WITHERED Live U.S. Dates 2022:
11/12: Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade (Snowblind Festival)
12/08: Savannah, GA @ 7 Beans
12/09: Jacksonville, FL @ Archetype
12/10: Orlando, FL @ Will's Pub
12/11: Tampa, FL @ Brass Mug
12/13: Miami, FL @ Gramps
12/15: New Orleans, LA @ The Goat
12/16: Long Beach, MS @ Trax
WITHERED Live U.S. Dates 2023:
01/13: Athens, GA @ Flicker
01/14: Spartanburg, SC @ TBA
WITHERED recently released signature distortion pedal! Guitarist Mike Thompson teamed up with Michael Klein Audio Design out of Kansas City, MO to build a signature distortion pedal named âHusk,â which is designed for all the tone stackers out there.
Thompson also designed the cosmetics himself, combining a vintage military feel with an ethereal/mystic graphics to capture the âmoodsâ of the pedal.
Husk Features:
Selectable âthenâ (NOS Japanese 1S1588) and ânowâ clipping diodes to choose between saturation used on older Withered albums and newer albums.
The bottom row of knobs are a circuit inspired by the classic MIJ DS-1 with high quality/low tolerance components - precision metal film resistors, WIMA caps, MLCC caps, and Nichicon Fine Gold capacitors supporting a Toshiba TA7136P Opamp.
The top row is Thompsonâs collection of âdo my biddingâ controls: a clean blend to pepper in some clarity without losing gain, an output boost to keep the dirty tone louder than âpedal offâ tone no matter how much you scoop the mids, and a no-fucks-given low pass filter to tame the nastiness however you like.
2 different colored âonâ LEDâs for a âmilitary control panelâ look and max visibility on stage.
Photos of the Husk Distortion Pedal can be found HERE.
Artist Paul Romano (MASTODON, HATE ETERNAL, etc.) gave an in-depth behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the unique album art for 'Verloren!' Both Romano and WITHERED vocalist/guitarist Mike Thompson give in-depth interviews about the concept, working together, and more in this detailed article, which is accompanied by an exclusive video clip and photos! Check it out via Heaviest of Art at THIS LOCATION.
From its inception, WITHERED has been an outlier, a perplexing charge of extremity which the metal scene has never been able to put its finger on.
âWe want to compound new elements into every album,â posits guitarist/vocalist Mike Thompson, âand weâre definitely a band for metal nerds. Our audience seems to be the old-schoolers who are absorbed by this stuff every day and jaded folks of a certain age. Industry types and peers tend to get it, but thatâs about it.â
Thompsonâs self deprecating assessment of his creative output might be part gentlemanly humility talking or a harshly realistic take on WITHEREDâs cult status, or somewhere in between, but with an impressive body of work fanned out over the course of 18 years and five albums which have weathered as many trends, the Atlanta quartet continues to confound and refuses to compromise. New album, Verloren is the bandâs most daring and iconoclastic work yet, one that spits in the eye of complacency and exists as a contrarian masterstroke.
Originally formed by Thompson and ex-guitarist/vocalist Chris Freeman in 2003 following a spell in local grind institution Social Infestation (alongside Mastodonâs Troy Sanders), WITHEREDâs initial goal was to re-write black, doom and death metal modes and mores. To that end, the band has achieved that goal as their sound and aesthetic refuses to clearly state which subgenre they call home. Over the course of its history, WITHERED has generated more questions than answers about who they are and what they do. Theyâve toured with the varied likes of Mastodon, High on Fire, Dismember, Grave, Vital Remains, Possessed, Watain, Mayhem, 1349, Krallice, Skeletonwitch and Danzig. Their live show provides an air of never-know-what-youâre-gonna-get mystery. See them on one occasion and itâs a DIY kick in the gut with stripped down, rehearsal room bareness appropriately complementing the lunacy. The next time they get in the van theyâll do so accompanied by rigged up columns of light cloaking the stage in bloody reds and searing whites. And with Verloren, the bandâs forthcoming fifth album, Thompson and his band mates â drummer Beau Brandon, bassist Rafay Nabeel and fellow guitarist/vocalist Dan Caycedo â continue to nudge both thematic and sonic goalposts by providing relatable food for thought while retaining the adversarial fire that has powered the engine since the start.
