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Just
before they support Trivium on a UK tour which tonight stops off at
Leeds Metropolitan University, guitarist Zack Householder gives us the
lowdown on all things Whitechapel...
MM:
So how’s the tour going so far?
ZH: It’s been going great. This is our fourth show in the
UK tonight and it’s been smooth so far. We’ve toured with Trivium a
lot in the States and we recently did Australia with them too and
Chimaira also so it’s been real fun to tour with some familiar faces.
MM:
What have you got planned for when it’s finished?
ZH: When we’re done with this, we’re home for a little
while and then we’re supporting Job for a Cowboy in the States on a
3-4 week tour and then after that we’re doing the Vans Warped tour
after a short break at home – pretty full summer!
MM:
So no European festivals this year?
ZH: Actually yeah, we’re flying over for some although
I’m not sure which ones yet. We’ll be flying over for some festivals
in between the Job for a Cowboy and Vans Warped tours.
MM:
Jason Suecof is producing the new album, was he always your choice given
his good reputation with other metal bands or were there ever other
names being floated around?
ZH: After we did This
is Exile (2008) we knew who he was and we’d heard his recordings
with Bury Your Dead and Black Dahlia Murder and we wanted to shoot for
him no matter what because we wanted to hear him give us that sound and
see what it would do for us. Once we mentioned Suecof to Metal Blade
they agreed straight away and asked him. It definitely paid off, too.
We’d heard so many recordings he’d done that were just really heavy
and brutal and that’s what we wanted.
MM:
Does the album have a title yet?
ZH: It does yeah, although I don’t know if I’m allowed to
divulge that yet, ha-ha! It’s a lyric from the old record which keeps
the vibe going but I can’t really say what it is yet.
MM:
When’s it due out?
ZH: Late May / Early June.
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MM:
The band name obviously makes reference to the area of London associated
with the Jack the Ripper murders, how do you find London and the rest of
the UK as a place to come and tour?
ZH: When it comes to Europe, the UK is awesome, we like it
better than mainland Europe to be honest. And it seems kind of personal
to a lot of kids and metal fans here, with the band being named after
part of their home and all. I think we have our own vibe that you
don’t get over here a lot in regards to the type of band that we are
and I feel like a lot of people take it to heart here. Obviously that
district in London which was a source of so many nightmares is
the theme but, |
| and I’m
not dogging our fans in Europe at all, we love our fans
everywhere, I think people are little more receptive to us over
here. |
MM:
And there’s no language barrier over here either...
ZH: Oh yeah, but then when you go to Europe so many people
just know basic English anyway. I mean, I know basic Spanish, French and
German because of my parents but only the really basic stuff – I
can’t fluently speak any of those by any means – and sometimes you
do run into a language barrier but very seldom, surprisingly.
MM:
Going back to the band name, you’ve got the link to serial killing and
murder cases and it seems a lot of bands have that link in one way or
another. What do you think people’s fascination with this stuff is?
ZH: There definitely is a fascination, you’re right and I
think the older society gets, the more eccentric people’s tastes get
with regards to what intrigues them. Even though some people think
it’s messed up, they’re still intrigued by it. Our first CD was all
about looking through Jack the Ripper’s eyes and it was pretty gory
with the lyrics and it intrigued people because by human nature, if you
see something horrible in a movie, you want to turn away but you can’t
stop watching it for some reason. Humans are messed up and I’m not
saying you have to be messed up to like metal but it kind of goes hand
in hand with people who are intrigued by the darker side to humanity.
MM:
The bands that you were in before Whitechapel, was that a similar kind
of thing or was it different?
ZH: We all come from different styles of music in this band.
Nowadays my tastes are more eclectic but back then I was more into death
metal and black metal, particularly the Swedish bands. Phil was more
straight-up death metal too whereas Ben and Alex came from a more
metalcore background. Alex and I were in a band together before
Whitechapel that was real As I Lay Dying / Unearth kind of thing and
although we all listened to death metal, we’d never thought about
trying it before until now. Ben and Phil were in a band together too
which was definitely more of a metalcore type of thing and surprisingly,
Ben and I actually had a band together at one point which was
straight-up grindcore band! It’s now all come together though, with
the three guitarists being able to work together so although those bands
were similar in a way, I wouldn’t say they were like Whitechapel, no.
MM:
When you’re off the road, what non-metal stuff do you listen to when
you’re having a break from it all?
ZH: Lots of stuff, man. I love the Goo-Goo Dolls, Karnivool,
Tool, all kinds really. I love classic rock too like Boston, Skynyrd,
CCR, that kind of stuff. I grew up listening to that stuff but the older
I get the more I seem to appreciate it! I have a lot of guilty pleasures
too like Fru Fru, Imogen Heap, Colbie Caillat who is just gorgeous and
her voice just puts me to sleep every night! You can’t just listen to
metal all the time, it’d drive you crazy if you did, especially when
you’re around it all the time and that would narrow your perspective
when coming up with ideas too.
MM:
So no embarrassing covers lying around on the studio floor then?
ZH: Ha-ha! Not really, no. We tend to goof off to some
Sevendust or Fear Factory every now and again because that’s what we
grew up listening to but nothing like ‘My Heart Will Go On’ from Titanic
or anything like that!
MM:
As a band that’s only been around a few years, how do you see the
industry surviving in the internet age?
ZH: I think if people really want music, they’ll buy it
online anyway from like iTunes or something like that or vinyl which a
lot of bands seem to be going back to because it’s more collectible.
We were talking about that, actually because people could download it
but then buy the vinyl for a collector’s item. It’s more of a
personal thing when you buy vinyl too because not that many people do it
anymore. I don’t know what the future of music holds but I hope it
stays the way it is at the moment. You reach more people and the
internet pays off in that respect because you can get your music out
there to so many more people now. In my personal opinion, I don’t care
how someone gets our music if they like and hopefully that person will
come to a show and if you look at it from a business point of view, more
people at the shows equals more merchandise sales. Twenty years ago,
there’s no way a band like us would be touring Australia or Europe
because it was so much harder to get hold of music. You’ll never hear
me complaining that millions of people can get hold of our music a lot
easier than they would have done years ago!
MM:
Cool, well thank you very much and good luck for the show tonight.
ZH: No problem, man. Thank you too.
Review by: Adam G |