Award-winning rock duo Follow No One, breaks all industry norms with release of “Fate,” a modern cinematic rock concept album that brings back the magic of Rock.
Described as a cross between Queensryche and Styx on a hard rock foundation; Follow No One draws from the purest classic and raw hard rock sounds that defined an era, while adding their own unique twist on the genre.
Follow No One is comprised of two industry leaders, Pedro Murino Almeida and Rich Hall. A Portuguese native, Almeida is a classically trained composer and guitar virtuoso who works in both film and video and found success in his musical acts. Lead singer Hall is an American-born singer- songwriter who initially made his mark in the theater at a young age, but discovered his powerful melodic vocals matched perfectly with rock.
In this interview spotlight, I chat with Follow No One about the latest release, adapting during the pandemic, technology and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and how do You describe your style of music?
I (Rich) live in the great state of Colorado and the other half of Follow No One, Pedro Murino Almeida, lives in Lisbon, Portugal when he’s not in his second home of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Describing our style has been difficult for some critics, so that’s not an easy answer. The best way to put it is that we are not a rock ‘throwback’ group, but we haven’t missed what we consider to be the musical elements that have defined some of the best rock music over the years. With our backgrounds being quite diverse, Pedro and I have two different distinct styles, but when you merge them, you never know what’s going to happen. We rely on a lot of big vocals and bigger guitars and that really solidifies our sound.
How did you get here? As in, what inspired or motivated you to take on this journey through music and the music biz?
It’s in my blood. Kind of like that quote from The Godfather, “Every time I try to get out, they just keep pulling me back in!” I started in theater at 9, getting the lead in the musical Tom Sawyerand I enjoyed it so much, that when a few years later I got a chance to get in a rock band in High School, I couldn’t resist, and my new love became Rock Music and has been ever since. I ended up joining the Army after I got out of High School and still enjoyed music, but life took over for a while and I had to pursue other things. But, I always end up finding my way back and this time it’s for good and with us picking up ‘Best Rock Act’ in 2019 in Nashville, I think some other people are glad to see us!
How does your latest project compare/contrast with your previous release(s)?
I’ve never taken on something this ambitious musically before, but for good reason. I had a stretch of about 5 years that I would not wish on my worst enemy. To make a long story short, everything I had worked my life for was taken away… My family, my wealth, my job, my house, all in a blink of an eye. I did not deal with the change very well to start out with and went down a self-destructive path that led to my near-death in 2015. Our new album Fate goes deep into this story and tells it in a new and unique way for a concept album. It plays almost like a short film, in that we employed voice over actors to re-enact some of the actual events as audio scenes, which mixed with the great music makes for a very compelling album.
Were you setting out to accomplish anything specific, follow a specific theme, or explore different styles of creation?
Absolutely. Pedro and I have been not only fans of rock music for years, but also students. It’s hard to do anything that has not been done before and to do something fresh is getting more difficult as time goes by. So having this compelling story, some cool ideas on how to present it in a captivating way for the audience, and the time allowed because of Covid, it was a challenge we embraced, and we think we succeeded. We’ll see what the Grammys says about that.
Name the biggest challenge you faced as a creative during these unprecedented times? How did you adapt? How have you kept the creative fires burning during all this?
I’m one of those people who tries to approach a bad situation and use that to motivate me to do something with it to turn it in to a positive, and that’s exactly what happened during Covid. Fresh off our award for Best Rock Act at the 2019 JMA awards in Nashville, we were ready to take off like a rocket. Then as you know, the pandemic ground everything to a screeching halt.
Honestly, because of my faith, I have not worried one iota about Covid. I got it and recovered. But I couldn’t be insensitive to others at the same time. Pedro and I obviously couldn’t travel to work on this, so we had to employ some pretty different techniques in production and process etc. For example, some songs were written on the fly, while others were almost composed and recorded entirely before they were presented to whichever one of us wasn’t part of the original writing process. So, in the end, we end up with an album that was primarily recorded on three continents, North America, Europe, and South America and has people on multiple continents contributing various voiceovers.
It would have been a much shorter process, not the year and a half it ended up taking, but in the end, since we were taking our time, it gave us the opportunity to really become a part of the album as it developed and feel it as an artist as one living, breathing work and we hope you consider it art.
What do you stand for?
I cannot speak for Pedro, but I stand for God and life, liberty & the pursuit of happiness. I am free not because you say I am, but because God did. I also think that everyone must make those decisions for themselves. I don’t believe in forcing my beliefs and values on others. At the end of the day, we all have to look at ourselves in the mirror each day and evaluate what kind of person we are. I don’t believe it is my place to judge, just so long as you don’t force your beliefs and values on me. It’s a two-way street.
What was the last song you listened to?
I’ve got music going now. It’s Friday when I’m doing this so I’m on my Friday Mix Playlist. During this time, I’ve heard Whitesnake, Ronnie James Dio, the Carwash theme, low rider and Shame on a Nigga by the Wutang. If it’s good, I play it.
Does that artist influence you in any way?
Good question the way I answered the last one. So here it goes…
Whitesnake – I played Keys on ‘Here I go Again’ in the first band I was ever in and sang “Still of the Night’ in another. Those guys kicked ass, still do. That influence is just your basic Rockstar 101 when you watch David Coverdale & John Sykes on stage together.
Dio – I employ some techniques Ronnie did as it relates to use of the diaphragm to get that real power. Something that I learned early and it’s great to see it employed in various genres.
Low Rider – That song is how cool we all wish we could be driving down the road.
Carwash – It’s fun. I can’t be serious all the time. I’m not a drinker, but I do enjoy some herbal refreshment now and then. This song gets me dancin’ and it’s not pretty, I can assure you. 😉
Wutang/ODB – I love the WU. Who doesn’t? On my way into the studio, I used to throw that in as part of my warmup to get my mouth flowin’, if you know what I’m sayin’. Especially before a song that is quite wordy, you can get loosened up just right by trying to keep up with ODB. It’s not easy though!
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? 8-tracks? Cassettes? CDs? MP3s? Streaming platforms?
A play button. I don’t really care. Although, my favorite albums are either on CD or Vinyl. You can’t quite get the warmth of analogue on digital no matter how hi-res it is.
What does music mean to you?
Music means a lot to me, not for the reason you might think. It means a lot to me because it means so much to others. I mean, take this record for example, as the industry is these days, we are not going to make any money from this release. In fact, most likely we will lose money. So, it’s obviously not a business decision and I lived the story we are telling. To be honest with you, this wasn’t an easy album to make emotionally. It was hard reliving the worst moments of your life in sequence. But I truly believe in the power of music to convey a message to people in such a powerful way that it can help others. And despite the tragedy involved, without giving away too much of the story, there is a resounding theme of ‘Never Surrender’ on this album that we think with our presentation method, might just inspire some people.
Where is the best place to connect with you and follow your journey? (Include your links)
Http://www.facebook.com/follownoonemusic
Anything else you wish to include, add or say?
No matter what you have, you’ve got a lot more than a lot of people, so be grateful. You never know when it all can disappear. Peace. #Follownoone
