A couple of days ago, I was able to connect with vocalist Spencer Chamberlain of Underoath right as he and his bandmates were preparing to go on tour next month. In this conversation, I asked Spencer about what he’s noticed from the fan reactions to Voyeurist, how he manages to stay busy with his other band Slo/tide, the well-received livestreams conducted during lockdown, as well as in-depth details on the writing and recording of Underoath’s ninth studio album. Voyeurist was released last month and can also be purchased here.
So thank you so much for your time today, Spencer, and congrats on the recent release of your ninth studio album Voyeurist, on Fearless Records. What have you noticed as far as the fan reactions to the new material and from the social media reactions?
The fan reaction seems to be 100% positive, which is a really encouraging thing. I don’t think it is something we tend to think about when we make music. You’re trying to create music that you want to play, and that really resonates inside you and your bandmates, and something that you want to play and create it. And then when you see the core audience react the way they have, it’s an awesome thing. You know, sometimes it’s a little terrifying. If when you see that everyone likes it, it’s kinda like, maybe you didn’t ruffle feathers or offend anybody. But I’m sure if I looked hard enough, there’d be plenty of people that don’t like it.
Yeah, it’s been fairly positive from just our forums and things like that. People really liked the direction you guys went in. What I’ve always admired about Underoath is your guy’s ability to never make the same record twice, and push the envelope of what your band can become. What lessons did you learn about the writing/recording of this new record?
Well, this was the first record we’ve done that’s been self produced. So we actually learned a lot about communicating within the band and pushing each other in healthy ways that things that we couldn’t have done in the past. I think that our band’s finally to the point where our relationships are strong enough, and I know that sounds crazy, because we’ve been in the band together since 2003. But to finally be at the point where we can trust each other completely with stuff. It’s so personal, this kind of music for Underoath. I write music for lots of artists, and I’ve done different work outside of the genre a lot. But there’s something about Underoath and bands in this genre, in particular, where a lot of things seem to be way more personal. And stuff can be hard to cope with, when your best friends and bandmates don’t like it, or what you’d achieve with them, and vice versa. Everyone puts so much into this, and that’s not to discredit any other genre. If you’re writing pop or something, you want to have fun and sing along, or if you’re writing an EDM song, you’re thinking what’s the best drop to get everybody dancing. And a lot of times with Underoath, it’s cutting to the core of real life problems. And I know bands do that in every genre, but I’m just saying this in this band, in particular, one of the things I’ve worked on, it definitely tends to be the most personal for everybody. So it can be tough when telling each other that they need to improve in everyone pushing ideas back and forth. It’s hard to not hurt each other’s feelings. So yeah, I think we learned a lot about how to communicate and trust one another on this album.
Okay, and did the pandemic have any effect on the material? I mean, you talk a little bit about some of those thematic elements that you mentioned, and I’ve read some of the other interviews you’ve done, but can you speak to how the pandemic affected this band?
Well, it’s tough because I think we’ve all kind of said this in different interviews throughout setting up the record, and some of the post-interviews…There is something about Underoath, the four writers of myself, Tim, Aaron, and Chris…there’s something about us being in the room together that just can’t be done through Zoom, or through the internet, or sending some some files back and forth. Because a lot of times we could make a song, like an unreal- sounding song, but when you send it back and send it to someone to show them, it’s kind of done. It doesn’t leave a lot of room without completely reconstructing it. So I think the main thing for Underoath is being in the room when we’re creating these moments. For the song, and the backbone, the structure, and all that, being in the room together really changes the outcome. So the pandemic definitely changed it. It made it harder because we had to travel, because we’re kind of spread apart. We don’t all live in Tampa anymore. So that was a little bit of a challenge. There were just a lot of nose swabs and COVID tests happening, plus a lot of scares and close calls. But no one got sick during the writing or recording of the record, which was a blessing. But I think…we don’t normally have this much time to write and record, because there’s normally a deadline of some sort. And I think when there were maybe no tours. We’re talking about nothing happening in the live music world. So we kind of got to make sure we knew exactly where we wanted to go with the record. And that definitely played to its advantage. Even though we didn’t take much time, longer than we would have to make a record than any other Underoath record. But knowing that we added the time definitely was helpful.
Got it, yeah. And your band really pushed the bar incredibly high during the pandemic, with the recent livestreams you guys did. And all of them were really, really well received by both your fans and critics alike. What did you learn about the process of putting together this concert type environment for a livestream, and can you share any insights of what it was like to play the Digital Ghost concert?
