When you want to release an album, you do it like A Town In Fear. Set to be a fast-paced affair, they have also roped in a stellar lineup of special guests like ANECHOIS, A Vacant Affair, Embrace Them Ghosts and there's actually more. We do some pre-show talking with Linus Sebastian (vocals) on touring, influential albums and their new album, of course. 

A Town In Fear have toured regionally in places like Thailand and Malaysia in the past. Any interesting tour stories?

I think meeting new faces and getting immersed in the different cultures overseas really opened our eyes to the fact that we are indeed a really "small red dot" in the middle of nowhere. The food we get to try, the places we get to play in, the crowds we had the opportunities to perform for, all made our trips interesting ones. There was once we played in Thailand where the people were really warm and friendly even though we played for a "hardcore underground" show, and that was really heartening to us. It goes to show that not all "hardcore/metal musicians" out there are whorshippers of Satan or is "evil", and that music is a way of life and perhaps a form of expression overseas as well! It is a Universal language that brings and bonds all walks of people together. Well, not many interesting anecdotes yet but we sure hope to get to experience some of them in our future tours overseas. We can barely wait when the time comes! ;)

How has the experience abroad shaped your live performances and the making of the album?

What is interesting about these overseas experiences is that we get to meet new people, experience different culture and backgrounds, and people from different languages and walks of life. It's really cool because if we never did this, we'd always be in our "comfort zones" feeling all safe and secure in Singapore. I guess this is what all bands locally and regionally should do too! Go out there, expose themselves and their music to a whole different level and gain new insights and perspectives about the world around us! These experiences along the way definitely helped shaped our music and theme for the album. And because we felt that there was so much support from our family and friends, this album was written with the thought of them in mind. Thus, "Traditions".

Tell us more about recording "Traditions".

The recording process of "Traditions" took quite some time to accomplish. It was rather challenging as we were still trying to find our sound then, and there were about 1001 things that we could write about in our songs. But I guess as we went on, played more shows and jammed as a band, the idea of our families and friends' support poured out into our hearts and instantaneous became our ground for writing this record. We know we had to write something that was honest and something that we wanted people to understand and could relate too. Overall, we spent about 3-4 months recording, mixing and then mastering the tracks. And finally this coming 3rd November, you guys get to hear what this hype is all about!

Why did you pick "Traditions" as the title of your debut album?

Like we said earlier, we wanted to write music that is close to our hearts and that is close to home. The people that influenced us, the daily struggles that we go through as individuals and as a band and how we perservere through them, and even the idea of "our freedom of speech" in Singapore are some of the topics we talk about in our songs. I guess to sum it all up, "Traditions" was a fitting title for the album since the word summarized all that we wanted to speak about in our songs and what we wanted to relay to our audiences - which in turn are our families and friends.

What can we expect from your album launch event this Saturday?

Get ready for absolute MAYHEM! Well, we have got a great lineup for the evening and a great set planned for you guys! We'd probably film our set down for a live music video as well (So, you guys know what to do!). Expect flying bodies, circle pits, headbanging, alot of moshing, two-stepping and crowd surfing going on! It's all you want in an underground show! Except, the lineup include some of our friends from the other side of the musical spectrum. It's a mixed genre release show so we are really stoked for how the evening is going turn out!

What are your plans after the album launch? Any upcoming tour plans?

Well, we are sorting out our cards even as we speak now. Probably, we are going back to writing a couple more songs and do some short tours to our neighbouring countries to promote the album as well. Countries like Malaysia, Thailand and hopefully the Philipines and Indonesia do keep a close lookout for us! It's going to be exciting being able to see the response we get from a whole different crowd.

Oh, and can we "tour" Singapore too? I think there's a shortage of local shows nowadays and that's kind of sad, hopefully after this show, more local organisers would be more ready to plan local gigs and have locals bands step forward to release their own music as well. This will help keep our scene here in Singapore alive and kickin'!

• The Ghost Inside | Fury And The Fallen Ones
  
•  Parkway Drive | Killing With A Smile
  
• Defeater | Travels 
  
• While She Sleeps | The North Stands For Nothing 
  
• Counterparts | Prophets 
  

These albums are some of the band's early influences that shaped our sound to be what it is today. We are still very much experimenting with different sounds but we are definitely keeping our music heavy, melodic yet aggressive at the same time. Most importantly, we feel that it is important to keep an open mind to all genres of music  and not just stick to a particular genre of writing. This would enable the band to have a wider scope of sound and there is room for growth and improvement.

Finally, we will not conform to what others want us to write but we  will write for what believe in. Be ready Singapore! Get Stoked!

Event details: 3 November 2012, Saturday, 5pm, The Substation $15 (Presale) / $12 (Door)

For more info, head over HERE.