LH: Hey Rich! How are things currently going in the world of Warpath?

Rich: Hey Luci, things are great thanks, extremely busy with promotion for the album!

LH: Your debut album, Damnation, is finally here! There will be a few people who heard your E.P. Cataclysm which was reviewed on this website around 3 years ago, and probably a fair few people who are completely new to your band. So for both camps, what should they expect from this album?

Rich: Well, Damnation is a massive leap from Cataclysm in both quality and complexity. We completely re-vamped three of the EP tracks as well as writing five new tracks for the album. I think fans of the old material will love this album and it's winning over new Warpath fans every day.

LH: It sounds as though you took your time with self-producing the album, understandably to try and get the best possible results. Tell us about the recording period – how did it go? I believe your new guitarist Pete Hawthorne entered the fold mid-way through your recording sessions so how did this fit in with the schedule? I’d presume that his tracks were the last to be laid down?

Rich: James and I began tracking the drums and rhythm guitars mid-June and had them finished by August. In that time we met Pete who demo'd a few solo tracks for us. We thought they kicked ass and were exactly what we were looking for so we invited him to record on the album and eventually join the band full-time. Vocals were the last tracks to be recorded.

Pete: I first came to Wales around August time '07 to lay down the solos for 'Damnation' and instantly fell right into place with Rich and James, they are great guys to work with and recording the lead guitar tracks was a fantastic and frantic time. Really hard work and so much fun!

James: We listened to Pete's demo tracks and knew he was the right guy immediately! His playing is far superior to anything we've had before.

LH: Looking at your MySpace blog, the album was originally slated for a late 2007 release. Were there some hold ups that prevented you from releasing the album at that time, (assuming you haven’t covered this with the previous answer)?

Rich: During September we decided to re-do a few parts on the recording which we felt made the album stronger, so the mixing was pushed back until we were completely satisfied with the recordings. I took a lot more time on my vocals during the recording than I have done before. I find the vocals are the trickiest part of recording and I didn't want to settle for anything less than what I felt were my best takes. Mixing then began in November with Orlando Villasenor at Kevin Talley's studio in the USA and was completed by Christmas. After James Murphy completed the mastering, we then shot the video for Damnation back in London. The plan was to release the album and video at the same time for a stronger impact, hence the slight delay with the album's release.

LH: Your line up has undergone a few changes. Would you say that the new members in the band have brought about any change in the Warpath sound?

Rich: Definitely! The entire song writing stepped up when James joined the band. He's an awesome drummer and his kick drumming techniques are insane. When he joined we decided to either scrap or re-invent the old material to make it far faster and more complex than before. Pete is a wicked lead guitarist and brought kick ass solos with melody to the songs. Joel isn't on the album but is a killer bassist and has great live presence!

Pete: When I joined Warpath, Rich and James were already a tight unit with a very solid and awesome sound which I instantly fell in love with. They are awesome musicians and an honour to play with, I feel my guitar solos add to the over all sound of the band and add a little melody to some of the fastest and most complex thrash metal songs I have ever heard!

Joel: I accompany the guitar riffs as much as possible and feel this line up is incredibly tight.

James: I remember the audition, it was awesome! I grew up listening to 1990’s extreme, death and industrial metal and started drums with only those influences behind me. I hadn’t actually heard much 80s thrash until I met Rich, he introduced me to a ton of awesome music. I've incorporated a lot of death metal styles and techniques into the Warpath drumming.

LH: On the subject of band members, you haven’t had an easy time keeping a steady line up. How are things going with the current line up – can you see this one staying put?

Rich: The band is a much stronger unit now than our previous line-up, all of us having the same goals and mindset with regard to where Warpath is going. Gareth, our previous bassist left to focus on university, however he still plays a big part in the band's activities, handling the website and supporting us. The new line-up are extremely committed with all the members except for myself being from different parts of England and them moving to South-Wales full-time.

Pete: Yeah, the line-up is definitely a very tight and solid one. Bassist Joel Jordan joined over the Christmas holidays and it was pretty obvious he was the missing piece of the Warpath puzzle.

Joel: There was a great atmosphere during the first practice after my audition, and this line-up is definitely here to stay.

James: The line up is as solid as a rock.

LH: The album was mastered by James Murphy. How did this come about and how happy are you with the work he has done on the album? He’s worked with some really major bands so he must have seen a lot of potential in your music for him to agree to work with you.

Rich: James is an awesome guitarist and I'm a huge fan of his work on Death's 'Spiritual Healing' and Testament's 'Low', so it's a big honour for me that he agreed to work with us. He's done a superb job with the mastering and really added a lot of depth and general heaviness to the sound. It was ace working with him!

Pete: I was so pleased when I first heard he had agreed to master 'Damnation' and think the end result speaks for itself in terms of quality, tone and overall sound of the album.

James: When we got the finished product back from James Murphy we were, and still are, amazed at the work he has done on it.

LH: You’ve really pulled out all the stops with this release, in terms of production, packaging…and of course the musicianship has really improved over the past few years since you recorded Cataclysm. The message it kind of sends out to me is that you want to be seen as an independent band and that you feel you can do a good enough job without label backing. Would this be correct? Still, are you looking for any sort of deal – would you turn down anything unless it was the ‘right deal’ for you?

Rich: With regard to being seen as an independent band, I wouldn't say this is necessarily the case. Up until now we've remained an independent band, self financing all of our activities, although we have had offers from certain labels. We're grateful to them for their interest and confidence in what we're doing, however what they offered at the time wasn't in line with where we want Warpath to go long-term. However we're still open to offers!

