Spencer Chamberlain
Spencer Chamberlain |
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Spencer Chamberlain (born January 4, 1983) is an American musician, best known as lead vocalist for the metalcore band Underoath. Before fronting Underoath, Chamberlain was also the vocalist for the band This Runs Through in which his brother, Phil Chamberlain, was the drummer.
Background
Spencer Chamberlain was born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina,[1] and raised in Greensboro, North Carolina, with his mother, and older brother, Phil (also a musician as the drummer for now-defunct Sullivan and current drummer for To Speak of Wolves). As a child, Chamberlain's family was well to do and had enough money to pay thousands of dollars tuition at Greensboro Day School. Chamberlain's parents divorced when he was in elementary school at Greensboro Day School. Chamberlain also struggled with drug and alcohol abuse. He tells Alternative Press, "You know how some people have a good family or a girlfriend that's always there for them and never fails? That was [what] drugs [were] for me. That was my weakness." [2] He particularly had problems with a serious addiction to cocaine. Chamberlain soon went on to Page High School. Shortly after graduating high school, he moved to Florida.[1] He continued to struggle, until his step brother, a pastor, introduced him to Christianity. Although Chamberlain hadn't grown up in a tightly knit Christian home and avoided religion most of his childhood, he claims it is half of what saved him, the other being music.
Music
Before Chamberlain joined Underoath he was in a band based out of Greensboro, North Carolina called This Runs Through. They released a 5 song EP titled Until Forever Finds Me.
In late 2003, former lead vocalist of Underoath, Dallas Taylor (currently the vocalist for Maylene and the Sons of Disaster), left the band. Later in October of that same year at the CMJ Fest, Chamberlain took the stage as the new lead vocalist. During the early months of 2004, the band recorded their first album with Chamberlain and their second record for Solid State Records.[3]
Chamberlain has released three albums with Underoath so far, They're Only Chasing Safety (2004), Define the Great Line (2006), and Lost in the Sound of Separation (2008). When Define the Great Line was released on June 20, 2006, it sold 98,004 copies within its first week and debuted on the Billboard 200 Chart at #2[4]. Chamberlain blew out his voice recording "They're Only Chasing Safety" because he was screaming "wrong." After They're Only Chasing Safety, Chamberlain worked with Melissa Cross to get it correct and add deeper screams into the mix. Chamberlain noted that his vocals on Define The Great Line sound less like imitations of Dallas Taylor's vocals, and more similar to the vocals that he used in his previous band, This Runs Through. His evolved vocals came with the help of Melissa Cross, who coached Chamberlain and refined his "growl". Alternative Press noted, "his bellow [is] more carnal and guttural, [and] his high end more tuneful than whiny. Now when Chamberlain's relating those things that eat at the edges of his conscience and his soul, he has the kind of multi-faceted caterwaul to convey that despair." The article also comments on his songwriting, saying that it "reaches inward, confronting every ugly crevice of his being, often emerging from the clash furious and disoriented, but hopeful."
Discography
- This Runs Through -Until Forever Finds Me (EP) (2003)
- Underoath - They're Only Chasing Safety (2004)
- Underoath - Define the Great Line (2006)
- Underoath - Survive, Kaleidoscope (2007)
- Underoath - Lost in the Sound of Separation (2008)
- Underoath - Live at Koko (2010)
References
- ^ a b "Profiles". Underoath. Retrieved 2007-05-26.
- ^ Staddon, Tristan (2006). Underoath. Alternative Press.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - ^ "Underoath Bio". Artistopia. Retrieved 2006-09-12.
- ^ "Billboard Chart". Billboard Chart. Retrieved 2006-09-12.