Vor zwei Jahren haben Whitechapel mit „THE VALLEY“ einen neuen Meilenstein für ihre Entwicklung als Band geschaffen. Jetzt kehren sie mit ihrem neuen und achten Studioalbum „KIN“ zurück. Von der Geschichte her ist „KIN“ die Fortsetzung von „THE VALLEY“ und ist eine fiktive Geschichte, die jedoch auf wahren Begebenheiten aus dem Leben, vor allem aus der Kindheit von Sänger Phil Bozeman basiert. Unsere Redakteurin Pia hat mit Gitarrist Ben Savage ausführlich über das neue Album gequatscht und mehr über die Geschichte dahinter erfahren.
Frontstage Magazine: Hey Ben, thank you for your time!
Ben Savage: Hey, it’s nice too meet you!
Frontstage Magazine: We’re here to talk about your new album „KIN„. Please tell me first what or who is meant by kin?
Ben Savage: It’s all happening inside Phil’s head. It’s basically a part two of „THE VALLEY“. So after our previous album ends, the new album starts in the trauma that was created from „THE VALLEY“. That created two personalities and manifested them and the two personalities are himself. One like his real self and one like an evil shadow-self and they both battle troughout the record. So they are related to each other but are also some kind of enemies. So that’s the meaning of the album title.
Frontstage Magazine: So they fought throughout your old album and on your new album „KIN“ as well?
Ben Savage: No they only came up in the new album. „THE VALLEY“ was the childhood story of our singer, growing up in a parted town in Tennessee. „KIN“ is more like a fancy story happening inside his head.
Frontstage Magazine: So they only fight during the new album. Is there a winner at the end or is it an open-end?
Ben Savage: Yes it gets resolved. The story of the Album is linear it starts with the first song and ends with the finale on the last track. The actual battle is on track ten „Without You“, before that they only mess with each other and try to lure each other into their worlds.
Frontstage Magazine: Can you explain the difference to your last album?
Ben Savage: So musically it is more dramatic and plays more like an opera or theatre. It is very inviting with the acoustic guitars in the beginning and it feels like opening a book to read a story. Also the album is very surreal. In „THE VALLEY“ each song was about a short story that happend and in „KIN“ the story is more about the happening inside his head.
It is kind of a true story too, in a way it kind of deals with mental illness and things like that. That’s why we have a blue album cover because it’s like the rarest color in nature. It’s like the opposite of red that we used fpr „THE VALLEY“.
Frontstage Magazine: Yeah that makes sense but back to the content of the album. I think there’s a lot, let me say kind of dark emotions, but also kind of hope and commencements. What would you say which feelings are more important for the album?
Ben Savage: All plays hand in hand. None of them are as important as the other. Feels like it just needs to be threaded together, like kind of weaved in and out. And I think each feeling is just as important as the other.
Frontstage Magazine: Okay and after finishing one whole album, do you think you evolved as a band as well, besides the music?
Ben Savage: Yeah, we’ve definitely evolved. We’ve been doing this for a very long time now and you know, you get older. When you’re in your 20s and stuff, you’re just you’re a little more and more wild and crazy, so we’ve kind of come down during all that time. We had some band fights or whatever and I don’t know, right now we’re all fans of each other and we all respect each other.
Frontstage Magazine: That’s important for a band, I think. Let’s have a look at the future. Is there a tour or any concerts planned?
Ben Savage: Yeah, we have a couple of tours booked for next year. But it’s all US tours. So we won’t be going overseas anytime, unfortunately.
Frontstage Magazine: And other plans for the future besides or after the release?
Ben Savage: Yeah, we actually released a two new music videos. That’s all for the next time.
Frontstage Magazine: Okay, we’re done. So thank you for your time. It was nice to hear all your answers.
Ben Savage:
Awesome. Can’t wait to see the interview. Thank you!
Fotocredits: Alex Morgan
