War Of Ages | Fulfilling A Calling
here is a difference between kids pursuing a dream and men fulfilling a calling, and at the top of the list among passion and maturity is confidence. War Of Ages has crossed that line and their fourth album Eternal is all the evidence you need. Front man Leroy Hamp was incredibly honest, up front and easy to talk to and it is no wonder the new WOA album turned out the way it did. Hamp claims that the writing of this album was therapeutic for the guys in WOA and with one listen it is obvious why. This album bleeds deep meaning and intensity, the lyrics explore some of the darkest places in Hamp’s heart and life as well as some of the most hopeful. I can’t say enough about a band when they really pour themselves into their work. The world doesn’t need another song about how much you hate the government or how much you love college. What we need is some passion, some conviction, some honesty. War Of Ages.
You guys are at home on a break right now right?
Leroy Hamp: Well we’re home but I wouldn’t say its quite a break because we’re definitely nailing it four or five hours a day trying to get this set list down.
Are you guys having a CD release show there or are you just jumping on tour?
LH: We’re just jumping on tour. We won’t have a CD release show until end of June, I would say.
I think that the band life style, and always being on the road, is too often made to be more glamorous than it really is. Having been on the road so much, what is it for you that keeps you doing it? What make you want to get up in the morning and drive and perform and do it all again the next day?
LH: It’s changed year after year to be honest with you. In the beginning we were a band that was very focused on the ministry aspect and that hasn’t changed but it has evolved. Back then we didn’t have families, we were just young dudes who wanted to play in a band and glorify God and money really didn’t matter, that’s why we could go on the road for months at a time and not worry about paying bills. But now that we are married and have bills and apartments it’s become more important that we have those finances. Glamour kind of falls away when you move into that realm, it’s a different kind of stress, it’s more like “How long can we last?” In the beginning it was pretty simple and easy but now it’s a little more complicated with higher merch prices, it’s more of a business. That’s what I’ve noticed the most over the last few years, that War of Ages has become a business. The ministry aspect is still there and that’s awesome but it’s also a business. Being out on the road that’s how we’re able to afford our rent. It’s turned into a necessity rather than out to have fun.
This being your fourth release, when you started the writing process for Eternal was there anything that you felt you wanted to do differently this time around, or a certain element you made sure you kept, or a goal that you wanted to aim for?
LH: Absolutely. We’ve been through so much in the past year or so since Arise and Conquer. We wanted to write differently. I think every band out there does that, they say “What are we going to do differently to make this better or stand out?” What we decided to do this time was we decided to focus on riffs instead of songs. We’d write a handful of riffs and then pick the best one. We’d pick one or two that kind of went together and we’d write a song around them. Lyrically, instead of me writing so much about my past, I decided to really speak to the crowd and tell them what I’m going through now. The song “Collapse” is about my mother, she just recently went through something that no married woman should ever go through. That song is about how in general you learn about life and about things and it’s not exactly what you thought it was going to be. You wait for that awesome moment where you go through things in life but it’s not what you thought it was, its not all glamor. Then there’s another song called “Your Betrayal” which is about my father. It’s more dealing with stuff now. I tried to commit suicide in 8th grade and this is what I’ve become because of it. This time it was “I’m dealing with this now”, it’s present. Does that make sense?
Yeah, wow for sure. And as a fan, thank you for sharing those things with us.
LH: Yeah. War of Ages has become more therapeutic for our band than it has just being a band and getting out there to write cool music. I mean this beyond a shadow of a doubt, its therapy, to get your feelings out on paper, to get your feelings out through your riffs. I say that in the most humble of ways, you literally feel better after an album. After an album like Eternal, we’ve never felt like “Wow, we actually feel better”. The other albums were good and we were happy with them but this one was different, it felt like “Wow, we got through that”.
You guys have a lot of technical shredding in your songs as well as breakdowns, and at times I can here some southern influence. Who is War Of Ages listening to when it comes time to hit the studio?