LH: Do you have any distribution deals in place, or in the pipeline, or are you planning to just sell your album at gigs and through your website?

Rich: We're currently negotiating a UK and USA distribution deal for the album. I can't really go into details yet, but keep an eye out for official announcements.

LH: On the subject of record deals, labels such as Earache and Metal Blade have taken a real interest in thrash metal, with bands like Evile and Gama Bomb having signed to the Earache label recently. Do you have any opinions on the way the thrash metal scene is going at the moment, and do you think it’s a positive thing that it’s getting so much exposure?

Rich: I personally don't pay that much attention to many of the other bands as I just like to focus on Warpath. There are some great bands around though, Evile and Gama Bomb as you mentioned, also Sekhmet, Pitiful Reign and Seregon are cool. I definitely think it's positive that thrash metal is getting more exposure, really, how many more screamo/hardcore bands can anyone stand?

Pete: For me personally I feel that because of the publicity thrash is getting again in the mainstream it has become almost a fashionable trend to be in a fast speedy thrash metal band. We don't wear tight ripped jeans, Exodus or Overkill shirts and white trainers like we're back in 1987 but in regard to Warpath I am very confident in what we're doing and fully believe in it.

Joel: I think thrash has had it’s sleep for far too long! It’s really great that thrash metal is finally getting the publicity it deserves. However, we're definitely NOT going for a completely 80's style or sound.

LH: Your album cover was done by Lee Gaskins, who also did the Evile demo covers. I believe that the concept for the artwork was yours, but that Lee Gaskins also put a few of his own ideas into the design. Could you elaborate a little on the concept?

Rich: When I approached Lee I had a few ideas about the artwork and the themes and symbols to incorporate into it; money, religion and politics. The original idea was for the politician to be a rotting corpse/zombie figure or to have some sort of gas mask but we quickly discarded those ideas. Things like that have been done to death in thrash, so Lee came up with the idea of the subtle, eyeless contact with the viewer, which we feel has a much stronger impact. We were originally going to have the album title in big bold letters on the bottom right but Lee suggested having it as a street sign amongst the rubble which I thought was a killer idea. Lee is an outstanding artist, a real cool guy, and we're looking forward to working with him on the next album.

Pete: You have no idea what my reaction was like the first time I saw Lee's artwork for the album! I still smile like an idiot every time I look at it and feel it is going to be a big hit with all the fans out there. I agree with Rich and can't wait for us to work with him again and see what he can conjure up for the next album!

James: Lee has done a wicked job with the artwork, ensuring that people are impressed before they've even opened the case!

LH: There seems to be quite a heavy political influence to your lyrics; and from watching your video for Damnation that kind of fits into that with the footage of the war on Iraq, and the statue coming down, etc. I was wondering if you could shed a bit of light on some of the themes discussed in your lyrics?

Rich: Sure. I won't go into all of them as it'd take too much time, and I'd like to leave some of them open to interpretation, but I'll explain some of my favourites.

The title track, Damnation, is about the thousands of wars that have gone on in the past throughout history and that are still going on today, hence the Iraq and Afghanistan footage to make it relevant. The themes of money, politics and religion, which are usually the real causes of wars, are included in the lyrics and the artwork also represents that. The track W.M.D is also in a similar vein, standing for 'Weapons of Mass Deception'.

Face To Face is about the destructive effects of drug abuse and addiction, and some of the mental problems it can cause.

Expendable Forces is partly inspired by the Rambo films and the Metal Gear series and are about the way soldiers are treated by the government and some of the public, especially in the UK. It originally had the working title 'First Blood' but when Evile announced their album tracklisting we realised we couldn't use that, haha! I suppose we could've called it First Blood...Part II!

The rest of the lyrics I'll let people guess or interpret in their own way, but there's definitely a revenge song on there!

James: The lyrics carry tremendous weight behind them, Face to Face especially for me, with old friends and people from my past that are now caught up in drugs and are slowly killing themselves.

LH: To what extent are you inspired by political themes and is there any particular message you are really trying to get across?

Rich: The political influences in the lyrics are meant to be from a neutral viewpoint and not to really 'take sides'. I find it a lot more interesting to write about those themes as they're what's actually going on in the world today, rather than the stereotypical thrash themes of zombies, mutants and nuclear waste.

Pete: Yeah we don't really base our themes on things like that, or an outcast getting revenge in an American high school prom like typical trends in music today, we try to focus on more mature and current events in the world and our lives including war and it's effect on people.

LH: Now the album is complete what are your plans for the rest of 2008? Will you be heading out on the road touring?

Rich: We have a tour planned with fellow UK Thrashers Sekhmet for the summer and we'll be putting on our own tours for the UK and parts of Europe later this year. The band are in negotiations with TV channels including Scuzz for airplay for the Damnation music video, and we have up-coming interviews / reviews in all of the Metal and Rock Magazines. Keep an eye out for our feature with Rockworld TV's Samara in the June issue of Alternative Magazine!

Pete: Also we're contenders in Bloodstock Unsigned for this years B.O.A. festival so we'll have to wait and see what comes of that.

LH: That’s all the questions I’ve got for now. Anything you’d like to add to our readers?

Rich: I'd like to thank you for taking the time to compose such a great interview, and hope the readers of MetalTeam UK enjoy! Keep thrashing! |m|

Joel: Keep it metal and we hope to see you guys soon!

For more on the band check out www.warpath-online.com
http://www.myspace.com/warpathuk

Interviewed by Luci Herbert

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