In only a few years' time, Underoath has gone from a relative unknown to one of the dignitaries of the entire metalcore rock realm. The sextet's 2006 effort Define the Great Line shot all the way to No. 2 on Billboard's albums chart, becoming the highest-charting effort by a Christian rock group that year. Bigger and bolder than ever, Underoath returned September 2008 with Lost in the Sound of Separation (Solid State/Tooth & Nail), an album that builds on the gigantic precedent the group established a couple of years earlier. In this conversation, frontman Spencer Chamberlain and guitarist Tim McTague try to explain why they're so popular, the method behind their touring madness, and why Jesus continues to take center stage at every one of their shows.

You get almost no airplay or MTV support, yet you have one of the largest followings in all of metalcore. How do you do it?

Tim McTague: I don't know. The biggest thing we've been trying to do is try to keep it non-radio, non-mainstream. What happens with that is that a lot of people connect not with your band, but with one or two songs that happen to be on the radio at the time. It kind of paints a false picture of what your band is about. For us, we really try to make an effort to stay away from those fad-driving forces, even though people say that we can make a lot of money and sell tons of records if we do this single or that one.

Spencer Chamberlain: A lot of bands rely on what's popular now—with videos and the whole radio push. Since we started as a band years and years ago, I think [we've] built a more honest fan base. We were always hanging out with the people on every tour you'd go to. Back in the day, we used to play a show and then on announce from stage that we were going to Denny's to eat after the show, and that the whole audience could join us. It's a lot different for bands that do it that way as opposed to putting out a poppy record that blows up on radio [because it caters to a fad].

Somehow, you still manage to score creative partnerships with certain brands or retailers that keep you visible with kids.

McTague: Sure. Technically, we've embraced that. Certain companies have been like, "If you played our stuff or if you do this in-store, we'll basically trade you free gear or free promotions." For that kind of stuff we're open. We don't come from the school of thought that says We have to completely turn our back on anything commercial or corporate. You can't sell 300,000-500,000 records with [that kind of mentality]. So I think for us, we pick our battles and have a very strong ethical view of what's right and wrong in music and in the way of how we'll conduct ourselves.

Over the summer you toured with bands like Slipknot and Disturbed. How do you reconcile touring with secular bands that don't stand for the same things or share the same values as you?

Chamberlain: We do it all the time. Very rarely are we on tour with a Christian band. Everyone on [that] tour is really good friends by now. There's this mindset that unbelievers are close-minded to believers [and vice versa]. But I wouldn't not hang out with you if you were an atheist any more than I would hang out with you if you were a Christian. It wouldn't matter to me. If you're a cool dude, you're a cool dude either way.

McTague: Honestly, I love the dudes from Slipknot. They've been nothing but nice to us and respectful. As far as their music goes, whether we like their music or not, does it really come into play? Just because we do music differently than they do, I don't think the way we do things should be forced on them. The fact that I view music and life and faith and beliefs differently than probably anyone on the tour for the most part, that shouldn't put any roadblocks for me getting into their lives and being friends. That's one thing that we're really conscious about. I think Nickelback's music is the dumbest thing ever—I think they're the worst band ever. But if [Nickelback frontman] Chad Kroeger came in to chat, I wouldn't tell him "I can't hang out with you because I think your band sucks."

In your live shows, Underoath makes it a point to give a shout-out to Jesus from the stage. Is that something you've always done and, if so, do people get turned off by it?

Chamberlain: I definitely do it. I don't plan what I'm going to say. I make sure I say it in a respectful manner towards people, so they don't take it like I'm coming after them or that I'm smarter or better than them. That's not the case. I just like to share with people. I don't want people to think that because we believe in something that all Christians feel superior, or that we're going to judge you because you don't [share our beliefs].

That's probably the biggest thing I'm trying to prove wrong—the biggest damage of Christianity that I'm trying to repair. I'm like, "The reason I tell you about this is because it helped me out. I'm going to share that with you because it really did make a big difference in my life. But it doesn't make me any better than anybody else. I'm not perfect and never ever will be. I screw up every day. But it's made my life that much better." I feel it's more honest. It's not like telling you what to do, but just telling you what I do.

Lost in the Sound of Separation is a strange name for an album. What's it mean?

