I vividly remember the day in 1996 when KROQ DJ Carson Daly first introduced me to Failure. I remember with equal clarity the moment when Daly, as MTV’s newest VJ, announced his death the following year.
It didn’t make sense that a fledgling genre-bending rock band could go out of business after exploiting something otherworldly on their third studio record; Wonderful planet (1996). The Los Angeles-based band, consisting primarily of vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Ken Andrews, multi-instrumentalist Greg Edwards and drummer Kelly Scott, may have had their heroes in the mainstream, but they were still a mostly word-of-mouth band, so I had no way of knowing in the days of dial-up internet that heroin had wreaked havoc on another of my favorite bands.
I will still remember the failure in later years. My own musical pursuits led me to a week of sessions at Paramount Recording Studios in Los Angeles in 2003. That’s when A Perfect Circle’s cover of Fail’s hypnotic song, “The Nurse Who Loved Me,” was played in the front lobby full of musicians, kicking off an entire conversation about what might have been as far as the influential, short-lived band was concerned. Two or three years later, a friend insisted that I track down a loud, female-led new band called Paramore, specifically for their cover of “Stuck on You,” Failer’s most commercial song of the period. Wonderful planetAlbum cycle.
Then, in late 2013, when the good news was still there, failure came again. Andrews and Edwards were really testing the waters to see if they could recapture their friendship and unique songwriting chemistry. Once convinced, they booked a show in February 2014 at Al Rai Theatre. It sold out in less than two minutes, assuring the band that a whole new generation of fans had discovered their back catalog and were ready for more.
Hence, failure made up for lost time in a prolific way. They released three self-produced studio albums – 2015 The heart is a beast2018 in the future …and 2021 Wildtype Druid – In addition to a musical film for 2023, We are hallucinatingand the documentary released by Hulu in 2025, Every time you lose your mind. They’ve performed nearly 220 live shows between all that, and are now about to release their seventh album, Location is missingon April 24. With the latest release, the band’s second phase will officially have more production than their 1990-1997 period.
The third single from the new ’80s-recorded record, “The Rising Skyline,” features a rare but fitting collaboration. Hayley Williams, the aforementioned Paramore frontwoman, joins Andrews on the emotional acoustic breakup ballad that builds to a dramatic conclusion. Her unwavering support of the band through covers and generous acoustic bytes is one of the main reasons why Failure has been able to grow its audience in absentia.
“I digested [four songs] for a while [before picking the ballad]She texted me several times saying, “This looks like a different kind of failure record to me.” “Congratulations to you guys for doing this,” Andrews says. Hollywood Reporter.
to make Location is missing She faced her challenges, which is a trademark of the entire profession of failure. Andrews was still recovering from debilitating back surgery, and Edwards felt adrift in the time since the band’s reunion. His creative north star was gone, hence the album title Location is missing.
“There was a lot of turmoil and life changes. And through the process of recording this record, I can’t say we were the most cohesive, interpersonally, with each other. It just felt like things were falling apart a little bit,” Edwards admits. “I lost the point of entry into how to deal with it. The documentary had a strange effect on me, and I think I withdrew. If I had been closer to the center of failure for a while, it would have taken me further out into the suburbs.”
In the February 2026 press release for Location is missingEdwards weighed the band’s future by asking a big question: “Will? Will?” Location is missing The latest failure record, or could it be the transition to another new stage? We’ll see where things go from here.”
When I followed up on behalf of paranoid failure fans everywhere, Edwards expanded on his existing thought process without completely eliminating the unwanted option. “There’s no doubt we can make another record,” says Edwards. “We already have enough material to produce another album easily.” “It doesn’t mean we no longer have the creative power, and it doesn’t mean we don’t have the ability to communicate through it. I don’t take it for granted that we’ll go on from here.”
if Location is missing Marking the end of failure once and for all, it would be a devastating blow considering the band is still writing compelling, progressive music that doesn’t rest on its laurels. Andrews’ voice has also held up remarkably well in contrast to many of his ’90s contemporaries. His vocal performance on his latest LP, especially “Moonlight Understands,” is his best ever. Furthermore, there’s still a healthy market for ’90s bands like Failation, and it would be a shame if they didn’t continue to enjoy the fruits of their labor, past and present.
