We had the opportunity to meet Fit For A King at the Kavka Zappa and ask them a few questions about their first European headlining tour.
Hi guys, how is it going? I know this tour just kicked off, are y’all excited?
Ryan Kirby: Hell yeah, we are super excited for our first headline tour in Europe. First 2 shows of this tour were completely sold out. We had an amazing time so far.
So as we all know this 2023 tour is called “The Hell We Create“ tour, to present the newest full album to the fans. I believe it’s right to say this album is by far one of your most personal and heavy-hearted albums ever written. How do you feel sharing these emotions with your fans?
Ryan Kirby: It is therapeutic and healthy to talk, through our lyrics, about all these things we’ve been through. It warms my heart to see fans resonating with our songs.
Let’s talk a bit about the new album The Hell We Create. What inspired you to create this album?
Ryan O’ Leary: We always want to take our time to create something we care about. This record was something even closer to the heart. The pandemic period has been a challenge to all musicians around the world, including Fit For A King. Moreover, the album is inspired by some unique difficult events Ryan had to go through… That was the key element of The Hell We Create, giving Ryan the opportunity to tell his story at his own pace.
One song on the new album really stands out to me: Times Like This. This song features the amazing vocals of Jonathan Vigil, vocalist for The Ghost Inside. What was it like working with Jonathan on this track?
Daniel Gailey: Sadly, we didn’t have the chance to meet Jonathan personally at that time. We just had a vocalist in mind for this track so we sent him the track. When we got it back we all knew: he nailed it from the first try. I’m happy I get to sing his part live. Of course it is pretty awesome to collaborate with Jonathan. He is a super great guy, who is a true legend in the metalcore scene.
Another great song which gave me goosebumps the first time hearing it: ‘Reaching Out‘. This song reminds me about the importance of mental health, which we sometimes tend to neglect. Do you have anything you want to say about this?
Ryan Kirby: Mental health is tricky, cause most of the times when you’re feeling good you don’t give much attention to it. But when you’re at your low point it makes sense to keep in check with your mental health. My advice is to keep working on your mental health all the time, even when times are good. When you’re feeling mentally healthy you are more resilient to all the bad things happening in life.
To conclude, I like to say the song ‘Deathgrip’ is my all time favorite Fit For A King song to date. What I like to know, of all the songs you’ve written so far, which is your favorite? I imagine it’s not an easy question to answer.
Ryan Kirby: That is a tough question to answer. We have written about 70 songs.
Ryan O’ Leary: Right now I would choose ‘Eyes roll back‘ cause it hits so hard and is so much fun playing it live. ‘Deathgrip‘, ‘Price of Agony‘, ‘When Everything Means Nothing‘… Those songs are some good representations of the band.
Which is your favorite song from the new album?
Ryan O’ Leary: My favorite song from the new album is ‘Falling Through The Sky‘: It represents the melodic side of our band and has a great message; it also has some of my favorite lyrics of any Fit For A King song.
I like to thank you for giving me some of your time and I wish you good luck on stage later. I sure am excited to see you guys on stage again.