Unearth vocalist Trevor Phipps describes the hard-hitting dynamics of their upcoming album, “Darkness in the Light,” and comments on the band’s creative diversity, on positive and negative fan reactions, and on their plans for Mayhem.
Metal Matriarch (MM): Thanks for taking the time out to talk to us today, Trevor. So, you have the new album coming out in less than 10 days, Darkness in the Light. For The March you guys had an overarching concept of the evil and the hopeful. Is there an overarching concept for Darkness in the Light?
Trevor: I didn’t really set out to make a concept record. I guess most of the songs deal with personal struggles that we all face. So that’s where that actual title comes from. Not every song is about that, but most of the songs do take on that theme, even though it wasn’t really the direct intention.
With each person there’s tough times in life, and I’ve gone through some stuff in the past few years. It was my time to vent some stuff, and this is my perfect platform to do so.
MM: What kinds of things, in general, did you feel like you needed to use the music as an outlet for?
Trevor: In general, I’d say just personal frustration with the way things are going in this country and personal life stuff. Also, the loss of friends and family. It’s just stuff that it’s good to get of your chest. I do try to write it in an abstract enough way, where people can be able to relate to it. But each song means something different to me, and I get to scream my guts off on stage about it each day.
MM: You mention the loss of friends and family, does part of that have to do with the loss of former bassist, Chris?
Trevor: Yeah. That did inspire some lyrics. It’s more in general, but the song “Last Wish” is about a person who is on life support and isn’t coming back, and their last wish is just to be set free. It was inspired by him because he did hold on for a while after his accident.
But that’s happened to me before in life, where I’ve had people close to me go through that as well. I’ve had a cousin. I’ve had an uncle. It’s a trying time for people that are close to that person, and that’s where the lyrics in that song were inspired from.
It’s tough to deal when it’s people that are close because you don’t want to let go and you don’t want to believe that they’re gone. But, sometimes there’s no coming back.
MM: Before I go on, I just want to put out there that I think “Last Wish” is, by far, probably the most provocative, in a good way, song on the album.
Trevor: Ah, thank you. We’re definitely getting a lot of great feedback on it. I’ve heard that a bunch, but it’s actually one didn’t learn after we tracked it. So, it’s not going to be in the first wave of songs we play live this summer on Mayhem, unless we get a chance to rehearse more.
It’s tough because the drummer we’re taking, Justin Foley from Killswitch, doesn’t live near us. He’s actually just filling in this summer, can’t really rehearse too much with him before we go. We did one weekend of rehearsals, so we have a 15-song list to choose from [for the summer], and unfortunately ”Last Wish” isn’t in there. But, there’s a ten day break between tours. We might learn that song for the European tour.
MM: I’d seen in an interview that you had talked about playing a couple new songs on each set during Mayhem due to the short amount of time that you have onstage. Is that still true, or have you kind of narrowed it down and decided on what songs to play?
Trevor: We have [30 minutes] each day to play, and our songs are just about four minutes each, for the most part. So that’s about seven songs and about two minutes for me to do some stage banter, and that’s about it. The plan is to play two new songs a day and five songs from the four records. I think we’ve learned 15 or 16 songs to rotate in and out. I think we know five or six new ones. So, each day won’t be the same as the last.
MM: That’s a lot more diversity than a lot of bands manage on stage. Most setlists are extremely predictable for most bands, so I think fans will appreciate that you are switching it up, especially the new songs.
Trevor: Yeah, it’s something we’ve been guilty of in the past, playing the same set over and over again. But, this being our fifth record, we have enough solid material that we can play a bunch of different songs now. So, I think it’s important for us to mix it up for our fans and for ourselves.
MM: Do you have any anticipation as to what you think fans will react to best from the new album? Have you, listening to it, said to yourself, “I think this one’s going to stir up an awesome mosh pit?”
Trevor: It’s tough to tell, because sometimes you’ll think one’s a huge winner, and then people just kind of give it that kind of lukewarm reaction. Some songs you don’t think will go over so great turn out to be amazing. I’m kind of trying to keep an open mind, and trying not to play favorites.
I think “Eyes Of Black” is the strongest song on the record, and should get a great response live. But my mind could change in a few months when it’s actually been out for some time. We’ll see.
MM: Sparingly on The Oncoming Storm you guys had some clean, melodic vocals, like in “Lie to Purify”. But this album picks up on those, again, so it becomes more of a core part of the album. What made you guys move in that direction?
Trevor: Well, it’s still only four songs, I think, that have clean vocals. It’s still not an overabundance of it. But we took a two-record hiatus from having clean vocals on our records, because it seemed like every band was doing that. The huge trend of every band doing the same old hard vocals / clean vocals, back and forth, is starting to die down. It was a decision on our part to try to bring it, as part of our weapons and what this band can bring to the table.
Also, a great reason why [we integrated clean vocals] is the song “Endless” from The Oncoming Storm, which we actually wrote in 2002 for our EP called Endless. That song has remained a staple in our set for nine years now. It seems to be a fan favorite. We kind of want to try to recapture that aspect of our sound. It’s not the main direction we’re going to go in the future, but it is something that we don’t mind tossing in here and there, tastefully.
MM: The album has been streaming on AltPress.com, and there’ve been a lot of comments raving about it. But there are definitely those people that have started saying that adding clean vocals means that you’re hopping on a bandwagon, that you’re starting to do something that you guys never did – and that not doing it was what separated you from other bands. I know your goal is to bring something new to the table, so what do you have to say to that?
