Falling in Reverse

Falling in Reverse is a Las Vegas based, post-hardcore band with five members. Respectively from the picture above, going from left to right, the individuals are:

Ron Ficarro, bassist, age 32 .

Derek Jones, rhythmic guitarist, age 30.

Jacky Vincent, lead guitarist and co-composer, age 25. Jacky was born in Texas but is English.

Ryan Seaman, drummer and back-up vocalist (mainly does the odd scream), age 30 .

Ronnie Radke, lead vocalist (main clean vocals and screaming) and songwriter, age 30.

Scroll further down this page to find a detailed account of every member!

Falling in Reverse released their debut album The Drug In Me Is You on the 25th of July 2011. The album could be defined as anything between melodic post-hardcore and metal-core.

Ronnie Radke wrote all the album's lyrics during his two year prison sentence prior, after being kicked out of Escape the Fate, a softer but similar post-hardcore band, where he was lead singer. (Find out all about Radke's incarceration and drug abuse further down this hub).

The Drug In Me Is You features a lot of post-adolescent rage, spiked on by Radke's previous problems with prosecution and drug abuse. This is beneficial to the album, making it a metal masterpiece. The screaming breakdowns are complimented with Jacky Vincent's skilled guitar shredding; each song allows a small window of time for an instrumental solo on his part.

TDIMIY is made up of 11 songs, all varying in heaviness. Some songs, including 'Goodbye Graceful' and 'Sink or Swim', incorporate very heavy,'deathcore'-reminiscent growls. Other songs would swing more towards the pop-punk end of the ambiguous hard-rock spectrum, such as the best-seller 'I'm Not A Vampire'.

As an avid fan of countless bands like Falling in Reverse, I would say that 'I'm Not A Vampire' is the best song on the album. The lyrics are so carefully written, and Radke really shows off his crude yet very polished, strong vocals. This song is very frivolous and flippant, with lyrics such as 'I'm feeling like a lady that is pregnant with a baby 'cause I'm always throwing up.... Bleugh', 'hi, my name is Ronnie, I'm an addict'. This song is catchy and contains enough electric guitar to qualify as metal-esque. It is also quite meaningful, as was written by Radke to describe his degenerate years of drug addiction, which he lets through with lines like 'self-induced comatose, chemical daze'.

'The Drug In Me Is You' is a very well produced album. Its pop-punk elements make it catchy, though it is heavy enough to satisfy metal fans. It's important to note that Radke is apparently clean and straight-edge now, which is relieving.

Fashionably Late, released 20 June 2012, is Falling in Reverse's second album, and is entirely different from their debut, The Drug In Me Is You. The band deviates from their initial metal-scene success towards Hollywood fame, with evident pop, hip-hop and seemingly absurd country themes. Ronnie Radke described the album as 'light-years above the first', but I, and most FIR fans, would strongly disagree. It's almost as if the band have gone backwards to a mix of contrasting genres from the solid metal sound of their first album.

The songs are not worth evaluating separately in my opinion, as are so hard to define, being so mixed-up.The deluxe version of the album contains 15 songs, all which sound similar, which is absurd considering the wide range of genres Radke manages to pack in there.

Is this album a flop? No. It sounds amateur, superficial and undecided, but Falling in Reverse has become a controversial band. The songs are not terrible, but are a let-down compared to the band's technically brilliant first album, The Drug In Me Is You. Even if this album isn't great, Ronnie Radke has to be commended for maintaining his fan-base internationally.

Ronnie Radke was born 15th December, 1983, so is 30 years old to date. He was born in Las Vegas, Nevada, US, and claims to be part Native-American. He grew up in an impoverished family with his father, grandmother and older brother Anthony. Radke's mother abandoned the family for unknown reasons.

During his youth, Radke experimented with piano and guitar, and enjoyed playing Blink-182 songs. He dropped in and out of school, but was never an academic by any stretch of the imagination.

2004 - Escape the Fate

Ronnie Radke joined the post-hardcore band Escape the Fate in 2004. His close high-school friend, Max Green (fun fact: Ronnie and Max share the same birthday) is backing vocalist and bassist of the band. Radke wrote most Escape the Fate songs.

2006 - Drugs and Prison

By 2006, Ronnie had been misusing drugs for a while, and this was not unnoticed by the police. To make things in worse, Radke was involved in the fatal shooting of an 18 year old Michael Cook. Radke did not actually shoot the boy, and he has said that he was so 'out of it' on drugs that he was used as a scapegoat and pushed into the situation. However, the shooter of Cook committed suicide later on, so Radke became the prime target.

This, along with his previous drug problems, landed Ronnie Radke with 4 years in jail. He was released after 2.5 years, and wrote all the lyrics for The Drug In Me Is You.

In 2008, Radke was officially kicked out of Escape the Fate. The band openly shunned Radke and lied to their fans, saying that Radke was 'doing heroin in prison', which was untrue. Radke was replaced by Craig Mabbitt, who he holds no respect for. Radke has allegedly not touched any drugs since before his sentence. Here's a quote about his overdose in 2005 and how he decided to never do drugs again:

Radke, as of 2010: “I used to be so fucked up on drugs. I was doing heroin, Oxycontin, cocaine all mixed together. I should be dead, actually. I overdosed in 2005 on Oxy and Xanax, which is a lethal combination. I took three shots of vodka and I don’t remember taking the Xanax. But when I got to jail, I just said, ‘I hate all drugs’ and I stayed away from ‘em. The title of the album is a reference to myself. I looked in the mirror one day, saw death staring me in the face, and realized I’m my own downfall. The lyrics are me talking to myself, realizing what I’ve become. I realized that instead of the drugs being the problem, the actual problem was me and that I could change it. I told myself that when I got out, no matter how I felt, I wasn’t going to do any drugs. I was afraid I was fooling myself because I’ve always been told that’s the kind of person I am. But I haven’t even thought of scoring drugs. I have no cravings or anything.”

Radke's Ex-Fiance and Daughter

Ronnie Radke was engaged to US model Crissy Henderson, but the two split up, leaving Henderson a single mother. The two welcomed their first child Willow Grace Radke on June 11, 2013, at 8:40am. Radke allegedly cheated on Chrissy Henderson multiple times during her pregnancy. Radke is known to adore his daughter, but doesn't get to see her much these days. He has voiced that he misses her a lot and regrets cheating on Henderson.

Brother's Death

Ronnie's older brother, Anthony Radke, was killed in an automobile accident, August 10th 2013. Ronnie was very close to his brother and left deeply scarred by this.

Mysterious Mother's Appearance

Ronnie Radke never got to meet his mother as she abandoned the family when he was a tiny baby. However, she turned up to one of his shows, 3 November 2013. Radke posted an Instagram picture of the two together, with the caption: "Tonight my mother shows up to my show- havnt seen or known her my whole life. Tonight I forgave her. sometimes things need to happen to understand a greater purpose and gain a better perspective on not only others but ourselves. Forgive, but never forget".

2013 has been a turbulent year for Radke, with his break up, the birth of his daughter, his brother's death, meeting his mother and his release of Fashionably Late.