[dropcap]L[/dropcap]ike a phoenix rising from the ashes of destruction, Wovenwar has burst onto the scene with face-melting riffs, powerful lyrics and a hunger to move forward in triumph.
Following the 2013 arrest and incarceration of Tim Lambesis, the rest of the guys in As I Lay Dying were left hanging with their futures in question. After a brief hiatus, Nick Hipa (guitar), Jordan Mancino (drums), Phil Sgrosso (guitar) and Josh Gilbert (bass/backing vocals) began writing new music with what would become Wovenwar in mind.
The guys called Shane Blay, guitarist and vocalist for Oh, Sleeper, to ask about him fronting the band. After finishing up the Van’s Warped Tour, Blay met up with the guys in the studio and Wovenwar was official.
Bill Stevenson (Black Flag, The Descendents) and Jason Livermore produced the band’s debut album while Colin Richardson (Slipknot, Machine Head) mixed it. Wovenwar’s self-title debut album dropped August 5, 2014.
Wovenwar toured with Black Label Society in July and August before joining In Flames for a European tour in the fall.
Last week, lead vocalist and guitarist Shane Blay spoke with The Pit about the band’s formation, the writing of the debut album, touring with legends and celebrating with tequila.
Wovenwar, from left: Phil Sgrosso (guitar), Nick Hipa (guitar), Shane Blay (vocals/guitars), Josh Gilbert (bass/vocals), Jordan Mancino (drums). Photos/Wovenwar
The Pit: I pretty much want to start from the very beginning. You know, it’s been well documented and reported on about everything that happened with As I Lay Dying and what not. So how I want to start this interview is I want to ask you what were the feelings of those guys and how did everything come together to form what would become Wovenwar?
Shane Blay: Well, mostly everybody was pretty surprised. Obviously, I wasn’t around for most of it so, that would be a question for them. I know they were defeated and their careers were basically like “Well, I don’t have a job now.” They were defeated for a while, but around the time that he (Tim) actually got incarcerated and went to trial, they decided to start a new band. I think, right off the bat, they were like they knew they could do something else not rooted in screaming because Tim couldn’t sing at all. So, I think that made them a little more optimistic about where they could go as a band. And a few months later, they wrote me, Nick wrote me and here we are.
TP: Now that that’s out of the way, I want to ask a little bit about the writing process and what that was like. And what I mean by that is did you guys just start writing music before the band had really officially formed to get an idea for direction or did you get to the studio and jump straight into it?
SB: They had been writing since the incident. They did not know who would be the singer so I guess they probably had like five songs, six songs written. I was on Warped Tour with Oh, Sleeper at that time so they sent me like two songs and I told them, “Yeah, I can do stuff over this,” but obviously I was on freaking Warped Tour. I did what I could but right when I got back from Warped Tour I flew out and we literally recorded “All Rise” that day and then “The Mason” the next day. And I think at that point they were just like, “Cool, so I guess this works! Guess we’re a band now!”
TP: Cool! So it was that easy when you got back and recorded it? You guys just knocked those first two songs out and it was pretty much a fact after that?
SB: Yeah, yeah. They didn’t try anybody else out and the rest of the writing of the record was kind of… I live in Texas and they all live in the San Diego area and Josh lived in L.A. so I was with Josh in L.A. and they would email us songs and we would write our own songs and just send a lot of it over email. But most of the vocal work was done with just me and Josh just at his studio in L.A. We finished it about a month after I got out there so, it was pretty quick. The next record will be a lot more musically hands on for me because I was gone for a lot of it and I was playing catch up writing vocals. And I didn’t get to write as much guitar stuff as I would have liked.
TP: You touched on it a little bit about what it was like working in the studio with those guys because, obviously, you said it was a lot of stuff over email and being a great distance from each other throughout the whole process. What was the attitude like with those guys heading into the studio. Were they eager about getting back in and recording some tunes or did any of them have any nerves following everything that had happened with As I Lay Dying?
SB: I don’t think so, nerve-wise. It was always just a nice, kind of no-drama atmosphere. There were only like two arguments over any part of the whole record and it was really kind of seamless for everybody. Of course when we were in the studio, like I said, a lot of the time we were separated. Like Phil would do the guitars at his house, me and Josh did the vocals in another studio and drums were in another studio so we were all kind of spread out. The last thing to be finished, obviously, was vocals and the guys come over and we have beers and celebrate everyday.
TP: I have to ask, what kind of beer did you drink during the recording process?
