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- Warpath
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- Warpath have been blazing a bright
and fearsome trail across the UK metal scene in the past few months, picking up the much
vaunted ‘Best Unsigned Act’ in the annual Terrorizer Readers’ Poll, and
unleashing a monster of an album in the form of "Damnation". Although
they show absolutely no signs of slowing down, with performances, promotions and products
planned for the rest of the year, they remain refreshingly down-to-earth, and have the
kind of home-grown, no-nonsense attitude that sits best with their traditional thrash
leanings. I had the good fortune to be able to interrogate Rich and Pete about the latest
developments in the Warpath camp.
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Hail Warpath, how are you
doing?
Rich: Hey, we’re very well
thanks, busy promoting the album!
Pete: Hello.
For the sake of such readers that
haven’t stumbled upon your name in recent months, can you introduce the band and give
us a sketch of your history?
Rich: Sure. Warpath is a UK based
Heavy / Thrash metal band. We formed in 2003, and after a few years of gigging and
releasing an EP, we released our first full-length album "Damnation" in
May 2008. The album was mixed by Orlando Villasenor at Kevin Talley’s studio USA
(DAATH, Chimaira) and mastered by the ex-Testament and Death lead guitarist James Murphy.
We also filmed a music video for the album’s title track, which has now reached No.1
on Scuzz TV.
Warpath’s musical approach is a
furious brand of thrash, a genre that has seen an enormous resurgence in recent times. Is
the great interest in thrash a positive thing, or is there a danger of being lumped in
with less creative bands on the bandwagon? What qualities would you say Warpath have that
make them stand heads above the others?
Rich: It’s great to see so many
people getting back into thrash and the genre starting to re-emerge but it’s also
predictable to see many hardcore and screamo bands now calling themselves thrash.
They’re the kind of bands that will change their style, and usually their haircut,
every month to try desperately to fit in with the latest trend. We stand above them
because we play uncompromising, no-bullshit real thrash metal and we don’t give a
fuck about the latest trends.
Pete: I have to say the recent wave
of thrash metal bands popping up is becoming quite tedious in itself. There are so many
thrash bands out there singing about the usual mutants, zombies, bombs & beer
it’s becoming hard to tell them all apart. Warpath is a completely different story
and you can hear in our music and lyrics just how serious we are.
What is it about thrash metal that so
captures your imagination? What bands had the biggest impact on you when you were first
discovering metal as younger men?
Rich: Thrash is a great style to play
if you’re a particularly angry person, but it also requires a lot of precision and
skill. It’s a great mix. It allows me personally to vent a lot of anger. The bands
that had the biggest impact on me I’d say were Megadeth, Testament, Metallica and
Death. Great bands! Megadeth and Metallica in particular; they play extremely fast, heavy,
complex music as well as making it catchy. Good song writing.
Pete: I think the whole attitude of
metal in general is an angry and pissed off one regardless of what genre you fall under.
The fact Warpath is a very fast, technical and aggressive sounding band just shows how
angry and pissed off we are at everything! Annihilator, Eidolon and Megadeth have always
been my biggest thrash influences, and so have Flotsam And Jetsam who are in my eyes the
most under-rated thrash band in the world!
In 2008 you released your debut
full-length, "Damnation", which met with much acclaim. Were you pleased
with the result and the response? Is there anything you would have liked to have done
differently?
Rich: We were totally blown away with
the response to "Damnation". The fans have gone crazy for it and the
magazines/webzines have given us superb reviews. Many magazines have rated it higher than
Metallica and Testament’s new releases, our idols, so that’s a hell of an honour
for us. The record just came in at number one most added on radio stations in the USA so
we must be doing something right! I can’t think of anything I would have done
differently.
Pete: There are a few guitar harmony
parts and rhythm changes we do live to add awesome dynamics into the set that we
don’t do on the album. But you have to see us live to see what I mean.
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Was there a lot of
development in your skills and approach between "Damnation" and your
first EP, "Cataclysm"? Are you constantly improving, or have you found a
groove where you’re happy?
Rich: The band is entirely different
now to the line up that recorded Cataclysm and that’s definitely evident on the
record. My song writing improved dramatically after Cataclysm and when James joined on
drums I could play at the speed I originally envisaged for the band. We’re constantly
rehearsing and improving. I don’t know if we’ll ever find a standard that
we’re content to stick with because as musicians, we’re always looking to
improve, to keep challenging ourselves. We’ll never just settle.
Who was your artist for "Damnation’s"
cover? Were you pleased with the results when you first saw the final product?
Rich: The artist is Lee Gaskins from
the USA. He did an awesome job on the artwork and has continued to support us. He added a
hell of a lot to the artwork that I never would have thought of. I’m really looking
forward to working with Lee again on the next album. Be sure to check out his other
artwork on his website. And he’s an Evil Dead fan too which is great!
Pete: The first time I saw the "Damnation"
artwork I was blown away, it still has the same affect on me today.
How does the song-writing process
work in Warpath? Do you each bring separate ideas or does one person take sole
responsibility? Do you work in intense bursts or steadily over a long period of time?