At the same time, it’s hard to feel upset when they’ve already crafted a comeback story for the ages. It is no longer necessary to ask hypothetical questions about what the band could have done because now they have done it. They picked up where they left off amazing planetand the quality of their four LPs since has set a new standard for any band attempting a second act.
Below, during a wide-ranging conversation with THRAndrews, Edwards, and Scott discuss the ins and outs of failure Location is missingIn addition to the deep track that became the most popular tune in the live broadcast era.
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Ken, when the four of us talked about failure documentary Last June, were you still quietly recovering from grueling back surgery?
Ken Andrews (frontman, multi-instrumentalist) Yes, physically and mentally, it has been a long road. It’s definitely been a long road. The funny thing is, I just met someone who had almost the same surgery, and he was doing great four weeks later, both physically and mentally. I was like, “There’s no way you could have had that surgery.” Then we showed each other our scars, and they were the same. I was like “damn.” But he’s a lot younger than me, so he definitely made me feel like I was dead.
How did the injury occur?
Andrews I was actually just trying to get in shape. I basically had a device and a reclining bench to sit on. So I put it on a slope and stuck my feet in it to go backwards, which was a mistake. When I started to feel a little better, I was so angry with the equipment that I left it in my backyard. (He laughs.) Then I used the dolly to put it in the back of my car, and drove it to the dump.
I desperately want you to have a boring moment for a change, but between every recording, there’s always a bit of disruption that has the potential to stir up the music I love. Is this mass torture what makes failure a failure?
Kelly Scott (drummer) I don’t think we are tortured any more than anyone else. I think we’re just ready to talk about it.
Each record has been surrounded Something: Breakups, health scares, addiction, label collapses, vendor fraud, global pandemic, producer and drummer exits…
Andrews Yes, that’s kinda true. Even the first two records[1992’s[1992’scomfort And 1994 Magnifying]He had drama.
Greg Edwards (multi-instrumental) Well, my view on it is that there are always things going on out there. But the internal suffering that we impose on ourselves is constant and continuous, and this is the source of inspiration. Sometimes the external narrative of your life can shine a light on that internal suffering, but we’re all in our way Qena towards death. (He laughs.) I’m kind of starting to connect with that on a pretty consistent basis. It actually has the opposite effect of making me depressed, but a lot of the lyrics I wrote in this band came directly from that.
Ken, your health reported a new record of failure, Location is missingIn many respects, as happened in the 1980s. That decade was a formative time for you guys as teenage musicians, so it’s always there, somewhere. But to what extent was the 1980s atmosphere intentional or unintentional?
Andrews Well, this is interesting. You’re the first person to say that about the ’80s vibe. I hear that. I definitely hear that. But it certainly wasn’t intentional. I didn’t say, “Oh, I want to get more into ’80s music.” Maybe it was because we gave up trying to make a cohesive album and focused more on each song individually. Also, my inner editor was less active when we took the music to my studio. I was just following my happiness more than trying to set the next failure record. And when I do that, I go back to the sound of the late 80s.
I believe Location is missing Relationships Magnifying (1994) with Four fades, and the practice reached its peak in the 1980s. So I assumed, incorrectly, that it was supposed to be another touchstone for the 1980s.
Edwards I rarely think that fading is an intentional creative decision. It’s just, “How do we end this damn thing that goes on forever? How do we make it under 3:30 for radio?” On The Beatles’ White Album, “Helter Skelter” features a big fade-out and then fade-out again. We did something like that in “Small Crimes.” We used it creatively. So it can be nice, but a lot of times, there’s no actual ending because the end of the song was confined to any amount of time.
Andrews I also feel like the endings to some songs are fade-out. I actually like fading because it stimulates your imagination. What are they still doing that I haven’t heard?
Edwards Yes, I love the fade out where some cool stuff is happening at the bottom almost where you can hear it. Whether it’s a really great fill or a bass tone, you’ll really wish you could come back so you can hear what happened from there.
Scott And we did it.
Edwards Yes, you don’t want it to end, but it has to end. So it will subtly fade away, but it will still persist somewhere in your subconscious. It never really ends.