âThereâs a philosophical introspective approach to the subject matter that informs our writing style. Weâre trying to create an atmosphere that complements the themes and thatâs something weâre trying to circle back around to on Verloren.â
WITHEREDâs first album, 2005âs Memento Mori, generally speaking, tackled the subject of mortality and the grieving process that follows significant loss, trauma and tragedy. Album number two, 2008âs Folie Circulaire was, as Thompson describes, âmore existentialist, nihilistic and Nietzsche-ianâ while 2010âs Dualities was an exploration of Jungian psychology and the shadow self. As alluded to in the title, 2016âs Grief Relic started into the U-turn back towards the exploration of the role and impact of grief as the men of WITHERED themselves entered that stage of life in which older family members, friends and childhood heroes were passing away, expectedly and otherwise. Five years on, Verloren rounds out the turn with a sinister sound and an area of study more akin to a deep therapy/counseling session instead of the usual gore and lore that often emboldens extreme music.
âRafay wanted to use the theme of âmissingâ,â explains Thompson, âwhich was broad and abstract, so I dialed it down to be more about this outlook Iâve developed over the years about how each of us have a âLove Well.â Every bit of love you get from your parents, your upbringing and your learning how to receive and experience love in relationships and through experiences contributes to the well. Your traumas counterbalance that and take away from it, especially when foundational core elements take a hit, like the untimely loss of a parent. Thatâs one of lifeâs unique puzzle pieces and when that piece is removed itâs never going to be replaced.
âWeâre equipped with a certain capacity â our wells are filled to a certain level â and when you start getting smacked with traumas, whatever you have in that well - your defense mechanisms - can get worn down pretty quickly, especially for someone who has never really known love because of a broken home, difficult relationships or whatever. Each one of us in WITHERED carry unique traumas that weâve focused this new record on. For me, most of my significant losses are from older wounds that Iâve dealt with through WITHERED from the very beginning, but with this being the first album with Dan and Rafay, itâs like a new exercise for them to really focus on the things theyâve been carrying around.â
Verloren translates to âmissingâ from German and relates not just to the friends, family and pieces of the memberâs lives and hearts that have, and will go, missing as the time ticks on unfettered, but also, in the face of the global pandemic, just how much the activity of being in a band has been missed by everyone who took the write/record/tour cycle for granted. Verloren demonstrates a topical uniqueness; one that discusses the stuff everyone from the steeliest of black metal cape wearers to the gore-obsessed death metal crushers and everyone playing in a band or not has had to - or will have to - confront at some point. By leveling the elitist playing field so often found in extreme metal underground attitudes, Verloren offers a more holistic experience, elevating WITHERED by being unafraid to discuss topics that fly in the face of what most would connect to the sounds they make.
âAbout two years before I started WITHERED,â Thompson recalls, âI went through a series of traumas where I was forced to take stock of and define my foundational âpuzzle piecesâ that could be taken away and what the trauma and grief is going to look like when I lose close family and/or friends I truly care about. Ironically, one I didnât face until recently was WITHERED. No one ever thought that not being able to play shows or tour because of a pandemic was even feasible. I processed the idea of losing WITHERED and playing music and touring and everything else around the time of Grief Relic when two guys quit the band and I lost a lot of steam and inspiration. Luckily, Beau was there to kick my ass and shake me out of it. When it comes to this album, there was an initial suffering of anxiety because of the uncertainty in the world and the fear of losing this album because we put a lot into it, are super proud of it and it is the best WITHERED album yet. Itâs important for my inspiration and motivation to go forward. It takes so much effort for us to create a record, the thought of it for it to all be for naught or potentially be wasted just destroys me.
âSurprisingly, we havenât had a lot of push back on these themes, though I would love to take on that conflict!â he laughs. âFor most people, metal is purely aesthetic, a grandstanding âf-you!â to society and an adolescent rebellion kind of thing. But at the same time, we do get positive feedback from the people who have looked a bit deeper and done some research. We just want to be honest. We used to make the joke when we go out on tour, especially in the early days when deathcore was all the rage and weâd be on these weird package bills, that âHey, weâre WITHERED and weâre here to bum you out.â Weâre not a party band or a shock band so you donât get the fun aspect from us when going to a show. Iâve always been frustrated that weâve never been able to communicate our super-realism and the different perspectives of life. If I want to sing about how much gratitude I have for my mother in a roundabout way, then whatever, weâll do it!â
As WITHERED enters its third decade, theyâve drawn a more insular and conclusive line in the sand. The band has forged further forward with the process of eschewing typicality, including not utilizing any of the usual producer suspects to help sculpt Verloren. Instead, they flew the flag of independence by again going down the route of self-production with Thompson himself taking the bull by its horns.