Chamberlain: It's actually a lyric from a song. The whole story is all pretty much the last two years of my life. It could be interpreted as me trying to separate the things that I should be doing—what God is actually calling me to do—and the things that I actually do. As Christians, we fall all the time and do things that are selfish. We know what we're supposed to do, but can't always hear which voice in our heads is the right one and the wrong one. Lost in the Sound of Separation is trying to string out and differentiate all the different voices talking at the same time in our heads: the conscience of God, best friends, parents, and anyone telling us [what do to and how to live].

Do you find yourself pulled in all these different directions a lot?

Chamberlain: I definitely mess up all the time. I do selfish things all the time—things that aren't the best, but that make me feel better. A lot of the times, that's not what will make you a better man. It's trying to dodge all the bullets and becoming the man you're really supposed to be, the man that God wants you to be. Until the day you die, it'll probably never [happen], but it's definitely about the process and trying to get there. Even people that don't believe in God, I do believe that everyone wants to be a better person.

Your previous album, Define the Great Line, sounded as if Underoath were finally becoming men. How does the new album fit into the band's developmental process?

McTague: I think it's the same progression, man. We became men on our last record in the same way that 18-year-old kids become 22-year-old men. But I think that the 22- to 25-year-old gap is probably just as braving. You're dealing with new things in life and in all of those kinds of facets, there's overall still a progression. I don't look at [the new album] as a huge leap from a prepubescent adolescence where we didn't know how to write songs to "Holy cow, they can actually construct a record!"

But this is the first record that we went in to the studio actually liking our previous record. Everyone has embarrassing pictures, like when you're 17 and wearing braces. You're like, "No, I don't want to look at those!" It's kind of gotten to the point now where we've matured enough as musicians to where we can say, "Yeah, we're not ashamed of that snapshot of our musical life, our past." We've really embraced who we've become and matured, pushing the boundaries beyond that on all levels.

So you're building on what you've accomplished thus far.

McTague: It's very synonymous in style. The heavy parts are way heavier. The melodic parts are way more melodic. The lyrics have a lot of meaning. You can tell from the whole thing that we're still the same band and that we're coming from the same kind of place, but we've also gone in a direction that's harder and farther than anything we've ever done. I hope that's the way that people who listen to [the new album] see it.

Why is it important to you as a group to have more meaningful lyrics?

McTague: The rock scene as we know it is kind of self-absorbed in and of itself. There's really no purpose in anything. The purpose of rock 'n' roll is being as careless and reckless as you possibly can. For me, I hope that our songs at least carry some sort of lasting purpose that is universally productive to society—not talking about how this chick is a certain way, or how I want to become a rock star or whatever those dumb bands talk about.

It really hurts me and bothers me that bands like that have so much power and influence over the people that listen to them, yet they waste it with stupid, catchy lyrics that any 10-year-old could write. I think it's important to take that seriously and go, "This is real stuff. You're a real human. I'm a real human. We're not here very long and we have to get somewhere positively, not in a negative way." I hope that people hear us and see us and feel a sense of substance and purpose. I think that's what's missing in the music of the 21st century, and it's something that we're not willing to let go of.

Where does your Christianity come into the picture? Is it still an integral part of what you do?

McTague: Oh yeah, man. The cycle of our last record was probably the hardest record cycle of our career, but it was also one of the best. We've had all these great accomplishments and mountains that we never thought we'd see the top of, and then we also had some of the worst. We broke up for a month [after Define the Great Line]. The only reason why our band was able to make this new record was by the grace of God and his hand and purpose on us.

Literally, we're just as dysfunctional people, if not more so than anyone else on this planet. And I don't profess just because I'm a Christian to have it all figured out or that I'm better than anyone else. I really think that the day that God pulls his hand off of our band that we'll just implode. I'm confident that every day we get up and make it through another day is a day that God intended us to be a band. The day that we break up is the very exact day that I know he's telling us, "You've served your purpose. I'm done with you guys. Now go do something else."

You can read more about Underoath by visiting our site's artist page for the band. Click here to read our review of their album, Lost in the Sound of Separation. Visit Christianbook.com to listen to song clips and buy the music.

© Andree Farias, subject to licensing agreement with Christianity Today International. All rights reserved. Click for reprint information.

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