UNEARTH

We are all individuals

Last year was very important for UNEARTH (the band celebrated the 10th anniversary), and also very productive. Leaders of US' metalcore scene released a new live DVD and highly anticipated follow-up to „III: In The Eyes Of Fire” from 2006. It's entitled „The March” and stands for very aggressive and direct yet still melodic metal core. In the first week of sales the album landed at 45th position of Billboard 200 Chart which is definitely an amazing result. A few months after the worldwide premiere I had an opportunity to talk to UNEARTH's vocalist Trevor Phipps...

-You have been around since 1998. How did you start? Could you recall that moment when something forced you to found a new band and become a part of the music scene?
I started playing in bands during my freshman year of high school. I went to a friends band practice to watch them rehearse some cover songs. The singer had to leave early and I stepped in to sing for fun after he had left.  We covered a couple Metallica songs and I gripped the microphone so hard that I shut it off without realizing it. The band could still hear me screaming over the instruments and asked me the next day to be the singer of their band. I have been in bands ever since. 

-What were the lowest points of the early days of UNEARTH? What serious problems did you experience as a small, unknown underground band?
During the early days of Unearth it was hard to find shows. We also had a hard time drawing a crowd.  I remember playing in Rochester, New Hampshire to three people in December of 1998. During the load out after the show Buz said to us all "Everyone grab hold". We all said "Of what". Buz replied "The sinking ship." It was a long climb to get good shows, an even longer climb to get signed and an even longer climb to find the right tours to promote the band. Once we got some decent tours things failed to get easier though. We lost members, had to take fill ins for existing members, our vans broke down numerous times, we had a few van accidents, we had trouble making enough money to even stay on the road, etc...
 
-My previous questions were justified because you have come a pretty long way, from an underground outfit to one of the most popular representatives of metal core genre. I'm wondering how have all of the trials helped UNEARTH become what it is today?
Things are never easy for underground bands.  A band has to go through a lot to get anywhere, so the band has to want what they are doing more than anything.  Going through that bullshit will be unique to each band though and help mold who that band is as a unit and as individuals.  Even though there was a ton of crap to go through for us, I wouldn't change anything as it has shaped us and the past decade of our lives.
 
-Now you are one of the leading forces of metalcore music scene and I'm wondering what kind of feelings does it give to you?
All we really focus on is writing the best music we can and creating the most amount of energy on stage that we can. Being a leading force isn't our goal or intention. We just want to have as much fun doing this as possible and have our fans enjoy it just as much as we do.
 
-It's safe to say UNEARTH belongs in the first generation of metalcore movement which has been actually pretty strong and creative. I'm wondering what is your opinion upon the second generation of metalcore acts, an ocean of nameless, faceless, worthless bands? It seems like quantity in metalcore music slowly becomes more important than quality. Most of so called new- metal and metal-core artists claim that everything in that music style has already been said. can you agree with this?
Every time a "new" sound comes around there will be imitators that don't do it as well. Every musician needs to realize that you won't get very far by copying the person before you. You can always use your favorite bands as a major influence, but don't straight up copy them. The listener can always tell the difference between heartfelt original music and a straight up copycat.
 
-It's been a while since you released your latest album „The March”. What are the opinions on this release? Are you happy with the fans' reactions to your new effort? Did you get at least one negative review for „The March”? Just curious... 
So far the fans and press have all given extremely positive feedback to the album.  We are extremely happy with the music and the response it has had so far. We have been touring for almost five months on it and don't continue to stop supporting it on the road for another 12 to 18 months.
 
-„The March” marks the fourth album in 10-years existence of UNEARTH. Frankly speaking, I'm not the biggest metal core fan in the world but I have been following your career since the debut album and must say, your music matured and varied with each release. The new effort is another good example for that continuous, stable progression. How has the band’s sound progressed from your previous release „In The Eyes Of Fire” to „The March” in your opinion?
This album has a lot more focus on song writing than our last album. Last time around we had a lot of built up frustration within the band and with where our career was going and that showed in the dark spirit and chaotic structures in the songs. Things just didn't seem right and needed to change. Since then we got everything back on track with the right tours, a new drummer, and the proper decisions made by all five guys in the band and not using outside influence to point us in directions we didn't fully feel comfortable with. I believe the new focus brought out the best in us with "The March". We blended the perfect amount of anger, hostility, and lyrical fire with good song writing, some melody and some killer guitar work. We all feel this is our best overall record to date.
 
-In my personal opinion you managed to achieve on „The March” a perfect balance between melody and heaviness, shredding riffing and beautiful lead harmonies. Was it a challenge?
I am glad you agree with how we feel. I wouldn't say it was a giant challenge though. We just wrote what we wanted. We had a good six month block of time to write this album with clear heads and a five piece focused band. This album was as fun to write as our first album when it seemed we had all the time in the world. We actually looked forward to every single practice just to see what we could do with the song structures we had and see who had any new ideas. Song writing should feel that way, but it hadn't for us in over four years.
 
-„The March” was produced by Adam Dutkiewicz from KILLSWITCH ENGAGE at System Recording And Zing. And the album sound is another thing that should be underlined here. I think it turned out perfect, nothing to complain. In my opinion Adam is a genius when it comes to modern metal sound. That's why you decided to work with him? Is he a perfect producer?    
Adam is the "perfect" producer for Unearth. He knows us inside and out as he has been working with us since 2001's "Stings of Conscience". He filled in on drums for our band before, we have toured with KSE before, he is an amazing musician, engineer and producer and he keeps the right balance of fun and business when you are in the studio. He gets the best out of all five guys in the band.
 
-One of the greatest things concerning your new album is its cohesion and excellent overall sound. There are no fillers, „The March” contains a bunch of really solid and powerful tracks. How long did it take, to come up with such a  cool collection of songs? 
We always try and make a "no filler" type album. We rarely ever let a "filler" song see the light of day.  If it isn't up to snuff in the practice space, then we would never waste our time recording it. A big thing for us is to have the confidence to play any song from any album in a live setting and feel that people will react positively to that. As a fan I would always love going to see a band for the third, fourth or fifth time and every show they played a few different songs than the last time...songs I didn't expect them to play. We strive for that and feel this album is another one that is capable of us playing the entire thing live.
 
-While every composition on the album kicks ass, there are three songs in particular that stand out in my opinion. So, could you tell me a few words about such cuts as „The March”, „The Chosen” and especially „Truth Or Consequence”?
Those three songs are technically a bit outside the box as far as far as our traditional formula goes.  "The March" is an eight string attack that builds at the beginning, rides through the verse and chorus, stomps with mid hard hitting groove section, then back to the riding verse and chorus and finally ending with the same build up at the beginning. The Chosen is much different for us as it is more of a standard hard rock structured song with some metal elements mixed in. It is more like a party track for us and is fun as hell to play live. Truth or Consequence is a song of RIFFS for Buz and Ken to have fun with.  It has its "progressive" moments as well, especially the fade out ending section. Again, this is a song that is a little different for us. We need to write some different styled tunes to keep both us and our fans from getting burnt out on so many similar sounding songs.