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Interview with Warpath
August 2008 by Metal Mark |
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Warpath are an old style thrash band from the
UK and they recently released a powerful album called "Damnation". I
recently got to interview them and find out more.
Hello, please introduce yourselves and tell us what instrument you
play.
Hey Mark, my name’s Rich Goss and I front Warpath, playing rhythm
guitar and main vocals.
I’m James Davenport the drummer.
Hi, I’m Pete Hawthorne and I pretend to play the lead guitars in
Warpath!
Joel Jordan and I play the Bass guitar and backing vocals.
Tell us a little about your band’s history.
Rich: I formed Warpath in late 2003. We recorded a few demo tapes
and played live for the following two years building our name in the
UK. In December 2005 we entered Bridgerow Studio’s (Wales) to record
the 5 track EP ‘Cataclysm’ which we released in January 2006,
receiving positive reviews across Europe and worldwide airplay,
helping to build the band’s name further in the UK and abroad. Just
over a year later, James and I began to write and demo tracks for
the Damnation album, with recording beginning mid-June. During this
time Pete joined the band as lead guitarist, and soon after Joel on
bass. The album was mixed and mastered in the USA around Christmas
time, and then we shot the video for Damnation back in London in
January. The album and video were then released in May.
Who are your influences?
Rich: My rhythm guitar playing is influenced by Chuck Shuldiner
(Death), Dave Mustaine (Megadeth) and James Hetfield (Metallica).
Those guys are insane rhythm guitarists and listening to them always
makes me want to improve my guitar playing. I’m also classically
trained since the age of five, so I have a lot of influences there,
my favourite being Paganini. I also enjoy listening to Andres
Segovia’s guitar playing. Vocals…I wouldn’t say influences but my
favourite vocalists have to be Matt Barlow (Iced Earth), James
Hetfield on the ‘And Justice For All’ album, and Freddie Mercury.
James: Hmm, this is a tough question. I grew up listening to extreme
metal and heavier music than the rest of the band did. Fear
Factory’s drummer, Raymond Herrera, influences my drumming style, as
well as Derek Roddy’s drumming in Hate Eternal and Serpants Rise,
George Kollias (Nile), Tim Yeung (Devine Heresy) and Franky Costanza
of French metal band Dagoba. I take influences from everything I
listen to. I do like smooth jazz, classical percussion, Arabian and
Egyptian tribal drumming.
Pete: For me I would say my main influences for playing started with
Dave Murray from Iron Maiden. The first time I heard his lead work I
was blown away by his tone and the way his solos just flow
perfectly. Apart from him, I am heavily influenced by Jeff Waters
(Annihilator), Glen Drover (Eidolon) and more recently Doug Aldrich
who has played with Whitesnake, Dio, Lion & Hurricane to name a few.
Joel: My influences vary from a range of guitar and bass players.
For bass it would have to be Cliff Burton (Metallica), David
Ellefson (Megadeth), John Myung (Dream Theater) and Steve Harris
(Iron Maiden). Those were the musicians that pretty much got me to
pick up a bass and learn their amazing bass lines. I also appreciate
a lot of vocalists including Dave Mustaine (Megadeth), Tom Ayra
(Slayer) and James Hetfield (Metallica). |
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Tell
us some about your new album “Damnation”. What has been the reaction
to your new album so far?
Rich: The reviews and fans reactions so far have been phenomenal!
Damnation recently won ‘Album of the Month’, has had a lot of ‘9 out
of 10’s’ scores and was also recently rated in the top 5 ‘Metal
Albums of 2008’, Testament’s new album being 1st on the list, and
ours ranking 4th. Damnation sold out all copies in Osaka, Japan
within two days of going on sale, which was great news. We were also
the Number 1 Unsigned Thrash / Metal band on Myspace Top Artists for
June. We’ve attracted label attention since the album’s release and
our music video has been added to Scuzz TV Videos this week.
