In three weeks, on April 29th, the band’s fifth full-length record Our Endless War will be released. It’s WHITECHAPEL‘s most streamlined and emotionally powerful release to date! It’s an album that doesn’t stop delivering on its promise, and it propels Whitechapel forward into the next stage of evolution for the band. It’s where the band is going, and it most certainly beckons us all to follow, and follow we will!
With impending tour dates and album releases, we consider ourselves EXTREMELY fortunate to have stolen a moment of time from Phil Bozeman, vocalist of WHITECHAPEL!
How have you been?
I’ve been pretty good.
Great! In doing my research, I found that Whitechapel was named after the town Whitechapel, where Jack the Ripper committed his murders. What was it about those murders that intrigued you all to name the band after it?
Honestly, we thought the name fit well and had a cool/dark theme behind it. We don’t base our whole band about it, obviously. We felt that it worked really well, and rolled right off the tongue.
Per Wikipedia, you are a spiritual guidance coach. How does that work?
I don’t even know what that is supposed to be! Another guy mentioned that to me, and I definitely have no idea what that’s about! (laughs)
No doubt! I was actually confused and asking myself, “how can he balance Whitechapel with spiritual guidance?”
(laughs) That was definitely not me.
I read that Our Endless War is the culmination of everything that you all have worked for since you started as a band. Can you expound on that?
Yeah. I wouldn’t say that it’s all about that. There is a song on there that conveys that. I think this album is, lyrically, more personal. Musically, more emotion was put into it. We’ve been doing this for so long, we wanted to not in a different direction per se, but we wanted to expand ourselves .
Episode I: Pre-production and the band’s Writing Process for the New Album
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It took a year or so to write out the songs for Our Endless War. Is that typical or atypical for a Whitechapel album?
Well, you know, it’s not typical. The guys have riffs for days saved on a computer. We just kind write new stuff using the newer riff material.
When you all write albums there is a lot of analysis that goes into the compositions. If you don’t mind, would you describe your writing process?
Yeah, like I said before, they just do just like I said: write the music, and we just all sit down and listen to it, and figure out what can go where. Then we eventually put a whole song together, and after that is when I write lyrics.
How do you develop lyrics?
I just pick a topic, something that I want to talk about, and then put vocal phrasing together – and see how it will work with the music. I write to the vocal phrasing that I’m trying to present with the song.
How do you choose topics?
I just think of them (laughs) I think about something that I really want to discuss. I’ve covered everything from technology to death – all kinds of different things. I’ve covered a pretty broad spectrum of things. Right now, I’m pretty fulfilled with what I’ve covered. I don’t know what else I would cover at the moment. Some of the things I’ve covered are not necessarily things that are real. Some of it is fantasy writing.
Are you a fantasy-aholic? Sci-fi kind of stuff? Horror?
I’m kind of more into horror stories. I don’t watch horror movies all the time, but I do enjoy a horror film. If I had to choose a favorite, I would probably say “The Howling”.
Very nice! I reviewed the album and I loved it. I thought it was great. From the instrumental “Rise” that led into “Our Endless War”, as well as some of the Arabic influences on some of the songs, the entire album was a joy to listen to. I have a two part question for you: How did you devise such an array of styles, and how did you sequence the album?
It’s just a result from having so many musicians in the band. All of them have different influences: one is old school thrash, another one is really into metal, another came from the hardcore scene, and another one likes a more aggressive style of music. That just all fuses together, and that is how we come up with the different styles. Ben is more a crazier style of writer. He writes creepy and dark, but very clean sounding things.
As far as the sequencing, we just saw how some songs went together well, and what song would sound “cool” after another song. That is how we came up with the track listing: by listening to the songs.
Episode II: Focuses on the tracking sessions for the album
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Was one of the intentions of having such a diverse album to appeal to a broader audience, or do you feel that was a nice side effect?
We wanted to put out something that was more, I guess you could say, “not like us” but like us. (laughs) Really, we just wanted to try something a little different. We don’t want to write the same album over and over again. It’s one of those things: they will love it or hate it. We ultimately write for ourselves; we write what we enjoy.
