Even though Godwin Falcon has been loudly inserting itself into the Lowcountry’s diverse musical community for well over a decade now, the highly regarded metal act is just now releasing its debut LP and celebrating that feat with a performance at the Music Farm May 17, with performances also from Acid Hawk and Gods.
According to founding member Paul Pavlich, Godwin Falcon first came together “out of the ashes of a bunch of different, unnamed Charleston bands of yesteryear.
“We all grew up in the Charleston area going to shows held at the VFWs and American Legions around town,” Pavlich told the Charleston City Paper. “Eventually, our bands started to play gigs in those bizarre venues, often playing shows with each other, and so by 2010, we had decided to all get together and focus on playing some early 2000s metalcore.”
That intentional half-look backwards is what has really differentiated Godwin Falcon from the other heavy hitters on the scene. “The music we play today is closer to the music that we listened to when we were younger than modern heavy music. We’re nostalgic like that,” Pavlich said.
Practice makes perfect
Once the lineup was firmly in place, Pavlich (bass/vocals) and likeminded cohorts Creighton All (guitar), Brenton St. John (vocals), Matt Hughes (guitar) and Jonathan Peace (drums) got right down to business.
“We all knew what kind of music we were going for, but a big key occurrence was practicing for well over a year before we decided it was time to debut our songs for our friends and other people around town,” Pavilch said. “It allowed us to write and perfect our songs, some of which we’re still playing today.”
Pavlich explained that there is also something about being a band based in South Carolina that impacts the audacious act’s resulting art. “You can’t be the founders of Beach Metal if you don’t live by the beach. Being here was the inspiration for [creating] a whole subgenre of metal.”
Having perfected its beach metal sound, scooping up numerous accolades like City Paper Music Awards along the way, the band slowly set its sights on the recording studio.
Confronting mortality
From the fall of 2023 and into the start of 2024, the group recorded eight tracks and an interlude with Wolfgang Zimmerman at his downtown studio.
The resulting LP, We Should Already Be Dead, is a collection of those songs, which are re-records, remixes and and remasters of older releases. Pavlich called it “the quintessential Godwin Falcon record for [old fans and new fans] alike.”
The whole process of bringing this long-imagined project to fruition was definitely special for its creators.
“We got to record the tracks exactly how we intended them to sound and Wolfgang was an incredible engineer to work with,” Pavlich recalled. “His enthusiasm and patience, as well as his knack for titillating conversation gave us that extra encouragement we needed to put our balls all the way to the walls. Some say our balls are still there to this day.”
We Should Already Be Dead is already available on all the major streaming platforms and there will be a limited run of vinyl pressed before the end of the year.
“We were listening to the album, and we used the Shazam app to see if it would recognize one of our songs, and it absolutely did. When your band is Shazam-able, you know that you’ve truly made yourself a place in this morally bankrupt world,” Pavilch mused.
Now that it has finally been put out into the ether, the excitement continues to build, especially for the Music Farm album release event May 17. Pavlich said he’s got high hopes and a few predictions for it: “It’s gonna be real loud. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. Some random girls at the bar will fist fight each other and you’ll buy an overpriced T-shirt.”
Catch Godwin Falcon’s album release event at Music Farm 8 p.m. May 17. $12 in-advance/$15 day-of. For tickets and more details, please visit musicfarm.com.
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