Phil Bozeman is the singer for the heavy metal group White Chapel. The band has just released a new full length album titled “White Chapel”. The group is also set to take part in this summer’s Mayhem Festival. Media Mikes had the chance to talk with Phil about the album and what he is most looking forward to with touring this summer.
Adam Lawton: This album is the first to feature drummer Ben Harclerode. What do you feel he has brought to the band since joining?
Phil Bozeman: We went through a little bit of a funk with our previous drummer. We love the guy to death and are still friends with him. There were a stream of events that happened and the cards were just not in Kevin’s favor. He had injured his foot and at the same time started using different drum pedals. Things turned into a big cluster for him and his double bass playing really suffered. That is something you just can’t have so we had to
move on. We had gotten a video from Ben who we call “New Guy”. He was playing one of our older songs and he just nailed it. He flew out to Knoxville to play with us and it was everything we needed. I feel like we have transformed into a completely different band. We have always had fast double bass but not like this. We can write parts now where the double bass just rips. It’s nice to have that option and it’s been a great addition that has changed our band for the better.
AL: This album has a much darker sound and feel to it. Was this something you did on purpose or did this occur naturally?
PB: I wanted our next album to be depressing. I like dark ominous music and I wanted that sort of feel for this album. A lot of the lyrical content is very depressing especially the ending track. I just wanted a different direction.
AL: What type of process do you have when writing your lyrics?
PB: I know a lot of people who write constantly but I write when a song is done. I feel I can give the song better phrasing after I hear it first. I think it’s a lot tougher to write lyrics ahead of time and then try and get them to fit. I will write stuff that’s on my mind but only after I hear a track.
AL: What do you think makes this album
stand out from other similar releases?
PB: I feel like we have just released an album that no one was expecting. This album represents us as a band in general and it really shows our capabilities of writing pretty much whatever we want. There are a lot of bands out there that we have been compared to but I think we have our own sound.
AL: What are you most looking forward to about the bands upcoming tours?
PB: Mayhem Festival definitely! Slipknot is a band I have never seen so getting to see them is going to be great. It sucks that Paul won’t be there but it’s still going to be great. Of course there is never a bad time to see Slayer either.