Tampa Melodic Death Metallers - Wirethrone - A gossip with guitarist James Harper

Hello fellow melodic death metal fanatics. We have Wirethrone with us tonight, hailing from the volcanic hearts of Tampa, Florida, United States.The very name of Tampa gives us chills about the very extreme metal, as a flourishing place for thrash and death this has been a very heaven for metal-heads around the globe. Tonight we talk with the guitarist of the band, Mr. James Harper.

Deathinmelody : Hello James! How are you doing? We welcome you and Wirethrone to our online interview sessions.

James : Hello Deathinmelody! I'm doing great thanks for asking. Thank you for reaching out, it's honor to conduct this interview

Deathinmelody : Since this is a chitchat about Wirethrone today, Let us know about it's very birth!

James : Well it started in 2011. I was playing drums in a band called Sanctum, and we had some members leave. I switched over to guitar and we changed our name, our image, and our style of playing, and thus Wirethrone was born. Back then we had a third guitarist and a different drummer and bassist.

Soon after we released "The Architect", we went on a hiatus for a little over a year. Josh Delgado, our former drummer Kris, and myself eventually reformed in the summer of 2014, added two members in Adam Mehdova and Chris Horan on guitar and bass respectively. We decided to drop the 

three guitar act and change our style and sound to a more aggressive feel to it. The lyrics for the new album are more personable and relatable than the first album as well. I personally like the style change. Then in 2015 we released the album "The Sun Betrays Us To The Night" on our YouTube channel, and started playing some shows! Our drummer Kris departed and was replaced

by James Smith. Right now we are gearing up to release our sophomore album.

Deathinmelody : I have heard the latest single "A Rebirth" and that is one awesome track. Loved it. I can hear Scandinavian melodic death metal influences on it. Am I right? Can you name some of your greatest motivations to play melodic death metal?

James : I am very influenced by Scandinavian melodic death metal, more so by the Gothenburg bands such as In Flames, Soilwork, Dark Tranquility. You can definitely hear those bands in my playing, but if you dig deep enough into our sound, you'll be surprised to hear some other bands that are

on the more prog/djent style such as The Contortionist. If our album was the main course, our ingredients are "A Sense of Purpose" and "Clayman" by In Flames, "Stabbing the Drama" by Soilwork, "Fiction" and "Damage Done" by Dark Tranquility, and "Exoplanet" by The Contortionist. Adam

brings a plethora of different influences to Wirethrone as well, mainly punk and classic thrash styles. It's wonderful mix of Gothenburg and American metal.

Deathinmelody : Underground music strives through many hurdles to get it's tunes to the hungry ears, tell us about hardships Wirethrone has to go through throughout it's journey?

James : It is very difficult for a melodic death metal band to capture listening ears these days, especially in Florida where young ears are more in-tuned to hardcore, metalcore, and djent. Thankfully, we have a pretty great scene down here. Bands of different types of genres can play shows and 

coexist without any problems. Mainly our problem stems from not enough promotion through social media for our style. I'm sure it's out there, I just haven't found it yet. However, we do have Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Bandcamp, and Soundcloud accounts that you can check out!

Deathinmelody : Can you recall your best moments with Wirethrone?

James : Best moment so far would probably be opening up for Angel Vivaldi. The show was stacked with great bands and it was one of our best sets yet and the crowd was great. There's a YouTube video of our performance floating around on YouTube, and you can hear the crowd chanting for us. That is by far

my favorite moment. 

Deathinmelody : What was your experience on the gig where you opened for Fleshgod Apocalypse?

James : The Fleshgod show was absolutely incredible. It was the first time Wirethrone played in another city since we got back together, so we were very excited for this one. We were the opening band, but the show was completely sold out and packed wall to wall with people. The sound was great, the crowd was into it, and 

we had a blast. All the bands on the show were incredible to say the least. Carach Angren and Abigail Williams were just as great as Fleshgod. All in all it was an amazing show, and I thank Camden Cruz from Seven Kingdoms for putting us on it.

Deathinmelody : How would you describe the Tampla mdm scene?

James : There aren't too many melodeath bands in Tampa, just a few. It's not as popular as the Core or Brutal Death Metal scene. However, we're diverse enough to play with just about any metal band in Tampa. 

Deathinmelody : My personal favorite Wirethrone number is The Architect. Can you tell us something about the song?

James : It was co-written by myself and a former member of Wirethrone back in 2011. Once the line up change occurred, we stopped playing it live. We shot a music video for it as well. We plan on releasing that song along with the entire album for free download on our Bandcamp very soon!

Deathinmelody : Can you tell us how you guys write up songs? Does it come as a concoction from all of the members or is it a single brainchild behind individual songs?

James : Typically what happens when writing songs, is I'll come up with few riffs or an idea of a song and present it to the rest of the guys. Adam is fantastic lead guitarist and writes some catchy melodies, so I get pretty excited to present a new song to him. Chris is an excellent bass guitarist. He and Smith are really 

in sync when it comes to groove. For drum parts, I write a back bone of what I think sounds and flows well, but ultimately Smith writes his own parts. I cannot express how great of a drummer he is, and he manages to surprise me every time we practice. I write most of the lyrics and help Josh with the vocal melodies.

The upcoming album is conceptual, following a story based on love, loss, betrayal, and triumph. It may seem like a one man show, but all the members of Wirethrone play an essential role in the writing process. 

Deathinmelody : Since we all know the extreme metal scene has a DIY culture, have you been following that in sense of recording, mixing and mastering?

James : The first album was recorded by Matt Johnson of Revelation studios and mastered by Lee McKinney of Born of Osiris. This time around, we are doing everything in house. Chris owns a professional home studio has a degree in audio engineering. Not only that, but we all have an ear for the ideal Wirethrone sound. We like 

big vocals and big melodies with pounding drums behind it. We found our niche and I feel that we are proficient in producing it in the recorded material.

Deathinmelody : Tell us about your future plans.

James : First thing is get the second album finished and released! Keep your eye out for it, it's going to have a couple of big surprises involved in it. Also, we would liked to get signed to major label like Metal Blade, or Nuclear Blast. I know most bands nowadays want to stay away from the big label and the debt that comes with it,

however, if bands are smart with their money, a label can be a great tool to utilize. Lastly, we want to tour! 

Deathinmelody : Thank you for your time James, Deathinmelody yells for Wirethrone and melodic death metal, up the throne!

James : No sir, thank you!

Dated : 23 March, 2016

Interviewer : Mir Hisham

Band Members : 

Josh Delgado - Vocals

James Harper - Guitars

Adam Mehdaova - Guitars

Chris Horan - Bass

James Smith - Drums

Links to the artist :

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/wirethroneband

Reverbnation : http://www.reverbnation.com/wirethrone

Youtube : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKwQEQ4zkPDqPXPURQOqFhw

LATEST SINGLE "A REBIRTH" : https://www.facebook.com/wirethroneband/videos/983169331719354/

FREE DOWNLOAD HERE : https://wirethrone.bandcamp.com/releases                               

OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO FOR "THE ARCHITECT" FROM THE ALBUM " THE SUN BETRAYS US TO THE NIGHT"