Instead of self-releasing like the last couple of LPs, you’re doing a more formal release of Location is missing. What prompted the change?
Andrews We are tired of doing everything ourselves. I wanted to keep doing music, but I didn’t want to keep dealing with the business side of it. So we reached out to a manager named Blaise James who was interested in running our company in 2015, but we decided not to go with him at that time. To our surprise, he was still interested in working with us. So I really enjoyed letting him do his thing and stepping back into the role of a band member.
Blaze’s label, The Fellowship, set you up under Virgin Music Group, and although that sounds like a niche, I think it’s Universal’s (UMG) imprint for independent artists. So, you still have your independence?
Andrews I don’t really know. The funny thing is that we had very little contact with Virgin. Again, it’s nice to let someone else take over. That’s how Fire faced us with Virgin, and he brought them into the picture around the time the documentary came out.
The “Failures” catalog returned to Spotify after four years. Their ownership structure was one of the many reasons you decided to remove your business group. Has your new manager convinced you to give it another try?
Andrews Yes, pretty much. I don’t think it was even a consideration for Virgin. It was something they were basically asking for. Once again, I abandoned that side of things and focused on playing, writing and recording.
Greg during the release Wildtype DruidI heard you mention that you were flirting with the idea of killing the mascot of failure, Spaceman, once and for all. If you would do that, Android‘s Cover art It was the perfect send-off. But he returned to the cover Location is missingSo is it pretty synonymous with the band at this point?
Edwards Apparently he’s fine with the head reattached.
Scott He just wouldn’t die. It’s like a recurring comic.
Edwards Yes, [killing him off] It was a dream I had at one time, but it’s probably here to stay in one form or another.
You guys really take pride in the series. Which tracks were the most difficult to gain consensus on?
Edwards There has been some controversy over the sequence. We were released in the future in batches of four songs before putting them all together. But on all the other previous records, I had a fairly strong sense of the narrative of the sequence. We would go back and forth and discuss it in those terms. But on this record, I didn’t feel that way. There was some discussion about where the song should go and everything, but it didn’t seem to me like there was a perfect, pure sequence waiting to be revealed. So I was fairly open to compromise.
Ken has previously described you as his lyrical editor because you’ve done the lion’s share of the lyric writing since the reunion. But Ken’s injury inspired him to write more about this record, so did you take on that editorial role in a bigger way this time?
Edwards Not much. On some songs where he wrote almost all the lyrics, there would be a line or two where I would suggest something or change something. Maybe there was a word that didn’t quite work, and we would brainstorm ideas together. So we would sit together in the room and go over each song to make sure it worked well.
Kelly, Ken also said that, Because of his recovery He wasn’t processing the music as acutely as he usually did, and he relied on you and Greg to edit and identify good ideas when you were jamming on the recording.
Scott Well, the beauty of jams is that there’s really no opening. Simply plug in and start playing until you’re running out of ideas. Then you pack your bags and come back the next day. We did this for several weeks in a row. The hard part was editing so much material, but Ken was left to that, for the most part. Even on previous records, if we had 20 hours of material, we would get cuts of material to three hours. Then we review everything and give time codes to the parts we like. So Ken went through the whole thing, meticulously, and narrowed it down to some brief thoughts as a really great starting point.
Andrews I wasn’t actually there for a third of the jams. It was like I wasn’t participating much in the choking activities, so it was my time to add my input later.
“Someday Soon” is my favorite song on the new record.
Scott truly!?
Yes, I was confused at first, but in the second clip, I was amazed. Do you classify verse as your art?
Scott I don’t think drumming is funk. There is something very confusing about this. Always rocking you back and forth. It never allows you to settle into a hypnotic state. You are always reset at the end of each bar.
Edwards But this is the unconventional thing we do with EBow. Since we jammed it, that might be one of the only songs that was structured similar to what we ended up doing.
Andrews Yeah, when Greg started making that sound with the Ebo over the strings, I said, “I’ve never heard that before. It doesn’t even sound like a guitar.” That was an exciting moment actually. I remember being in the studio for that and thinking this album would be a step forward.
I know “distorted fields” It’s a more powerful song, but is “Someday Soon” in the same neighborhood, rhythmically?
