War Of Ages on Cool Tour 2010

Having toured along side bands as varied as Soilwork, Throwdown, and As I Lay Dying, War Of Ages is a Facedown Records band that has hit the big time over the past few years. Hot on the heels of their fourth full length release entitled Eternal, it was announced that War Of Ages will be on this summer’s Cool Tour, performing with the likes of As I Lay Dying, Blessthefall, Between The Buried And Me, and more. We recently caught up with front man Leroy Hamp to find out the latest WOA happenings as they leave for the Cool Tour…

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in War Of Ages, and how long the band has been together.
Leroy Hamp lead singer of WOA. The band has been together 6 years.

How does Eternal compare to your previous releases?
Eternal is a cross between Pride Of The Wicked and Arise & Conquer. We wanted to cross breed the melodic feel of POTW with the aggression found in A&C. This was the formula we worked with as we wrote the Eternal album.

Is their any story or concept behind the CD title Eternal?
Absolutely! Eternal is defined as “continuing forever or indefinitely” or “life everlasting”. War Of Ages has gone through quite a bit both as a band and personally, however we have continually stayed focused and rooted in our faith. The concept of this album simply states that we will stay the course and fight every battle that comes our way for the rest of our lives.

Where did you get the ideas for some of the lyrics for Eternal? Please cite two songs from the new CD and what the lyrics are about.
Both Your Betrayal and Collapse are my favorite songs lyrically. Your Betrayal is a song I wrote about my father. It talks about how he has failed me as a father and how I’ve learned who I am without his help. There’s a line in the chorus that reads “When you come crawling back I’ll be waiting” and “remember me when you are ready” I’m referring to my willingness to except his faults and short comings if he’ll own up to those mistakes and change his life around. Basically the song is about truth and forgiveness and how hard it has been for a son to deal with both. Collapse is a song I wrote for my mother. This song is about feeling alone and helpless then coming to the realization that you aren’t alone.

What has it been like working with Tim Lambesis of As I Lay Dying on your last two studio releases?
We decided to produce Eternal ourselves. Not that Tim did a bad job on Arise And Conquer in fact we hope to work with him on our next release.

What was it like touring with Soilwork and what were some of the highlights on that particular tour?
Soilwork was flawless every night musically. We learned so much on the tour about musicianship and how to keep a professional attitude as a touring band. We all were like giant sponges soaking up all the information we could from a metal band we all looked up to. AMAZING PEOPLE!

At this point of your career, do you consider War Of Ages a Christian or ministry band? Why or why not?
Here is a loaded question for southern CA! Music, instrumentally, is music. What gives a band their Christian, ministry, or other demographic are the lyrics. With this being said I write songs based off of how I feel at that time. Sometimes songs are spiritually uplifting and at times offensive. I write so that I might feel better and because I am a Christian sometimes my lyrics follow suit. Everyone is in ministry – it’s called life.

What could one expect from a live War Of Ages show?
A band that truly looks at the stage and their live performance as a way out. For 30 minutes to an hour we can be whoever we want without interruption. 5 men poring everything they have into songs they wrote is what you’d see from WOA.

Cool Tour sounds like a very exciting lineup. How did you become involved with Cool Tour and what are you looking forward to the most about it?
Honestly we have a great team working behind us Jason Dunn and everyone at Facedown Records, as well as our manager Ryan Downey (Blood Company). They have worked really hard to help push and mold us into what we have become. A huge thank you to Good Fight Records and Tim Borror agency group for giving us this opportunity. We really looking forward to another amazing tour to support our new album Eternal!!!

A lot of new bands plan to go on tour over the summer for the first time. What advice would you give these bands about touring?
Lots of big tours this summer to compete with. Keep is small 1 maybe 2 weeks and don’t get in over your head financially.

You have toured all over the States and through parts of Europe. Is there any place you’d like to play that you haven’t been to yet and why?
We really want to make it to Japan someday. They are a culture that has always focused on respect and comfort for others in ancient traditions. It’s kind of a hard grasp this concept in our day and age, so it would be nice to see it first hand.

Do you have any messages for your fans in the Los Angeles/Orange County areas?
SEE YOU ON THE COOL TOUR JULY 31ST!!!!!!

(Interview and Live Pix by Kenneth Morton – Live pix from Facedown Fest 2009)

War Of Ages on Myspace

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