2012 Artist Feature - Fallen Rivers

Chicago's Fallen Rivers are a band I've known of and had the pleasure to see live more than once, including a few shows with Bully in the Hallway. Originally blending folk elements with a live band, Kenny Nelson's songwriting outlet really has fleshed out into a full-on rock outfit over the past few years, much to the enjoyment of myself and others in the Chicagoland area. Scheduling conflicts prevented Fallen Rivers from joining us last year, so I'm pumped to have them on board in year 2 of the Rock and Roll Pig Roast.

Check out the mini interview below with Kenny Nelson, as well as the first track and SNEAK PREVIEW of our Rock and Roll Pig Roast 2012 Mixtape!

Fallen Rivers

I've seen some of your shows over the years, and I happen to have
noticed more electric instruments as of late. Am I wrong? Or if I'm
right, is there any reason behind this? How has it worked out for
you?

That’s true, and thanks for coming to our shows! We are for the most
part only using electrical instruments now. That’s just where our interests
currently lie. The first EP was a couple of songs that I had written over the
years on my acoustic guitar. I wanted to record them so I asked Brendan
and Kevin (who are in a band called the Biltmores) and John (who I had
played in other bands with) to play on the recordings. That is how the band
formed. We finished the EP and started playing shows. We also started
to write new material together and everyone’s influences came through in
the songs. Hashing out the ideas together and wanting to play louder just
called for electric guitars. We are having more fun with it live also.

I've heard Fallen Rivers have been in the studio off and on lately. How
has that been? What material have you been recording?

We have. We recorded with Mike Lust at the Phantom Manor. We had all
worked with Mike before and thoroughly enjoyed it. The recordings got
halted a little because we all got really busy with our jobs. We are anxious
to get it done though and are planning to start up again in September.
Hopefully it will be finished right before the New Year. We are pretty much
only playing those songs live now which has helped to really develop them
and we are really pleased with where they have come to.

Can you tell me more about the song you've submitted to our 2012
Mix Tape.

The song is called “Strange” and is off our EP. It was recorded with Mike at
the Phantom Manor also. It is a song that we still enjoy playing and I think
best represents who we are now from our EP. It just relates better to the
material that we are currently playing. Lyrically it is talking about coming in
to new experiences.


Fallen Rivers - Strange by RockPigRoastChi