Scott No, “Distorted Fields” is probably the most complex beat on any of our recordings. This song is ridiculous to play.
They both hang on the same note before switching at the end of each phrase, so I made the comparison.
Andrews Yes, the bass line is somewhat similar.
Scott The bass line can be a mish Wow, but the drums aren’t even in the same ballpark. “Someday soon” is actually a simple, repetitive command. “Distorted fields” are a challenge to this day. It requires a lot of focus. There’s a lot of counterpoint going on in the drum beat, but it’s ridiculously cool.
Ken, you performed “daylight” With Hayley Williams at a charity show following the Los Angeles wildfires last year, and Location is missing He came during that time. What songs did you submit to her before she chose them? “Rising Horizon” For her guest appearance?
Andrews She provided four songs: “Crash Test Delay”, “The Air’s on Fire”, “The Rising Skyline” and “A Way Down”. So she digested those words for a while, and then she texted me a few times and said, “This is really cool. This feels like a different kind of failure record to me. Congratulations guys on doing this.” Then I asked her which song she was really drawn to, and she chose the song from those four songs. And I said, “Oh, interesting,” because I could hear her voice in the song, renting the octave. So she was finishing up her solo recording in the studio at the time, and spent the afternoon recording her vocals with her producer in Nashville.
How much direction did you give her?
Andrews I didn’t give her any direction. I sent her the lyrics and said, “You don’t have to sing the first verse because I think I just want to be me, but sing everywhere else.” I just knew she was going to sing it an octave higher because it’s so low. So I was expecting it, but I didn’t even ask her to do it. It was normal for its range to be an octave higher in the second verse.
Have you tried booking it for video?
Andrews Yeah, it didn’t work out with her schedule.
Breath at the beginning of Crash Test Delay, did you check it out from your audio library? Or has anyone tracked it?
Scott Isn’t it Sammy?
Andrews (He laughs.) Maybe it was your dog. Actually I have a library of amazing planet days, so it’s likely that. I copied it to my hard drive, and I’m still using it.
Kelly, what happens during the verses “Way down”? Is there a shaker of some sort that goes over your primary drum part?
Scott Well, there’s a high hat that does the corresponding beat of the kick drum. But I think there’s a shaker overload there. Is that true, Ken? (Andrews and Scott both pull out their phones to play the song and confirm.) Actually, no, that’s just me playing the counterpoint on my top hat. There is no shaker. These are just the drums.
Andrews Yes, there is no shaker. It’s a crazy hit.
Scott To play it, I literally have to hit the first beat by crossing. The song is crazy. It sounds so simple, but it’s actually very strange.
Andrews It doesn’t seem very simple.
Scott no?
Edwards No, it’s a unique beat right away.
Scott I remember when I played it during parties, I was like, “What the hell is this?” It’s a really nice win.
Andrews Yes, once I played it, I was shocked.
Scott I loved it so much that I played it for a very long time, which I don’t usually do. I usually change beats every couple of bars to try and settle into something.
Kelly, once you track your drums, do you bow often? Or do you provide emotional support while Ken and Greg keep track of everything else?
Scott I’m definitely fading into the background and becoming more of a peanut gallery. Everything goes through text messages and emails. But when it comes to drums specifically, I kind of stay away from it. I make sure to do our due diligence before we actually return [to the studio]. I think we re-recorded six of the drums on the songs, and the rest came straight from the jam. So I know what I want to play most of the time, and I have every confidence that Ken will turn anything I do into something that sounds absolutely amazing.
Greg, we don’t hear much from you on this record. You don’t have it “Mulholland Drive” Or a “Conifer Voters” Or a “Half moon.” Don’t want to force the issue out loud?
Edwards It was just a set of songs made from jams. There was one song that might come out later or somewhere. I don’t feel it’s necessary to sing a song on a failure record. I have a conflicted relationship with singing anyway, so it’s easy for me to give up on it.
Scott Is this the song “Ribcage in the Moonlight”?
Edwards No, it’s about going out to look at the night and sliding on the ice. I crossed a frozen river and got trapped under the ice. The river then takes you downstream until your body is found in the spring.
Scott It got me thinking about our trip to Montana.
