Spencer Chamberlain – Underøath ‘They’re Back Chasing Safety
Stop the presses! Underøath are coming back to Australia next February!
They’re finally back! After over three years of silence, Underøath have heard the fans loud and clear. The post-hardcore band from Florida have already been venturing out on a U.S. tour, playing to loads of excitable fans.
Of course, the band do not intend to leave Australia out of the mix and have just announced their ‘Rebirth’ tour for 2017. Not only will the band be touring the five usual major cities down under, but they will be smashing out not one, but two of their albums in their entirety!
The Used will also be coming to Australia with an interesting model: two consecutive nights of gigs in each city, playing alternating albums on both nights – I guess Underøath are upping the ante on this one.
Vocalist Spencer Chamberlain reckons the band is in fine form and at their absolute peak fitness to be on tour – and incredibly happy to be back together as a band. The two albums that Underøath will be playing back to back are no other than ‘Define the Great Line’ and ‘They’re Only Chasing Safety’.
“We came to realise that it was the ten year anniversary of the one album so we thought it would be cool to play it in full” – and they also remembered that they passed the opportunity of celebrating the other album from 2004. “We just planned on doing like one show, but it went so well and we didn’t want people to miss out so we just expanded it.”
It’s no surprise that playing two consecutive albums in one night is a feat in itself, but the band are ready to smash it. “We actually haven’t found it challenging at all, it’s really only two hours on stage, and as a vocalist it doesn’t really stress my body too much” – he just needs to ensure that his legs can keep up with his energy “because I do tend to get overexcited sometimes (he laughs)”.
Underøath took a significant break, with was heavily attributed to by the band needing an honest break from each other, the vocalist says. “We started this band in our teens when we all liked the same things, the same foods and everything – but of course we got older and we became different people and it made things hard”. Chamberlain discusses the small cliques that were forming in the band towards their break-up. “We just weren’t in it for the right reasons anymore, some of us were saying that we never wanted to play music anymore” so that’s when it was time to stop.”
Despite having matured as individuals and as a band in order to reunite, the front man doesn’t downplay the role of the fans whatsoever. “Fans were begging us to get back together from the moment we broke up, for like three and a half years straight.” Chamberlain was honoured for the band to be treated with such dedication and respect.
With every band reunion comes the hope that the band will not only revisit classics, but perhaps get back in the studio and reveal to fans where they’re at as musicians. Well, Chamberlain doesn’t reveal too much by not saying yes or no either way but does suggest to read between the lines.
“I’m not allowed to say exactly what we plan on doing, but just know that I am not the type of person to sit still and write no music, so I think that may help answer that one.”
So guys, pretty much new Underøath album in 2017 – diarise that shit!
The Christian singer has also been involved in some side-projects since Underøath pulled the plug, including highly successful outfit Sleepwave. The band released debut album ‘Broken Compass’ in 2014 and toured extensively, including the almighty Soundwave. Naturally though, the number of people who watched their performance would have been significantly less than your average Underøath show.
“It’s funny though, people always ask me what we think when there are smaller shows and it honestly doesn’t matter to us.” The band played Riot Fest in Florida recently but due to their disastrous weather, numbers were particularly low. “The thing is though, we don’t do it for the fame and for the large numbers, we do it because we love playing the music, whether it’s to 100 people or 100,000 people” – and it seems like they’re used to both, which is cool.
In terms of what Aussie fans can expect from the upcoming tour, Chamberlain reckons a legitimately honest performance. “We’re in our best shape yet, we play shows and I look around to see everyone having a good time and that’s what it’s all about.”
Make sure you don’t miss out and get your tickets soon!
Australian fans grab your tickets via www.tickets.destroyalllines.com next Monday, October 17 at 9am
Interview by Ricky Aarons (rickysaul90)
