Faspitch are back with a new song.
On October 11, the veteran rock/art metal group released their latest single “The Risk” — a track about “stepping into something terrifying but knowing there’s strength in those around you, and you’re not doing it alone.” “The Risk” serves as the follow-up to the band’s first 2024 single “This Love,” released last February 3.
In an exclusive statement to Billboard Philippines, frontman Henry Allen shares, “After years of personal struggles, lost, without friends or family or bandmates around me, and with my demons as my only navigators, writing ‘The Risk’ made me feel like starting a new chapter, both musically and personally.”
Allen shares that “The Risk” was born from sessions that he and guitarist Russell Manaloto did back in 2016 to 2017 when working on brand-new material. “I had just taken a risk myself by leaving my job down south and moving up to Manila to find a new one, and with him and me now being in close proximity, we started writing songs again in Russell’s condo.” He reveals that alongside “The Risk” those sessions also brought forth two of their previously released singles “Skin” and “Flame.”
On the creation of the track, Allen reveals that Manaloto actually wrote the song’s intro guitar riff for his other band Curbside. As the song evolved over time, Allen states that it took a “more melodic” direction. With permission from the rest of Curbside, Manaloto would eventually used the riff for “The Risk,” becoming “a great building block from which [Faspitch] built out the verse, chorus, and bridge in that driving up-tempo fashion.”
Furthermore, Allen describes “The Risk” as coming from “a place of recovery.” While he had “battled [his] own demons for years,” with “Skin” and “Flame” tackling themes of “facing pain and feeling lost and disillusioned,” ‘The Risk” was something completely different. “It was the first time I wrote about something positive on that journey. I wasn’t looking back on this song, I was looking forward,” he reveals, stating how “The Risk” is all about “taking a leap of faith — whether that’s recovering from addiction, starting a relationship, or facing the realities of adulting or parenthood.” It’s terrifying, but we all know that it’s worth it in the end because it’s something we dream of, and crucially, we’re not doing it alone.
On the same day as the single’s release, the band held a launch gig at SaGuijo in Makati City, with special guests, End Street, Fragments, and Irrevocable. Following this, on October 14 (Monday), the band premiered an accompanying music video for the track, created by video production and design studio KNYA Collective.
“We wanted to translate the emotion of the song into that visual element of dance, which was a music video concept we had really wanted to do for a while,” shares Allen on the creation of the music video, noting how it is also something the band is very proud of and commending KNYA Collective for their work on video. “[KNYA] connected us to Axis PH, and Labb Janiola, who absolutely nailed the choreography and the performance itself.”
Formed in 2000, Faspitch are best known for their tracks “Breathe,” “All Under Heaven,” “Mouthful,” “Heart Strength,” and more. Their latest album Skinned was released last May 31, 2024. Following the release of “The Risk,” Allen states that they have “so much more in the pipeline,” with “a whole album’s worth of songs waiting to be heard” from the band.
Listen to Faspitch’s “The Risk” below: