Formed in February 2006, Knoxville, Tennessee’s Whitechapel seamlessly meld death metal, grind, and hardcore to create a blistering brand of modern death metal that leaves fans no other choice but to throw themselves into an uncontrollable frenzy on the dance floor. Whitechapel stands out in today’s overcrowded metal scene due in part to their ability to fuse memorable and even groovy riffs with crushing breakdowns, tremolo picking at neck breaking speeds, and incredibly evil and dissonant sounds. Their songs demand repeated listens and gang vocals at shows are common place.
Whitechapel’s musical chops first shone through on their debut album,
The Somatic Defilement. The record systematically crushed those who opened their ears to it and propelled
Whitechapel onto the worldwide metal scene, and which has kept the band on the road ever since. In 2007, the group signed to Metal Blade Records, and in 2008 released their second album entitled
This Is Exile. After touring behind the album for over a year, the band returns to the studio in January, 2010 to begin recording its follow-up.
Joe Matera spoke to guitarist
Alex Wade just as he was preparing to depart for the studio to begin the recording sessions, and got exclusive look into what fans can expect from the new album, touring and living a straight edge life.
UG: You’re about head off to begin the recording process for the band’s third album?
Alex Wade: Yes and we actually leave the day after Christmas and will be in the studio on December 27 setting up, before beginning to pound out this new record. It has been about a year and half since our last record This Is Exile came out, and obviously, we didn’t start writing right when Exile first came out but we’ve been writing for a year or so. At the moment, we’re at the crunch time where we’re putting together the final pieces and getting everything tightened and perfect. We are also doing a bit of pre-production before hand to try and get some of these songs out in a rougher form so we can take them down to the studio. We want to know what everything is going to sound like when we get there rather than just winging it.
Do you find that the environment you find yourself in out on the road, is conductive to the songwriting process?
Well it certainly makes it a little more difficult to write while on the road. But it doesn’t make the song any worse. I think it just makes us pay a little bit more attention to the details, so we make more of a conscious effort since we’re on the road. We’re like, ‘ok we know we’re on the road and this going to be hard so we definitely need to go that extra mile to make these songs as good as possible’. That way we don’t slack off or anything.
"It certainly makes it a little more difficult to write while on the road. But it doesn’t make the song any worse."
The new album will have its own concept and will not be based off This Is Exile. Though there will still be some slight themes from Exile, they’ll still be present on the new album just to, kind of allow the fans of Exile to connect with the new album and stuff like that. But it kind of has a theme of its own. It is not going to be so much a concept album it just kind of will have its own theme. And the art work kind of ties in with it, but it won’t really tell a story. The theme is going to be about the downfall of man and where man is forced to become a machine. And the album artwork will explain all of that in a physical sense.
You’re going to be working with producer Jason Suecof on the new album. Jason is known more for his brutal sonic approach with such bands as Trivium, The Black Dahlia Murder and DevilDriver, so can we expect much more of a brutal sounding Whitechapel?
Yes definitely. We chose Jason Suecof because in our eyes he definitely puts some of the cleanest, as well as, the heaviest recordings out. A lot of producers can’t really grasp that concept of making something extremely heavy while at the same time making everything really clear and audible like with the guitars and stuff like that. We’re really excited to be going into the studio with him and for him to be taking our sound and kind of meshing it with his production.
An integral part to the band’s sound is due to it having three guitarists, is it a lot harder working in this framework musically?
I can only really answer that question with a yes and no. In one breathe, you can say it makes it easier because with that third guitar, there is that much more material coming in and there are that many more ideas. But at the same time, there is also a lot more heads to butt heads with. It definitely has its pros and cons but I like it and I really think it gives us our unique sound. I’ve never thought that I wish we were a two guitar group or anything like that. I’ve always liked three guitars and it is what makes Whitechapel what we are.
Within that three guitar format how does the songwriting process work, do each of the guys bring in their own ideas into the mix?