LH: As far as the drummer and I, we are old school hardcore kids from that grew up in the New York style scene with bands like Madball to Sick of It All. Then you got Steve who hadn’t heard a hardcore band in his life until we started War of Ages. He was into InFlames, Metallica, Soilwork, Children of Bodom and that goes for our other guitarist as well as our bass player. The other guitarists Brandon, he likes dark metal like Behemoth and that kind of thrash. So the diversity between all of us has just kind of worked. We’ve learned through these four or five records how to work it musically. We’re all able to get our influences and styles out. There are a few southern riffs on this new album but we didn’t plan it that way. I know exactly what song you’re talking about though (laughs).
You guys got to work with Tim Lambesis (As I Lay Dying) and Daniel Castleman in the studio again, how is it working with them?
LH: We actually didn’t work with Tim this time. He did more to keep us from recording than anything else (laughs). We wanted to work with Tim but because of his schedule he wasn’t able to. As I Lay Dying was doing an album at the same time so there was a lot of conflicting schedules. One time while I was recording vocals I could hear Tim over the microphone in the recording room and he said “Leroy, you have three weeks to record your vocals but we only have one day to go camping”. So I said “Ok, let me finish this part then we’ll roll.” Its kind of funny, it was more fun just to hang out with him this time around rather than it being all business. Daniel Castleman is amazing. We opted more to produce our own album this time but Daniel definitely did help on that side of things. He’s always been amazing, that’s why we went back. He has amazing ideas and I think he brings out the best in War of Ages in general.
Can you sum up what this record is about? Or is the message behind it more diverse?
LH: It’s pretty diverse. Some songs deal directly with your relationships with people and things but there’s the other side that is fun. We have “Lack of Clarity” on there which is an 80’s metal song. But then you have the one that I was talking about earlier “Your Betrayal” which is a serious song. There is a song called “Failure” which is about anyone who calls themselves something and then in five years they want nothing to do with it. Basically I’m talking about Christians who are so on fire for God who talk the big talk and for four or five years they’re burning all their secular CDs then five years later they don’t even believe in God anymore. Once you got done talking, its pedal to the medal, then your band fails and all of the sudden you’re blaming God.
On the track “Eternal”, is that Sonny Sandoval (P.O.D.)? How did that come about? Was that the plan going into recording or did it come about later?
LH: Yeah! That’s Sonny. We met him at Cornerstone at the Facedown tent. Sonny and the guy with him started this thing called The Whosoevers, and they go off and do shows with just different larger bands and they do it for ministry reasons and they talk in different churches and what not. They talked about having War of Ages on one of those shows. We talked about him doing a guest spot on our record since we knew he lived in San Diego and he was totally down right away.
Did you plan on making it the title track going into the studio?
LH: The name of the song didn’t even come up until later, it just worked out that it was the title track. We just loved how the song came out. Initially I went into the studio not even wanting to sing, I had nothing written vocal wise, and it all just worked out in the studio.
Tell us about the upcoming tour with As I lay Dying and Demon Hunter…
LH: We’re stoked to be a part of something like that. We’re stoked also to see all the hard work that we’ve done for years payoff where we have different tours back to back that are very important to our band in a business aspect. But also personally, we’ve been friends with Tim for awhile now and we never asked to go out with him. He’s just been a good guy to be around. We’re so stoked its not even funny (laughs).
This being your third album with Facedown, it has to be nearing the end of your contract with Facedown. True? What are your plans for the future?
LH: Yes this is our last album on Facedown at this point. To be honest, I’ve thought about it in one frame of mind a lot, but at the same time I’m a very step by step kind of person as is the band. Eternal is coming out tomorrow and management has been asking us like “What do you think you’ll do, just so I can think about how I’m going to push you guys?” I said “Right now my number one priority is Eternal, supporting that record and giving Facedown enough respect to where when that album drops we are ready, we are going to give it 100% just like [Facedown Records] would for us”. So that’s kind of what we’re doing right now. We’re working on a headliner right now for August, that’s where our heads are right now. I’m sure in the summer time I’ll start to think about what our options are.
Sounds smart! Thanks again for speaking with us Leroy! Be sure to go pick up a copy of Eternal out now on Facedown Records!
