Whitechapel. Photo Credit: Kevin Estrada
The past year saw a significant growth in demand for the members of Whitechapel, as touring behind their latest album Our Endless War helped them to become one of the fastest rising new faces in the extreme music scene.
They spent this past summer on the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival, and just completed their second day of the tour. Band guitarist Zach Householder shared his thoughts on their performance.
“It’s the second day. It’s insane! We played here for Knotfest – it was just as crazy. Every time we’re here it’s absolutely nuts. It will probably be one of the best sets on the whole tour. I don’t want to be jinxing the tour, but it’ll be the ones that’ll stick out.”
Phil Bozeman of Whitechapel, by Brent B Photos.
Their rise in popularity since the release of their latest album has taken them to new heights, including a co-headlining North American tour with Devildriver and an appearance on the Knotfest in 2014.
He shares his thoughts on his band’s success and what motivates audiences towards them.
“It’s weird because I wasn’t in the band in the very beginning. I took Brandon Cagle’s place and he’s actually doing sound for us now. He’s killer at that. I’m glad it worked out.“
“I was a fan to begin with when they were first coming out in Knoxville,” he said. “There’s something about it. You just knew something was gonna happen with this band. I was friends with many of them but I heard them and thought ‘this is just disgustingly heavy!’ I think it’s the weird alignment of the planets. It’s just something happened, something clicked, the vibe worked…the right time, the right place. What a lot of people don’t get with music, it doesn’t matter how technical you write shit. It matters how you feel about you feel about writing the music. You’ve got to have an image with the music that people can grasp onto. I think that’s what happened to Whitechapel. There’s something there to hang onto and can’t pull it out and say oh yeah…it’s there.”
Ben Harclerode of Whitechapel. Photo Credit: Kevin Estrada
Headlining the second stage also placed them further away from the main stage, as on the San Bernadino, CA stop had them atop of the lawn section and many attendees having to walk up a hill to the stage. Despite the minor dilemma, the show must go on.
“A little bit of a walk…whatever. Luckily everybody had no choice but to watch it, whether they wanted to or not,” he said.
Gabe Crisp of Whitechapel. Photo Credit: Brent B Photos
This year marks the band’s third appearance on this fest and the band has shown their appreciation towards the promoters for bringing them back. “We did it in ’09 with Slayer and [Marilyn] Manson, and in 2012 with Slipknot and Slayer and obviously this year with Slayer headlining and King Diamond. King Diamond’s sick and Slayer is just awesome.”
Being that this is their third time on this tour, the familiarity behind the set up eases the tension of handling everyday business. He shared the benefits of being a veteran on this tour.
Zach Householder of Whitechapel. Photo Credit: Kevin Estrada
“The easier the more fun,” says Householder. “Obviously we partied a little more on our first Mayhem and the second one. We don’t party that much any more and we take it easy. I like the fact that we’re done kind of early and hang out. We can kick back and watch Slayer and King Diamond on the main stage. I think it gets easier for sure. Mayhem takes such good care of us. We’ve always supported this tour. We love it.”
Picking a set list is always a challenge as a band’s career advances, and including songs to please the crowd within the allotted time is something they have to deal with as well. But Householder explained the different factors that goes into choosing songs to perform each night.
“Honestly when an album comes out we experiment a lot of songs from that album and then we go by whatever goes over live and what translates well live. Even an outdoor festival versus an indoor clubs, some songs work better in a club opposed to outdoor festivals. We just know by now what we want when it comes to a set. We pick the bangers off the album and if the hits have different vibes, then we’ll pick and choose from it.”
Prior to this appearance, Whitechapel had experimented with an appearance on this tour’s sister festival tour, the Vans Warped Tour in 2010. While that audience leans less towards metal audiences, they still caught the attention of curious attendees and gave them a taste of music heavier than their usual playlist consisted of.
“We did Warped Tour once. The shows were killer but it’s a little more crowded than Mayhem is. You’re fighting for food and showers a little more. That was cool too,” he said.
Householder shared his thoughts of playing for non metal crowds like Warped Tour and how much those earlier years factored into their exploding popularity.
“I think it’s a double edged sword. Sometimes the non metal crowds are like ‘holy crap!’ Maybe they’ve never seen anything that heavy before. We all know how judgmental and harsh metal fans can be, so when we play especially on this Mayhem, there are a lot of judgmental eyes on us that have seen us before, but they’re not turning around and leaving, so that’s the good part.”
Following this tour, Whitechapel will begin working on a new album and Householder talked about where they stand on that at the present time.
“As soon as we get home, we will be. Like I said in the past interview, we’re always writing and sending riffs to each other. We’re sitting down and start writing for the next album when we get home, and we’re aiming to record in January.”
“I feel Our Endless War had such a cool vibe to it – a lot of melody and hooks in it. There are still death metal parts but it is not straight bombardment the whole time. You can breathe. I think we’re going to keep doing that. You have a little bit for sometime for everyone. Let the music breathe. Let it be heavy. We’re going to hang out and feel what we’re writing this time around, even more so last time. I think everybody’s heads are in the right place for it. I think it’s going to be, if anything, it won’t be off the wall but it will be even deeper or darker.”
Householder also gave an update on the forthcoming DVD, which has been delayed but is expected out before the end of 2015.
“The DVD is coming out. It’s taking a little longer. I’ve actually seen the whole DVD part of it and the bio part of it and the live show. It’s sick! It turned out great. Now we’re producing the physical copies.”
“Everybody’s upset about it either way I get it. It’s coming and I promise it will be out. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. It won’t let you down. Sorry for the wait on that.”
“We wanted to do this right. There are a lot of issues when it came to some people not having their shit together. I won’t name any names, but it wasn’t anyone in the band. That’s what put us in a scare but we worked it out. Early fall for sure.”