Photo: Nick Karp
Death metal’s appeal seems never ending. Especially when you look at the newer generation of bands bursting through the scene that appear to be gathering healthy followings in a relatively shorter period of time. Undeath from Rochester, NY is another principal act to savor, already up to their third studio album in five years for More Insane – living up to the adage that real death metal musicians spit out quality death metal to passionate connoisseurs of the movement. We reached out to vocalist Alexander Jones who was happy to handle my questions with enthusiasm and thoughtfulness. Learn more about the latest record, working with seasoned producer Mark Lewis, special prized possessions in his vinyl collection, the growing pains to becoming a better live band, the importance of Cannibal Corpse and Fugazi that applies to the band’s philosophy and outlook, environmental concerns, and the global touring plans for 2024-25.
Dead Rhetoric: What can you tell me about some of your earliest memories surrounding music growing up in childhood? At what point do you remember moving towards heavier forms of music, and eventually want to be a musician and start performing in bands?
Alexander Jones: Earliest memories. Both my parents are heavy into music; they’re not musicians themselves, but they have a deep love and passion for music. That was definitely something I picked up on very early on growing up. There were always records around the house. My parents combined their record collections when they got married, they had a huge collection. My mom had tons of great 60s and 70s singer-songwriters like James Taylor and Elton John. My dad had a lot of old punk records like The Clash, The Sex Pistols, all the greats. That definitely gave me a deep love for music from very early on.
I gravitated towards heavier stuff not until later. I was definitely exposed to more out there music from an early age because of my dad’s interest in punk music. It wasn’t until late middle school or early high school when I first heard black metal like Mayhem and stuff like that that I was interested in heavier, extreme music. I have wanted to be in a band since I was a kid – since I heard Green Day and all those early pop-punk bands. Watching The School of Rock the movie, it made me think of how cool it would be to be in a band myself. I was very passionate about this very early on.
Dead Rhetoric: More Insane is the third studio album for Undeath. Considering the acceptance of your previous records in establishing the group on a national / international level, did you feel any sort of pressure to set even stronger standards through this set of material in terms of quality, songwriting, and performances?
Jones: Yeah. We always place pressure upon ourselves. I’m sure there is external pressure that we are aware of, but we are always trying to make material that we are proud of. We want to one-up ourselves as best as we can, we just try not to think about it too much and live in the moment. Continue to write music that we would be fans of just as we are fans of death metal.
Dead Rhetoric: Were there any specific songs on this record that took a little while to gel compared to others? Or were there certain tracks that just flowed easier?
Jones: Things usually come easy to us for the most part. We always when we enter the studio have the record pretty much done. It’s just a matter of getting the songs recorded. There are always one or two (songs) that stick out as needing a little extra tweak here or there, having the arrangements change a little bit. This time around, there’s a song called “Disattachment of a Prophylactic in the Brain”, that’s the first song Jared (Welch) our guitarist wrote for us. It was 80-90% done by the time we got to the studio, it’s way denser lyrically than anything we’ve really done before. It truly just has a lot of words. So, we needed to spend a little extra time getting that one perfect. Besides that, everything else came together pretty quickly.
Dead Rhetoric: Where do you try to pull from when it comes to your lyrical content? You want to create visions that go along with the brutality and heaviness of the music, are there different inspirations this time around?
Jones: It’s mostly the same well of inspiration for us. We try not to deviate too far from it. It’s a lot of horror movies, old video games that (guitarist) Kyle (Beam) and I in particular love playing. It’s mostly from that same sphere of influence. That well hasn’t really run dry for us yet, so we always come back to it.
Dead Rhetoric: You worked with Mark Lewis this time around behind the boards. What did you enjoy about his process, methods, and abilities to get the best work out of Undeath this go around? Were there any specific memories or highlights you’d like to share in this regard?
