Posted on Fri, May. 09, 2008

-- The Sun Herald recently spoke with Egypt Central lead singer John Falls about the band's self-titled debut album and the connections the band has made in South Mississippi over the last two years. Egypt Central will play Thunder's Tavern on Sunday, along with Rev Theory and Drowning Pool. The following is a transcription the interview.

Q: Your debut album is finally out, after being postponed for many months. Do you feel like a weight has been lifted off your chest?

A"Definitely. It's the ultimate relief I think, for the band. We can walk into Best Buys all over the country and see it on the shelves. Finally. It's like, after everything we've been through you can finally take a deep breath. But then once you did that, you still have all these other things to get underneath your belt. It's just one chapter to the book you've finally got written. "

Q: What kind of response have you been getting from the album?

A"An awesome response. It's been selling amazing at this point. The single went up to the Top 20, so now we can say we have a Top 20 record. It's consistently selling every week and people are buying it and telling their friends about it and it continues to spread. It's moving at a good rate, but things could get better and we could take things to another level. That will be the plan when we take out the next single."

Q: You've been touring off this album for what seems like forever. Any word on a follow up?

A"We don't have a timetable on that yet, but it's a topic we talk about a lot. We're antsy as well and we've had these songs for a long time but we're still delivering these songs to people for the first time. In reference to the masses, people are still hearing about this for the first time. We did the whole circuit, now we're out with Drowning Pool right now. For the Biloxi area and Tallahassee, Fla., those markets have had us for a lot longer. Almost as long as Memphis has, and have had us more frequently. For everyone there, it's like, 'OK, what next?' They're itching for new stuff, but once they started playing 'You Make Me Sick' in Biloxi, we got a whole bunch of fans we had never had before, and it was like, it just doubled itself."

Q: The band's fortunes seem to have improved in the last several months. Has life gotten easier for Egypt Central?

A"Things have definitely gotten better for the band. I think it's a constant grind at the same time, though. It wouldn't be us if things weren't tough, but things have definitely gotten more comfortable for us in the past year. We're not all sleeping in the same hotel room now."

Q: This time around, you're coming out with Drowning Pool and Rev Theory. You've got history with Rev Theory, but what about Drowning Pool?

A"We have select dates where Nonpoint comes on, and we've got quite a few festivals, too. We just have a bunch of big shows like that surrounding the tour. We've been friends with Rev Theory for quite a while now. The first tour we went on was the Nonpoint tour a few years ago and Rev Theory was on that. We all just became really good friends. That was a very social tour, I'd have to say. We'll be glad to have them back out. I do believe, I think they start opening up their tour on the second half of this and possibly, right now, we're guaranteed through May 11 with Drowning Pool. After that, I'm not sure, but there's a chance for continuing with Drowning Pool. We'll just have to wait and see."

Q: This is probably your sixth time playing Thunder's Tavern. I feel like you're one of my old college drinking buddies now, you've played through here often enough. What's it like playing Pascagoula again?

A"I think what you said is hitting it on the nose. We've come there so much we've become friends with everyone there. It's a privilege to become a part of people's lives like that. It's great to come back and spend time with really good friends you've become really close with and become a part of people's lives like that. You know, specifically, that we've become close with people in that area and it's not that it's almost a second home, it is a second home. We'll get hotel rooms for the night and we'll never go there. We've got as many friends there as we do at home in Memphis, and we see them often enough. We've been in Biloxi more the past two years than we've been at home, for sure. We've been there and had a week off and decided to stay. We've also been stranded there twice. We've spent probably two months there combined. That's more than we've been in Memphis. It's almost, you know, it is home, so I'm excited to be able to get back to the Coast and see everyone. It's like playing for friends."

Justin Hooks covers bars and bands along the Coast for the Sun Herald. He can be reached at jhooks@sunherald.com.