John Fahey: What Happens When Angels Die?- Q&A
19 year old John Fahey has been creating music for years now but his most recent project, What Happens When Angels Die (?), really shines light on his incredible talent. John hails from the South Shore town of Marshfield, MA. Fahey released his 11 track album What Happens When Angels Die (?) on July 5th and it has gained a good amount of attention ever since. The album is filled with stories of John’s experiences with himself, and with others. My favorite songs off the tape are Jello (a very uplifting track, John delivers absolute bars) and 4/19/98 (a more vibey song with a feature from the skillful Mycompiledthoughts).
Johnny Dube: What was your childhood like in Marshfield?
John Fahey: I actually moved to Marshfield right before my first year of Kindergarten, it was pretty weird and a little hard moving away from my best friend at the time. I had a lot of good times with the kids in my neighborhood but for some reason they always picked on me, so as I grew up more, I said screw it and found my best friend at boy scouts. That being said though during my time in early elementary school I would spend almost every morning getting dropped off at my neighbor’s house before school because my dad had to work and my mom had to take my sister to the hospital. I always kind of thought that’s why I have a tough time being close with my family, I only got close with my little sister like a year and a half ago and she’s cool as fuck. The rest of my childhood was pretty much carried by my friendship with my best friend. We’ve been through everything together and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Just like everyone my childhood had good, bad, really great, and really shitty parts, but everything shaped my moral compass and taught me the importance of people and how to treat them and myself. Also sitting at the peanut free table was the biggest vibe ever from like 1st until 4th grade the kids I sat there with are kings to this day.
JD: Who are/were some of your favorite artists to listen to while growing up?
JF: I mean I was a white kid in the suburbs that liked rap music so I obviously loved the usual suspects like Eminem, Logic, and I was even a Hopsin stan for a while. It wasn’t until 2016 that I started listening to Kanye and learned that rap isn’t just about being the best rapper, and that can be said for music in general, it's all expression and your only job is to say/play what you feel until it comes out how you want it. I loved pop music before anything though, back when Bruno Mars dropped his first album and my little kid voice had those notes I was belting my heart out whenever I could, and my dad used to always play his favorite old rock songs by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones just to name a few.
JD: How did you get introduced to music and when did you start creating music?
JF: Music has always been a part of my life to a pretty big extent, I didn’t consciously know why for a long time but I knew it made me feel good. During the rough parts of my childhood I could use the iPod touch that my cousin loaded up my choice of songs onto and someone else could sing/rap those exact emotions into my earbuds, it made me feel like I wasn’t alone but I didn’t have to be anxious about someone sitting next to me at the same time. I started writing a little before fifth grade, then I cheated by stealing the song Space Olympics during that year’s class poetry slam and won it. I still kind of feel bad to this day but it was still a good time. It wasn’t until maybe seventh grade that I heard two kids from my grade made a song and put it on a cd. Naturally I had to ask for one and listen and that’s when I started going as hard as I could and there was no doubt in my mind that I could make music. But as soon as it started my life came to a stop, and things I couldn’t control shut me down for a long time, but I put out my first song when I went into my freshman year of highschool, which in hindsight I should’ve waited until I was better but no one was going to make fun of me to my face anyway and there were people that at least respected the work so that was all that mattered to me. I’ve been releasing music for six years now and I’m confident I just try to not be cocky, my shit stinks when it stinks and sometimes I make something worth putting out then I leave it in the vault for two years.
JD: What was the process like making What Happens When Angels Die (?)? Were there any challenges that you knew how to evade with this being your second album?
JF: It all started with the writing process, particularly the songs talking about my past. Honestly I just knocked those out then took my time to perfect them as I went along. Then I was kind of stuck, I knew what I wanted the album to be about and the whole concept of it but I just didn’t think I had enough content for it, that's kind of when I decided to take my current life situation at the time and make it fit the concept. It wasn’t just making it fit though, It took a lot of reflecting on how I’d changed as a person during that very recent time and how everyone involved felt and what their actions were. I was getting to the point where something would happen the night prior and I’d have a detailed verse or two ready the next morning at work, “Peaches and” is a perfect example of that. This girl was super mad at me that morning and all I could think about was how much I liked her but how frustrated I was at the same time, I think I wrote that whole song in maybe twenty minutes aside from the hook written by 101ycfm because I was so inspired, but no matter what I always let the project making process into a learning experience about being a better artist obviously but also being a better person. And as for any challenges to avoid I honestly can’t think of any, I don’t like putting out bad music but I also wanted to experiment so I started listening to something closer to what I wanted to do, got a better taste for it, and sent it off to the maybe three people I trust to be honest with their opinions, and the rest is history.
Cover for What Happens When Angels Die (?)
JD: What are some of the inspirations behind the album? how did you incorporate them?
JF: I’ve always had this infatuation with the complexity of people, why and how we act the way we do you know? That’s what I go for in all my music, showing every side because I’m a person and feel things everyone else does. I was watching Supernatural one night in my room and I saw one of the characters who was an angel get killed by another angel. I saw the outline of wings scorched onto the ground. It made me think that if angels could die then where would they go? What would happen? This got me thinking, I know people aren’t angels but that’s what we call them sometimes especially when they’re an innocent figure. So this album is all about the loss of innocence and what happens afterwards. The most innocent person I ever knew was my older sister and I had to watch her pass in front of me for a long time, for better or for worse I’m not the person I was on track to be if that didn’t happen, and it took a big piece of me away, I think that was the innocent kid that grew up thinking everything would be okay dying, I’m a little cold in a sense sometimes and I think that’s something I’ll never get back in this life. Another person this was about is my best friend, I watched him fall victim to mental illness and it was one of the most painful things I could’ve ever watched in my life, I felt helpless and I knew he wouldn’t be the same after it was all said and done but here we are years later being absolute buffoons and living our lives. I’m so happy with my life right now, I’m not sure if I showed that enough on the project but I guess that’s up to the listener.
JD: What is next for you? and what is the first thing your are going to do when the world opens up again?
JF: I want to make pop and r&b music. I’ll always be a rapper at heart but I just love everything about pop music, from the melodies, the energy, the theatrics, I just think that when it's done right it's the most beautiful thing in the world. As for when the world opens back up I’ll probably max out my social battery really fast then go back to making music in my room, but who knows, I’m just looking to experience life and tell any good story that comes out of it.
Follow John on Instagram: @jfahey67
Listen to John’s new album and more of his masterful creations below!
