Crossfaith: Defying Complacency

The world is a scary place at the moment with countries experiencing various stages of lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. As far as the music industry is concerned there are a lot of bands who have had their touring schedules and album releases thrown into disarray, not really knowing when anything will return to what we would deem to be ‘normality’. Others have managed to find positives in these stressful times by offering streamed performances online or new material to give their fans something to look forward to. This includes Japanese visionaries CROSSFAITH.

“Right before the state of emergency we entered the studio which is located in the countryside of Japan in Nara,” explains frontman Kenta Koie. “Basically we went straight into self-isolation which in some cases was very fortunate as we were lucky to have a solid month of being able to write music together.”

Taking this unfortunate set of circumstances in their stride the quintet crafted newly released EP Species. A collection of tracks which has seen Kenta and company continue to push their musical boundaries to new territories. “Species signifies the new beginning of CROSSFAITH and we are out to give you a next level experience. It’s heavy, chaotic and beautiful. We wanted to incorporate some 90’s rave culture so we used acid bass on the intro of Endorphin for example. Some of our favourite things were born in the 90’s, such as the PlayStation, The Matrix films and lots of other exciting developments which deeply fascinated us. We have mixed these new stylings with our the existing CROSSFAITH sound so it’s almost like a revival. We feel like it is our role to push boundaries and try new things. I spent a lot of time making vocal harmonies which we could layer in the songs and make sure they stand out and comes across clearly.”

Experimentation and forward-thinking is something that CROSSFAITH take very seriously as they are always exploring new and innovative ways to take their sound to the next level whilst still retaining their signature sound that has brought them so much acclaim. “We always keep an eye on the music scene because some bands have a tendency to become complacent and stuck in one place,” discusses Kenta. “This is one thing we don’t want to fall into. We want to continue to explore and update our sound as we progress. We haven’t decided yet where we want our sound to take us next but we have already started new music and it’s not slow! We’ve got some blueprints for tracks in the making and they’re completely different to Species.”

CROSSFAITH are no strangers to the UK, sharing star-studded tour lineups alongside the likes of SKINDRED, THE QEMISTS and ENTER SHIKARI to name a few. They were due to treat us to a headline tour in March but sadly it was not meant to be. As is the case with most bands, they are determined to broaden their reach as far as possible in order to open doors and play the biggest and best venues that the world of music has to offer, having no intention of taking baby steps on the way to the top. They are game to hit the big time and there are no bigger achievements than sealing the fabled festival headline slots. “Our dream is to headline Download Festival in the UK which I’m sure is a dream for many bands due to its legendary status,” states Kenta. “We want to play our music to the biggest crowds possible and this is one of the biggest opportunities to do it. We also want to travel, explore the world and let this inspire us to create more music.”

Species is out now! For those who may not have checked it out, what can we expect from this release?

Kenta: It’s the new beginning of CROSSFAITH, and we’ll show you a next level experience. It’s heavy, chaotic, and beautiful.

Are there any kind of particular points of inspiration for these tracks that you would like to discuss?

Kenta: This time we feature 90’s vibes so we used acid bass on the very intro of Endorphin. So many new things born in the 90’s such as PlayStation, The Matrix and lots of other stuff, those excitements fascinated us deeply. But it’s not just a revival, we remix them with CROSSFAITH sound.

Your last release EX_MACHINA was in 2018, how do you feel you have progressed as a band in this time?

Kenta: We’ve been trying new things and I feel like it’s our role. As I mentioned above, we used acid bass sound from 90’s rave culture. And this time I spent a lot of time making vocal harmonies, we layer a bunch of sounds in one song so I make vocal harmonies thicker than ever before so it stands on music to speak to people closer and clearly.

CROSSFAITH has risen considerably in popularity over the years, has this added any kind of pressure on the band and the releases that follow?

Kenta: I don’t feel any pressure under the name of CROSSFAITH, but we always care to look at the music scene because some bands are stuck in one place. I don’t dislike those bands but we shouldn’t be like that, we want to always be exploring and trying to keep update our music.

What are your goals and aspirations for the future of CROSSFAITH?

Kenta: We’ve been talking about our dream and it’s headlining Download Festival in the UK. Before that, it’s to spread our music to the world and see more things to create our music.

Species out now via UNFD.

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