Interview: Spencer Chamberlain from Underoath
Brace yourselves kids because this is not a drill! Hardcore post-hardcore giants Underoath are hitting our shores next year for the first time since their ‘split’ in 2013. The ‘Rebirth’ tour will showcase their two career-defining albums ‘They’re Only Chasing Safety’ and ‘Define The Great Line’ front-to-back in a series of explosive shows hardcore fans won’t want to miss. We caught up with luscious locks frontman Spencer Chamberlain who revealed the importance of this tour, why Underoath refuse to be labelled a ‘Christian band’, and how fans brought the sextet back together.
What are you most looking forward to about coming to Australia?
All of it! We love the cities in Australia, we love the beaches, we love the food, and we love the people. The shows, from what I remember, were always damn amazing…so we’re super looking forward to being back there. It’s the first stop for the world tour of the ‘Rebirth’ stuff we did earlier this year in America. We wanted to make sure we did it around the world before we moved on to anything else.
The farewell in the first couple weeks of 2013 was so short. I especially felt bad no one really had the chance to see it. Luckily enough the band somehow managed to find it’s way back together. One of the first conversations after fixing everything and getting the US tour started was to make sure we gave every country who supports our band an equal opportunity to see this tour. It’s so special, man!
We’re definitely not going to be one of those bands who do tonnes of album tours and every other year some sort of anniversary thing. But the 10 year Anniversary of ‘Define the Great Line’ was the reason we started talking in the first place again and we hated the idea of missing the 10 year anniversary of ‘They’re Only Chasing Safety’ so we decided to plan both. We’re very excited to be able to share this special tour with all of our fans!
As ‘Define The Great Line’ and ‘They’re Only Chasing Safety’ were the first two albums you recorded with the band, how would you describe each one and what they mean to you?
They’re super important! ‘They’re Only Chasing Safety’ was the album that broke the band out. No one really heard of us before we made that record. We were touring and playing next to no one. We were kids and had no idea what we were doing and no one knew what to do with us. Music like us wasn’t on the scene so it was very DIY, based on shows in VFW halls…the world’s worst venues.
We made a record and then got on Warped Tour, but we were the only heavy band. All the bands hated us or hated our style of music and used to pick on us. We had something to say and just did it and it started to pay off. Halfway through that cycle the band really connected but we weren’t completely happy yet so we started writing ‘Define The Great Line.’
We were planning songs faster, it was aggressive, there was a lot more drugs to it, a lot more grit, and it was pretty violent. We just went in to make the record we felt was more us and ‘Define The Great Line’ is very important to our career and to me personally. It was a huge step forward for the band and it was a bold move, I mean it was a big turning point in all of our lives!
How would you describe an Underoath show in a nutshell?
An Underoath show is an audio-visual experiment, and to me it’s just a place where everyone can release. I see the people in the crowd putting as much into it as the band and that’s huge for me, it’s a beautiful thing! you might have to watch it back and you might get hurt but it’s just good wholesome energy.
In the past there has been some debate as to whether or not you’re a ‘Christian band.’ How would you define Underoath in terms of this belief?
We’re not a Christian band at all! We started out as one and it was a group of dudes who had similar beliefs but we never wrote Christian songs except for maybe one, which is Some Will Seek Forgiveness, Others Escape from ‘They’re Only Chasing Safety’. But every other song was never anything like that. They were about being human, struggling, things I went through and things happening around me. People get pissed off if I say that or they always point the finger at me, which is fine. I’m fine to take the blame or whatever.
Everyone in the band has their own identity and their own morals and beliefs, people go in and out of things and struggle. Some dudes believe the same thing they did 12-13 years ago and others don’t. Part of the break-up of this band was holding people to things they didn’t feel anymore and that’s a super unfair thing to do, especially if you’re a Christian…to force someone to do something they don’t feel is right. The band let go of all that.