âWe get a little bit more deliberate every time around and starting with Grief Relic we decided not to hire anyone to help produce and filter it through a particular lens. We started self-producing and I kind of took the reins on that last time and more so this time and also when it came to selecting who was going to engineer [Raheen Amlani at Orange Peel Recordings], then mix [Greg Wilkinson at Earhammer Studios] and master it [Jarrett Pritchard]. The trick is to find someone who loves Times of Grace as much as they love Clandestine and His Hero is Gone, Napalm Death and all the way out to later Enslaved and can balance all those things. If itâs truly honest and truly communicating the intention of a song, then itâll be powerful, heavy and generate emotion.â
Verloren also revisits WITHEREDâs traditional methodological step of sitting down and looking at the present state of metal before consciously lashing out against whatâs taking up most of the broader publicâs attention.
âWeâre constantly looking for something new to do. We love genre bending and putting D-beats next to funereal riffs next to black metal blasts and heavy doom riffs and figuring out how to make it all work and make sense with whatever vibe weâre trying to nail down. For this one, I wanted to lean back into the funereal doom world. I got burnt out when doom â especially southern doom, being a southern band - was the word of the day around the time of our first two records. We basically ran in the other direction and got away from doing any full-on doom parts for a while. I wanted to come back around to that, so we went back to bigger stuff like My Dying Bride for the couple of eight minute epics on the album [album opener âBy Tooth in Tongueâ and closer âFrom Ashen Shoresâ]. Also, for the first time in my life and against my better judgment, I decided to write clean vocals and Iâm singing on two songs. Theyâre kind of buried in the mix a little bit because Iâm still self-conscious about them, but they were the only things that made sense for the parts we wrote. I tried to fight it, but nothing extreme was accomplishing the goal. On top of that, we go the other way where three of the songs have some super crusty and grind elements. Part of why I asked Dan to join the band was because I knew he would get the sludgy, crusty side of things and help me cultivate that better in WITHERED. On the album, âThe Predation,â âDissolveâ and âCasting in Waitâ are his. Those would be the twists on this album because weâre always trying to write what we think is missing and what we want to hear in heavy music after sitting down and looking at the landscape of whatâs out there.â
And despite being deliberate oppositional in the subject matter they choose to explore and express, how much of their hearts and souls they choose to strip bare for fickle crowds and grind against whatever current musical grain the rest are cruising along, the determination, seriousness and importance of WITHERED in each memberâs lives hasnât ebbed. In fact, itâs only been magnified with time and circumstance. Having been forced into a year off from normal band life has made it clear how vital WITHERED is for everything from creative expression, social networking, wanderlust, overall personal sanity and moving forward.
âPersonally, Iâm very, very fortunate with regards to my family and others being supportive and taking what I do seriously. Looking back, I could be really selfish and headstrong about music. My family got so used to it that they would volunteer to schedule dinners and family events around rehearsals and practice because they were able to glean how important this was to me and how seriously I took it. Even moving out into the real world with the professional realm of things and the jobs that we have had in order to keep this going, Iâd say itâs taken more seriously now than ever. Weâre constantly challenging ourselves to progress and carve our own path. WITHERED is a permanent part of my life, itâs what I expect to be there. Iâve built so much on it and Iâve somehow been able to weave it into my life to where itâs a defining part of me as well. This isnât rock star fantasy camp, although the other weekend I was bored, missing travelling and sitting around so I took the band van out and just drove out for three hours, turned around and came home!â
Links:
https://withered.bandcamp.com/merch
https://www.facebook.com/witheredmetal
https://twitter.com/WITHEREDMETAL
https://www.instagram.com/witheredmetal/
Line-up
Beau Brandon â Drums
Dan Caycedo â Vocals, Guitars
Rafay Nabeel â Bass Guitar
Mike Thompson â Vocals, Guitar
Guest Musicians:
Ethan McCarthy (Primitive Man) on âPassing throughâŚâ which is a noise track done under his âMany Blessingsâ nomenclature using field recordings Mike Thompson made at a family funeral.
Recording Studio:Orange Peel Recordings in Kennesaw, GA (USA)
Producer:Mike Thompson
Recording Engineer:Raheem Amlani
Mixing studio and engineer:Greg Wilkinson @ Earhammer Studios in Oakland, CA (USA)
Mastering studio and engineer: Jarett Pritchard
Cover art:Paul Romano
Biography:Kevin Stewart-Panko
Pre-sales:https://redirect.season-of-mist.com/WitheredVerloren
Available formats
CD Digipak
Vinyl in various colours
Digital