Joel: The way things are going is great! A lot of people have bought
the album and love it. Fans show us a lot of support from around the
world. Damnation selling out in Osaka just seemed incredible to me!
James: Crowd reactions at gigs we have played have been totally
insane. There are people of all ages coming to gigs and going wild
for us.
James Murphy (Obituary, Death, Testament)
mastered your new album. How did you meet him? What was it like
working with him?
Rich: When I was looking for someone to master the Damnation album I
instantly thought of James Murphy, being a big fan of his tracks
with Death and Testament and knowing of his production work. I
contacted him and he agreed to work with us, which was a big honour!
I was talking to him a few days ago actually about him possibly
mixing the next album.
Pete: Yeah, when you hear the name James Murphy you instantly think,
“Wow, this is some serious metal we’re in for.” For him to not only
want to work with us means he likes our material and for someone
like me who loves his work in Obituary and Disincarnate as well as
the others Rich mentioned is just a metal dream come true!
Who have you opened for? What have been some
of your more memorable shows so far?
Rich: We played the first Full Thrash Assault Festival along side
Evile and Pitiful Reign, which was cool. We’ve played hundreds of
shows across the UK and played with many great bands. Unfortunately,
we missed out on playing Bloodstock Open Air Unsigned this year,
despite having the most votes. Go figure! *
*since this interview took place, Warpath have now been confirmed
for Bloodstock - Steve
Have you played outside of the UK yet? If not
then do you plan to anytime in the near future?
Rich: We’re currently working with booking agencies to play our
first European shows later this year, with more planned for 2009.
We’re also looking into the possibility of playing in Japan, as we
have many Japanese fans and the album’s selling extremely well
there.
There has been a great deal of thrash bands
coming from different countries over the last few years. Why do you
think there are so many younger bands doing a style that was so
popular twenty some years ago?
Rich: Well, the whole predictable hardcore screaming and break down
patterns really are becoming stale (in my opinion) and the metal
scene is desperate for bands with killer riffs, fast drums,
blistering solos, etc. But, I also think that it’s become trendy to
play this style of music, so people are jumping on the bandwagon.
You tend to see many bands that used to be a hardcore band now
calling them selves ‘Thrash Metal’ which is amusing.
Pete: As much as I love thrash metal and it’s great seeing all these
bands popping up, it is becoming somewhat of a, like Rich said
“trend” to play fast, speedy, retro thrash, which is why I feel we
stand out so much, as our musical basis is so much more solid and
mature, instead of copying the latest craze.
Joel: Metal needs a fresh attack. Thrash is the one to do that! I’m
sick of hardcore and screamo bands classing themselves as Thrash.
Most of the music isn't even fast!
James: Seriously, how many people have seen kids on a stage having
massive tantrums? It wasn’t even good to start with. All true metal
fans are sick of massive labels signing these awful bands and TV is
full of them. I’ve been listening to metal for years and years and I
can only name a handful of bands that aren’t copying or ripping off
other bands and calling it their own.
Do you think thrash bands of today are doing
much different from the thrash bands of the 1980’s? If so, then how
are they different?
Rich: Some are, but most aren’t sadly. The ones that do are playing
with a more modern twist to it. Some are far faster than the 80’s
bands. We incorporate death metal drumming techniques (kick drum
patterns, blast beats, etc) into our songs to make it faster and
more interesting, plus the riffs I write are fairly tricky to play
rather than just standard E string tremolo picking! I think
production nowadays is much better and has far more impact than
before. I do think though that some of the new thrash bands are
blatantly ripping off many 80’s bands. There are a few I listen to,
where I don’t just think ‘That reminds me of Metallica and
Testament, wicked’ or ‘Cool, you can tell they’re inspired by
Exodus’, but I’ve actually found myself thinking or saying ‘What the
hell…that IS a Testament riff!’
We’re extremely pleased that we’re carving out our own sound, and
that reviewers are saying that we sound unique and stand out.
