Blessthefall, a metal band from Phoenix, Ariz., was recently honored with being in Alternative Press magazine’s latest issue, which features the yearly preview, "Most Anticipated Music of 2013."

The band has been privileged to be a part of this issue before, for their last album two years ago.
Along with Blessthefall, other bands such as A Day to Remember, Jimmy Eat World, The Maine, Paramore, and 20 other high quality bands are in the AP article are that have exciting new things coming to look forward to this year.

“It’s a huge honor because that's the biggest music magazine besides Rolling Stone,” said guitarist Eric Lambert about their recognition in the issue.

I was able to talk with lead guitarist, Lambert, about what there is to look forward to in the coming year for the band, as well as discuss what makes the band what it is today.

Blessthefall started in 2003 in Phoenix. A mutual musician friend, who knew they were looking for a guitarist, introduced Lambert to the band.

They have three full-length albums, with different band members on the albums. Their first album, "His Last Walk," was released on April 10, 2007. "Witness," their second album they put out, was released on October 6, 2009. Their latest album, "Awakening," came out on October 4, 2011.

The bands current lineup consists of lead vocalist Beau Boken, rhythm guitarist Elliot Gruenberg, lead guitarist and backup vocalist Eric Lambert, drummer Matt Traynor, and bassist and screamer Jared Warth. They are signed with Fearless Records.

When asked if Lambert ever thought the band would get as big as it had, he responded, “I don't think any of us ever really did when we started writing our first CD. It’s kind of hard to tell, you don't know where it’s going to go to or if it’s going to catch on.”

So what's so anticipated about this band this year?

Well, after recently finishing up a tour, the band is now taking time to record their new, fourth album. It is set to come out around September and they have already written about eight songs, according to Lambert. They are set to hit the studio in April to begin recording the album with record producer, Joey Sturgis.

I was also able to find out that Blessthefall will be on Warped Tour’s main stage this year.

“It’s a huge deal we get to be on the whole thing off the main stage this year, so its going to be pretty rad,” said Lambert.

The news of their Warped Tour status will air tonight, on a show on Fuse called "Warped Roadies". The show is a behind the scenes look of Warped Tour, and at the end of every episode they announce several bands that will perform for this years tour.

What's behind this Arizona band that lead them to become this big? For Lambert, along with the obvious hard work and dedication, the biggest reason they have stayed together is because they genuinely enjoy each other’s company.

“If you can all get along and enjoy what you’re doing and where you are then all the bad times just don't seem that bad,” said Lambert. “For a lot of bands, they'll let bad shows get to them and they will start yelling at each other and judging each other. That releases turmoil that makes bands break up. Actually liking who you are touring with in your immediate band it's the most important thing.”

Along with the company of his band members, one of Lambert’s favorite parts about being in the band is the traveling. He takes full advantage of this rare opportunity to see the world, recognizing that its something you don't get to experience with most other jobs.

“The travel. You can't beat it, it's the coolest thing about what we do,” he said.

He also added that, for various reasons, his favorite place he’s ever been while touring was Australia.

“It’s [Australia] just a vacation town. It’s just one big beach. It only helps that it's the most attractive women in the entire world,” he said. “When you go to Australia, you can go out in the crowd and hang out with them and they’re like the coolest people in the world. They treat you like a normal person which is nice because its nice to make real friends when you go out there, not just have people worship you because you play guitar in a band.”

It’s great that the fans in Australia are cool, but popular bands are always known for having some sort of awkward fan stories throughout their career. Lambert was no exception to this, saying that he has two awkward fan encounters that stand out.

“One that happens is when people cry, I don't know how to deal with it very well,” he said. “They’ll like start shaking and they’ll cry and I’m like its okay, I put one leg in at a time when I put my pants on just like you.”

The second is something slightly more awkward, which must just come with the territory.

“I’ve had multiple guys ask me to sign their balls before, which is real awkward for everyone,” he said. “Me and Beau have both done it...we’re like ‘uhm sure’ and then we did it and we’re like ‘here, you can keep the pen.’ ”

The music is what keeps these men coming back for more autographs in explicit locations and puts women to tears. However, there are some who just are flat out mad with the band members at times, no matter how much they like their music.

For those of you who haven’t heard the song, "Hey Baby, Here’s that Song you Wanted", off their second album, it begins with a terribly hilarious voicemail from a girl to Beau. She is yelling saying she hates him and never wants to see him again, along with other mixed profanities. I asked Lambert if this was a real voicemail, and sure enough, it is.

One day when they were recording at the studio, Beau’s girlfriend at the time had heard some false rumors that he wasn’t being completely faithful. Since they were recording, Beau didn’t pick up, which infuriated the woman even more. She ended up leaving an extremely long, hatred voicemail to Beau. The band ended up cutting it down and turning it into a hilarious intro to this song.

“Everything she said was 100 percent true, it was the funniest thing ever. When we came back and listened to it we weren’t expecting that voicemail at,” he said. “She tried to sue us but she realized it would cost way to much money to sue us.”

Lambert added that bands trying to make it big just need to be persistent.

“Just don't take no for an answer. It’s really hard at first its hard for everyone,” he said. “Keep trying and keep making demos. If people don't like your demos keep writing, make new songs, make something that you like. It’s eventually going to pay off if you work hard enough and you want it bad enough.”

Here's the official music video of Blessthefall's song, "Hey Baby, Here's that Song you Wanted." It does feature the beginning voicemail, and has a "Hangover" type concept.

If you want to hear the song without the music video feel and just the music, here is a sound cloud clip of the song.