White Chapel’s Phil Bozeman talks about new album “Our Endless War”

Phil Bozeman is the lead singer for the heavy metal group White Chapel. On April 29th, they will release their 5th full length studio album titled “Our Endless War”. Media Mikes had the chance to speak with Phil recently about the creation of the new album which is probably the most diverse record we have heard from the band yet and also about the group’s upcoming headlining tour with Devil Driver.

Adam Lawton: Can you give us some background on the new album?
Phil Bozeman: We have grown as musicians and are chemistry as a band has certainly gotten better. We were very focused on writing the heaviest and best music we could. We are a heavy metal band but we wanted to incorporate as many of our own influences as we could to help make a diverse record.

AL: Did you find it hard to explore those influences and still stick to the sound and style the band is known for?
PB: It was a bit difficult at times to try something different while still keeping the elements that appeal to our fans the same. I think we are able to get away with everything we did as we paid close attention to make sure that things were still fitting our style.

AL: In a recent press release you stated that the band felt held back when working on the previous albums. Can you tell us a little bit about that and what creative process you took this time around?
PB: We have always worked the same way from record to record. We generally start out by just sitting down and discussing everyone’s different ideas. We all want to take chances and do different things however we don’t want to look bad while doing those things. I think that’s where the bands chemistry really shows as we all work together to put out a great product and it is something we are all happy with. As far as being held back goes in the past there had always been time constraints which limited us a bit. We never had disagreements or anything like that but we always seemed to be under a deadline.

AL: Can you tell us about the bands upcoming tour?
PB: We just finished up a short ten day run as part of the New England Metal Fest. We have a couple shows in Mexico scheduled before we start our headlining tour with Devil Driver. That will take us through the summer.

AL: When you guys are putting together a headlining tour how do you go about choosing which bands will be going out with you?
PB: We always start out by just looking at the bands we like and who we feel would be good to bring out. On a tour like the ones that’s coming up bands submit offers to be considered for a spot and we either accept them or pass.

 

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Filed Under: Interviews, Music Interviews Tagged With: album, bozeman, chapels, endless, phil, talks, ...

White Chapel’s Phil Bozeman talks about new album

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 albumstand 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.

 

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White Chapel’s Ben Harclerode & Phil Bozeman talk about new album

Ben Harclerode is the drummer and 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 Ben & Phil about the album and what their is most looking forward to with touring this summer.


Ben Harclerode
Phil Bozeman

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Filed Under: Interviews, Music Interviews Tagged With: album, ben, bozeman, chapels, harclerode, phil, ...

White Chapel’s Ben Harclerode talks about new album

Ben Harclerode is the drummer for the heavy metal group White Chapel. The band has just released their fourth studio album which titles “White Chapel”. Media Mikes had the chance to talk with Ben about the new album and what it has been like being the new guy in the band.

Adam Lawton: Can you describe the bands writing/recording process on the latest record?
Ben Harclerode: The process was pretty collective between everyone in the band. We all got together at Alex’s house where he built a small studio space. We spent most of January there going through old riffs. We had a massive amount of material to go through so it was more a matter of everyone sitting down and figuring out what would work with what. We wrote some new stuff as well which was also thrown in to the mix. We really were just piecing various ideas together.

AL: Were there songs from the recording sessions that did not make the album?
BH: We were shooting to have more material however we just didn’t have enough time.We went out on tour with The Devil Wears Prada in November/December and then had about 2 weeks off for the holidays. From there we immediately jumped into working on the record for about a month. Time constraints were sort of put on everybody so we basically used what we had. We had hoped for a bonus track or two but we just didn’t have the time to make it happen.

AL: What do you feel you have brought to the band since joining?
BH: I have never met Kevin who is the guy I replaced. From what the other guys have told me they were looking for someone who was not only a fast player but the wanted someone who had a little more groove to their playing. They were looking for someone who was into playing other styles rather than just the standard blast beats and double bass. I like to think that maybe I bring a little bit more playing style outside of metal to the band. When I first joined I brought click tracks and sampling to the table. Now during our live shows we have started to sync our lights and other effects to those tracks. I think we can be a lot more flexible with our set now.

AL: What do you think makes this album standout from others in the genre?
BH: I think more and more as records are categorized into one specific genre a lot of style blend together. I feel when we put this album together no one was trying to sound one specific way. I think the end result shows a dynamic contrast between the songs. Each song has more of its own idea and vibe. This album has its own thing going on as do each of the tracks individually.

AL: Can you tell us about the band’s upcoming tour plans?
BH: We are going to be going out with Hatebreed. I haven’t seen the dates yet but I think it’s going to be a small venue tour. I love playing big venues but the more intimate shows always seem to be a lot more fun. We are on this year’s Mayhem Festival which I am really excited for. Getting to play with Slipknot is going to be great. All of the guys in the band are huge fans of theirs. This fall we also have plans to tour Europe with August Burns Red and The Devil Wears Prada.
 

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