by christina wagner
WHO: Unearth
WHERE: Freebird Live
WHEN: September 30th
Almost ten years after this Massachusetts metal band first found each other and began cranking out axe-wielding metal music to a new generation of metal fans, Unearth has finally risen from the underground to actualize their very name. Although it was not their first foray into the national music spotlight, their appearance on this year’s Aqua Teen Hunger Force Movie Film for Theaters soundtrack certainly brought even more metal-heads into their fold as late-night cartoon-watching dorks from around the country learned that Meatwad calls Unearth “friend.”
Throughout the parade of lineup changes, Unearth has managed to leverage a better record deal and tour with the likes of Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall and Lamb of God on the MTV Headbangers Ball US Tour, as well as Gwar and Slipknot. Last year they also returned to the ranks of Ozzfest bands for a second time. Members Buz McGrath, John Maynard and Ken Susi recently released their latest album, In the Eyes of Fire. EU caught up with Trevor Phipps to ask a few questions.
EU: How did you guys land a track on the Aqua Teen Hunger Force flick?
Trevor Phipps: The writers for the show are big into metal and are fans of Unearth and approached us to see if we were interested in writing a new song for their movie. We are all fans of the show and were stoked at the opportunity to make it happen.
EU: ATHF has helped launch MC Chris’ career, did being on the soundtrack help you boys win over new fans?
TP: I see emails and comments all the time from people saying that our tune ‘The Chosen’ was the first song they had heard from Unearth, so you can say we definitely won over some new fans. I wouldn’t say it has “launched” our career, but it didn’t hurt it.
EU: You boys juggle Strapping Young Lad’s Gene Hoglan and Derek Kerswell. Any plans on securing a full time drummer?
TP: After this upcoming tour we are going to have a good deal of down time, minus a few weekend mini tours and an upcoming trip to Latin America, so we are going to focus on locking down a new drummer in that down time.
EU: You operate with seven string guitars and a five stringed bassist. Why and what are the benefits?
TP: To put it simply, it just makes things heavier. To elaborate, the guys tune to standard “E” and adding the extra “B” gives them another string to shred with and a heavier tone to crunch with.
EU: In the track, ‘This Glorious Nightmare,’ you touch on common addictions and dependencies. What prompted you to write such a heavy piece and how much can you relate to it personally?
TP: I believe we all can relate to this song in some way. Most of us have a crutch in life whether it be as common as booze and cigarettes, as harsh as drug abuse or as innocent as a caffeine addiction. Sure I have battled my demons, especially over the past few years, but I am still standing.
EU: What is the major difference between American touring and European?
TP: The food is better in the good ole’ U.S.A.!!!
EU: You’ve bounced back from Eulogy to Metal Blade, then back to Eulogy and back to Metal Blade. Why?
TP: We actually made the leap to Metal Blade with our album The Oncoming Storm in 2004, but we still owed Eulogy one more album under our contract, so they basically put out a compilation of our older stuff combined with some previously unreleased live material recorded during our Eulogy days. So we never essentially “went back” to Eulogy. Itwas just previously recorded material that they put in one package for all our fans, new and old.
EU: When writing III: In the Eyes of Fire, you were in the rehearsal space five days a week, hours at a time. Did the pressure of writing this album help or hurt the overall quality of the project?
TP: I think it mostly helped the process as we were forced into a different world of writing and basically let our emotions dictate where the music and lyrics went. We wrote the entire album during the long Boston winter, locked ourselves in the basement and wrote pretty much six hours a days for four to six days a week. It wasn’t the most pleasant experience, but it did add a darkness to the entire album that I feel makes the record special. All that being said, we would prefer to take more time on the next record as that stress would likely implode our writing process if we were to be forced to do it again.
EU: What was it like working with Terry Date?
TP: He is a cool guy with a great ear for heavy music. He is laid back, but knows how to get the band members inspired when it is their turn to lay down their tracks.
EU: Is a new album in the works?
TP: We just recently started writing for the next record and should have that out by late summer or early fall of next year. We are mainly focused on this upcoming tour and shooting and putting together our DVD which should be out by January or February.
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