Jones: Mark was great. He was somebody that we were really excited to work with. He’s a name that we were familiar with for a while between Cannibal Corpse and The Black Dahlia Murder, all manner of great bands. We were very excited going into the process. We just got right down to work. There wasn’t a lot of dancing around or goofing off. We were there for an entire month, and we were working pretty much the entire time. We would wake up around 7 or 8 in the morning every day and get in there and start tracking. We would be done by 5 or 6 pm and take the night to drink a couple of beers and watch some bad television, go to sleep, wake up and do it again. It was like bootcamp almost.
Mark, he works you, he’s not the kind of engineer that let’s you get away with doing your second or third best take. He’s going to get the best take out of you, and he’s going to coach you to get there. He makes it enjoyable and makes sure it’s a comfortable environment the entire time that you are there. For me specifically, there were things that I wanted to do differently definitely with my range. I wanted to expand it a little bit, go higher in some parts, really stretch out a little more on this record, and he was able to get me there. A lot of encouragement, he was very supportive in helping me deliver the best performances that I could.
Dead Rhetoric: Drummer Matt Browning once again designed the artwork for this record. How did the concept develop, and what elements do you enjoy most out of his abilities as an artist beyond what he’s able to provide on his instrument for the group?
Jones: The concept developed very similarly to how it has developed in the past. We decided that we wanted to continue the trend that we’ve been doing with the last two records, where it’s one scene zoomed out from the last cover. Once we knew we wanted to keep going with that, it was a matter of what we wanted it to be. In this case, we decided that it would be cool if we took the cover from our last record, and that the picture exists from this cracked, floating, disembodied head thing. We’ve had a couple of conversations about that, Matt took it and ran with it, and the rest is history. I love his abilities as an artist, he is talented and absurdly good at what he does. There’s a lot of trust there, he’s always going to deliver something killer. Once we give him the base and notes of what we want to have for the cover, we just wait until he’s done because it’s going to be good every time.
Beyond that, I love the fact that it’s on a white background. It helps things pop, and that will help when it’s in the record store flipping through the bins, there are a lot of black, dark green, and purple covers – and all of a sudden, this white cover pops out at you. That’s really cool to me, and I can’t wait to see it in person finally.
Dead Rhetoric: Do you also enjoy the different proliferation of versions of the physical media, for collectors and the new found resurgence of vinyl that wasn’t there for decades before?
Jones: Yeah, totally. I’ve been a physical media guy forever. I love collecting records, I collected CD’s first and now I collect records. It’s something very important to me, to get the whole package of an album and take in the cover art, open it with the vinyl, if it’s colored too that’s just an added bonus. Watching it spin on the turntable – all the actual experience of owning a record is very important to me, and it’s important to the other guys too. It’s something that we take into heavy consideration when it comes to releasing any music.
As far as variants go, and the different colors for the records. On Lesions the first album we kind of went crazy with it, a dozen different color variations. From then on with the albums, we’ve walked ourselves back a little bit, maybe we can get away with doing three different colors this time around. I think it’s cooler that way too, people like me who collect all these versions don’t have to put stress on themselves, having only 10 out of the 12 different versions.
Dead Rhetoric: What are some of your prized possessions in your collection, either vinyl or CD-wise?
Jones: I don’t have anything too crazy these days. I sold a lot of my collection when I moved a couple of years ago. I’ve got a first pressing of the first Gism record Detestation, a Japanese hardcore band. I picked that up in Philly about seven or eight years ago on a wall at a record store, and I just had to have it. There’s that, I’ve got a first pressing of the first Electric Wizard album, I kept that. I’ve got some early Agalloch records, the black metal band that I’m stoked about. I’ve got Metallica – …And Justice for All, a first pressing of that. Those are the big ones. A lot of other stuff I used to have I’ve parted with to create some extra room in my very small house.
Dead Rhetoric: Now that the band has had a few years under its belts, growing from a local/regional touring basis into the international landscape, where do you think you’ve seen the biggest changes from your live performances that seems to capture new followers, no matter what bands you may find yourself on tour with?
