of years went by, and they forgot, and we played that show with Riverboat Gamblers (laughs).
That’s awesome! You can say you were too punk for CBGBs!
(Laughs) Exactly… It’s funny that that would be the place that would have the strict rules, when CBs is known for the opposite. It is a shame that it got shut down…
In your press release you say that the themes of your album are very “of the flesh… addiction, greed, survival” stuff like that. Do you care to expand on that?
Well, that’s definitely a place where Luke’s lyrics come from. Luke’s really the poet, the prophet of this whole project and the thing that is very cool- that works very well for us- is that musically and lyrically we all come from the same place. It’s a philosophical place of light and dark. We’ve always had that thing where- when we talk about what we’re doing and where we’re going- we talk about straddling light and dark. That there’s a dicotomy in the world, in life, in sex, in art. It’s when you put those two things together that you get something beautiful. That comment “of the flesh,” for Luke, is very important. When he writes his lyrics it’s a very personal thing, it’s a journey, it’s about him. The thing that’s very cool about it is that even though it’s very personal and very subjective it always translates to a more objective situation that everyone can relate to. The two of us come from a place of addiction, we’ve both struggled with drugs and alcohol in our past- and sex… very real and very raw, like GET-AT-IT-ALL. It’s a constant battle, everyday, in the spiritual world, and philosophical and artistic world. It goes pretty deep, and that’s the thing that will always happen with Luke and his lyrics. People who really sit down and listen are always gonna think, “Where the hell is this kid coming from?” But I think that’s a good thing.
It’s in wrestling with those demons that great rock music comes.
Exactly! It’s kind of funny, as kids the two of us grew up listening to the same music and idolizing the same rockstars. Even the same artists, and writers and whatnot. You always think, when you’re young, that the only way you’re gonna become good is to become as fucked up as these other guys were. (laughs) And then- as you get older- you realize that you are as fucked up as all of them, but you’re not doing anything with your life. Then comes the time when we stopped. We said, “Now we need to focus and get back on track.” It was then that we could actually use all of the things we had discovered along that path in the art form, to show all of the things that we learned.
