Fame on Fire might be known for their creative covers of everything from Adele’s “Hello” to Lil Uzi Vert’s “XO Tour Llif3”, but the Florida-based band has let the world know they’re not just a cover band with their original albums, LEVELS and Welcome to the Chaos.
We caught up with singer Bryan Kuznitz to talk about the band’s recent tour with Escape the Fate, why he doesn’t leave for tour without his gaming PC and that one time the band might have played a show in a crime scene.
What does a perfect day in South Florida look like for you?
It’s the day where I wake up and I don’t have to do anything at all and I can just literally stay in my house and play games.
We need some places to go for the travelers out there!
Oh, okay. It’d be like, get up and go to the beach, either Boynton Beach or West Palm. Maybe get some drinks on the beach and then honestly, just hang out, get some good food, maybe go to the Del Rey Strip or downtown West Palm. Go to Kapow. Kapow’s great, it’s Asian fusion, fantastic food. And then honestly, keep drinking!
There’s a bar that the boys love that’s called the OG. It’s in Del Rey. I would just hang out with the boys. Maybe you play some dice, some Cee-lo. Probably lose all my money.
Fame on Fire just did a tour with Escape the Fate, right? What was the highlight of that tour?
I feel like the highlight of that tour was the crowds and the people that you meet. Being on the ship, people come up to us and they’re like, “Oh, we don’t want to bother you!” and I’m like, “No, bother me!”
We love meeting people. We love meeting the fans because we’re out here hustling. We want them to know who we are. That’s why we do this. Being able to see new faces, new people who have never heard of us before and have them come up to us after the show like, “You guys were so amazing and I am a big fan now”, that’s the highlight.
Have you done ShipRocked before?
No, first time.
What was your highlight?
Performing for sure. It was our first time ever doing a 60-minute set. When we got to the last song and we knew this was it, it was over. We played “Plastic Heart,” which is a really big song for us. I looked at Blake, our guitar player, and I was just like, this is magical, this feels really good.
It was the most surreal moment ever because growing up I never thought this would be a thing we do, that we’d play a rock fest on a boat. I never thought that would be a thing, but it is a thing! So, for me, it was a really special moment that I will remember for the rest of my life.
The band has Welcome to the Chaos out. What’s your favorite song to play live?
Honestly, probably like the easier ones. We play “Cut Throat” live and “Cut Throat” is brutal. It’s just all screaming constantly. It’s a lot. I like playing the songs that the fans are into. I really like playing “HEADSPACE” from our last album. I like playing that because I get a lot of crowd participation on that. It’s really simple. I just tell them to say, “I’m okay.”
But off this album, probably “Welcome to the Chaos” because when that hits, people go “oh f*ck” because it hits. It’s the first song we play and I wish it wasn’t, but it works so well as the first song. It slaps you in the face. That’s people’s first impression of us and it’s like, holy shit, this band came out real hot.
You guys are going to play Sonic Temple in Columbus. What are you looking forward to at that festival?
I’m looking forward to Avenged Sevenfold. We’re on the same day as Avenged Sevenfold.
Have you seen them?
Yeah, I’ve seen Avenged Sevenfold more than I’ve seen any other band, but I haven’t seen them in forever.
None of us have. It’s been five or six years. A long time.
Yeah, it’s been a really long time. I did a podcast with Johnny Christ and that was one of those highlight moments in my career where it’s just like, this is so sick that I get to just talk to Johnny Christ. And I was asking him about touring and stuff like that and he was like, “oh, we got nothing planned”.
But this was like maybe a year or two ago. Now they’re playing Sonic Temple. I think they’re getting ready to release some music, so I can’t wait to see Avenged Sevenfold. I mean, of course I’m looking forward to playing and being part of that, but I’m looking forward to being like, “Hey, you guys want to be friends?”
You’ve toured all over the country. Any cities or things to do that you have found that you want to share?
I’m a pretty reserved person when I go on tour. I do like to explore, but not overly-so. I have a crap memory when it comes to places, but very good ramen spots. We have found one of the best ones in San Diego.
You’re looking for Ramen all across America and the world.
Yeah, I love eating ramen. We’re a big ramen band. But yes, very good ramen in San Diego. Really good food spots. Sometimes you find really good food spots and sometimes you don’t find very good food spots at all for a while.
What are your must have tour items? What do you have to have when you travel?
I bring a gaming PC with me. I’m a big PC gamer.
What game?
I play a lot of FPS. So like Call of Duty, Overwatch, things like that. My tour PC, I need to bring my warm up water bottle with me, which is a doctorVOX, and then Throat Coat to relax at the end of the night after I sing.
What’s your craziest travel story? It doesn’t even have to be tour related.
I don’t even know. We’ve had some weird tour experiences.
We’ve been taken around a building that, I swear to God, was a dude’s murder house. I’m not even joking. We played this weird ass venue in North Carolina at some off the beaten path place and the dude’s just taking us around this giant industrial warehouse. we’re upstairs, its dark, things look like bloodstains and he’s making jokes like, yeah, this is where I killed the guy.
Who was this guy? A fan?
He owned the venue that we played in, this giant industrial warehouse.
Of course, and he’s like, let me give you a tour.
Yeah, we went all the way up to the top, whatever. And I’m like, looking at these things and talking to one of my bandmates. And I’m like, that looks like blood.
Like you were playing in a crime scene.
Right? And then we go downstairs afterwards and one of his employees is talking about how someone named Mark disappeared a couple of weeks ago and no one’s heard from him. I’m like, yeah, your boss f*cking killed him! He f*cking killed him. The body’s upstairs. That’s one of those stories I’m always going to remember.
That’s insane. So, on a happier note – would you do ShipRocked again?
Oh, yeah. This is so amazing. I’d happily live on the boat. I am one with the boat now.