Jones: I feel like we are a lot tighter and a lot more confident now. It’s just something that comes with playing a lot of shows. It’s as simple as that. When we first started, the first real tour we ever did was opening for The Black Dahlia Murder back in 2021. We had played maybe a dozen or so shows at that point. All of a sudden, we are opening for all these bands and playing in front of 1,000 people a night. That was a real trial by fire experience for us. The way we were on stage back then compared to how we are now, it’s night and day. We were so green back then; we had no business playing in front of that many people. We had to learn as we went. These days we are more comfortable on stage; we are physically better at what we do and that comes with experience. We are more at ease playing these songs and getting through the set. Knowing how to work a crowd and stuff like that. We’ve matured and evolved so much in the last four or five years.
Dead Rhetoric: How do you feel being on Prosthetic Records? They have quite a varied roster, is this the best label for what Undeath does to promote you properly?
Jones: Yeah, totally. When we signed with them before the Lesions album, we had some great conversations with Steve, one of their A+R guys. He was super transparent back then about what the label could do for us. Made it clear that anything that was going to happen would be the result of hard work on our part, and not some kind of record label magic on theirs. And that’s been true. We’ve worked extremely hard through the years that we’ve been on Prosthetic; in turn they’ve worked hard for us. I’ve always felt like they have been a label that’s backed us, supported us, has been very open and transparent about the business side of things. There’s no shady gross business dealings that I’ve been privy to. I’ve been very happy to be on the label.
Dead Rhetoric: Do you see major differences between the originators of the death metal scene versus the current crop of younger, newer bands that are making an impact these days? Would you say the diversity of influences plays a part in the revitalization and enduring appeal of the movement?
Jones: Yeah, that’s a good question. Back in the day, the originators and the first death metal bands, there was a lot more thrash metal influence. You see a lot of those bands keying in on a lot of the early thrash bands as key influences. Slowly We Rot – the first Obituary record – there’s tons of thrash influence on there. These days with death metal, it’s gotten away from thrash and gotten a little more hardcore and punk influenced into death metal. It makes sense, the kids that are starting death metal bands now, grew up on punk and hardcore more than thrash. Cannibal Corpse grew up on thrash metal back in the day. It makes sense to me that the kids are going to be inspired by the music that got them into heavier music, incorporating that into the death metal bands of their own.
Like you said, it contributes to the staying power of death metal because it makes it fresh and interesting for other people that are familiar with the genre, and excited to hear a new take on it. Or people that are totally unfamiliar with it may get it but are familiar with punk and hardcore and go that way. I think it’s cool. I’m 30, there are kids who are starting death metal bands now in their early 20s, they come and talk to me at shows – I don’t understand a lot of the bands that kids younger than me are super into, hold as guiding influences that I never clicked with. You can either be bitter, jaded, and mad about that or accept that times are changing and things you hold as sacred aren’t always going to be as sacred to other people. That’s what we need to push the genre forward.
Dead Rhetoric: Do you see a different appeal for Undeath across North America versus other countries and parts of the world?
Jones: Not that I’ve experienced. We haven’t toured Europe that much; we’ve toured the UK a couple of times and mainland Europe once. I feel like metal fans are the same everywhere. There are cultural differences of course that are going to come into play in subtle ways, but that’s just mostly how people behave at shows. In terms of enjoyment of the music and support of the bands, it’s the same everywhere. People who are into Undeath that are from Ohio or Texas are pretty indistinguishable from people who like us in Germany or Poland. It’s a universal language.
Dead Rhetoric: What do you think have been some of the keys to the ascension of Undeath in terms of your following? Are there specific work habits or goals that you individually and collectively keep in mind to achieve where you want to be?
Jones: We always just try to stay true to ourselves. It’s probably a cliché, but we just won’t put on airs about ourselves, keep our noses to the proverbial grindstone and continue to try to make music we are proud of and that people who like our band would also be stoked about. I like to believe that we are pretty level-headed, approachable guys. We don’t really have a lot of ego with regards to what we do. We don’t really see ourselves as different or that different at all from the people that come to our shows. We are people that are excited about music, people that love death metal, and been blessed with the opportunity to play and tour in our own death metal band. A lot of that comes from hard work, putting in the hours with recording, writing, and touring the music. It all comes down to a passion for this, and it’s the same passion that the people who come to the shows have. I think it’s just staying grounded, not being an asshole that are really the key factors.
