Interview Trevor Phipps Unearth

THICK AS THIEVES TOUR Atreyu UNEARTH Norma Jean Scars Of Tomorrow 3/13/05 HOB Interviewer: Sharita Lumpkin Photos: Kimisha L. Pierce

Lineup: Trevor Phipps - Vocals Ken Susi - Guitar Buzz Mcgrath - Guitar John "Slo" Maggard - Bass Mike Justian - Drums

"You need to break out of the everyday mold and do something fun to spice up your life because if you don't you're gonna live a boring life and what's the point?"

Trevor obviously has the job of motivational speaker well under his belt, and why not? He not only fronts one of the best young bands in hardcore, Unearth, he also runs his own label, Ironclad! A lot of responsibility for a 27 year old but he seems to handle it very well. His band is currently on tour in direct support of Atreyu on this tour and telling from the reaction of the crowd, they probably should think about headlining again very soon. Since Trevor was gracious enough to grant us a record fourth interview, I tried to ask him questions that maybe Unearth fans would ask, such as his thoughts on the Superbowl, who else he has signed to Ironclad, as well as the bands tour plans for 2005. Ken Susi also makes a comment in this interview. Enjoy!

Sharita: Have you signed any other bands to Ironclad?

Trevor: I signed a band called the Classic Struggle, they're out of South Carolina. They're just a straight up metal band, no hardcore in them. I should release their album in July or August. They're Killer!

Sharita: I just talked to Ken about starting his own label and he said no, there is too much pressure, too much work trying to keep bands together, have you experienced any of those problems?

Trevor: Yeah, the first band I signed called Rise Over Run, they've broken up and gotten back together three times. (Chuckles) They're currently back together. It's weird. It's an up and down cycle with bands 'cause its tough to tour especially with metal and hardcore there is no guarantee that you're gonna make enough to pay your bills and they're from Canada.

Kimisha: That's why.

Trevor: And it's tough...that's funny (we all laugh) No. It's tough for them to cross the border as it is and they wonder if they have some kind of criminal record. So, the US border patrol won't let them through. The US border patrol and the Canadian border patrol are equally as hard, they won't let bands through unless they are totally legit, upstanding citizens. So, that's why that band has broken up so many times but I'm hoping this time they're back in it for good. The other 3 bands are pretty solid. It's fun man, I like it so far; It's a hobby and a job at the same time.

Sharita: Ok cool. With Unearth on the road so much, when do you have time to take care of Ironclad? Do you take a few weeks of in between or do you do it mostly while you're on the road?

Trevor: Well, I signed a pressing and distribution deal through Metal Blade, so I have the same distro as Metal Blade and they do a lot of the calling of record stores and doing the behind the scenes work. I still do a ton and run the label. When I'm gone on the road, my girlfriend ships online orders and stuff like that. I also have a blackberry and that gives me access to a phone and email all the time, so I can keep up with everything; so it's not like I'm handcuffed. It's helps people like me and Jamey Jasta, that runs Stillborn Records, and Guy from The Red Chord also runs Black Market Activities, so we can still tour and do the label at the same time. So that's cool.

Sharita: Ok, so Ken told us that you guys are doing Sounds Of The Underground Tour and are you also doing New England Hardcore Fest?

Trevor: Yeah, we're main support for Hatebreed on Friday, [April] 22nd, so it's Obituary, us and then Hatebreed. So we're part of the final 3 bands that day, its gonna be killer. It's funny because we all listened to Obituary growing up so, playing after them is an honor, just playing with them is an honor. So, it's gonna be a good time. Then,  the very next day we fly to California and do a show and then the day after that we fly out to start our Australia and Japanese tour. Those are places that we've looked forward to go to since we started the band six years ago. Can't wait for that, so that's gonna be fun. Then we go to Europe with Lamb Of God and Every Time I Die in July, that's gonna be fun as hell! (smiles) Then, the Sounds of The Underground Tour this summer.
Pretty nonstop.

Sharita: Yeah, I see. Have you guys started writing for the follow-up to The Oncoming Storm?

Trevor: We have some ideas and some riffs, stuff that we've worked on together but it's definitely nothing that we can come to the table with and say this is part of our new record. We're so busy on the road and The Oncoming Storm only came out eight and a half months ago so, there's no real rush to write and record a new [album]. Probably sometime in 2006, well have a new record, for right now we just want to tour on this one because we feel we wrote a really good one and show it to as many people as we can.

