Spencer Chamberlain & Aaron Gillespie - Underoath 'Their Most Exciting Frontier Yet'

For Underoath, ‘The Place After This One’ might be their most exciting frontier yet.

Ahead of their Melbourne show celebrating the 20-year anniversary of They’re Only Chasing Safety, we sat down with Spencer Chamberlain and Aaron Gillespie as they open up on the making of their tenth studio album The Place After This One, set for release on March 28 via MNRK Heavy.

Underoath are living in two worlds at once in 2025 – one foot planted firmly in the past, the other charging full-speed into the future.

As they prepare to close the curtain on their massiveanniversary tour – the genre-defining masterpiece that set the foundations for an undeniable legacy – Underoath are ready to unleash their boldest, most ambitious album yet. That’s a hell of a claim from a band ten albums and two decades deep, but as artists renowned for pushing the boundaries further, they’ve never been ones to play it safe. And on The Place After This One, safety is nowhere to be found.

“We wanted to stir the pot. We knew that it would drive some people crazy, piss some people off, and really stoke some other people out.” That’s the way vocalist Spencer Chamberlain describes the band’s decision to kickstart chapter 10 with ‘Teeth’ – an experimental, warping mesh of electro-pop, industrial sounds, and explosive rock fury that saw the five-piece diving into exciting, new territory. Even for them.

The track sparked a polarising reaction, with some hailing it as proof of Underoath's forward-thinking creativity, while others weren’t convinced by the new direction. But for the band, and particularly vocalist and drummer Aaron Gillespie, he knew Underoath had struck gold. “‘Teeth’ was the last song we made and I knew it should be the first one. Because it's so odd. The day we wrote it, I said this should be the first song we release. It's my favourite on the album.”

Spencer continues, “When you listen to [the album] in order, it really makes sense. But pulling it out and being like, ‘that's your first taste’, is wild. Still, even for me to think about. And I love that it was the choice that we made. We stood by it and we intentionally stirred the pot in that way.”

And ‘Teeth’ is just the beginning. Whether they are reckoning with their perception of their faith, confronting the demons of their past addictions, crafting a guttural rallying cry, or acknowledging past hurt while refusing to let it define them – The Place After This One finds Underoath more unified and locked than ever before. It’s a reflection of everything they’ve experienced, but also a glimpse of where they’re headed next.

But it wasn’t a linear path to get here – of course there have been shared successes over the last twenty years, but there have also been weighty expectations, shattered relationships, and reconciliations, each moment stitched into the frantic, gripping, and vulnerable intensity that echoes throughout The Place After This One.

In the past both Spencer and Aaron have created in the midst of turmoil, but part of this record’s raw vulnerability and honesty lies in the fact that, for the first time, they were writing with hindsight and clarity, the kind you can only have when you’re on the other side of the storm.

“You've got to get to the next square. And I think you have to live through the square before that to get to the next one,” Aaron muses.

“It's all part of the journey,” Spencer continues. “Everything we write about is real. The best thing about this is looking back on stuff and writing about it from the other side. The clear-headed perspective of writing as opposed to writing while you're in it is a totally different ballgame.

Looking at that last decade, for sure you would love to not have suffered through some of that stuff, but I don't know where we'd be if we didn't. As individuals and as a band.”

This is Underoath in the pursuit of something groundbreaking – music that leaves a lasting impact on listeners. But most importantly, that resonates deeply within themselves. It’s a place they could only get to together, operating as a unified force. 

But after decades of making music side by side, their dynamic has inevitably shifted. Now in their 40s, with families and responsibilities outside the band, their approach to collaboration has evolved. More than ever, it’s about making sure everyone is on the same page – both creatively and personally. If a song gets all five of them genuinely excited, they know they’re on the right track. Fuelled by the drive of new ideas, The Place After This One is a testament to that collective vision.

“It's hard for us all to get on the same page. Really, really hard,” Spencer says. “It's a very small space. Getting us all to be stoked on a song is hard. And I think the only way to do that is to create something exciting for us. And exciting is new.”

“The way I see it, if the five of us are into it, that's a pretty big feat,” Aaron continues. “Because you have five people who are very opinionated. And have ideas on how they think things should and shouldn't be. So, if you make it past the five of us, I'm like, this is as good as it's going to get.”

It also meant that this time around, Spencer and Aaron opened up the vulnerable songwriting process to the other members of the band.

“It made things easier to talk about. I think that's really what was opening the doors for everyone to communicate on every aspect of the band,” Spencer says. “We can sit there and dissect a guitar riff over and over and over again, because we all play guitar. We should be able to do the same thing with lyrics. So by opening that door and inviting everyone to be a part of our lyric writing process, whether they contribute a word or nothing, or a whole verse, just being open with it. It allowed it to be way less hard to talk about if someone wasn’t stoked on something. It made a huge difference.”

The creative process behind The Place After This One wasn’t just about pushing sonic boundaries, it was about finding the right headspace to create something truly meaningful. For Aaron, that meant stepping away from the noise of everyday life. "We rented a cabin, it was a really special time," he recalls. “I think that it’s hard to make music now because of the way people consume it. So when you’re making it, you’re wondering the whole time, ‘Hey, what’s this going to be received like?’ But if you can get out of that headspace, that’s when the real great stuff is made."

