AVO Interview with Rid of ASK I FALL: “With hard work and perseverance, we will achieve our goals and dreams”

ASK I FALL are an international metalcore band based in Tokyo. Despite some early line-up changes, the group is now solidified around vocalist Rid, guitarist Nishiva, bassist Matthew and drummer Nikolai. The band is busy making their own scene and has organised the successful Moshin’ Tokyo various times, an event that has become a highlight on the local metal calendar. Having just released their latest single, Blood, Sweat and Fears, it’s proving to be an exciting time for the band, so AVO Magazine spoke to vocalist Rid to get all the latest news.

AVO Magazine: Can you give us a brief history of the band. You all originate from different countries, so how did you meet and how did you decide to form a band? Did you face any cultural or language barriers on your first meeting?
Rid: As ASK I FALL we met in 2020 in Tokyo. precisely me and Zack (our ex-bassist and current producer) met on Craigslist. We both had a passion for metal and wanted to form a band. Lately, I and Nishiva met on OurSound, a local platform for musicians. That’s where the core originated and later after several changes of guitarists and drummers, we came to an initial formation. Fortunately for us language or culture has never been a barrier but actually a point of strength and enjoyment. Thanks to our diversity we were able to apply several influences not just musically but also culturally into our music. For internal communication, we use both Japanese and English.

AVO Magazine: ASK I FALL is an interesting name. How did that come about?
Rid: We started playing with names and words.. we really liked the word Skyfall as it was representing different nationalities under one sky.. but at the same time we wanted to add some flavour to it. “What about A SKYFALL..”, and then we stuck it together in ASK I FALL. We all kind of liked it instantly and decided that was the name for the band.

AVO Magazine: Things have moved fast since your formation in 2020. You’ve released an EP and several singles. Are you happy with those releases? Anything you’d like to go back and change?
Rid: I completely agree, from 2023 we have been moving on a Shinkansen of progress for the band including, a change of members, new music, videos and of course the organisation of our big event Moshin’ Tokyo. We are very proud of what we have been achieving so far, especially for the international community and the people who are following the project. Nothing to change or regret about the past but Of course we’re always aiming to improve and improve our sound and quality moving forward.

AVO Magazine: How do you rate the current metal scene in Tokyo? Are there many exciting, new bands? Are there plenty of places to play?
Rid: The metalcore scene in Japan is exciting but at the same time very small. There are not many bands out there and the fact that in Japan in the case of performances, it is in a lot of cases ‘pay to play’, makes it for those underground bands very hard to consistently play shows and animate the scene at the same time. On top of that the international metalcore band are even fewer and one of the challenges have always been bridging those local to the international ones.

AVO Magazine: You started your own metal event, Moshin’ Tokyo. Why? Are you filling a gap in the scene?
Rid: Absolutely, the event exists for one precise purpose which is the one of creating a bridge between the local and the international metal community in Japan. The idea started from myself going to many events in Tokyo but finding the Japanese and international metal scenes very separated. As I have always been enjoining international vibes and events, I really felt Tokyo needed one.

AVO Magazine: Recently you performed a street live show, was this a spontaneous decision to do so and how was it to perform a show on the street instead of an established stage?
Rid: Yes, this was a spontaneous decision from the members as we have been talking for a long about having fun with acoustic instruments. At the same time, we were thinking about an original way to promote our new single. It turned out to be fun and productive at the same time.

AVO Magazine: You also recently did an acoustic gig, how exactly was this established and how did you like it compared to a normal show you perform?
Rid: We really Enjoyed playing an acoustic live show. It was the first time for myself as well doing such a performance. The vibes were completely different from when being on stage. On stage we focus a lot on the energy and keeping the crowd jumping, moshin’ and vibin’ with us. Acoustic shows in our genre is a great contrast of sharing softer vibes and emotions with the crowd. It felt close and intimate and we all enjoyed. We’ll have more to come.

AVO Magazine: You all have different musical influences. Is there one band or genre that unites you and how has the addition of Matthew and Niko altered the band’s chemistry?
Rid: With the previous formation it was very interesting that all 4 members were coming from visual kei background. However, with the new band members coming in, we became even more diversified. Matthew comes more from a emo, rock, pop-punk type of background while Nico as a professional drummer has been playing with several genres but he mostly resonates with funky and pop vibes. The commonality is that we still all like heavy music and we are looking forward to turn these influences and an heavy and polished sound together.

AVO Magazine: ASK I FALL’s latest single is titled Blood, Sweat And Fears. Congratulations; it really rocks. From where did you draw musical influence? You put a lot of effort into your lyrics. What lyrical themes does this single deal with?
Rid: Blood, Sweat And Fears talks about the situation where the band is at now, there have been a lot of struggles, changes and insecurities.. however, we do believe that with good people and good effort we will get the results we are striving for. The song doesn’t want to talk just about ASK I FALL and bands but also about any similar situation we must face in life. With hard work and perseverance, we will achieve our goals and dreams.

AVO Magazine: Does the new single mean you have a new album or EP planned? If so, what can we expect? In what direction will your sound move in the future?
Rid: We are now planning to sit down with the new members and really reviewing our sound direction. We have a lot of already written material be ready to pushed out but for the next releases we want to be sure that each members is influencing the music as much as possible. The plan is for sure to push at least one more song out at the end of the year.

AVO Magazine: Finally, what are your plans for 2023 and beyond? Do you have any plans to tour internationally? Can we expect to see you in Europe anytime soon?
Rid: We were planning to start a small tour in Asia in 2023 but because of the recent member change and sound production review we will probably going to postpone that and focus on Japan. A European tour is something that we are really looking forward to it as both me and Niko are European too. For the end of 2023 you can definitely expect new releases and videos so stay tuned!

Many thanks to Rid for taking the time to answer these questions. We also received a small video message from the band, please take a look!