Sharita: Ok, cool. Let's talk about the new video that just came out, "Zombie Autopilot". Who directed it and who came up with the concept of the video?

Trevor: Greg Kaplan is the director and the concept is based on actual lyrics of the song. A couple of years ago I saw a movie called Waking Life, it's an independent film. It's about a guy who dies but actually doesn't know he dies, comes from dream state, and he's constantly searching through everyday life in his dreams. I mean, he's still going to work, doing the daily grind, he's not getting out of his rut. There's this one scene where he's coming out of the subway from work and a girl passes him and they look at each other and she's coming down, he's going up, they stop and she says why don't we at least say hi to each other, because they just looked and that's how most people are. So she mentions, it seems like most people are in a state of a "Zombie Autopilot". I mean, you just go to work, you do the same shit every fuckin day because it's easy to get in that rut. We all have to work and we're lucky we're in a rock band and that's what we do but before that we all went to work and we're in our mid to late 20's, so we had real jobs for a long time. You need to break out of the everyday mold and do something fun to spice up your life because if you don't you're gonna live a boring life and what's the point [of that]? So just go up there and live your life and break out of it, do something fun. That the basics of the song.

Sharita: Cool, I definitely agree. As far as this tour goes, are you big fans of these bands?

Trevor: Yeah, we are friends with them already. I mean, Scars Of Tomorrow, this is the first time we've toured with them and they are all cool as hell. Norma Jean, this is the first time we've toured with them as well, and they are cool also. Atreyu, we've toured with them before, and it's fun man. When bands are cool on the road, it just makes the experience better. It's a very diverse tour, every band has their own thing it's not like we're all doing the same style of music and we're all having fun everyday, hangin' out with each other, doin' stuff, and rollin' dice. (laughs)

Sharita: (laughs) Cool, in watching your set I see that the fans really love Unearth and you really connect with the fans, do you think the fans have changed since the beginning?

Trevor: Oh, I mean, because of the tours we're doing we're seeing like an expansion of our fanbase, different from Ozzfest obviously because it was a totally different crowd and we grew up in the metal hardcore underground. When we did a tour like Ozzfest, a lot of different people come out to see us. Still our old fans come out, it's not like we're sellin' out and writin' pop songs, were still writing the same hard songs, so our old fans still come to the shows. We get a good mix at the shows and it's fun as hell everyday, I mean kids sing along, they crowd surf and mosh. They told us no crowd surfing and that's bullshit, I kind of hate the HOB rules [regarding] that. Every night I've called for crowd surfin' and they told us, (changes voice) you can't do that or the show will be shut down. So, I kind of want to make it happen but I don't want to fuck Atreyu.

Sharita: Ok, cool. Let me ask you a couple of interesting questions. In talking about the election, when I interviewed Phil [LaBonte] from All That Remains again a couple of months ago, he said he was happy with the election and said he was a conservative, how about you, what are your thoughts?

Trevor: Really, I didn't know that. Maybe he had a more fortunate upbringing then. I definitely sway more to the left, I'm a democratic supporter as you can tell with the lyrics on the record. America voted and Bush won by 3 million votes, it was really close, but apparently people think that he should be President. I don't agree with it, but I can't do anything about it now except sing the songs that I wrote. I mean, what's going on right now is wrong and will eventually lead to [but] hopefully not a devastating end. [I feel] it's something that is not as great as what was happening when Clinton was in office. Even swing music came back in the late 90's because Clinton was doing something right, almost everybody had money and the overall state of America was good because almost everyone was in a better mood. Now, metal has become big again because George Bush is in office. Metal was big when  Regan and the first Bush we're in office because everyone was pissed off, angry, and wanted to change but enough people wanted that change.

Sharita: The death of Dime shocked everybody, where we're you when that happened?

Trevor: I was at my apartment and it happened about 10:30 at night and I didn't find out until about 12:30 am.

Ken Susi: Shut up! Interview's over!!!!!

Sharita: (laughs) It just started! 