SB: Oh God, well… Phil didn’t drink beer, he drank Four Lokos. Then, we invented this drink with Phil called NorCal. It’s basically all tequila and seltzer water and a whole lime. It’s really, really good. I think we drank 10 bottles of tequila.
TP: That’s a very interesting drink. I might need to try it, but I don’t handle my tequila that well. I am more of a whiskey drinker.
SB: Me too! Me too, typically! I am more of a whiskey drinker but really Phil loves his tequila for some reason. *laughs*
TP: So you’ve eluded to it a bit already, but did everything just click with you guys during the recording process?
SB: Yeah, yeah. It was awesome. It was a lot different for me being a full-time singer because usually I do all the guitars and then do my singing parts with Oh, Sleeper. But this was pretty hands off for guitar except for acoustic stuff and I would just sing the whole time.
TP: Where does the inspiration come from for the songs lyrically, because like you said the other guys had a lot of the music written by the time you were able to join them in the studio? Was there an overall theme to the album, as far as lyrics go?
SB: No. I know I wanted it to be positive and not degrading or anything. This was before we had the name too. I remember having a conversation with Nick about being born into this world as a blank slate and as we live our lives, a lot of stuff is kind of woven into us – good and bad. And you have to choose to believe that stuff or take it into yourself, like prejudice, religion and all sorts of sh*t. Basically, become who you are. So a couple of the songs are sort of along that line. A couple songs were just about life, ex-girlfriends that I hate and “All Rise” is about the music industry and how I think it’s this blood sucking, terrible thing to be a musician in. The lyrics are all over the place. Like “Prophets” is about when I got baptized and “The Mason” is about whiskey! *laughs*
TP: That explains why I love that song so much! *laughs*
SB: I have a love-hate relationship with alcohol. But yeah, the lyrics are all over the place. The main theme is we just really wanted it to be positive. Like, we wanted it to be something someone could take and make a positive change in their life or get something positive from it. That’s definitely a theme.
TP: As the album evolved and you guys were putting it together, what were your thoughts about the overall product you guys were working on?
SB: Well, it’s funny you ask. There’s about two of us, maybe three, that are insane perfectionists. A week after the song is written, we hate. But then you take a year off and listen to the record, because we never listen to it now, and we go back and say this is a pretty rockin’ tune. Other than that mentality, which I get in and out of, I think we are pretty stoked on the whole thing. I came off tour and was really sick when we started recording, and obviously San Diego is a really dry place. It’s like the worse place to sing in the world. But, that was a problem for me and I thought I could have done better. Everyone is really stoked though, and I love how it sounds. Colin Richardson did an amazing, amazing mix job on it. I think everybody played the best they could and it came out awesome!
TP: Cool, cool! What are your personal favorites off the album, maybe ones that stand out to you during some of the live shows you have been playing?
SB: I guess “Death To Rights” has always been a rocker, really fun to play and the lyrics hit really close to home. I think one of the most surprising songs that turned out awesome live was “Prophets” because I started just me and acoustic and when we were in Europe with In Flames, it really seemed to click with the crowd and I don’t think anyone really expected it to start picking up soon and turn into a rager. And that’s how we’ve been closing our sets is with “Prophets.” Those two are probably my favorites to play live.
TP: Speaking of the live shows, Wovenwar’s first tour was with the iconic Zakk Wylde and Black Label Society. I have to ask, what was that like for the band on a personal level and really, how did you get chosen for that tour?
SB: I think our booking agent just asked Zakk if he wanted to go and he was like, “Yeah. Hell yeah!” But man, Zakk is such a hilarious character. He would just come into our dressing rooms and start talking about politics and shooting the sh*t for at least 20 minutes every day. It was awesome. And then we became really good friends with Kyng. Me and Eddie, their singer, did a little duet of a Temple Of The Dog song on the tour. All of Zakk’s crew was awesome, his whole band was awesome. It was crazy. It’s really funny because I went from being with Oh, Sleeper and never getting a good tour and then jumping in with f*cking Zakk Wylde, so it was crazy and cool.
TP: I know you’ve already mentioned In Flames, but I feel like they have a little bit of a different style than Wovenwar does. How did the two bands mesh together on that European tour?
SB: We just played with what we thought we cater to their crowd. You know, that’s what you do on any support tour. But thinking about it, it’s not really that much different. Lately, they’ve had songs that have like singing all over the place and throw down verses and choruses. So I don’t think it was that big of a difference in crowd likability or whatever. Everything seemed to go over really well, even better than the Black Label crowd. Which that was just like a bunch of drunk dudes in leather that scream at you. *laughs*
The In Flames crew and fans were just more open to our sound, which was cool.