We all chip in ideas. We all kind of, branch off out on our own with our computers and recording gear. Then chip out ideas with drum machines or guitars, nothing too fancy and then we’ll bring those ideas to each other. We then all check it out and if it is something that somebody wants to build off on, then we take it in and try and fit it with somebody else’s riff or something and will build songs that way.
When it comes to gear, does it differ much from your studio set up to your live rig?
We actually keep it relatively the same. We definitely lean towards whatever is going to sound the best but as far as whatever will create our sound. That is what we try and stick to when we go into the studio I’m going to be using the EVH 5150 III head, the Mesa Boogie cabs and ESP guitars. And unless Suecof has another mindset of what he envisages and it should sound like, I am definitely going to push for using our gear for sure. When it comes to playing live, the guitars are ESP guitars and I use a Line 6 POD X3 which I run through the effects loop of the EVH with no amp simulation on and use it just for effects and the volume and whammy pedal. I also Flangers, Delays and Reverbs and stuff like that with it. When we tour the U.S we each take two guitars but when we tour overseas, we only take one guitar each with a band backup, because we can’t fly with a backup for everybody as it gets too expensive. For all of us, our main guitars are an ESP Horizon NT-7 and for our backup, we play a Stephen Carpenter SC-607 seven string.
The band has toured heavily in its relatively short lifespan, how important is touring these days for a band such as Whitechapel despite all the doom and gloom within the industry?
It is absolutely crucial for a band. And for us that is the only way we can make money. We do get a royalty check here and there, but our royalties really goes back into paying off all of the stuff we have to acquire as a band. So the only way we can really make any money and be able to do it as a career is to tour. If you are a young band looking to tour and stuff like that, and you are really wanting to make this your career and make this your lifestyle, I am not telling you to quit your job or quit your school and head out on the road, but it definitely takes 110% and all of your effort and everything like. You have to put everything you are into the band and hopefully from all of that, you’ll reap the rewards.
You recently did the Mayhem tour this past summer and then toured with Trivium and Chimaira. How did those tours go despite each being a different beast of its own?
The Mayhem tour was amazing. It was definitely the best tour we have ever done in the career of the band. It was huge and all the bands that we played with were awesome to us. We were seriously playing to like 5,000 to 6,000 people each day and we were only on the opening stage. It was definitely a fun time and it was the first time we were on a bus so that was really cool too. The Trivium tour was awesome as well, though we had to go back to a van because it was a smaller scale tour. But it was cool to have to come off the Mayhem tour which was such a big scale and then to go back to the scale of a club tour as it brought us a lot more personal contact with our fans.
"It is not going to be so much a concept album. And the album artwork will explain all of that in a physical sense."
Yes but that is just me. I am the only band member that is straight edge. Honestly, the other guys really don’t party as hard as people probably think they do. I mean they do enjoy a couple brews now and then, but nobody has any problems with drugs or alcohol or anything like that. I am very thankful to be in a band like this and living the lifestyle that I do. I do it for myself so I don’t really care what other people do. I have a lot of friends that drink and I have more non-straight edge friends than I do straight-edge friends. And it definitely helps not having to worry about my band members being sloshed all the time and stuff like that.
Do you find it hard to maintain that kind of lifestyle within an industry that is known for excesses of every conceivable kind?
No, not really. A lot of people tend to say to me, ‘man I don’t how you do it being in a metal band’. But honestly my whole life I’ve grown up being pretty clean as I’ve never really drank or done drugs or stuff like that so for me, it is a pretty easy lifestyle.
Finally going back to the topic of touring, what has been the weirdest thing that’s happened to you while on tour?
There has definitely been a lot of crazy things that have happened to us, but one thing that happened, and that has remained in my mind was, was on the Never Say Die! Tour. We went to Europe and we were in a bus with three other bands and apparently, a band of gypsies and their kids had stowed away in our trailer. They had cut the lock off and got into our trailer but we didn’t know. But when we stopped at a gas station, all these kids and about 30 homeless people jumped out of our trailer and ran off. And that was one really weird experience…
Interview by Joe Matera
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