Room Thirteen recently caught up with Lifeforce record label metallers, Withered and discussed their latest album, bands they'd most like to tour with and more.
R13: How would you sum up Withered in once sentence?
Withered: Withered are a black/death/grind/sludge band with a Swedish influence.
R13: What are your influences when writing music?
Withered: We don't use any particular influences directly when writing but I think the music and bands that we like certainly show up here and there in our songs. A few of our bigger influences would probably be Grave, Weakling, Immortal, and Neurosis to some degree.
R13: Have you ever played in the UK? If not would you like to and what reaction do you think you would get?
Withered: No we haven't play here but yes, we'd love to. I'm not sure what reaction we'd get but if we got to play for the right crowds, I think it would be great.
R13: For those who haven't heard Withered, how would you describe the kind of music you play?
Withered: We just call it metal, really. A better description would be that we pull from many different types of extreme metal. We play most of the stuff we like. We have a big, old-school Swedish death metal influence, as well as early Norwegian black metal, grindcore, and even some more modern doom stuff.
R13: What's it like to be on the same record label as more commercial metal bands like Caliban?
Withered: So far, Lifeforce have been great. The main reason we decided to work with them was because of their drive and everyone we've met at Lifeforce have been really good people with the right motivation and goals towards music. We look forward to having a good long relationship with them.
R13: What reaction do you think the new album will get?
Withered: That's a tough one to predict. We've been a little out of touch with everything that's happening in metal today but we really like the record and hope that everyone else does too but you never know.
R13: Would you rather be on big festival bills like Download or Ozzfest and get a 30 minute slot or do you own headlining tour with a full set?
Withered: It depends how much I have to drink the night before. Actually, right now, we'd probably like to play some festivals (I'm not sure about Ozzfest though) so we can get in front of some people. Since we're relatively new, we're just looking for some exposure right now.
R13: What do you think of the 'rash that won't go away' genre that is Metalcore?
Withered: That's a sensitive subject. Personally, when Darkest Hour first hit the streets, I loved it. I really enjoyed all the Iron Maiden worship in their music. Nowadays, it's getting a little tiresome, like when you go to Ozzfest, for example, and you can't tell the difference between 10 of the 14 bands that played. Metalcore to me could have been a fantastic genre but most of the bands seem a bit lazy and they are all writing the same riff over and over again. Maybe the style is too strict and you have to play the same riff as everyone else to be considered metalcore, I'm not really sure. Hopefully, a few of these bands will breathe some fresh air into the style and give us something new eventually.
R13: Are you friends with any other bands?
Withered: Sure, we've all been playing in bands for at least 10 years each. Most of the bands we know are unsigned bands from Atlanta or bands we've made friends with on the road.
R13: What band would you love to tour with?
Withered: That's a tough question. There are so many bands I'd love to tour with for so many different reasons. Right now, we'd love to tour with Mastodon because it's always a good time to hang out with our friends and they're a great band of course. I'd also love to tour with Judas Priest.
R13: What would be your ideal 5 band line-up?
Withered: Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Napalm Death, Grave, and Withered! I know it doesn't make much sense but it'd probably be the greatest night of my life!
R13: What do you think of mainstream music?
Withered: I think that most of it is unimaginative dribble designed to make people buy coca-cola and blue jeans. There is some maintstream music that I like though. I get some guilty pleasure out of bands like Weezer for example.
R13: What's the biggest gig you've ever played?
Withered: So far the biggest gig we've played was with Mastodon in Memphis, Tennessee. There were like 300 people there. I know it doesn't sound so great but since we spent a year on recording the record and working out things with Lifeforce, we've only got about 40 shows under our belt.
R13: Any final words?
Withered: Yes, thanks so much for the interview and the support. It definitely means something to us. Hopefully, we'll get the opportunity to share our music live with the UK. (It'll probably be really soon.)