TP: I am hoping to finally see In Flames live myself next year, so here’s to hoping.
SB: One of the best live bands I’ve ever seen!
TP: Really? Well that makes me even more excited then!
SB: Technically, sound-wise, they were just extremely hype and rhythmic every night. It was crazy.
TP: You’v eluded to it a bit in my last two questions, but can you expand more on how the crowds reacted to hearing Wovenwar for what may have been the first time? Any specific songs really connect overall with the different groups of fans you’ve played for?
SB: I guess “Prophets” is probably the biggest connect because it’s just so epic and goes in and out of heavy to soft. We ask the crowds every night “Who here has never heard of us?” and there are usually like ten hands out of 10,000 at some of the shows. Knowing that and seeing the reaction that the entire crowd was giving is a good sign that people were enjoying it. As the tours went on, I am sure more and more people had heard of us. But I always like seeing who doesn’t know us. And it’s fun because I get to stand by the mic and sing so my eyes get to do whatever they want. So I look out and think about what they’re thinking.
TP: What’s been one of the bigger shows you guys have done with either Black Label Society or In Flames?
SB: The last show on the In Flames tour was their hometown of Gothenburg, Sweden and there were 10,000 people there. It was an arena and it was just the biggest thing ever, I can’t even believe it. I took my camera out and filmed the crowd throughout the night. It was just incredible.
TP: After the first two runs, as far as touring goes, what is something that fans can expect from a Wovenwar live performance?
SB: A lot of shredding, Jordan hitting his drums way too hard, me and Josh cracking jokes to each other, typically. I don’t know. I haven’t gotten to see us live yet! Like, the In Flames guys always told us that they can tell we are all having a great time on stage. Like I don’t take myself too seriously. I crack jokes and I try to make every night a really fun night for me and hopefully you can see that and have a good time with me.
TP: Definitely. That sort of thing really connects. If you’re having a good time, everyone else – not just in the band, but back stage and out in the crowds – is having a good time too.
SB: For sure! It’s apparent when you’re bummed.
TP: So, you guys will be joining Periphery in January, touring as support with those guys. How did that tour come about and what are you looking forward to?
SB: Well, we have Nick Storch as a booking agent and he’s always out there, working his ass off to get us offers and whatever. I haven’t talked to the Periphery guys yet about the tour. I know Matt, I know Misha and I know Spencer but I haven’t talked to them since I have gotten back in the States to asked them if they hand-picked us from a list or whatever. If they did, that’s really cool but I am really excited to tour with them. It’s going to be really fun. Sitting backstage and picking all of their brains about guitar sh*t and probably having some acoustic sessions in the back lounges and stuff.
Wovenwar.
TP: Well, I have one more question for you then. I love asking this question because you never know what you’re going to hear. I want to know if you have any crazy, funny or just plain-awesome stories from either of the first two tours you guys have done as Wovenwar?
SB: In Flames is like, they can do a lot of pranks on one tour. Everyday, there would be something f*cked up in our dressing room. They did a normal thing, like go in there with wrapping paper and wrap all of our individual bags and sh*t. Or one time, I got off stage and Peter is hanging out by our dressing room. I am just like “What did you do?!” So I open the door and it’s just filled, like four-feet high, with balloons. I couldn’t get to any of our sh*t!
But the worse one that they did was, I think in France. I got finished and I am always the first person to go back because we have our computers set up that I put back in our bus so they don’t get stolen. Anyway, I go in there and it’s just the worse smelling thing I have ever smelled before. There were two dead octopus hanging from a handle on the wall. It was rotting octopus. And they were huge! They weren’t like small ones, they were like dog-sized ones. That sucked.
TP: Do you know where they got the octopus from?
SB: Yeah, they went to a fish market earlier that day. Another crazy story is just every single night… We shared a bus with While She Sleeps on that tour and we became like the best friends ever, and every single night we would have a dance party in the bottom lounge of our bus. I think I crowd surfed in the bus like, 70 times on that tour. That was the most fun I have ever had.
TP: How do you crowd surf in a bus?! *laughs*
SB: *laughs* You just do it. Start screaming “Put him up!”
Wovenwar begins touring with Periphery and Nothing More January 8 at Juanita’s in Little Rock, AR. Visit wovenwar.com for more information.