Trevor: (shakes head) All right, restart that question. Um, I was in my bed and the phone was ringing a bunch of times, I was like c'mon man I'm in my bed, it's 12:30, who the hell is callin' me right now. Caller ID says it was Ken and then my cell phone started blowing up, then he texted me. I was like, what the hell is going on. Then, Ken called 1 more time and I was like fuck it I'll just answer the phone, then he told me and I didn't believe him, cause about a year and a half ago, there were as 2 pretty legit websites that had Britney Spears committing suicide and Eminem dying in a car crash, but it was all untrue. So, I didn't believe it at first. Then, I just got more and more calls and then it was like on real news and...(pauses) I'm 27 and I've had relatives die, this was the most devastating thing to happen in my life other than when my cousin died in a car crash. I'm very fortunate that I haven't had to deal with much in my life. He was a friend, he was influence on me, my band, and the whole entire metal/hardcore community and it's something that we will never get over, he will definitely be missed.

Sharita: Very true. What about the Superbowl, are you a big fan of football?

Trevor: Yeah, I am. It's actually my favorite sport. I'm a diehard baseball fan. Red Sox fan...

Sharita: What team, the Red Sox? Of course. (laughs)

Trevor: (laughs) Of course! (smiles) So that was somethin' we celebrated this year for the first time in my life and the first time in my fathers lifetime. We were on tour unfortunately when it happened, I mean, the tour was amazing but I wish I was home for it. That was amazing. But the Patriots, yeah that was killer, 3 times in 4 years you can't complain, you know? They've become a dynasty and its a dream come true for any sports fan, but I was more excited about the Red Sox.

Sharita: Great, I wanted to ask you about the fans when they take their loyalty to another level and do stuff like invade another person's privacy over a disagreement, (see On Our Soapbox for the full story) does that put a damper on what you do?

Trevor:  I think the majority of people are good at heart, I mean just to bring back the Dimebag thing he was loved by everybody, I had never heard anybody say a bad thing about him. There was just one psychopath out there that wanted him dead and so that's human nature. Bringing it back to the computer thing, it's just a lesson that people aren't gonna be right in the head there's really nothing that you can do about it but just deal with it and hope that it doesn't happen again.  It's a shitty thing to deal with but it's human nature. I wish it didn't happened, but again some people aren't right.

Sharita: Very true.

Trevor: Since Dime died, there has been better security I mean, there was a guy tonight that was waving us down with a wand even though we had passes to get in. That's cool and comforting to know that but not every place has that.

Sharita: Yeah, just a side note a place that is here in Chicago that you...(Ken comes and dives across Kimisha's lap into Trevor's) (laughs) uh, you played with Remembering Never.

Trevor: Yeah, we took them on tour back in October.

Sharita: (Trying hard to regain my thoughts) Right. Does it bother you when places don't have detectors or wands while they are letting people in?

Trevor: I mean, we grew up playing basements and VFW's but, since that happened yeah. There is a certain level of uneasiness, but you try not to think about it. Once in a while it will happen where you feel a little uneasy about things but you try to give people the respect that they are good people and that's not gonna happen. That was an isolated thing that I don't think has ever happened in the history of rock 'n' roll where someone was actually killed on stage and I hope it never happens again. I wish it never happened, but it did. It's gonna be in the back of our heads forever! I love when people stage dive, I call for it but when someone gets right up on ya' there is a certain level of uneasiness but I just embrace it and hope everybody is good, look within people and hope there are not psychopaths out there like that fucker.

Sharita: What do you see yourself doing, 10 or 15 years down the line after Unearth is done?

Trevor: I love music and I hope I'm always involved in music. I hope that the band would be around for a long time and be an eternal band like a Slayer or Black Sabbath, someone that people can always relate to and come see no matter what. If that doesn't happen, it's cool, we're having fun right now. If it ends tomorrow, I would be happy as hell at what we've done. Hopefully, I will run Ironclad, if not I will try my best to do anything in music that I can. I mean I love music so, I'm having fun.

Sharita: Ok, great. Thanks so much again, Trevor. I really appreciate your time.

Trevor: I appreciate the interview, see you in July!

Thanks to Trevor, for his 4th FourteenG interview, which is an all-time record in our short history! Click here for Ken Susi's interview.

1. Click here for Part I when Trevor was on the first Headbangers Ball Tour.

2. Trevor's follow up interview with Erika Kristen.

3. Trevor on Ozzfest 2004 with Karma E.

4. Click here for photos from tonight's show.

5. NEW interview with Trevor in support of their 2006 release, III: In the Eyes of Fire!

And if you are feeling the need to read more after tackling all of the interviews, check out the review for Dime's Memorial.