Underoath Band • Page 86

I’m not anywhere near the underoath world, but in my early 20’s I was in a metalcore band and today (37) we will still get together every few years and write some new tunes.

I do not listen to that style of music at all, except for hitting some old favorites every so often and whenever ETID would release new music. But I have so much fun writing it & playing a show once in a while, so it’s definitely possible to connect with the music your writing without feeling like you’re just going through the motions.

for reference, this was the last thing we released, and I probably hadn’t listened to anything in that genre in 5-10 years when we wrote it.

 

I think I know that feeling a little bit. Metalcore was one of the genres I listened to the most in my teens but, few oldies and newer bands aside, I'm drawn to other stuff now. It does still seep into some music I write anyway. It could be in the riffs, the rhythmic patterns... Can't escape the influences from your formative years I guess lol

Sick song btw, I miss that era of southern metalcore which the riffing reminds me of.

 

hey thanks! There was a lot Maylene back in our day, & from what I can tell, our guitarist still listens to a lot of that stuff! I’ve always thought that everything he writes had a southern tinge to it.

our guitar player was/still is like a riff god to me. I play guitar but was never able to shred like him. I always felt kinda bad because they’d write these nasty riffs and we’d arrange this gnarly song and I’d come write lyrics about flowers over top of it, LOL!

 

I raised them for 23 years, and now they're heading off into the world to grow up. | Randy Nichols | 27 comments

Band changing up management.

 

Seems like they blamed him for the reception of the new album. Super odd.

 

a Linkedin post about UO - never thought i'd see the day

 

“In the end, I fell short. I failed them.”

Feels like a harsh assessment after working together for 20 years.

 

I feel like the fact that the band is still able to headline bigger venues than most of their peers and continue to get on big bills with massive bands (Bring Me The Horizon, Korn, Falling in Reverse, Papa Roach all come to mind) tells me that their team couldn’t be doing a completely terrible job. It’s just really difficult for most of these legacy bands to attract younger fans and I feel like they continue to make it harder on themselves when 60%+ of the songs on their headline setlists were released during the Bush presidency.

Hopefully whoever takes over does a better job promoting the next album. The band does a better job than most with their touring choices, but they do seem to struggle attracting fans to their modern music.

 

Man fuck these guys lol

 

That was an extremely professional post. Which you can’t always say about an Underoath event.

 

Tbh it’s the first time since joining ap.net that I hear of a management change in the scene. It doesn’t seem like something that’s brought up in general.

That said, it was hard not to be familiar with Randy due to him always popping up on various DVDs and being involved with the fanbase, down to being semi active on their subreddit even.

More used to see something of the sort happen in pop music, for much bigger artists, so I’m very curious to see what UO’s future will look like, especially at this stage in their career.

 

sucks reading that the band felt they made a good, well-received record, and yet it still didn’t do great. Wonder how they felt about voyeurist’s performance. I’m no strategist and idk what the fix is bc I too thought this record threaded the modern needle, but it really does seem like the metalcore world has just left the old guard behind. Not surprising since it’s been 20 years but it is sort of ironic since it seems like metalcore has as many popular subgenres as ever and since a lot of the djenty bands have been around just as long. It’s hard to fathom that a community with room for bands as diverse as BMTH, sleep token, and Spiritbox doesn’t have room for underoath, the best songwriters of the group imo.

all that said, and as alluded to above, they still pull the same crowds they ever have so hard to complain too much. Maybe now is the time for a deep cut tour :P

 

I definitely don’t return to PATATO as much as I did with Voyeurist.

Very interested to see the strategy for the next album. Both stylistically and in promotion. They’ve had some killer promotion in the past with the Voyeurist live camera stuff and the Locus Ultra moniker, but wondering if they can go even bigger.

Definitely feel like they could be as big as BMTH but that’s only going to happen with a change of thought process as well. Locking yourself in as a “legacy band” kills any and all momentum to get bigger.

Do they have another DTGL type epic album in them?

 

I cooled off on POTATO a bit. I still get some of my faves on rotation but overall, I prefer the approach they took on Voyeurist even if the production holds it back.

Makes me wonder if they intend on following POTATO up with a new release sooner than later.

 

Yeah I never really came around to the new album much. I think I liked it even less the more time I spent with it.

 

I prefer Voyeurist if I had to choose, but there’s nothing I dislike about the new one. Solid and enjoyable.

 

I am so curious what has been going on behind the scenes and label wise. Erase Me seemed to have this huge push and was very well executed. Vouyerist. was almost a reaction to that, and then the last one seemed like a genuine effort that just didn’t pick up much steam.

IMO they should do a record with Goldman again. Even if it sounds nothing like their records with him I think it would catch some intrigue. Their pod run is out of control rn. I loved the Modern Wisdom chat. Honestly anytime Tim is talking about being an artist and the band is killer.

 

About half of the album is still in somewhat regular rotation for me (basically Devil through Teeth, and then the last two songs) but the rest kinda fell off for me

 

I can’t speak for the majority, and I probably don’t, but ever since the Falling In Reverse stuff I just could not find it me to care about this band. I’m someone that has been here since The Changing of Times and found something to love in every record, to simply not listening anymore. Surely, I can’t be the only one.

IMO, it was an awful choice and lack of integrity, all in an effort to get a bag. From that moment out I just stopped giving them the benefit, unfollowed their pages, and haven’t really listened to any of their new music.

 

Still loving TPATO. I am super curious to see what they do next, though. I think that I prefer Voyeurist as a whole, but TPATO has some really great and creative moments that really work for me.

 

I am not sure I’m familiar with what you are talking about. Did they tour with Falling In Reverse?

 

yup

 

They sort of address this with the long podcast Tim and Aaron do with Neil Rubenstein and how they perceive Brand New. It certainly comes down to separating art from artist. As far as them getting paid, I'm not going to judge that since each member has children and people that rely on that. I was put off by them doing that run with that band as well, though. Wouldn't sway me from listening to Underoath when I want to. They aren't accessories to someone else's transgressions, but I understand your disappointment.

 

I will say, after this run of recent interviews/tour with FIR I’ve gotten weird vibes from them. They were definitely one of my favorite bands during the T&N days, and were people that I looked up to as “Christians” or whatever you want to call it. They always just seemed very honest and earnest, but now coming off very…douche-y heh.

granted I was a teenager and impressionable!

 

This is how I feel too. Devil, Loss, Survivors Guilt, and maybe All The Love is Gone is decent but the rest range from forgettable to just bad.

I don’t think management is to blame for how this record didn’t pop off lol