Yorkton's Find the Fallen held a release party for their debut CD recently, and they couldn't be happier with the response.
"Things have just been blowing up for us lately. We have been working hard for the past year, behind closed doors, and last night was our coming out party. It was a huge success," said band member Crystal Tieszen.
"I was overwhelmed by the response, people kept coming up to me saying what a good show it was, and how much I added to the band, as this was my first show in Yorkton with them. One guy even said that the whole city of Yorkton should have been there, that they really missed out! But, you know, we were thrilled with the turnout!"
The response was echoed by Jon Tieszen.
"It was a lively crowd. People were right up at the front from beginning to end," he said. "Rock, pop and worship were represented at the show. We really rocked out, with the crowd jumping and fist pumping to our single Torn, shouting the lyrics back to us for our radio single 'Bright'. The crowd was really into it, singing and shouting our songs back to us! That is a huge compliment to any band, that people are loving the music and having a good time."
"Our single Bright is on the ROCK 98five. It was so encouraging to see people calling in and asking for it before the show, and at the concert the minute the crowd heard the intro they started to cheer, singing the song back to us - that to me was the moment I realized - how much people are loving the song."
Find the Fallen includes; Jon Tieszen (Vox,Guitar) and Crystal Tieszen(Vox, Keys), Troy Janzen (Bass) all from Yorkton and Kyle Brewer (Drums) and Dustin Wilson (Lead Guitar) from Kamsack.
"The band actually met at McDonalds, true story," said Jon Tieszen. "We were introduced to Kyle and Dustin, who had been playing with Troy for a little while already they were looking for a lead singer, and I had a show I was looking to get a band to back me up for. We called ourselves 'Find The Fallen - featuring Jon Tieszen' for a while.
"Then once we realized that we meshed really well together and the guys loved the songs Crystal and I had written already - I joined the band for keeps.
"My wife Crystal joined us in November - when we were asked to lead worship monthly at Prairie Harvest - and really that was a perfect fit - because Crystal and I have been making music together since we became friends over 14 years ago, and she actually wrote or co-wrote eight-of-the-10 songs on the album; well 11 if you count intro as a song."
In terms of music Jon Tieszen said Find the Fallen is diverse.
"We really give a dynamic show because we rock out, we have fun with dance/pop songs and we give praise and glory to God through our worship songs," he said, adding in terms of influences "between the five of us - it's almost everything."
While still fairly new as a band, Find the Fallen has been busy.
"We have done two tours in western Canada, been able to play at churches in the parkland area, conferences and retreats," said Jon Tieszen. "We have had the privilege of sharing the stage with Freshie, two-time Grammy nominated Hip Hop artist.
"And the biggest highlight for us to date was our release party, but we have also had the most amazing experiences at The Oasis in Grande Prairie, Red Earth reserve and Red Deer, AB to name a few."
Then there is the album.
"Our writing process as a band, we prefer to take a pre-written song by a band member and add our own parts to it," said Crystal Tieszen. "We start with melody and chord structure and even song layout already established by the songwriter(s), and we work together to give the song the sound we are looking for. We don't write from scratch together well, as we are all songwriters, we work better when we have skeleton to fill out.
"On the album there are a few songs that Jon and I had written before the band became Find The Fallen, but the majority was written in the past year by myself, and quite a few co-written with me by Jon Tieszen, Kyle Brewer, Dustin Wilson.
"Personally my writing process varies from song to song. Some songs came together in just a few hours like 'Into the Fire' and others were created over weeks, just needing that time to perfect them. For me a song can start with a simple hook or melody - or it can start with a phrase or idea that I want to develop."
The actual recording process turned out to be a learning process for Find the Fallen.
"We tried recording our first songs in a Winnipeg recording studio, and quickly realized after that experience that we wanted to be more hands on in the producing aspect of the tracks, and really take our time with layering," said Jon Tieszen. "So we added vocal layers and synths and worked at it until we got the sound we wanted to in our own home studio.
"It is very different than on stage, because each part is recorded separately. You build the song layer by layers, starting with a scratch track and drums, adding each part one at a time. The songs were recorded over six-months. We were able to get a fantastic mixing and mastering guy from Winnipeg, Jason Gordon to finish our tracks for CD Press and Radio.
The result is one the band is happy with.
"We are thrilled with the product," said Crystal Tieszen. "There are so many elements that we are happy with, and I don't think we would change one thing about it.
"We fought for the sound that we wanted, and each member of the band had a say in the final product. We have aspirations to record another album very soon . We have already started working on new material.
While working on new material, Find the Fallen are hoping to focus greater attention in the coming months on performing on stage.
"Definitely playing shows - we have been focused on getting our CD finished and submissions to the GMA'S Covenant Awards And now that our release party with Fresh IE was a huge success, and was in a way our coming out party to the Parkland area - I am sure we will be playing more in the area now that we have our finished product -we plan to play shows, shows and more shows - where ever and whenever we can," said Crystal Tieszen.
People can keep up to date with the band on Facebook, twitter, Myspace, tumbler, YouTube, vimeo, and the album is available on iTunes, at Golden Rule, Prairie Harvest, the ROCK, or through band members.