Edwards Yes, it’s actually based on a news story from the 1990s in Montana. Someone was under the influence of acid when he fell into a frozen river. So maybe that will make its way onto the record at some point.
To clarify, was that song assigned for your lead vocals?
Edwards Well, I don’t know. Ken could just swipe it and make it sound better – and the song would come out better overall. When I sing on a song, it’s more because it seems to work. We will all feel the emotion of the song appropriately conveyed through my voice.
Hard Case will likely receive some “Stuck on you” Comparisons due to the wall of sound and music box type melody above it. Songs like “am amnesia” and “Headstand” They contain similar ingredients, but are presented in an irregular manner. Sometimes bands will run away from anything resembling their most popular song, have you guys ever intentionally avoided an interaction that was similar to “Stuck on You”?
Edwards Maybe a little. These components appear in a number of songs. It is not as clearly visible as it is in the “solid state”. I’ve actually been trying to name a song “Solid State” for decades. Thus the comparison [to “Stuck on You”] He was definitely somewhat self-conscious. I like it when bands are eclectic in their own style, keeping the films ng forward without repeating themselves. But I also completely respect and love the Rolling Stones – bands that are so traditional that they keep reinterpreting what they’ve already done a little bit. So having that conversation with your old material is good.
Andrews “Stuck on You” is no longer our most popular song. It’s our second most popular song on Spotify with half the number of plays. We were just looking at the number of plays, and “Another Space Song” was our most-streamed song. It’s almost double what “Stuck On You” is.
Edwards I get a lot of satisfaction from that.
Andrews It’s very strange because “Another Alien Song” never had a video. It was a deep cut.
Edwards Yes, it was. When we were working on amazing planetwe had an early version with no vocals yet, just music. I was listening to a cassette tape of it while driving around Lita Ford’s home neighborhood in Tujunga. And I just remember having an epiphany about the musical arrangement of that song. I said: “This is what I want.” I had a feeling it was going to be a really great album, but I never thought it was going to be a single or anything. So I love the fact that after all this time, this is the song that resonates with people.
Andrews It clearly resonated with people.
Scott It is the people’s choice.
Andrews Yes, it’s the people’s choice, and that sounds really cool. “Stuck On You,” if it didn’t have a video, to be honest, I feel like it would be at the bottom of the ladder in places. I love him. I’m proud of this song, we play it all the time. But it’s interesting to me that it’s a song that was unlikely to get picked up as a single in the ’90s when we made it amazing planet It is now the most played song.
The cream rises to the top. I also can’t believe Ken Andrews just quoted Spotify’s data. How things have changed.
Failure (He laughs.)
Hollywood is having a hard time producing younger movie stars. The loss of a mid-budget studio film played a role, along with the overload of IP, social media and streaming. As a result, movie stars from the 80s and 90s still rule the day in their 50s and 60s, and I feel like that’s the case for 90s rock stars as well. Bands that existed during the heyday of rock radio, MTV, and the more rock-oriented culture still have an audience today. I can’t even define who modern-day rock stars are, unless the definition is expanded. Do you think you have a longer shelf life now because there isn’t an ecosystem that can generate younger rock stars?
Edwards Yes, the regulation and oversight of the major record labels – and the things they pushed when radio was king and MTV was king – has often been complained about and cast in a negative light. But if you had a hit or two back then, before it all died down, you’re very likely still pitching now. You still have an audience because your music has reached a lot of people. I’m always amazed to see one- or two-stroke wonders still touring today based on the fact that they existed in the terrestrial radio era. Now you don’t have anything like that, and there is no focused organization of labels. So you have all these options and choices, which is great in theory, but it’s just a completely different world.
Andrews I have a different take on this topic. I’m going back to Spotify because our manager Blaze sent us a graph showing which age groups are listening to us the most and least. Our age group, 45 to 60 years old, is our lowest. It’s 1 percent. The highest range is from 18 to 35. How did these people discover failure? It wasn’t because we were on MTV; They’re too young for that. That’s because of the discovery process we have now, which is people sharing stuff and saying, “Have you heard about this band? They’re from the ’90s.” The 1990s may have had some character due to the important bands that emerged during that period. But we have completely moved away from the era of our original audience in the 1990s. So it’s difficult. Obviously I don’t like Spotify. I don’t like the fact that they don’t pay the artists. But at the same time, we couldn’t have this new audience that we have now without the existing discovery process in place.
