Fuck The Facts have been a cornerstone in the DIY grind community for 10 years now, unapologetically assaulting listeners with an ever mutating technical blend of grind, metal, and non-metal elements. Vii Caso catches up with Topon Das in preparation for their Ithaca return this Friday at CSMA.

IU: This tour celebrates the 10th year as a full band. Did you ever think Fuck the Facts would ever go beyond DIY noise/grind tape releases created in your bedroom?

TD: Since day one it’s always been about actually doing shit and getting out of the bedroom. One of the main reasons I start Fuck The Facts was because all the bands I played in at the time were stuck in the basement. I wanted to play shows, tour and release music; not just talk about doing it. I wasn’t gonna let this get stuck in my bedroom. That being said, I’m still sometimes in awe of all the amazing shit we’ve gotten to do over the years in this band.

IU: For this anniversary tour, you've stated FTF will perform songs from album released since 2001 on this tour. Do you guys have a set list already practiced and ready or will it change every night? Since you have quite a back-catalog, I imagine some planning was involved. Will you be playing "Dear Shit Book? Will we get to hear any songs from your new album "Die Miserable"?

TD: We have a set rehearsed that we’ve been playing since we started doing these shows in February. We cut it down a bit when we did the Scion Rock Fest, but besides that it’s been the same each night. Half our band lives 6 hours away from the other half, so with that and jobs, etc… our actual full band rehearsal time is pretty limited. The set that we’re playing touches on a bit of everything from over the past 10 years and we’re doing it all in chronological order from oldest to newest. When we started planning it, there was a shit load of songs we were looking at. I would have liked to do a few other songs as well, but with the time we had to get it all together we had to make some tough choices. ‘Dear Shit Book’ is in there and we’re playing a couple of song from the new album. We might be doing a different song or 2 this coming weekend but we’ll see.

IU: You mentioned your involvement with the 2011 Scion Rock Fest. What are your thoughts on Scions recent involvement with extreme music? It seems like they're doing some pretty awesome things; sponsoring tours, releasing albums, setting up free festivals, etc.

TD: We just got back from that and it was awesome. I know there’s been some debate on what their place in is the music scene and their motives, etc… but for my band and me we having nothing but good things to say about what they’ve done for us. They fly us out, treat us well and it’s always just to play a show. They never try and tell us what we can or can’t do. All they want is for us to go out there and do our thing.

IU: Regarding the new album "Die Miserable", what can you tell us about that? It was recorded in your home studio, right? How was that recording experience?

TD: It was insane. We put an extreme amount of pressure on ourselves to make it as good as possible, and when the tracking was all done we just needed to step back and really take a break from it. Since then we’ve recorded there again and I’ve also been recording other bands there as well, so we’ve been getting better and learning more with time and practice. I don’t know if we’ll try and do the next album after ‘Die Miserable’ there, I think we might like to try something different, but we’ll keep recording and I can see us definitely doing more releases this way.

IU: The vinyl version of "Die Miserable" will include a bonus 7" EP with 4 songs that aren't included on the actual album. Why did you decide to include these songs on a separate release and not on the full length? Will the vinyl release be available at the Ithaca show on Friday?


TD: There will be a bonus EP with the vinyl version of ‘Die Miserable’, but it’ll probably be a CD. It started as 4 tracks that we had started working on when we recorded ‘Die Miserable’ but were not finished at our writing cut-off time. We didn’t really want to keep them for the next album, so when we finally finished them we decided to release them in this way. Even though it started as 4 songs, we did some writing in the studio and the EP is going to be more like 9 tracks and around 20 minutes. We’re aiming to release the vinyl at the same time as the album and that probably won’t be until this summer.

IU: 2010 was a very prolific year for FTF, and the reaction was pretty positive for everything across the board. The "Unnamed EP" alone was included on several "Best of 2010" lists. Thoughts?

TD: Well, what can I say? We do what we want and the fact that people have been this supportive has been very gratifying.

IU: One thing that I really admire about FTF is that you're a band that really embraces DIY. You record in your own studios, book your own tours, and even though you're on a larger label like Relapse, you occasionally put out your own records. Do you think tactics like these are important, or better yet necessary for bands if they want to make it in the current music industry?

TD: It’s just the way we’ve always done it. I don’t like to wait around for people and from experience I’ve become really picky about the people I want to work with. So, when we’re in a spot where we want something to get done we’ll look first to ourselves to make it happen. That doesn’t mean we don’t get help from other people, but we know we can’t really count on anyone as much as we can ourselves.

IU: What's the plan for FTF after this tour? I heard you guys were going on another tour with Ken Mode.

TD: We’re touring the North Western US and Western Canada with KEN Mode from April 19th to May 9th. We’ll also be doing some weekend dates in April & May in Canada and the US. We’re starting to plan out some summer and fall touring plans, and I’m sure we’ll hit the studio again at some point to record something before the year is done. Always keeping busy, that’s the way we like it.

IU: Final Thoughts?

TD: We’re stoked to be back in Ithaca on Friday. Last year was our first time there and we meet a lot of really cool people that we’re still in touch with now. I get a really good sense of folks working together in Ithaca to make the scene better and it’s awesome that we can in some way be a part of that.


Don't miss Fuck The Facts live with Dance-A-Tron, Hiroshima Vacation, and Makeshfit this Friday at the Community School of Music & Arts (CSMA), 3rd Floor Auditorium, 330 E State (MLK Jr) St, Ithaca, NY 14850 8PM $8 at the door. All IU shows are all ages!