Fallujah

SCOTT CARSTAIRS AMPS UP THE AGGRESSION FOR EMPYREAN, WHICH TAPS INTO THE SPIRIT OF AN EXCITED 17-YEAR-OLD WHO KNOWS HOW TO PLAY GUITAR”

- Gregory Adams

WHEN PANDEMIC LOCKDOWNS pushed Bay Area-formed tech-metal veterans Fallujah off the road, it also pushed guitarist Scott Carstairs into an existential, career-questioning tailspin. To cope, the musician turned his attention to a different kind of tech - namely, the Twitch platform. After creating a profile, Carstairs began live streaming riff workshops and Q&A's a few times a week, connecting with fans on an intimate level he'd never before experienced online. Part of that, he'd argue, was survival instinct.

"I posted stuff [in the past] because it was a requirement to being in a band - you have to be on social media - but now this is going to be my lifeline. I have nothing else," the Fallujah founder recalls of developing his Twitch base in 2020. "I just have this computer, this apartment and this shutdown-ass city. What else am I supposed to do?"