Trevor: I’ve seen those same things, those same comments. It’s funny when I see that ones that people say that we haven’t done that before. In 2002, our EP Endless had clean vocals, and in 2004, The Oncoming Storm had three songs with clean vocals. It’s something that we’ve had in our sound before. It is something that we can do, and we’ll use sparingly. I can see where people that don’t like clean vocals wouldn’t like that section.
To be honest, to get clean vocals on this record, it was actually kind of a fight with Buz [McGrath] and I, because that’s really not what Buz and I listen to when we listen to metal. But Ken does have a really great voice, and he approached us with these parts. We’re like, you know what, these work with the songs.
For us, we’re making art with music. Not every song will be for everyone. This record definitely has its hard hitters, its very aggressive songs – some of the heaviest songs we’ve ever written. It is our fifth record, and if we don’t try different things once in a while, then we’re just going to run the risk of just having every song sound the same. I can see why people would be upset with it, but also, it is our art, and it is what we want to hear at the end of the day.
MM: Even the way you sing is a lot more diverse than it ever was before.
Trevor: I was trying to go for that in this record. I’m happy with the last record, but I don’t think I mixed it up enough. It was more mid-range, and that’s what I was going for in that record. I’m changing the way I sing a few of those songs live; I just prefer to do them a bit heavier and more diverse. That’s what I wanted to go for on this album – capturing more of what I do live.
In “Last Wish” and “Shadows of the Light,” I do have some kind of half-singing stuff. I can’t really call it a clean vocal, but it’s more than just spoken. But I’m trying to use my voice more as an instrument this time around.
MM: Now, I know you’re happy with the last album, but you’re saying you change up songs live. If you could pick one of those songs that you sing differently live and re-record it as you sing it, which one would it be?
Trevor: There’re two that really stick out for me. Especially the first track on that record “My Will Be Done.” In studio, we were just out of time, and the first verse for some reason was bugging me. I was going for more of an old-school trash sound, like old Anthrax or Exodus, my version of that. Then when I started doing it live, it didn’t feel right. I actually do that verse a lot heavier in a live setting now.
And then the song “Crow Killer.” I think it’s a great performance, but I have more highs and lows when I do it live. I guess, in the studio, it sounded good, it sounded clear, it sounded heavy. And I still like it, I’m not saying I dislike it; it’s just, I feel like it just sounds better live when I do it.
MM: Does one of the new songs on “Darkness in the Light” stand out to you as like the epitome of the direction you all are headed in as a band?
Trevor: That’s a tough question; each song is a little bit different. There are the songs that are more melodic with the crossover vocal that Ken adds, like in “Shadows of the Light.” There’re also the metal anthem songs like “Eyes of Black” and “Arise a War Cry.” So, it’s a tough question because there are different guys in this band. Ken definitely likes more of the structure of a song like “Shadows of the Light,” and Buz is definitely is more of that old school metalhead. We have those elements, those guitar influences, from both sides of the coin.
The band’s intention is to continue furthering the sound that we have coined as ours. I think that when you put on our record, you can tell it’s Unearth and it’s not a different band. Each record has different elements, each record is a bit different, and I think that’s just our plan – to just continue to evolve.
I can’t really tell you exactly what I think the next record will sound like. I do know that we have a couple of really rough songs written already. They are mostly written by Buz, these two, and they are a lot more metallic. But who knows if they’ll even see the light of day, or if they’ll be throwaways. I haven’t heard what Ken’s got going on, so it’s tough to tell.
MM: It sounds like just from the way you’re talking that there is this balance between Buz and Ken that helps create a unique sound and that continually adds different elements to your songs.
Trevor: Yeah, I think they always challenge each other, and this record Ken really stepped up to the plate and wrote more. The past two albums, he wrote, of course, but he didn’t contribute as much as he did back in The Oncoming Storm days. This record is much more of a balance between him and Buz, and the song writing definitely benefited because of it.
MM: It’s been what, five years since you guys have done a major festival tour in the U.S., so what would you say are the best and worst parts of doing festival tours like this one?
Trevor: The best part is you get to play in front of thousands of people a day, and a bunch of those might not be at your club shows. You’re getting the opportunity to play music in front of new people as well as your fans that want to go to those shows. I would say the only negative is that you have to play a short set. But you do have to view a festival tour as a different thing altogether; you have to view it as more of a showcasing of what the band is about and what your songs are about and what your live show is about. It’s our first time on Mayhem, and it’s our first time in five years being on a festival in the States, so it will be cool to get back out there, outside, and play for thousands of people a day.
MM: Is there anything I didn’t ask about the album that you want to get out there to new or old fans alike, anything I missed?
Trevor: I just hope the fans check it out. We’re all really proud of it. It’s been getting great, great feedback so far. There’s a bunch of people saying it’s our best record, and we of course feel that way right now. Now it’s just like, let’s get on the road and play the songs a lot!
MM: Good luck with the album release and the start of Mayhem and I’ll see you when you come down to Florida!
Trevor: Awesome, thanks!
About the Author: Stephanie (a.k.a. Steph Rose)
Steph is a tea-drinking, metal-obsessed resident of South Florida. She programmed this site in the name of metal, she travels cross-country (and hopefully internationally eventually) in support of metal, and she should probably be in Manowar because she sure as hell would die for metal.