As December Falls: Navigating The Flames
There are two perspectives when it comes to an artist’s rise in success and popularity: the outside point of view from those who only see part of the journey and those on the inside who’ve seen everything from day one. Those on the outside might inaccurately believe that this newly discovered artist and their popularity falls into a category of being an overnight success, due to how they ‘came out of nowhere’. Yet those more intimately involved know that there’s more to the story, and, in fact, that popularity came after years of hard work and perseverance. AS DECEMBER FALLS is one such story.
The Nottingham quartet originally formed back in 2014, but it wasn’t until around the early 2020s that they start to pick up a dedicated online following, resulting in their breakthrough album, Join The Club, in 2023 where they achieved the number one spot on the UK Rock & Metal Albums Chart. Now they’re a well-known name within the modern rock movement with endless festival appearances, sold-out headline shows and even winning Best UK Breakthrough Act at the Heavy Music Awards in 2023. Yet there is so much more to this story than meets the eye, something that’s reflected on their aptly named new record Everything’s On Fire But I’m Fine. Ahead of it’s release, we sat down with members Bethany Curtis (vocals) and Ande Hunter (guitar, backing vocals) to discuss the record, meaning behind the title, and a reflection on the craziness of the last few years.
Despite their popularity in the rock music sphere, AS DECEMBER FALLS are part of a harsh reality for those wishing to become musicians where they have to work full time jobs in order to make things meet whilst not touring and recording, sometimes even having the balance the two very different worlds. A reality that inspired the album title, in fact it was the first thing that materialised in the process of creating the record as Bethany reflects.
“I think with this one, because we very much went in and we already had sort of decided the title before we wrote any of the songs it all ended up being around this theme, and I wanted to explain to people that writing music for me is my therapy. It’s how I get out what is going on in my head, so all the songs that were around that. They just ended up just relating to the album title, Everything’s On Fire But I’m Fine because that’s what we’re going through at the minute.”
“Like we’re so busy, we’re all working two full time jobs, we’re doing some of the craziest like scheduling we’ve ever done, but we’re also doing some of the coolest things we’ve ever done. We all related to the [saying] ‘everything’s on fire, but I’m fine’.”
Ande further expanded on the reality of being in an independent band in 2025 by acknowledging the struggle. “We all have been having a rough time over the last two years as the band gets bigger and it’s very difficult when you’re in music to make it financially viable for like 99% of bands, even if they’re signed to a label. And obviously we are a completely freely independent band, so there is no label, there is no one bank rolling the project, which means that we are working double jobs, we are trying to get by as best we can and I think this title really encapsulated the last like two years since Join The Club that everything has been non-stop.”
“We’ve literally been, you know, we’ve been playing, we’ve been doing tours where we’re playing shows Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and then working our day jobs Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and then doing that for like literally five weeks straight without a day off and nearly burning out…everything’s been on fire. But we’re doing some of the best and coolest shit that we’ve ever done, like going to Australia; touring with SKINDRED; touring with RØRY; playing 2000trees. The last couple of years have been amazing, it’s been a great time.”
It’s clear that this is something that AS DECEMBER FALLS loves doing, and despite the busy workload and hectic lifestyle, it’s something that has resulted in incredible milestones and memories. Bethany and Ande will be the first to admit that they would never have expected things to have taken off as it has in the last few years where simple daydreams they had as teenagers have now become a reality as Bethany puts it.
“I remember thinking that Slam Dunk was the most silly ambition to have. I was like, ‘In what world am I ever going to play Slam Dunk Festival?’ because I’ve been going to Slam Dunk since I was like 16, so it’s been it’s been many, many, many years. And last year we were then playing Main Stage at Slam Dunk, and we weren’t even opening the main stage, we were down the bill, and it feels very unreal, but then also you think about what we’re doing as a band and in the last couple of years everything we’ve done has felt unreal.”
“We had the HMA win, and then we were playing Slammy, and then we’re playing Trees, then we’re playing Download, then we’ve charted, got number one rock album. It is true what they say, like you’ll literally be just like coasting and it’s fine, and then suddenly your life turns to fire.”
Ande adds, “the last two years have just been an absolute whirlwind, but for a lot of people, definitely in the industry, as we were like, you know, touring, people felt that like Join The Club was like almost a first album and we were a brand new band on the scene that was kind of blowing up a little bit. But they don’t see the seven years before, the first two albums and the touring non-stop independently, hiring out our own venues, doing our own ticketing and like, you know, really building up step by step and then this year we’ve grown probably more than all of the other years combined and it’s just it’s crazy. It’s been a whirlwind.”
Things have certainly changed in a short period of time, but a factor that will remain the same is how AS DECEMBER FALLS will be openly vulnerable and honest within their lyrics, as shown in beloved songs Go Away and Therapy, to name a few, where fans have heavily resonated with the lyrics. To Bethany, songwriting will always be her outlet. “I will never not feel vulnerable when we put out a song, like there are times when I’m nervous to show the rest of the band a song because I worry that they’re gonna start worrying about me. I know that sounds silly, but the amount of songs that I’ll put out and, like, my mum will hear it and message me, and then she’ll be like, ‘oh, are you okay?’ And I’m like, ‘it’s fine!’ This is me moving through it and getting on with it. But it will never not put me in that really vulnerable spot.
“But I won’t ever not do it because that’s another way of how I connect with our fanbase because they know that I’m going through the same struggles that they are and I feel like that really helps with the connection there. But on the other hand, this album has helped me feel more confident, it’s letting me be more who I want to be. So, I’ve always had sort of this box that I have put AS DECEMBER FALLS in and I feel like for this album I’ve finally opened the lid and gone, ‘nope, it’s fine. I’m just gonna do what I feel this time’.”
“I’m going to do what I actually feel like and who I am, and I feel a lot more like I’m opening up and I feel like people are relating to that more.”
Everything’s On Fire But I’m Fine is set for release on August 8th via ADF Records/Virgin Records. View this interview, alongside dozens of other killer bands, in glorious print magazine fashion in DS123 here:
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