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Underoath

Founded several years ago in Florida, Underoath sprang onto the scene with their independent release, Act of Depression and its follow-up, Cries of the Past. Soon, the band managed to secure a record contract with Solid State, dropping their first national release, The Changing of Times, sometime later. That’s when everything actually changed.

Losing lead vocalist Dallas Taylor and undergoing a drastic line-up shift, Underoath became led by current front man Spencer Chamberlain and crafted They’re Only Chasing Safety, which was popularly received by fans of the metalcore scene. Chamberlain, who has undergone drug rehab, is quick to tell his story of salvation and redemption found in Jesus Christ, even though the band is well-received in the mainstream.

On Tuesday, the day of their latest album’s release, Soul-Audio correspondent John Wofford sat down with guitarist James Smith to discuss the highs and lows of being in one of the world’s most popular metal acts.

Soul-Audio: Lost in the Sound of Separation dropped today. Tell us about it; what was the most prevalent method throughout the songwriting process?

James Smith: We’ve never tried to write a certain way—whatever happens, whatever starts coming out is pretty much how the song develops: we don’t pre-plan. We start with either a riff or some kind of drum beat that one of us has written. Then, Spencer and Aaron will start laying down vocal parts alongside it, and we structure the song around those first ideas. We try to push ourselves to be the best, not borrow our old ideas. Spencer is constantly writing; even now, he jots down material. It’s a continual writing process. We don’t start and stop on certain days—just keep things going year-round.

SA: Having listened to the album several times, I’d like to talk about the lyrics—they’re very personal, and I often get the feeling, given their first-person perspective, that they’re somehow biographical. What experiences inspired the lyricism?

James: Spencer writes most of them, and they’re based on things he’s lived through. He’s had…well, he’s been through a lot in only 25 years of existence. He’s always open and honest about everything he’s encountered; he shares life stories with people and he does it through his music.

SA: Considering the upcoming tour—can you give us some specifics?

James: We’ll be all over. Friday was day-one of the whole thing. There, we played in Mexico City. We’re now in New York City and we go from here to Toronto, Canada. Then, it’s off to the UK, Germany, Italy, down to South Africa, and Australia. We’ll get to come home for about a week; then, we get to do a full U.S. tour.

SA: Has Underoath ever performed this frequently in a tour this size?

James: One world tour, about two falls ago…it was our first experience in Australia and Japan, not to mention a couple countries in Europe. It’s exciting, but it’s also exhausting too. I mean, we play late at night and get up early to catch flights. Sure, we enjoy it, but it’s difficult. [Laughs] It’s true, there are minor drawbacks…

SA: Do you have any stand-out road experiences: either great memories between band members or any particular shows you felt were stellar?

James: I remember the first time we were in New Zealand. I was absolutely blown away by the country and how beautiful everything was! It was the first day of our international tour. I also loved getting to take a day off in Germany while visiting some really old architecture. There are some great memories, but there are some bad ones too.

For instance, in Mexico City? It was a great time! We played with MXPX, and those dudes are great. We had fun getting to hang out with them. But, I dunno…there are usually more good shows than bad.

SA: Care to share a particularly bad memory?

James: Yeah, I think we have. I can’t remember what day it exactly was, but I remember getting off stage and thinking, ‘Man, that one sucked, I’m a little embarrassed right now.’
[Laughter]

SA: Underoath is one of the many bands successfully crossing over into the mainstream: both in terms of selling CDs and how you’re perceived as serious artists. I noticed with this album, how it’s being covered by sites like our own, Christian Music Today, and even exclusively mainstream publications like USA Today and AbsolutePunk. At what point and how did you go about deciding to approach the mainstream with your faith and values as well as music?

James: We have never really wanted to be a band just in the Christian market. We want to reach out to people, to play at venues where other Christian bands do not play—we want to get our message out that way, to be kind and respectful to others, and to acknowledge that we’re simply people like everyone else. We do have this belief, and we’ll be straight with you if you want to listen, and if you don’t that’s totally cool. We’ve never wanted to limit ourselves in any way with that.

SA: Other than the message conveyed exclusively in the music, are there other ways you feel you’ve managed to spread the news of your faith, particularly when dealing with young fans?

James: We always try to hang out with the kids after our shows, just talk to them, respond to their questions, and be really honest with them.

I remember once, Chris [Dudley, keyboardist] got to get pretty deep with a kid. Before, we had sort of been bummed to be there. There weren’t a lot of kids at the show—this was three to five years ago, by the way—but at the end of the night, Chris had this whole awesome experience and it was a ‘Wow’ moment. Talking to those people really put a purpose to being there, y’know? We got to share.

SA: Speaking of talking to people, do you have something you’d like to say to anyone ‘with ears to hear,’ so to speak?

James: Give us a fair shot. We’re not defined exclusively by our faith; we’re musicians. We strive not to sound like anyone else; we want to do our own thing, be as different as possible. A fair listen is all we’ll ever ask for…