Fresh off slaughtering the United States, frontman Trevor Phipps of Boston, MA based Unearth kindly offered up some of his personal downtime in between tours to answer a few questions for us. New tunes, Ironclad Recordings, beer bongs, and track and field are all covered - just scroll down.

Trevor, it’s been a while – how are you!

I’m doing just fine Aidan. I hope you are well.

What’s surely been a whirlwind start to 2007 for the band, how’s everyone holding up in Camp Unearth?

Busy as all hell, but damn good. No complaints from any of us.

I’m not going to ask you “how the Slayer tour was”, because that’s just a waste of your time, instead I’m going to grovel and beg for [one of] the best on-tour stories since the new disc hit stores last summer.

Well, the Slayer tour was not a waste of time. It was probably the best tour we have ever done in most aspects. ANYWAY- good times always happen on the road. When people ask me for crazy stories, it is tough to single any one out. We basically get to party every day for eight months a year. So picture your favorite party and all the good times surrounding it and imagine doing it every day for months on end. Yeh it gets tiring from time to time, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

You unveiled the video for ‘Sanctity of Brothers’ to the world in February. It’s definitely a darker, seemingly more themed piece compared to your previous video releases (a la the cold rooftops of ‘Zombie’) – can you tell me a bit about what went into it? And why you weren’t wearing any If Hope Dies apparel.

We shot the band performance piece in front of a green screen in L.A.. The producer, Soren, shot the rest in different locations. It has some intense scenery and an even more powerful theme. To make a long story short it is basically a mans battle with good and evil while he is trapped in a sort of purgatory. There are demons, angels, hells fire, etc… We have never done a “big” video and we felt it was time to step outside the box and try something different for this tune.
With If Hope Dies, I figured I wore their shirts enough. Anything more would make me look like a stalker.

Considering you’ve toured extensively with legends Slayer, your last album was a thrash filled monstrosity, everyone except Ken refrains from donning girls pants, as a band you’re ultimately championing the art of the ‘guitar solo’ and a furious drum beat…it seems as though the proverbial envelope has really been pushed from a static world of breakdowns and ‘core’ monotony - Is it frustrating to have to still have to constantly bear the brunt of the ‘metalcore’ tag for those who may not have opened their ears enough?

We are who we are and we don’t care about labels people might want to impose on us. We only write music that makes us happy and we will continue to do that until the band is done. Tags come and go with time and if we can stick around through different tags and trends and stay true to what we love and believe then that is all that will matter to us, and hopefully to the fans as well.

How much did Terry Date push you guys in the studio?

Terry let us do what we wanted to do in the studio. If we were looking for guidance or needed that extra push he was there for it. His main thing was making sure we had the right performance and that he captured the right sounds.

From a vocal perspective, did you, at any point, have to dig deep to capture the sound necessary for the disc, or was it fairly free flowing?

The sound was free flowing. I used the same microphone I use at live shows, so that is why it has more of a raw edge to it than most albums out there. I wanted something different and that helped me perform to the best of my ability. Terry did really help me get extra inspired to sing a few songs though. He would always want a copy of my lyric sheet before I went in to start tracking a tune. He would want to know what the tune was about and try to help me get more into the vibe of what I was singing about. He helped me “channel” my reasoning and feelings behind the lyrics more than I had already done on my own. He kind of got inside my head.

Who’s Giles?

A farmer from the Puritan era that stood up for what he believed in and defied authority by not admitting he was a witch and choosing torture over hanging so he could save his land for his two sons. His last words were inspiring as the town Sheriff asked Giles if he would like to end his torture of being crushed to death by stones and admit to being a witch so he could end his death quickly by hanging and all Giles Corey said was “More Weight”. Brutal story for a brutal dude.

What’s your favorite track off of “III: In the Eyes of Fire” (in stores now)?

Right now Giles is my favorite tune off the album to play live. That changes from time to time though. I think the entire album is solid.

You’re preparing to head abroad to the UK and the Continent for a headlining run (with Job For a Cowboy, Despised Icon, and DaatH) before returning for the rather intense Dimmu (Borgir, Kataklysm, Devildriver) North America tour, what stops are generally some of the craziest across the Atlantic?

Yeh our touring schedule is pretty intense coming up, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. As far as crazy stops, I have noticed that almost every city in every country is so remarkably similar that it blows my fucking mind. No matter where we are in the world the crowd dresses similar, has similar haircuts, dance or mosh similar, have similar tattoos and even react similar to our songs. Heavy metal, hardcore, punk rock and hard rock all seem to have a worldly vibe that is so similar that if we didn’t get out of the clubs and soak up the culture during the day, we might forget where we are at times.

Are beer bongs allowed through customs?

We actually just had to retire our latest beer bong “Craven Morehead” (a skull beer bong). We brought him through the U.S., Canada, Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. He finally wore down and is a shell of what he used to be, but yes, beer bongs are allowed through customs.

I’m sure there’s already a structure is in place for supporting “III: In the Eyes of Fire”, but as a global act, are there any thoughts in the mix to possibly head back Down Under or to Asia?

