Interviews    Forever is Forgotten
by Chris Barnes

Forever is Forgotten blends complex arrangements and sheer techincal prowess with machine-gun riffing and emotionally charged lyrics. As just one of the many great bands coming out the Wisconsin heavy music scene, Forever is Forgotten are pioneering a sound all their own blending beauty with brutality. Hellride Music interviews drummer Scott Giese.


Hellride Music: Hey Scott, first of lemme say that I dug the Dying Beautiful EP. Forever is Forgotten definitely have their own style. I think in my review I said it was somewhere between maudlin of the Well and Cryptopsy. What is your thoughts on the FIF sound? Am I sorta accurate at least?

Scott Giese: Well I say that is close. I know Evan and Justin are into Cryptopsy. I tend to think that our sound is dark and melodic. We draw influences from all over. I know when we are on tour we listen to everything from Cannibal Corpse, to SADE, to Converge. And I know Justin likes Blondie alot..ha ha ( seriously ) Other than that we set out to do what every band does, to come up with something that we can call our own.


Hellride Music: Cool. Give us a brief synopsis on how Forever is Forgotten got it's start.

Scott: Evan called me up one day in January of 2001 ( he had gotten my number from a local musicians ad ) and told me he was looking to start a hardcore band. He had a buddy who played bass for us for like two months and let us practice at his house. In that time we found Chris ( Pez ). From there we went through like half a dozen guitar players and bass players, and actually our bass player ( Jim ) tried out as a singer for us when we first started and he was like, "I think I'll pass". It is actually funny thinking about it now. Then last September we found Justin ( guitar ) at a show we played and told him we needed a guitar player, we also ran into Jim at that same show so within a week we had a new guitar player and bass player. From there things have just been getting better and better.


Hellride Music: Looking at the lyrics in Dying Beautiful, there seems to be a common theme, with these four songs at least. Loss seems to be a big one. I know Chris does the vocals, does he also pen the lyrics? They seem to be very personal as well as prolific... are these reflections of real experiences?

Scott: On that album Chris and myself wrote a majority of the lyrics, Evan wrote "Tied to a Strangers Hand". The topics we choose to write about are things that are very close to our heart. As with "Dying Beautiful" I wrote that song about a girl I knew who had an abortion but had a little tattoo with wings and a halo and his initials on it. That touched me soo much. The song is not an anti-abortion song, we don't want to preach to anybody, it is more of a tribute to that little boy who never got a chance in life. Kind of our way of preserving his memory. And "Destroying a Lifetime of Innocence" is a song about one of Chris's friends that commited suicide because he was not accepted for who he was. We hope that people can relate to knowing how it feels to be an outcast and there are days when you just feel you simply can not go on anymore. But to also turn those feelings around and realize you have friends and family that love you and will support you.


Hellride Music: Congrats on just bumming me out... nah, those are heavy topics but the music definitely suits the lyrical content. Stats time! Where was Dying Beautiful recorded, who produced and how long did it take? Were the songs written long before you guys went into the studio?

Scott: Dying Beautiful was recorded at Studio One in Racine, WI by our good friend Chris Djurik. Chris has recorded most of the Origin albumbs, Goregasm, and some of Soil's work as well. He also plays bass for Jungle Rot. It was mastered at Mastermind Studios in Milwaukee by Tevor Stadler ( who also does awesome work ) It took about 21 hours to record. These songs were written before we went in, studio time is expensive so we tried to get in and out of there as quickly as possible, while still doing a good job.


Hellride Music: The arrangements of FIF songs are pretty intricate...do you guys come up with the music as a band?

Scott: No we steal our parts from Motley Crue...J/K I wish we did though. We all have a part in the writing process, most of the time Justin and Evan lead the way for us, but we all have a say in arrangements and transitions. And if some one has a suggestion we will usually give it a shot, and we try to be brutally honest with each other, if a part sucks we pull no punches and say hey that really sucks, lets come up with something better. And we all understand that we are friends, but we want to write good music so it usually works out.


Hellride Music: Forever is Forgotten is from Milwaukee WI, known for beer, Laverne and Shirley and the Milwaukee Metal Fest. Will we ever see you guys grace one of the MMF stages for a ten minute set with house equipment? ;) Seriously, do you guys play live very often in your hometown, or for that matter, your home state?

Scott: Don' forget cheese and Jeffrey Dahmer...We play Milwaukee often but not too much, we don't want to wear out our welcome here. Milwaukee has a pretty good hardcore scene, there are so many good bands coming out of Milwaukee and the Midwest it is sick. But we enjoy playing our home town in front of our friends who dress up in Robot costumes and mosh the crap out of the rest of the kids...


Hellride Music: FIF consists of five guys. That's a lot of people in one band. I can't imagine hopping in one van and touring. I'm pretty much a loner so I know I'd kill someone. Do you pretty much all get along or is it the basis of ...uh... "creative tensions"?

Scott: Yeah we all hop in one van plus we usually have our good friend Jason with us who is always good for some naked entertainment. He does all kinds of crazy stuff that keeps us entertained, like strip naked while we drive up next to semi trucks, you should see the look on the drivers face when a van full of freaky looking kids pull up next to him and one of us is naked...we'll probably get arrested sometime soon..lol. But we are like anybody else we can get on each other's nerves but it is part of the game. We are like family.


Hellride Music: A family were one of the brothers is always getting naked... Will your upcoming music stay along the same path as we've hear with Dying Beautiful or will it differ in sound/approach?

Scott: Well our music will always stay intricate and heavy, but we have a lot of influences we haven't introduced yet. So it will be interesting to see what comes out. I am excited to say the least. Oh yeah and we will definitrly stay metal too....that is important.


Hellride Music: Thanks for the interview Scott. Anything else you'd like to leave us with?

Scott: Yeah I would like to thank you Chris for taking the time to interview us. I would also encourage people to check out 7Angels 7Plagues, A Shroud Cast Over, Wings of Scarlet, End This Day, Since by Man and Jungle Rot, these are all really good bands from Milwaukee and friends of ours. And lastly if there is anyone reading this on the East Coast check our website www.foreverisforgotten.com for tour dates as we will be out there in August, the West coast in January, and all over next summer. Thanks a lot Chris...


Read the Hellride Music review of Dying Beautiful

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Listen to Real Audio of Dying Beautiful

Visit Forever is Forgotten at www.foreverisforgotten.com

Copyright 2002 HellrideMusic.com
Interview by Chris Barnes 6/19/02