Rich: I was the sole songwriter for
the "Damnation" album, besides the bass solo in "Infernal",
which was written by our previous bassist Gareth Allen. It took around a month to write
the album. I spent the month at home, writing solidly. I didn’t take a full day off
until it was finished. Then James and I spent a few weeks jamming the songs solidly,
perfecting them. That’s how it’s worked so far, usually I’ll come up with a
few riffs, work it into a rough song format then James and I will jam it out with drums
and guitars and finalise it. Lyrics and solos are the last things to be added. Pete wrote
all of the solos for "Damnation" other than "Hostile
Takeover", which was one of the main reasons I asked him to join full time. His
solos are awesome.
Lyrically, thrash has traditionally
been able to switch between fun and social comment; are lyrics an important feature for
Warpath?
Rich: Yeah lyrics are definitely an
important feature for the band. We’re not one of the ‘jokey’ kind of thrash
bands. We don’t sing about partying, nuclear waste or any of that stuff. Not our
style. I think a lot of our anger is reflected in the lyrics and ferocity of the music.
Not uncommonly for a UK act of a few
years’ standing, you could make a whole other band out of your ex-members… is
the line-up you have now a secure and creatively positive set-up?
Rich: Hah ha yeah you could make
another band out of it, though as far as I’m aware none of them have bothered to. The
line-up now is great. I’m working with extremely talented, like-minded musicians that
work as hard as I do every day to push the band forward.
At the end of 2008 you were announced
as Terrorizer magazine’s Unsigned Act of the year; where were you when you discovered
the good news, and what was your reaction?
Rich: I was at home in December
chilling out over the Christmas Holidays when I found out from Ian Webster at Terrorizer,
who also reviewed the album. It didn’t really sink in properly the first time I read
it but when I saw the announcement printed in Terrorizer I was ecstatic. James, Pete and I
were driving back with my dad and we went and picked up our copies of the magazine from
the shop. Great moment!
Pete: When we found out, words
couldn’t describe what we were feeling and when we actually saw the article in the
magazine, actually holding it in our hands we went crazy! I’m sure passers by must
have thought wild animals were loose in the car! A really wonderful feeling, a real sense
of accomplishment!
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Although it’s a great
accolade, it’s also probably a status you would ideally like to be transient! Have
you had a lot of label interest since the release of "Damnation"? What
kind of organisation are you looking to sign with?
Rich: We’ve had interest shown
in us from one of the major metal labels and apart from that a few smaller indie labels.
The kind of organisation we’re looking to sign with is a record label that will work
as hard as we do and keep the fans interests as a high priority. It has to be something
long term. We don’t want just a one hit wonder. We’ll see what happens.
Vox populi spoke in your
favour earlier in the year as well, when Scuzz viewers voted you onto the Bloodstock
line-up. Do you think the massively increased exposure bands can gain these days from the
net and from music television genuinely gives fans a wider choice and better knowledge?
Rich: Definitely. We have people
supporting us from across the other side of the world. That wouldn’t be possible
without the Internet. Well it might, but it would take a lot longer. Nowadays, people
thousands of miles away can hear you instantly. But that can also be a bad thing. People
can just as easily steal, sorry, ‘download’ your music for free. It has
positives and negatives.
How was the Bloodstock experience?
Did you enjoy playing for such an immense crowd, or are intimate gigs more your style?
Rich: Bloodstock was a great
experience and we certainly learnt a lot. We enjoyed playing for a bigger crowd. Small
gigs are fun but we want to play to thousands of people each night. Who wouldn’t?
Pete: Exactly. Bloodstock was a big
learning curve for us and we got fantastic feedback after the show.
You’re off on quite an extensive
UK jaunt in April, with Evile; is touring an integral part of the band’s existence or
do you like to be very selective with where you play? Are you looking forward to this
particular set of outings?
Rich: We’re selective at the
moment. As we’re unsigned and have no backing from a label, we have to be selective
for now. We’re excited to be playing the tour with Evile, we’ve known them for a
few years so it should be good and we get to play new places.
What can we expect from Warpath later
on in the year? Are you working on new material, or planning further appearances?
Rich: After the tour we’re going
to continue promoting the album until the end of this year with interviews, more radio
airplay and more magazine appearances. We’ll have a whole new range of merchandise in
the summer, including full colour "Damnation" artwork T-Shirts, hoodies,
patches etc. We have a few festival appearances confirmed, including Metal Fest UK with
Blaze Bayley (ex Iron Maiden). Towards the end of the summer we’ll be filming our
second music video, for the track "Life Unworthy of Life". We plan on
releasing a DVD in December featuring the two music videos, tour footage, fan footage,
recording footage, photos and maybe a sneak peek at some of the new album’s material.
We’ll start working on a new album early next year.
Long-term, what are the band’s
ambitions? Are there any specific goals or timeframes that you have set for yourselves, or
is the plan to continue to have fun for as long as possible?
Rich: We’ll continue as we are
until we can work with a decent label. We’re aiming to have a new album out early
next year, two years after "Damnation" was released.
Thanks very much for taking the time
to talk with us; we wish you all the best! If you have any further messages for the world,
please go ahead:
Rich: No problem, thank you for
taking the time to write the questions, we really appreciate it! Cheers to everyone that
reads this and to everyone that supports us, you rule! See you on tour!
Pete: Yes, thanks for some awesome
questions. Keep rockin’! \m/
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