James: Writing the drums for Damnation was great. Rich’s face lit up
when I showed him the ideas. Mixing extreme metal drumming with old
school thrash made it sound awesome. We tried to avoid using a lot
of blast beats because it kills the thrash feel to the tracks,
everything is used at the right time and, with Rich’s input, we made
the drum tracks brutal. We see a lot of the hardcore bands using
blast beats that are played out of time and used all the time. It
sounds terrible. I’ve noticed a lot of the thrash bands of today are
going for this cartoon comic book image on their artwork; nuclear
waste, gasmasks, bullet belts, etc. I’m not a fan of this. We deal
with real life and things that affect everyone. |
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How
have you guys progressed since you first started out?
Rich: Well, we started out as I think every other band starts out,
recording on a tape player, writing as many songs as we could, but
nowadays we’re far more selective with material. We’re far better
musicians now than when we first started out, the song writing is
more complex, and of course the recording quality is better.
James: When I first joined Warpath in 2006, I learnt a lot about how
things work with writing and production. We don’t just slap together
a few riffs, drums and call it a track; we make sure everything fits
and works perfectly. When we do write a track, we spend hours trying
different things out and variations that fit, making sure each note
is perfect. I remember Pete recording the guitar solos for Damnation
and Rich with the rhythm & vocals, hours of takes until we found the
perfect ones.
In what areas do you think that you still need
to improve?
Rich: For me, I’m constantly striving to improve my rhythm guitar
playing and vocals. Although with vocals, you’ll never please
everyone. Some people love my vocal style and some people dislike
it. I just sing however I want. I refuse to sing ‘cookie monster’
vocals because I can’t stand that style; I think it’s ridiculous. I
have a few new things planned for the next album though!
James: Screaming vocals in thrash aren’t cool. Thrash was never
intended to sound that way. Drum wise, I will never consider myself
good enough. I want to get to the level where things considered
impossible are possible.
Pete: I am always trying to improve my playing in both rhythm and
lead departments and push myself the best I can as a musician.
Pick the band from each of the following
pair that you prefer and tell why.
Raven or Venom
Rich: I don’t like either band.
Pete: Raven…(the pack is back!)
Joel: Lay down your souls to the Gods of rock and roll! Venom wins
this one. They kind of shocked everyone when they came out and
that’s what’s cool about them.
Bolt Thrower or Onslaught
Rich: Bolt Thrower – Those Once Loyal kicks ass! Karl the vocalist
was really complimentary about Warpath too, which was ace. I do like
Onslaught as well though. I found out recently that I teach one of
their guitarist Andy’s students too. He has guitar lessons from both
of us.
Joel: They’re both really good bands. But I’d have to say the Bolt
Thrower riffs draw me in more.
Pete: BOLT THROWER!!! (Although I love Onslaught’s 1989 ‘In Search
Of Sanity’ and it is one of my favourite thrash albums, even though
a lot of people dislike it. The track “Welcome To Dying” rocks!)
Testament or Exodus
Rich: Testament all the way! Exodus have wicked songs, but Chuck’s
vocals win!
Joel: Testament! The songs are awesome and have some of the best
guitar solos I’ve heard.
Pete: TestAmenT.
Anthrax or Slayer
Rich: Slayer without a doubt.
Joel: Slayer are a band you can let all your anger flow with. Tom
Araya’s vocals impress me.
Pete: Umm neither, although if there was a gun at my head I would
probably say Slayer!
Is there anything else you would like to say
about your band or your music?
Rich: I’d like to thank everyone that has bought the album and our
merchandise for supporting us. It’s always appreciated. Keep
thrashing, and we’re looking forward to making new fans on tour!
Pete: We really appreciate everyone’s support so far and we can’t
wait to meet new fans on the road. Watch out for us, as we are only
going to get faster and way more technical! All the best & keep
rockin’!!
www.myspace.com/warpathuk
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