Edwards This is correct. For us, it was probably a positive thing. Something has been gained through variety, variety and access to many businesses. But something is lost when you have less organization and gatekeeping from the top. There is no longer a focused cultural moment.
Andrews Monoculture.
Edwards Yes, he’s lost, which is weird. You don’t even know what a rock star is now, and that’s okay. I think Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar are rock stars now. There are incredibly successful businesses that are thriving and making a lot of money. But then there’s this whole middle world.
Andrews Yes, the middle world is bigger now.
Edwards It’s completely different. Again, I find it interesting that bands that had a moment with a song or two somewhere in the 90s are still filling venues. People who heard those songs on the radio still go to see those bands because the nostalgia is there.
Andrews We’re not a nostalgia band anymore.
Edwards No, but when you discover music from 13 to 18 years old, the nostalgic valence of those experiences can never be replaced by anything after that. There’s something about your mental energy that you’re absorbing things at this age. That’s why nostalgia is so strong from your youth. When I was listening to KROQ or watching MTV, there were only eight or nine songs. You’ll hear the same song over and over again, and that’s what really instilled it in you. So having access to thousands of different bands is great, and no one telling you what to listen to is great. But there’s something I miss about it [curation] In the 80s, 90s and maybe the first few years of the 2000s. Around 2005, it began to die rapidly.
Movies were a big part of the flop in the 90s. amazing planet A tribute to the 1973 French film, the video for “Stuck on You” was James Bond-themed. Ken’s original career path was filmmaking. Do you still get inspiration from the movie?
Andrews Great time. the Sand dunes The series is a huge inspiration for me. I watch it all the time. The sound, the score, the world building aspect, I love that aspect of filmmaking. I’ve always felt like world building is what we tried to do. We tried to create our own little world of acoustics and lyrical references.
Edwards There are some lyrical references to [Michelangelo] Antonioni on this record specifically He blowsShp. Anything but the musical acts and the music itself is the best place to get inspiration. I’ve always loved the phrase “To be for Mr. Kite’s benefit!” from Sgt. Pepper. John Lennon basically saw a poster for a circus event with Henry the Horse, so that basically became the lyrics to that song. It’s always nice, especially when you’re stuck, to pick up something from somewhere else that seems completely unrelated. Then it will somehow make its way into the larger song or album overall, and it will make sense.
Greg, you said something in Location is missing A press release has caused me a lot of sleepless nights over the past couple of months. I asked: “Do you location lost The latest failure record, or could it be the transition to another new stage? We’ll see where things go from here.” What’s behind this ominous question?
Edwards I just wanted to artificially increase record sales and ticket sales for shows. (He laughs.) No, there was a lot of turmoil and life changes. Through the process of recording this record, I can’t say we were the most consistent, interpersonally, with each other. It felt like things were falling apart a little.
Andrews Album title. When I said, “Let’s take the title out of the song ‘Lost Location,'” it made sense to me.
Edwards Yes, my position was very centered on the last set of records, but through the process of this record, I definitely felt like I lost the entry point for how to approach it. I felt a little lost for a variety of reasons, both personal for me and also because of what Ken was going through at the time. The documentary was, in a way, cathartic. I think it was good to get the story out this way. But I also have a lot of ambivalence about the existence of a document like this. It’s just the fact that it’s one way to look at it. So the documentary had a strange effect on me, and I think I pulled away. If I was close to the center of failure for a while, it took me further out to the suburbs.
I appreciate your honesty, of course, but if it sounds like I’m panicking inside, I certainly am.
Edwards I’m just being honest about how I was feeling as I went through this process. There’s no doubt we can make another record. With the jams and stuff, we already have enough material to easily put out another album. I have no doubt that we can start from scratch and make another record. So, it doesn’t mean we no longer have the creative power, and it doesn’t mean we don’t have the ability to communicate through it. I don’t take it for granted that we will continue from here.
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Location is missing By Failure Releases on April 24. Visit their official website for upcoming tour dates.
