Faint On Call is a band born in lockdown, a hybrid sound between 90’s alternative shoegaze post grunge and late 80’s melody driven rock.

The founding members, Tobias Hawkins, Cristian Hernandez and Arthur McConnell challenged each other’s songwriting abilities in a daily trudge through music apps and emails during 12 months over 2020 and 2021. The band will release their first album, ‘SWOON’ in the upcoming months.

Faint On Call is a direct result of a lockdown, did you find the situation to be creative for you?

Art McConnell: Going into the pandemic I already had a pretty disciplined approach to making time for creativity (yes I believe creativity and disciplined approaches can work hand in hand). Once lockdown happened, however, my world and all of my habits just like everyone else was thrown out on its head, but eventually after some time had passed and the new normal provided for more time to create.

What led you to start the project?

Art: Cristian and I have been friends and colleagues since 2007. Cristian moving home to Celaya never kept us from working and hanging whenever possible. He’s always been my first call. I had worked with Tobias in the band Matadore and we have a very symbiotic relationship as I think all singers and drummers should have but rarely do. At the beginning of the lockdown I had been playing with a simple recording app that allowed for multitracking from my cell phone. Cristian had been looking for something to sink his mixing chops into so I started sending him different beat ideas I had been playing with in particular and not so subtly had been directly influenced by Tobies Counting Crows drumming. Right away Cristian came back with guitar and bass tracks built around my drumming. Knowing this needed vocals I enlisted Toby and he was into it right off the bat! That first track I sent to Cris is what became our first single ‘Pearl’.

You are all very experienced musicians coming from different backgrounds, do you feel that different influences meet within Faint On Call? And on that note, what are some of the most important influences for you?

Art: They absolutely do but more importantly we all have a healthy respect for one another and enjoy each other’s contributions which I think is mirrored in our music by the way that we make space for each other within the music. As far as influences mine are some of the great singer/songwriters of the early 80’s and late 70’s like XTC, Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson other influences that are huge for me would be HUM, Sunny Day Real Estate, Pedro The Lion & Failure just to name a few and not to forgot no small portion of a solid diet of classic rock radio! “I’m looking at you Mississippi Queen!”

Would you like to talk a bit about your background?

Toby Hawkins : My background goes back a long way. My early years as a musician were mostly spent trying to emulate the amazing soul singers of the 70’s—Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, Sly and The Family Stone and, of course, The Beatles. My mom always had the coolest stuff playing on the record player, everything from gospel to jazz to French folk and lots of Dylan. Eventually I discovered the drums—they just clicked—and I was off to the races bashing the crap out of my stepfather’s old Ludwig kit. It took time, hard work, lessons and lots of practice and, eventually, I got my name out there by being a drum-whore playing with just about anybody. That experience got me into the studios and I ended up being a little bit of a session guy, which led me to the Counting Crows (a solid gig for a sweet little bit of time), Sordid Humor— I even played with Third Eye Blind, one show, acoustically (I played plastic buckets). At this point I had become obsessed with all Rock formats!

As a vocalist, I taught myself with many, many hours of practicing, open mic nights, recording myself, and doing a shit-load of auditioning. Some of my early demos caught the ear of my friend, Ian, who had been in a band when I was drumming and was now in Laundry with Tim Alexander (of Primus). Tim heard what I had done vocally and asked if I would record one song on their album for Interscope records and of course I said yes. Which led to me recording just about all the songs and gearing up for a mini tour, opening for Tool. Playing those shows were the first shows I had ever done live with a band, and could barely sing. I did my best (did I?). Since then I have played in many bands as a singer/front man/lyricist—Black Balloon, Slingshot Venus, The Girlfriend Experience (who I did most of my touring with) and Matadore, which is where I met my current drummer, Art (Faint On Call). This isn’t everything but enough for now.

Your debut single, ‘Pearl’ was just recently released. Would you like to talk about it?

Toby: Sure, it is our very first single off of our debut album ‘SWOON’ and it was produced by Sylvia Massy who has produced Tool, Johnny Cash, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Prince to name a few. ‘Pearl’ is a song about overcoming self-destructive behavior that can lead to depression and potentially become life threatening. When the song hits the chorus, a spiritual change has begun with a perspective shift toward hope (as a pearl is born through a series of challenges, only to become a beautiful gem). The lyrics are a mix of my own personal struggles and lots of metaphors blended in to add a less personal and broader effect.

Are you planning to release an album as well? Can you reveal some more…

Toby: Yes indeed, we cannot wait! The album’s title is ‘SWOON’ and it should be coming to you all in a matter of not-too-many months. The album goes from layers of power-rock post-punk grunge on the darker side, to slower tempoed sweeping string-section-tinged ballads, also on the darker side leaning towards uplift. Lots of very personal stuff on the record….it’s a beast of an album, thanks to Sylvia capturing all the right ghosts on each track. We sure hope you enjoy it .

Are you planning to play some shows now?

Toby: Yes, we are in talks now and setting up for our first tour, both in Mexico and the States. There is even talk of us doing our first show in Mexico where we recorded our album, sharing the bill with some amazing talent. Please be on the lookout for us coming soon.

Are any of you involved in any other bands or do you have any active side-projects going on at this point?

Toby: I am currently recording and playing in San Francisco with a project called “everything but the everything.” It’s a cool gig highlighting some of the Bay Area’s best rock vocalists and songwriters. We each do 3 or 4 tunes then swap. It’s a collective of sorts. I am also doing occasional vocal sessions here in the Bay Area.

Let’s end this interview with some of your favorite albums. Have you found something new lately you would like to recommend to our readers?

Toby: Yes, I love Willow’s new album, ‘Coping Mechanism’ is stellar. I also am blown away by Black Midi—their album ‘Schlagenhiem’ is dope as hell Spoon’s new album ‘Lucifer On The Sofa’ is very very good. I also dig The Mars Volta’s new album, and I will always be a sucker for Interpol. And one of my fav’s is The Smile and their first album ‘A Light For Attracting People’.