Yeah, so the live stream thing was terrifying. We actually did it live. So that in itself is it could be career suicide for some people. We could have really messed it up. And you know how the internet is…people will never let you live it down. Before you know it, you’re like a meme or some sort of joke, so that was a whole scary thing. And performing in Underoath without an audience…it was a weird pill for me to swallow. Because I feel like so much of our show is the audience. What we get out of them, what they give us their participation…all of it is fuel for us to perform those songs the way that we do. We do really lean on the crowd a lot for that energy, that output, that you see from us on stage. So it was very strange, but I think it was far enough in the pandemic to where we were just really excited to play together again. And we were also not sure if we’d ever play together again, after the fact. So there was a lot of energy there, because things weren’t looking like they were opening up anytime soon. We did this in the dead middle of the pandemic, before the vaccine. But just at that time, we had no clue what was going to happen. And it was exciting, and nerve wracking. I think the nerves of knowing everyone was watching gave us energy that we needed. But it was the stuff that you normally get from a crowd, we kind of got from that saying, “Oh my God, there’s so many people watching this live!” So that was exhilarating, but it was also terrifying. Probably the scariest shows I’ve ever done.
The Digital Ghost was a whole ‘nother ball game. Well, I’d say every time you make a record, it takes a bit after making it when you start rehearsing for the tour, and over the next year trying out different new songs live, kind of feeling out how to pull it off the best way. And you kind of get a feel for it on stage. It really sounds great on record, but what is it going to feel like playing it live? And we didn’t even get a chance to do that before the record even came out. But to do it live? I mean, it does sound like such a crazy idea to me. And I think that was the one where I was like, “Man, I’m not sure about this, guys…” I was really on the fence about it until I got there and saw the vision of what was going to go down. And then I was super excited. But at first it was kind of like, “Man, this seems like a mistake.”
That’s funny, considering how great it turned out! Your tour in support of the new record kicks off next month. What did you do as a band coming up recently to prepare for the setlist that’s going to cover each date on that tour?
We’ll be rehearsing, obviously, pretty soon. There is no preparation for a tour, no matter how hard you prep, it’s like those first night, the first week, it’s just like…no matter how many times you go to the gym, how many miles you run, how much you stretch it, your body does something different up there that you just can’t prepare for. But we try. I’m very active, and rehearsing at home, where I do vocal warm ups. Starting in about a month out from the tour, I track all the time working on other stuff all the time. So I’m singing a lot using my voice off tour. And then I start doing vocal warm ups every day for about a month out. And before this tour, before rehearsing, since it’s been so long since we’ve toured, I’ve got the songs just loaded up into a session where I’m going to start rehearsing on my own at home. Just doing the vocals, and having all the vocals muted, just the instrumental bounces of some of the songs, and running the set on my own at home in a studio setup, just practicing singing the songs. Just to get me even more in gear before I show up to practice, because it has been a long time since we’ve toured. So I’m actually taking a few extra steps this time, just because I can, and since we didn’t just get off of a tour. It’s been over two years. So I’m going to take a few extra steps, just to be safe.
Yeah, that makes sense. And both you and the other vocalists in Underoath, Aaron, have been incredibly busy with other projects, in between working on Underoath. I understand you’re trying to get something going for a project called Slo / Tide, right?
Yeah, so I started writing that around the same time we started writing for Voyeurist, both records, where I started to write right after we got home from the last tour on the Erase Me cycle. And I have always written in this lane, like whatever you want to call it, indie pop, or whatever the hell people are calling it right now, except I have one song out right now. But I’ve never really done anything with it. I’ve always worked for other artists in different genres. But I think it was just getting to the point where I was like, “Man, I want to be able to do my own thing whenever I want.” Because Underoath is kind of at that point where less is more a lot of times. If we put out too much music, it’s overwhelming. You know, you don’t want to brush Voyeurist under the rug, because we just did it, and people are reacting to it, so you can’t tour too much. Because if you show up too much, people are like “Oh, I’ll catch you next time.” So it’s a really weird game, or a fine line between too much and too little. So it leaves me with a lot of time and I do enjoy working for other artists and writing other records. But I just wanted to do my own thing and be in complete control. So I started writing right before lockdown and then ended up writing 95% of it in lockdown alone in my house, in between flying back and forth to write the Underoath record. So when we did the Underoath record from January through February, I came home for five days, and then flew back to a different studio and recorded my Slo / Tide record in March. So both records have been done, mixed, mastered, and are ready to go. But it’s timing for me right now. So I released a song called “Neck High” that is out right now off of the album. And I’ll be releasing a couple more singles throughout the year before I release the full album, but it’s done. I’ve got Underoath on one side and Slo / Tide on the other. So I want to give them both equal attention and not overstep on either one, because I’m not doing a side project. I’m giving it as much attention as I give it to Underoath. So it’s not just a good time killer for me. It’s something that I really want to pursue, and I’m super excited about it!