Absolutely. On this album, according to your press release, Zach helped to bring in a relatively new thrash element. Why is this the first time we are seeing this?
I felt that we’ve had thrash elements in all of our albums, like our European style riffs. I don’t know why they put that on the press release. I think we’ve always shown elements of thrash. If anybody were to bring out that style, Zach would be the one.
From the album, “Diggs Road” has got to be one of my favorites. It delves into the difficulties of loss and mourning stemming from suicide. Can you let us know how you came up with this topic, and why it’s showing up on this album?
That song is about my past and the hardships I dealt with while I was growing up. I felt that it was time to write a song about that was straightforward and heartfelt, and not “Kill/Murder/Kill/Murder” kind of stuff. It’s nice to show emotion and not try to be super scary.
Did you experience loss from a suicide?
No. Suicide was how I felt. I lost my parents when I was younger (different occasions – they didn’t die at the same time). The song is about how I was feeling, and everything I was going through.
Wow! Phil, thank you so much for taking a moment of your time to speak with me today!
You are very welcome!
Connect With WHITECHAPEL:
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By: Alice Roques, RockRevolt Magazine Co-Founder and Managing Editor
Where can you catch Whitechapel NEXT? Check out THESE tour dates!
WHITECHAPEL w/ Carnifex, Within The Ruins and Cruelhand
4/16: Columbus, OH @ The Basement
4/17: Buffalo, NY @ Waiting Room
4/18: Worcester, MA @ Palladium – New England Metal and Hardcore Fest*
4/19: Lancaster, PA @ Chameleon Club
4/20: Poughkeepsie, NY @ The Chance 4/22: Greensboro, NC @ Greene Street Club
4/23: Columbia, SC @ New Brooklyn Tavern
4/24: Jacksonville, FL @ Roc Bar
4/25: Tampa, FL @ The Orpheum
4/27: Birmingham, AL @ Zydeco
*Festival Date
WHITECHAPEL in Mexico
5/3: Zapopan, Jalosco, MX @ Calle 2 Pabellon B
5/4: Monterey NL, MZ @ Café Iguana
5/5: Mexico City, MX @ Plaza Condesa
WHITECHAPEL w/ Revocations and Rivers of Nihil:
5/14: St Louis, MO @ Fubar
5/15: Kansas City, MO @ Czar Bar
WHITECHAPEL w/ DevilDriver, Revocation, Carnifex, Rivers of Nihil and Fit For An Autopsy
5/17: Denver, CO @ Summit Music Hall
5/18: Albuquerque, NM @ Sunshine Theater
5/19: Tempe, AZ @ Marquis Theater
5/20: West Hollywood, CA @ House of Blues
5/21: San Diego, CA @ House of Blues
5/22: San Francisco, CA @ DNA Lounge
5/23: Sacramento, CA @ Ace of Spade
5/24: Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theater
5/25: Boise, ID @ Knitting Factor
5/26: Spokane, WA @ Knitting Factor
5/27: Seattle, WA @ El Corazon
5/29: Calgary, AB @ Marquee Beer & Market Stag
5/30: Edmonton, AB @ Union Hall
5/31: Regina, SK @ Riddell Centre
6/1: Fargo, ND @ The Venue
6/2: Minneapolis, MN @ Mill City Nights
6/3: Milwaukee, WI @ The Rave
6/4: Joliet, IL @ Mojoes
6/5: Kokomo, IN @ CenterStage Bar and Grill
6/7: Knoxville, TN @ The International
6/8: Cincinnati, OH @ Bogarts
6/10: Toronto, ON @ The Opera House
6/11: Pittsburgh, PA @ Altar Bar
6/12: New York, NY @ Stage 48
6/13: Philadelphia, PA @ Theater of the Living Arts
6/14: Baltimore, MD @ Baltimore Sound Stage
6/15: Charlotte, NC @ Tremont Music Hall
6/16: Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade
6/17: Orlando, FL @ Firestone Live
6/18: Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ Revolution
6/20: Houston, TX @ Scout Bar
6/21: Corpus Christi, TX @ House of Rock
6/22: Dallas, TX @ Gas Monkey Bar ‘N Grill (Outside) 6/23: Austin, TX @ Mohwak
