Where can we find you right now and what are you up to?
Knightfall can be found on streaming platforms everywhere and on Social media. We have our own website and online store as well as a Bandcamp. We also have a GoFundMe to help with the costs of filming our next music videos. Our website has links to everything. This is also where you can go Pre-Order the "Destiny Calling" album and we have special Merch bundles with a limited edition shirt that will only be available during the Pre-Order.
Currently we have 4 singles released: "Waiting for You", " The Musketeer", "Starfall" and our cover of "Invincible" by Pat Benatar. A 5th is going to be announced tomorrow set for release December 1st called "Farewell".
We are currently finishing Production on the rest of our debut album called "Destiny Calling".
Tell us a bit about your influences.
We define ourselves as Symphonic/Power Metal with 80's fusion. The founder/composer of Knightfall. Keith Dombrowski is heavily influenced by his favorite band Nightwish and their composer Tuomas Halopainen. Keith's favorite composer is Hans Zimmer and his favorite film score is Gladiator. Keith is also an avid listener of the 1980's hair bands and loves everything about that decade.
How did you start?
Keith was in the first incarnation of the band Anaria when it was known as Evince Ethos back in 2008-2010 and worked for Speed Demon Promotions setting up shows in the local scene in Massachusetts until 2013. Keith decided to get married and start a family and took a step back from the music industry for a long time and moved to Kentucky.
Knightfall was conceived in 2022 when Keith had written a handful of songs after being away for a decade. So many changes to the music industry had transpired since Keith's exit that he needed to relearn production. Enter Patrick Goble, a teacher at the Guitar Academy in Bowling Green, KY who taught guitar, bass, drums and music production. Keith had met Patrick through his wife who was best friends with Patricks wife. After a couple of months of lessons and Keith sharing his demo ideas Patrick was keen to help Keith with the project doing the guitars. Together they put together the first Knightfall demo, all that was needed was a singer to get the project started. Through the app Fiverr Keith found Italian vocalist Dee Wolf and asked if she would do the vocals for "Waiting for You". She agreed and went on to do vocals for the first 3 singles for Knightfall. Keith has found a large group of talented Vocalists and musicians to work with on the album. Knightfall released "Starfall" in July 2022 with Anaria's vocalist Jessica Mercy and after the success of that song entered into a contract with Jessica's husband Sergio Salvucci to produce, mix and master the rest of the album. His company Wildthorn Productions also does photography and music videos and did the video to Starfall which currently has over 82,000 views on YouTube. Keith looks forward to being able to share the rest of the album and the talented group of musicians taking part in this project's first album.
What obstacles does an emerging artist have to face in our time?
There are many obstacles when you first get started. You have to learn to do all the jobs involved in an artist and band. This includes Social media(responding and promoting yourself), content creation, photography and photoshop, videography, Booking, sound engineering and recording, and Marketing. I am sure I am missing a few. After you have learned all of this you have to get a distributor, Trademark your brand, copyright your music, and most importantly start building your fan base to get an audience for your music. All of this is just the logistics of being a musician and the things you want to do if you are serious in making it a career and not just a hobby.
Another obstacle is streaming revenue does not pay artists and they are making changes now that will pay us even less and make it even harder to get monetized. Being an independent artist is one of the toughest jobs on the earth currently and you will have to have a day job until you build up to it replacing your job. Then once you get to that point the REAL work begins.
Lastly, another huge obstacle to overcome, is the process of building your fanbase, gaining followers, super fans, and getting people to buy your merch to help sustain the overwhelming costs that can be associated with creating music and music videos. This not only takes an investment of time but does require you putting money into it.
What worked for you marketing-wise? What advice or tips would you give to new artists?
Networking is huge. The more people talking about you recommending you not just for music but for being a genuine human being is crucial. Interacting with your fans and other people in the industry is huge as well.
You want to have fun with creating your music and keep that passion going always. However, you also need to treat all of this like a business. If you don't you will almost certainly fail. That being said you HAVE to be willing to put money into it. Just like any new business there are start-up costs associated with creating a band and recording an album and videos. This includes running ad campaigns on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube to name a few. Create a marketing budget for yourself and use it wisely. We live in the digital age and music videos are important because visuals help sell what you do even further.
Again the costs of doing album production and video production are not cheap unless you are a sound engineer or professional videographer so be prepared to invest some money into it. You will not see a return on the investment right away either, don't let that discourage you. Right now you are building your brand and figure out your merch early on so you can direct people towards that sooner than later. Your fans will want to buy your stuff. Never release anything subpar either. Sharing teasers, or samples of a song you're working on is fine, but the final product should be Label quality production both in the music and in any videos.
What are your goals? Where do you see yourself in five years?
Goals are to keep releasing music and videos of the music we create. I would love to get even more collaborations, I am hoping to get the chance to work with some of my favorites in the industry in the future including Jonathan Young, Peyton Parrish, Eric Calderone, Pellek, Addie from Halocene, and Dan Vasc. I would also love to work with Tobias Sammett, Jorn Lande, Noora Louhimo, Tarja Turunen, Floor Jansen, Anette Olzon, Marko Hietala, and Roy Khan among others.
In five years I hope to have released a second full Knightfall album, There is a concept EP I already have the music for, a concept album I had a great idea for, I have a Metal Opera Musical I started writing 10+ years ago I would love to revisit that and make it a reality, and lastly composing epic orchestrations for games, trailers and films etc.
Tell us about your latest or upcoming release.
The upcoming single "Farewell" features Jessica Mercy on vocals, Pete Rawcliffe(Crown Solace) doing narration, Patrick Goble and George Acker on guitars as well as Keith Dombrowski playing all the orchestration and piano.
We are working on "Destiny Calling" , our debut album. It will have 11 tracks. 10 originals and 1 cover. The release of "Farewell" marks our 5th single off of the album. I have the track listing below with all of the announced collaborations thus far. There are a couple I have yet to announce, but hope to do so soon. One of the collaborators is a surprise and one that I am very excited to announce in the near future.
1. Children of Time(feat. Pete Rawcliffe, Stefani Keogh, Marcos L. Peñate, and George Acker)
2. Warcries (feat. Stefani Keogh and Patrick Goble)
3. Remember My Name (feat. not announced yet)
4. The Hero Walks Alone (feat. Pete Rawcliffe, Marcos L. Peñate and Patrick Goble)
5. Waiting For You (feat. Dee Wolf and Patrick Goble)
6. Destiny Calling (feat. not announced yet)
7. The Musketeer (feat. Dee Wolf and Patrick Goble)
8. Raise Your Fist (feat. not announced yet)
9. Starfall (feat. Jessica Mercy and Patrick Goble)
10. Farewell (feat. Jessica Mercy, Pete Rawcliffe, Patrick Goble and George Acker)
11. Invincible (Bonus Track) (feat. Dee Wolf and Patrick Goble)