Music Bugle Exclusive – Q & A – Imperial Skies

By Nicholas Jason Lopez

The crafty trio of Caleb Fairchild, Bryan Kelso and Ryan Dreibelbis make up Imperial Skies, a “100 percent DIY” modern experimental metalcore music project based out of South Bend, Ind..

The group just reached 2,000 Facebook Likes and hyped the arrival of new music to come soon, as they’ve spent time in the studio.

The Music Bugle recently had the opportunity to talk to the band about recent happenings and what the future holds.

 

Music Bugle – What can fans expect from your new music?

Bryan Kelso – We want to aim to stay relevant to what is popular in modern metal, while also incorporating into our style music that metal fans grew up listening to, spanning from 80’s hair metal to 2010 metalcore. The goal is to be unique and innovative while staying recognizable/familiar to the fans of the genre.

 

Music Bugle – How would you describe the difference between the band’s earliest days and nowadays? 

Caleb Fairchild – Strategy. We go into songs, albums and recording sessions with a plan and focus. We know what we are doing or where we want to go and develop a strategy to get there.

 

Music Bugle – Who are some of your musical influences and how do they shape your sound?

Ryan Dreibelbis – Old-school Senses Fail, The Used, Funeral For A Friend, modern-day Architects, A Day To Remember and 2010 Emarosa…

Caleb Fairchild – Oh boy! A wide range of artists… Ryan Zimmerman of Greeley Estates, Tim Lambesis of As I Lay Dying, Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20, Robin Wilson of Gin Blossoms, Matt Davies of Funeral For A Friend, Kendall Knepp of Burden Of A Day, Micah Kinard of Oh Sleeper, Sean McCulloch of Phinehas and more. 

Bryan Kelso – Van Halen, Def Leppard, Bullet For My Valentine, As I Lay Dying, to name a few. Masters of the guitar are generally where my musical interests lie.

 

Music Bugle – Where are your favorite places to play?

Ryan Dreibelbis – New Richmond, Ind.. We played a few awesome shows at a church there in our old band. I Am Abomination was on a couple of those shows and those dudes to this day are still some of my “heroes” in this type of music. Phil Druyer is by far one of the most talented vocalists involved in heavier music and Nick Sampson is my all-time favorite guitarist, next to Bryan Kelso, that is.

 

Music Bugle – What’s the hardest part of sticking out in your particular genre? 

Ryan Dreibelbis – There are so many talented bands making awesome music that, through modern day social media, have a platform to get their music “out there,” but it is still hard to stand out. I would say our combined eclectic taste in music provides us with a very different set of influences from most bands, so we have developed a fairly unique sound.

 

Music Bugle – In your opinion, what’s your most meaningful song/set of lyrics? 

Caleb Fairchild – “Home.” The song was written after my mother died. Hardest set of lyrics I have ever written. No words really seemed to capture the feelings right. “Home, you were my place of shelter, my place of peace, that neither life nor death could take from me.”

 

Music Bugle – What pains you the most about today’s music industry and can it be fixed? 

Ryan Dreibelbis – How difficult it is to get noticed by the right people at the right time.  From understanding it has always been this way and will likely never change, but it is what it is.  

 

Music Bugle – How did you guys come up with the band name? 

Bryan Kelso – Love for Star Wars! (Laughs) 

 

Music Bugle – What are some of your future plans as far as 2020 goes?

Bryan Kelso – New album and getting back into doing live music.

 

Music Bugle – What’s something you feel people should know about the band?

Ryan Dreibelbis – Mexican Food. 

Bryan Kelso – We do it and keep doing it because we’re passionate about the art. Fame and riches and everything that comes with being a big successful band sound great and we would gladly take it, but when it comes down to it, we love writing and playing music together and nothing will change that.

Caleb Fairchild – We nickname all our songs while in the writing process. Very elaborate and unique names. They are code ’til the song is complete, then we officially name it, but more often than not, we all still know the song by its code name.