With producer Danen Rector (Boys Like Girls, Grayscale, Charlotte Sands) at the helm, the album’s recording sessions took place in the stunning surrounds of the Blue Ridge Mountains, an untouched gem where fresh air and peaceful isolation provided the perfect backdrop for sonic experimentation. In this secluded space, the band had the freedom to focus on what mattered most – making music that felt authentic, without worrying about outside pressures. “If you’re making a whole project, not just a song, I prefer that,” Aaron says. “Even if you’re in the middle of a city, how do you make it isolated? I think for us the answer is we’ve got to get away from everything that pulls us away from the music, which is quite honestly our families and children. You’ve got to step out of that whole thing."

The decision paid off, resulting in a collective magic that Spencer hasn’t felt since the five-piece were in the studio creating their seminal 2006 full-length, Define The Great Line.

“It's not that I'm not proud of the shit that we've done before,” he says. “I think every record is us at our best at that particular moment in time. And I think that this particular process of Underoath was in a really good spot when we made it. Between the members, and our personal lives, and creating in a good headspace.

“Maybe that's the parallel that I draw in my mind. With They’re Only Chasing Safety, there was no pressure. No one knew who we were, we were boys, and we were just trying to make something that sounded cool. On Define The Great Line we had a purpose. We wanted to make music that felt like how we sounded live, and we had a vision. And when we heard that back, I felt really moved by it, by something that we created. Every record since, I'm proud of. But I haven't felt this moved. In life, you go up and down, and I think while we were recording this record we were up here, and it was a good spot for us to be in and we captured it.”

As adults, the relationship Underoath has with music has evolved. For Aaron, who founded the band as a teenager, the experience was a unique form of personal growth. “I think you grow up slower and quicker at the same time,” he shares. “You kind of live on your own in a way, young, but you also don’t have any real responsibilities at first. Then you get them, and you have to figure out how to do that through the lens of this life that you led with your friends, which was in a van and then later in a bus with someone telling you where to go and what time. All those things, they weigh on you. You have to learn how to be an adult.”

No matter what has changed, Aaron and Spencer’s drive to create art that excites them has stayed the same. “We make this music for each other,” Spencer explains. “We look around the room, and the song is not coming out if we’re all not stoked. That’s all it is. It’s just the five of us being like, ‘That fucking rules.’ Otherwise, what are we doing? ​​This far into your career, why release something that doesn’t excite you?”

Aaron adds, “Think about the music you grew up with. It's locked in a place in time in your mind. And I think there's a lot of our music, thankfully, for people, that is locked in a place in time in their mind. [But] even if we put out a new song and people are like, ‘We hate you and we want Define The Great Line part two’, I don’t think any fan actually wants that. People want to grow with you as you grow.”

There is a freedom in coming out the other side of it all, not unscathed and definitely not unchanged, but stronger and more willing to push forward than before. And as Underoath prepare to unveil album number 10, their collective pride in what they’ve created is overwhelmingly clear. The Place After This One really is the beginning of whatever comes next – for a band who have never been willing to sit back on their legacy, who have constantly felt like there was more on the other side of every hurdle.

“It's exciting. There's no better feeling than to finish a song or a moment and look around the room and be like, these dudes I've spent more than half my life with are fucking stoked,” Spencer says.

“He said that the other day and it's true,” Aaron continues. “If we can impress each other, it's a big deal. Then obviously seeing people's faces when you play it live on stage. For me personally, that part is getting harder. The travel, the touring, it's getting to where it's harder and harder. But the part in the studio has been and will always be my favourite part. If I could live in there, I would. If I could just do that, I would do it.”

But what does the road ahead actually look like? With more than two decades behind them and an album that signals a new chapter, how far do Underoath see this journey stretching?

“It’s like the old adage. There’s no sweet without the sour,” Aaron says. “I think interpersonally we’ve been through a lot in the past decade, but also as a band we’ve been through a lot. There’s been knock-down, drag-out talks, and there’s been happy moments. It’s like a marriage. I don’t think you get anything unless you live through the reality. Whoever you’re married to, if you’re not honest with them, you’re never going to argue, but you’re also going to have a shallow situation going on. So maybe some people just don’t argue and they’re really lucky. But for us, we try and fail a lot, to be really honest with one another. I think we’ve finally figured out how to actually do that. I think that’s why you’ve got the album you’ve got.”

“It's evolving and growing," Spencer says. "No one wants to stay stagnant and just tread water. I think it'd be exciting to play music for another 20 years with your best friends – evolving on and off stage. Getting in the studio and on stage is an exciting thought. It's hard to wrap your brain around. Where do we go from here?"

Aaron is quick to chime in, "I think the easy answer for me is we'll do it as long as we have something to say.

I think if it comes to a point where we're just recycling stuff, and there's nothing to say, we'll just stop doing it. That’s how I feel.

There’s no use beating a dead horse, but if the horse has still got some run in him, run his arse."

And for now, that horse is running at full speed.

Interview by Gloria Brancatisano @gloriabrancat

‍The Place After This One is out on March 28 via MNRK Heavy. Pre-order/save here

Underoath – The Place After This One tracklisting

1. Generation No Surrender
2. Devil
3. Loss
4. Survivor’s Guilt
5. All The Love Is Gone
6. And Then There Was Nothing
7. Teeth
8. Shame
9. Spinning in Place
10. Vultures (feat. Troy Sanders of Mastodon)
11. Cannibal
12. Outsider