Haste the Day

Remember when heavy metal and hardcore music was once mostly attributed to older guys with long hair and beards who wore nothing but black and a permanent scowl across their faces? Well, Haste The Day does. That’s because the band, which releases their fourth album Dreamer this week, has been around since the days before heavy music was a popularity game. And despite what the scene has partially become (those metal heads are still very much around) the band has remained the same at the core and focused on the music and their message.

They’ve been a band concerned first and foremost with spreading hope in the darkness. And though they’ve faced scrutiny on many fronts throughout their career, including recent backlash from their own fans, the band has remained steadfast in the message they carry with them to all their fans, despite what direction the music or the scene has taken. Drummer Devin Chaulk recently sat down with Soul-Audio correspondent, Mark Wingerter, to answer some questions and address everything from their recent member departure and their new album, to metal heads and kids wearing Abercrombie and Fitch.

Soul-Audio: It seems like in the past few years that the hardcore/ metal scene has been exploding, thanks, in part of course, to bands like you guys and others like Norma Jean, BTBAM, and UnderOath. Can you comment on the (hardcore/ metal) scene now as opposed to when you guys started?

Devin Chaulk: When Haste The Day first started touring in late 2002, it was a very different scene. People at shows were generally older than they are now, and there were way fewer girls at shows than there are now. Over the last six years, the kids that are getting into metal/hardcore are getting younger and younger. I’m guessing it has a lot to do with the rise of MySpace. Young kids are getting on MySpace and checking out new music and wanting to get involved a lot younger. And it used to be mostly guys that were into heavy music, but that’s totally changed now too. And heck, it seems like all kinds of people are into it now- not just hardcore kids or metal heads, but kids wearing Abercrombie and Fitch or American Eagle. It’s not just scary people wearing black t-shirts anymore. Metal/hardcore is reaching a broader spectrum of people. I think it’s awesome.

SA: In addition to that, who are your main influences you draw inspiration from?

Devin: As a band we were heavily influenced by other Christian metal/hardcore bands like Zao and Living Sacrifice. But also a lot of stuff from the general market like Atreyu and At The Gates. Haste The Day’s sound is diverse, and so are our influences.

SA: I once heard Corey, lead singer of Slipknot, say something to the extent that their music and their shows were ways for their fans to get their aggression out in a positive way. Obviously you guys carry a more positive message than they do… so, what do you hope your music and your shows communicate to your fans?

Devin: We hope that it’s an opportunity for our fans to sense hope in a dark world. We hope that people have a spiritual experience and feel God’s presence. And we hope that people feel loved, accepted and valued by us, and by God. These are high hopes, but God has been so faithful to these objectives over the years. He’s done some amazing things at HTD shows.

SA: You guys recently made a difficult decision to let Jason Barnes go. In the statement you issued about it, you essentially stated that it was your purpose to be a Christian band and the reason he was asked to leave was that he no longer believed in God or Jesus Christ. I’ve read some fan reactions to that- some are supportive of the decision, and some believe that your decision wasn’t necessarily the most “Christ-like” decision to make. So, what was it that ultimately made you guys decide to ask him to step down? And what do you hope it means for the band, as well as for you guys individually, including Jason?

Devin: This was an extremely difficult decision for us to make. Jason is our best friend. He was a close friend of all of ours, even before he joined the band in late 2001. So, much prayer and agony went into this decision. Haste The Day has always been and will always be a band whose purpose is to share Christ. It is IMPERATIVE that we are united in this. Jason’s new-found beliefs (or disbelief) were not consistent with our mission, and we felt he could no longer continue in the band as long as he wasn’t focused on the same goal as the rest of us. It was a hard decision to make.

We’ve had A LOT of backlash from the fans, and sadly, some of that backlash has been from the Christian community. Saying things like, “Christians are supposed to be loving and accepting people. You’re forcing him out of your lives. I’m disappointed in you guys.” Those people are absolutely right about Christians being loving and accepting. No doubt about it. But that has nothing to do with his involvement in Haste The Day. We asked Jason to leave the band, not our lives. HTD is the ONLY area of our lives that we can no longer share with him. We love Jason very much, and pray for him often. We still see him, and spend time with him. It’s a healing process for sure, but by no means are we “forcing him out of our lives” because he believes something we don’t. He just can’t be in HTD anymore. That’s all.

Imagine a straight-edge band, whose soul purpose was to talk about straight-edge from the stage, and encourage the drug free lifestyle. Now, imagine that one of their members decided that being straight-edge wasn’t important, started drinking, and actually felt like the straight-edge lifestyle was useless. Could someone like that exist in a band whose purpose was to basically be ambassadors for straight-edge? It would be inconsistent, it would cause disunity, it would undermine the band’s effectiveness. I hope you understand what I’m getting at here.

SA: How did his departure affect the writing of Dreamer?

Devin: We asked Jason to leave the band right before we began writing for Dreamer. Jason was the band’s primary songwriter on both When Everything Falls and Pressure The Hinges, so it was a huge blow creatively for the band. So, the rest of us had to step it up and be more involved in the creative process. What came out was a very diverse record with the input of all four of us. The record took on less of a rock and roll feel (something Jason brought to the table previously) and more of a metal feel.

SA: On Dreamer, my first impression when hearing the album was that it’s heavier and at times darker than Pressure The Hinges. Do you feel the same? And what do you think was the driving force behind this album, now that it’s your fourth full-length effort?

Devin: Dreamer is HTD’s heaviest record to date, while preserving the melodic elements that people expect from us. Make no mistake- this is a HEAVY record. Most bands write progressively lighter records as their careers move on, but we reversed this process for Dreamer. Get ready! It’s heavy! The departure of Jason left behind most of our rock and roll influences, leaving a darker, more twisted metal feel.

SA: Do you feel that this album represents a change and/or progression for your sound, or do you feel it is an extension of your sound (one that capitalizes on what you feel has worked and perfects what you feel may have not)?

Devin: I think the record is a result of our more heavy and darker influences. I don’t think it’s a total divergence from the HTD records in the past. I think it’s a refining of the heavier elements of our sound, as well as some exploration into some experimental areas not tapped into before.

SA: Lyrically, how do you see the themes of Dreamer in comparison to your previous albums?

Devin: We wanted Dreamer to be a slightly less abstract album. We wanted the spiritual themes to be more clear to the listener. The whole album is based on the fall of man, our failed attempts to fix our internal “disease” and our subsequent reliance on God. The opening song “68” speaks loudly about this, as do “Sons of the Fallen Nation,” “Babylon,” “An Adult Tree” and “Haunting.”

SA: Where do you hope to see Haste the Day by the time the next record comes out- both personally and professionally?

Devin: I just hope that we have been faithful to our mission. This is all that matters personally to the band. Professionally, we’d just like to see growth in the band. But, this is truly secondary.

SA: Finally, if Haste The Day was personified, a living breathing man, in the end what do you hope would be his final words on his deathbed?

Devin: Man, good question. I don’t know. I’m more interested in what God would say to me. I hope he says, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

• www.hastetheday.com
• www.myspace.com/hastetheday

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