Once you plant the word ‘Christian’ you’ve shut off half the world who doesn’t believe in the same thing you do and it has nothing to do with music, especially if your lyrics aren’t about it. Why would you ever alienate someone based off religious beliefs when it comes to music, which should be complete freedom? I know more people who felt closer to God listening to a Nine Inch Nails song than they have a worship song. Just be yourself and write about what you want to write about. People will connect to it if it’s honest, y’know?
Is a new Underoath album on the cards in the near future?
Umm…I’m not allowed to talk about that right now (laughs).
Fair enough but it sounds very mysterious…
Yeah, we’ve always been that way a little bit. All I can say is Underoath has never thrown stuff together. We put a lot into everything we do including the thoughts around touring and albums especially. Just know the band’s back together and we’re not sitting around doing nothing. If that answers your question or not, that’s up for you to interpret (laughs).
The band has undergone a lot of transformations over the years, but what is essentially the heart of Underoath?
The heart of Underoath is our friendship. We grew so far apart and burnt this thing all the way down to ashes. We somehow managed to find the foundation of this building we’d burnt and rebuild it and remodel it to work better. It’s like when you remodel a house, the foundation may have been there since 1920 but the inside is all new. Everything just makes a lot more sense with the new floor plan, y’know? That’s Underoath.
Once people stop getting along, you can feel it in the audience. It’s something to be said for seeing Underoath now than before because there’s something you cannot teach or fake and that’s chemistry. Underoath has it now and maybe possibly for the first time ever. You will see it when you come see us play in Australia. It’s a whole new thing and it’s like wow! Every kid who comes to talk to us say it’s the best they’ve ever seen us by far!
We love each other again, we’re best friends again. That chemistry comes from respect and love and also respect and love for what we do. It’s been a long time since everyone’s wanted to be on stage together, so yeah, I would say friendship is the core.
What does the next few years hold for Underoath?
You’re looking at it! We’re gonna be touring and we’re not going away again. This isn’t a money grab and it isn’t an anniversary tour and ‘sit on your ass’ kind of thing. This band is working on Underoath 2.0. The words ‘Rebirth’ are very true. It’s a new mentality, a new way of working on the band, and making sure it’s healthy and stays alive.
This isn’t going to be the last time we come to Australia. I wouldn’t recommend missing this because it’s the only time you’ll be able to see ‘They’re Only Chasing Safety’ and ‘Define The Great Line’ front-to-back, but I think there’s a lot of plans to keep this thing moving.
Lastly, do you have a message for your Aussie fans?
Yeah absolutely! I want to thank them for still sticking by our side through all this stuff. It’s like watching reality TV when the family implodes and this guy’s on drugs and that guy’s doing this. A lot of sh*t went down over the years but they never lost faith in us even when we lost faith in ourselves.
Our fans were constantly begging us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram saying “Bring Underoath back,” “Bring Underoath back to Australia,” “We wanna see more,” “Every day we miss Underoath”. We definitely saw that stuff and eventually we started to talk because of it. We affected a lot of people but we just ignored it because we were too proud to forgive each other. We were too stubborn to have conversations and accept when we were wrong and accept apologies when we were right.
I really just want to thank the fans because they are the key ingredient to having this band be a band again. They also completely changed my life. I was looking at my life from 2013 forward as no longer being the guy in Underoath. I don’t get to play those songs anymore, I don’t get to work on another Underoath record. Now with the help of all my friends and our fans I can honestly say I don’t have to live my life that way anymore. Our fans are definitely a huge part of this, that’s why we’re taking this ‘Rebirth’ tour everywhere!
2017 Australian ‘Rebirth’ Tour
FRI 10 FEB
Eatons Hill, Brisbane
SAT 11 FEB
Enmore Theatre, Sydney
SUN 12 FEB
170 Russell, Melbourne
WED 15 FEB
The Gov, Adelaide
THU 16 FEB
Metropolis, Fremantle
Get Tickets HERE