There indeed are plans to continue to travel the globe to support this record. We will surely be back to Japan, Australia and New Zealand in the coming months and there are talks of heading to other countries and continents we are yet to play. The more places we play, the better. Hell, I want to see the world before my time is up.

Will we ever see the return of the almighty Trevor facial chops?

I don’t know. Anything is possible! I am digging the bearded portion of my life at this point. I’ll let Ken and Slo have all the glory of chops for now.

For all young, eager vocalists who foster the hope for taming their larynx, what does your average pre-show routine consist of?

Vocal warm ups (lots of humming), plenty of water for hydration of the vocal chords and a few shots of whiskey to relax the muscles in the throat so I don’t strain too much.

What’s the most annoying interview question you get asked on a regular basis?

“What is it like working with Adam D.?” or “What’s the craziest thing that has ever happened on the road.”

Some may not know you were a former track star – what was your event?

Track star huh? I don’t know about that, but I enjoyed track and field growing up and focused most of my energy on the Discus. I still throw that thing around from time to time. It is a good stress reliever for me.
How do you stay in shape on the road?

Jump rope, push ups, pull ups, crunches and healthy eating. I would say the main thing though is our constant out put of energy on stage. We never stand still up there, so it is basically like getting 45 minutes to an hour of intense exercise a day. I get in way better shape on tour than I do at home.

Some may still not be aware of the label that you run that’s distributed by Metal Blade Records, Ironclad Recordings (http://www.ironcladrecordings.com) – tell everyone a little bit about this side business of yours and some of the bands that are on your label.

I started Ironclad back in 2002 with the intention of helping out young bands that I believe in. Too many “indie” labels are caught up on signing bands that are part of a trend so they can turn a quick buck. I only sign what I like, and I need to like it a lot. The band also has to be committed to work their asses off. Nothing comes easy in the metal and hardcore world and you need to get yourself out there and put your best foot forward before anyone will even give you a listen.

My most recent signing is a band called “The Destro”(www.myspace.com/thedestro), a hard ass metal band from Dallas with a mixture of sounds comparable to Pantera, Hatebreed, Lamb of God and Crowbar. Another recent band I signed is “Sons of Azrael” (www.myspace.com/sonsofazrael), these guys are a sick thrash/death metal band from Buffalo that puts on a sick, energy filled live show.

Lastly, a band that seems to always be on tour “Apiary” (www.myspace.com/apiary) . These guys have something different to offer with intricate time signatures and brutal riffage. Like I said, they seem to always be on tour, so you will be able to find them if you are interested.

I’m sure your budget is extremely tight, but are there any plans to expand your already brutal roster?

With those new signings I am slowing down a bit so I do not overwhelm myself and take away from the bands already on the label. That being said, I do have a couple bands I am eyeing that could turn into signings later down the line. For now, though, I am going to really focus on the current roster.

This may be somewhat personal considering the semi-political nature of Unearth’s music, but who are you going to vote for in 2008?

I am yet to decide on that. I don’t feel every candidate is in the race yet and I am not fully comfortable with any one candidate.

Simply put – what’s next for Unearth and for Trevor Phipps?

Lots of touring worldwide for Unearth along with some other cool happenings. We have a brand new song called “The Chosen” in the new Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie. The song is in the movie credits and on the soundtrack. We wrote and recorded it in December and are proud as hell of the tune. It is a slight departure from our other material, but it is still “our sound” at the same time. Besides that we also recorded two cover songs for the upcoming Sick of it All tribute CD due out this spring on Abacus Recordings. We did “Clobbering Time” and “What’s Going On”. Like I said, Ironclad is going to busy for 2007 with new releases in May (The Destro- May 15^th) and Sons of Azrael (early July). As for me, I keep busy with the band, label, and most importantly friends and family.

Rate this interview: (10 votes, average: 4.3 out of 5)
 Loading ...

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 10th, 2007 at 6:46 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Rosetta_Stoned1618 wrote:

interesting interview, i saw unearth and slayer in London it was fuckin siiickkk. i really like this quote “We are who we are and we don’t care about labels people might want to impose on us. We only write music that makes us happy and we will continue to do that until the band is done. Tags come and go with time and if we can stick around through different tags and trends and stay true to what we love and believe then that is all that will matter to us, and hopefully to the fans as well.”
great words spoken by a greater musician

March 27th, 2007 at 9:22 am

metalpaizon wrote:

Dude Unearth killed with Slayer and the Dimmu Tour!

III: In the Eyes of Tour was the shit!

July 9th, 2007 at 2:25 pm

Teen Girls Teen Titans Hentai Teen Girls That Are Hot wrote:

Teen Girls Teen Titans Hentai Teen Girls That Are Hot…

I can not agree with you in 100% regarding some thoughts, but you got good point of view…

January 2nd, 2008 at 10:55 pm

Make a Comment

You must be logged in to post a comment. Register now for free!

PREVIOUS USERS PLEASE NOTE: We now have one login system for posting in the forums and posting comments. To post comments, you must be registered for the forums. We apologize for the inconvenience!