Exclusive Interview: Ben Harclerode from Whitechapel

I had the opportunity to sit down and talk with Ben Harclerode, Whitechapel’s drummer extraordinaire. Recently joining the band and running with them live and recording last year’s EP with them, he talks about just finishing up the new album and tour life. I’d like to thank Metal Blade and Daniel Robben for setting up this interview and giving me the opportunity. This is Headbang or GTFO’s first interview and it was a privilege and an honor to speak to Ben and step foot inside their tour bus. Bold words are my own, normal font is Ben Harclerode’s words. Enjoy.

Thank you for doing the interview with me.

Yeah of course man.

This is Ben with Whitechapel, the drummer.

(laughs)

How’s the tour so far? I know it just started n all.

It’s been great. It’s been off to a really great start, I guess. Memphis is kind of a weird place usually as far as heavier music goes but Knoxville and that whole show was awesome. It’s been really good man, the bands have been really cool.

Right on. What’s your favorite band to watch so far?

After the Burial, those guys fucking shred. Sorry, excuse me. Ahh, those guys are good.

You can say “fuck” as much as you want, I don’t care. Do whatever you want.

Ok, yeah those guys are awesome. They sound great every night, they’re all really tight players and I dunno it’s kinda tech-ier stuff and it’s up my alley.

Yeah, that’s good shit. Have you heard Spawn of Possession’s new album? Incurso? Just came out this week. (March 13th)

No I haven’t.

Oh, it’s fucking brilliant. You’d like it if you like technical death metal.

I like those guys, for sure.

What’s your setlist like on this tour? Is it mainly older shit? Or is it just newer songs? Are you playing anything brand new?

No, I mean the tour is called “The Recorruptour”, we released the Recorrupted EP in November. So we’re naturally playing “Section 8″, the new song off of the EP. Other than that nothing new, we just finished up recording literally the day before we went on tour.

Any details on the release of that album or at least when a single will be released?

Umm, yeah I’m not 100% as far as the single, I mean we’re shooting for a pre-Mayhem release because we’re doing the Mayhem Tour this summer. So I don’t know if I’m technically supposed to say any specific dates but I mean like I said we’re shooting for a pre-Mayhem release.

Will there be any special guests on this album? Guitarists? Vocalists? I know you had two guest vocalists on the last album.

No, as far as vocals go nothing really. As far as leads we have one guy from Knoxville that came in and dropped a couple nasty leads over a couple of the songs. Other than that it’s pretty straight forward.

What do you usually do during the day? What’s tour life like?

I practice a lot, play a lot of video games. I don’t know it’s nice having the bus be an option.

Yeah, it’s fucking nice. (I look around, admiring)

I definitely have done some shitty van tours and it’s nice to be able to hang out or have a place to go take a nap. I just do stupid shit over the course of the day to keep myself occupied. Play drums when I have to, warm up, some people would say I do that more than I need to.

What games do you guys usually play? I see Phil (Bozeman) on Twitter all the time talking about Modern Warfare 2 and 3, is that what you guys usually play?

Yeah, that’s kind of our jam. Play a lot of Modern Warfare 3.

Any good at it?

I’m not very good at it, Phil smokes everybody. He’s like 9th level prestige or something right now. He’s into it.

Well that’s all the questions I have. I just want to congratulate you guys on another headlining tour and finishing up on the album and getting on Mayhem Fest. I can’t wait to hear your new album! Thanks for talking with me. See you tonight and put on a great show!

Yup, thanks buddy.

 

 

Concert Review! WHITECHAPEL

March 16th, Beaumont Club, Kansas City, MO….the crowd has already gone nuts several times for the opening bands and now they await patiently for the main event, the headliner….Whitechapel. Set up takes awhile and the stage opens up big for the 6 monsters from Knoxville, Tennessee, allowing them to perform and move about without bumping into one another. Lights are set up, tones are checked and the lights go out. The fog machine spews obnoxious amounts of steam into the faces of the crowd and dimly a blue light barely illuminates the stage and the 5 gents up front walk towards the end of the stage and Ben Harclerode sits down at his kit. The beginning of Section 8 begins to play and then slams into it hard just like how the song is done on the EP. The Recorruptour has come and now the main event is owning the crowd, forcing them to headbang, scream and mosh like crazy.

The sound was loud, terrifyingly loud and very very clear. Their stage was mostly blackened with very little lighting at first. Then the spooky lights would come on every once in awhile covering the stage and band with red, blue and green colors. There were also a ton of strobe light action happening on the faster parts of songs as well, sometimes the colored lights joining in on the strobe fest. It was a sight to behold, one second you can barely see the band, next thing you are being bombarded with flashing lights and evil sounding music. It was intense and the experience was a damn good one, the best I’ve ever seen from Whitechapel.