Set to release their album ‘Mark of the Blade’ on June 24, guitarist Zach answered some of our questions about Whitechapel as a band and what they were trying to tackle with their new album.
You are just weeks away from releasing your album ‘Mark of the Blade’ to the world. How are you feeling?
Anxious, as always. You never know how everyone is going to react. Especially with an album as different as this one.
What themes or messages did you try and tackle in this album?
This hits on some positive and emotional vibes as well as the normal angry and negative topics. I think we wanted to try writing something that people could grab a hold of and relate to more than just writing about negative topics.
How long was the recording process and how what it?
We were rather rushed on this one and the whole process seemed that way. I’m glad it turned out like it did but I would prefer recording to go a bit smoother next time around.
How do you stay connected to your fans during studio time?
Honestly, we didn’t really want to release any teaser videos and give much away this time around so we just posted random pictures from the studio and highlighted what was going on. Fans don’t really seem to mind if they don’t hear from us while in the studio because it means we’re working, haha.
Who contributes the most throughout the writing process or is it all pretty equal?
It just depends. For this album, I collectively wrote about 65% of it but that was because I just happened to have a lot of material that everyone seemed to dig and it fit the vibe. It could very easily be anyone else in the band that has a huge chunk of material as well. With that being said, it doesn’t mean everyone didn’t help with my songs. EVERYONE puts input into EVERY song. Some albums, it’s a little more equal but it all just really depends on what songs we like.
What song do you think your fans will connect with more than others?
I think Decennium, Elitist Ones, and Bring Me Home are all songs that have subject matters that people can latch on to and connect with.
What track do you think will be your favourite to play live?
You never really know until you start playing them live. We’ve played songs that we thought would be killer live and we all wound up hating them. So that’d be a question to ask me about a year from now after we’ve played a few of them.
How has Whitechapel’s band dynamics changed between 10 years ago and now?
That’s a loaded question. If anything, we’ve started trying to be more organic with the song writing and not just try and showcase how fast we can play or how “brutal” we can be. I believe a lot of that is due to everyone getting older and just wanting to take different approaches to writing and the band.
Do you have a before show ritual?
Now that I’m older, I’m always stretching before shows because I feel like my body is falling apart if I don’t. Aside from that, we just try and make things as calm as possible before show time and everyone is pretty quiet.
Worst piece of life advice you have received?
I honestly think it was taking some of my own advice. At times, I would sit back and tell myself “It’ll all work out because you pay people to look out for your best interest in this business.” This is terrible advice. Everyone cares about themselves more than anyone else and you have to take your own life into your hands or else it’ll be directed in a manner that far from how it should be.
Mark of the Blade track-listing
1. The Void
2. Mark of the Blade
3. Elitist Ones
4. Bring Me Home
5. Tremors
6. A Killing Industry
7. Tormented
8. Brotherhood
9. Dwell in the Shadows
10. Venomous
11. Decennium
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