Dead Rhetoric: How would you describe the western New York metal scene, or heavy music scene in general? Are there styles that are more popular than others?
Jones: I wouldn’t say there’s any particular style that’s more popular just because it’s such a small and tight-knit community. Being from Rochester, everyone kind of knows each other. In that way, you can’t really develop airs about yourself, or talk a lot of shit, or you will get ostracized pretty fast. In that sense, it develops a very close community. Rochester is very close to Buffalo, it’s very close to Syracuse, it’s close to Ithaca – and all of those scenes co-mingle. There is an us against them mentality. Yeah, we are from New York – but we are six hours from New York City, we are closer to Toronto. Everybody is aware of the fact that we are on an island, we have to lift each other up and make sure people are supported or put in a position where they can feel like they can contribute, feel like they are part of a community.
Dead Rhetoric: When you think of successful bands in the metal landscape, who would you say are two or three acts that you look up to and wish to model either on a musical or business landscape? And how do you handle the relationships that you’ve built with your fan base over the years?
Jones: Cannibal Corpse is the big one. Not just the big western New York metal success story, but they’ve had staying power. They’ve been an active, successful metal band for almost forty years. They have done it without compromise, they play death metal music. That’s their m.o., that’s what they’ve always done and I’m pretty sure that’s what they’ll continue to do. They are a band we all look up to, a key influence in how we want to carry ourselves. They’ve evolved over the years and changed their sound sonically in gradual ways, but never deviated from the core of what they are trying to do. We try to do that, push our sound in key ways while maintaining the death metal sound.
Beyond that, I can’t speak for the other guys in the band, but I look to Fugazi as a huge influence. They were massively important to me when I was growing up. Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto, I love their business ethics and the way they carried themselves, the way they treated their relationships with people. That band and those guys were huge in defining how I would like to see myself and how to treat musicians and the people that come to our shows.
One of the key elements of being in a band is not being a dick to people, not being rude. To be gracious and appreciative of the people that have gone out of their way to come and support you. Who go to the shows, want to talk to you, buy records and buy merch. It’s something that people in other bands take for granted, I try not to do that. I don’t think I could do that, because Undeath is in an amazing position, and we are doing stuff I only dreamed of. I don’t take any of it for granted.
Dead Rhetoric: What worries or concerns do you have about the world that we are living through currently? Where do you think the leaders of the world need to put more focus, resources, and attention on to make the general public feel better about their lives?
Jones: Wow! I have a lot of concerns about the world we are living in. It’s a terrifying place right now. I’m primarily concerned about the environment these days, it’s A-1. I think that the leaders of the world need to address the ongoing climate crisis as soon as humanly possible. I fear we have long since past the last exit, the metaphorical highway to destruction. There are still massive changes that could be implemented with those with their hands on the button that could improve the quality of life for everybody. Not just us, but all the other things that live on this planet. The huge amounts of pollution that are being dumped in our oceans, rivers, and lakes every day, that could be stopped overnight. Fossil fuel industries actively destroying the planet, that could be curbed with some careful changes that people would need to get on board with. I would love to see a real change begin to occur with that stuff in my lifetime.
I’m not particularly optimistic that it will because people who have power, once they get it, their main objective is just to hold onto it, and not help other people or the planet. I’d like to believe at some point there will be some kind of populist uprising that will help make those things a reality.
Dead Rhetoric: What’s on the horizon for anything related to Undeath over the next twelve months? Are there any other side projects or additional musical guest spots/endeavors that may appear as well?
Jones: On the immediate horizon for us, we’ve got a lot of touring coming up. We are playing in Southeast Asia, playing in Japan, China, Vietnam, and Singapore. Go straight from that into Australia, playing five shows there. We go back to America, a North American tour in September and ends in Rochester, NY in late October. We have all that to close out the year for us. We have a fest to play in Albany in December. We have a lot of plans for next year up in the air right now.