That’s awesome. Let’s talk a little bit more about Voyeurist, where you released five singles leading up to the record coming out in full. Did the vinyl production delays have a big impact on both the band and the label decision to move the album to 2022? Because like you mentioned, you were kind of sitting on it for a while…
Yeah, between that and touring, and giving enough time to set it up, we were going to be rushing. And the Digital Ghost feature was kind of last minute as well. And I think when we were talking about changing the date, I don’t even know if I had said this part yet. But I know it was around the same time as me and Aaron having already left the studio. And we were either gonna rush it, and then sit on it as it’s going to be out, but we’re not going to tour, or we can take our time and make sure everything’s right and put it out around the tour. And we always lean towards the touring side because we grew up in a little bit of a different era. This was the first record we’ve ever put out where we weren’t on the road, or we didn’t have a show that night of the album release. It was still strange to push and not wait till February for me because we’ve never been home during a record release. So, the vinyl had something to do with it because they were so delayed on the Observatory stuff…But also, the major thing for me was our agent wanted us to look into February touring, as opposed to October, and everyone else was jumping out in the road. And no one knew…you’re booking tours months and months in advance, and no one knew if any of those tours were going to happen successfully without being shut down super fast. And we just weren’t in that spot where we wanted to take that risk. And so we pushed the tour toFebruary. And that made it to where it was a “no brainer” for a January release. Because the last thing I wanted to do is for the record to be kind of old by the time we get up to play the first show.
Yeah, and I understand recently launched a new podcast that does a deep dive into the making of Voyeurist. What did you find out about yourself as musicians, and kind of reflecting back on the creation of this album through this process of kind of going back retroactively, and putting it all to tape, so to speak?
I think a lot of this stuff is, it’s just communication. There’s been a lot of communication barriers and Underoath, we always kind of assume what the other person is thinking, saying or doing, and we talk about each other behind each other’s backs, but not in the necessarily shit-talking way. But we’ve kind of always done that, and never really addressed the source. So I think going back and producing your own record forced us to have those conversations and talk to one another a little bit more clearly. And now going back and doing these podcasts…I mean, we just started them. We haven’t even finished talking. We’ve got another one that hasn’t been done yet. We haven’t had those calls. But it’s interesting to talk back about it because even that gets blurred sometimes. But you can see how everyone takes those situations that we even had to talk about differently. That’s even interesting in itself, the post of all those conversations we had made. Like, “Okay, so your outcome was different than my outcome, and you see it still differently than I do, or vice versa.” Or some things we all see on the same page. But yeah, I think we’ve learned the most about each other over the last couple of years here since the band’s been back together. Then we have our whole childhood growing up on the road as a Christian band, where you just weren’t allowed to talk to each other.
The last question I have for you is there’s a ton of anticipation and positive momentum right now for Underoath, so Is there anything else fans should be on the lookout for the rest of the year for this band? I saw you got added to the new cruise for the Emo Is Not Dead Cruise. Anything else fans should be aware of for the rest of the year?
We’re gonna see how the first tour goes and we haven’t done anything really besides festivals since the pandemic happened. So yeah, we’ll just have to see. I think our goal is obviously always to hit every country, and tour, and get out there. Bring different bands out and play festivals, and do as much stuff as we can. But it’s still not in the phase to where you can definitely say that’s going to happen yet or not. I know that everything in Europe is getting canceled right now, so I think right now, it’s just paying attention to the bands that you love and checking in on them daily to see…we might get something comes up tomorrow that we get to do, and announce or whatever, but there’s not a whole lot on the books that the fans don’t know about yet, and that we’re aware of. But that doesn’t mean that more things won’t be happening.
Yeah, and hopefully things will start to open up for you guys a little bit more. And if something comes up that you have to jump at, I’m sure you guys will be willing and ready for that.
Absolutely.
Thank you so much for your time, Spencer. I look forward to you guys hitting the road. I think that the next time you’re around the DC area, you’re playing the Fillmore Silver Spring, which is only about 10 minutes or down the road from me, so I’ll probably check you guys out!
That’s awesome, it should be a great show.
Alright, take care!
