There has been a resurgence in what it means to be a metal band, and Spite is no stranger to that fight. Ten years, five records, and countless moments have proven they will continue to be one of the leaders of this genre’s bright future.
“We’re really excited,” shares vocalist Darius Tehrani. “We take a long time between putting out music. Normally, it’s a two- to three-year thing between putting out records for us. It’s overdue, and we just took a year off of touring and stuff to make this album and make it wanted we wanted it to be. We’re ready to get back into it and go full speed and fucking bring it.”
“It’s been a long time since we’ve been on the road,” adds guitarist Alex Tehrani. “We took a lot of time off to make this record, and for good reason. I’m glad we did. It’s always cool to add new songs into the setlist because that’s how we’re always thinking when we make records, is how we can add dynamics to the setlist we already have.”
New World Killer, the band’s newest record is out now via Rise Records. Produced by Will Putney, it was demoed in Joshua Tree and while on tour last year. They then moved their headquarters from the Bay Area to Los Angeles, where the real fun began, allowing the band to be more comfortable in their own spot and coming and going as they pleased instead of waiting on other people. They took a deep approach with the writing, too, highlighting a constant battle between internal monologue and the morality of the real world.
“It kind of came together as the project went along,” explains Alex. “We didn’t want to pigeonhole our ideas into a certain thing as we were writing because we had a lot of ideas. We didn’t necessarily have a concept record that we were going in with. I think it was important to hash out everything we had. The general theme of what we were writing about ended up being these things.”
This album boasts the classic, brutal sound we all know and love while also tossing in a bit of flair. It also sees a bevy of fearsome appearances, including Tyler Shelton (Traitors), Will Ramos (Lorna Shore), and Matt McDougal (Boundaries). After a year off from touring, the group, Darius, Alex, bassist Ben Bamford and drummer Travis Regnier are beyond ready to hit the road supporting Fit for a King and Make Them Suffer.
“We always love touring with metalcore bands in general, bands that dip outside of the genre we would normally be in,” shares Alex. “We could tour with death metal and deathcore bands all day, and that’s usually what we do, but dipping into that audience, I feel like the metalcore crowd is very receptive, and you can just see the reactions when you play. We’re trying to grow our audience and get new people to watch us.”
“I’m just excited to play all of them [each city],” adds Darius. “I know it sounds whatever, but after taking all this time off, I’m just ready to get back on stage and engage with the crowd and just feel that energy again. It doesn’t really matter where the fuck [we go], I’m ready to go, you know.”
The world is ready to see them on the stage again, as well. It’s now been over a decade since the inception of California’s favorite metal group, with seemingly nothing slowing them down. While the overall formula of the music industry is constantly changing, Spite has met everything head-on, adapted, and come out on top every single time. It’s all a testament of knowing who you are and what you want.
“When we started as a band, we wanted to portray the angriest and heaviest thing ever,” admits Darius. “At that moment, it was just psycho breakdown after breakdown, and as we grew as a band, we learned there are so many different ways to portray that without it being the same thing rehashed over and over. That’s what keeps us interesting. You can stay true to who you are and keep those core things. That’s what’s going to make Spite stand the test of time.”
New World Killer is out now and you can order it from Rise Records. Follow Spite on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for future updates.
Photo Credit: Olivia Bastone
