ERIC VANLERBERGHE On Taking Over Clean Vocals In I PREVAIL: 'Singing Is Mostly Just Being Confident'

In a new interview with Australia's Wall Of Sound, I PREVAIL frontman Eric Vanlerberghe spoke about the band's recently released four singles, "Violent Nature", "Into Hell", "Rain" and "Annihilate Me". Issued in May, "Violent Nature" — which is the title track of I PREVAIL's upcoming album — marked the band's first new music since the surprise departure of longtime clean vocalist Brian Burkheiser. Regarding how he and his bandmates approached the songwriting process for "Violent Nature", Eric said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We started demoing stuff on the road, which is the first time we've done writing on the road and had a blast doing that, being able to flex that creative muscle early on in the process. Obviously there's been a bunch of changes and having to figure that out, and while figuring that out and also trying to keep the I PREVAIL sound as what I PREVAIL is and what people have come to know I PREVAIL. And, yeah, we really focused on the down-the-middle-of-the-road songs with the choruses and the breakdowns, making sure that each chorus was a 10 out of 10 before we shipped it off. And on the heavier end [of the spectrum] — when we do heavy stuff on records, we try not to oversaturate the record with just heavy songs. If we're gonna do it, we're gonna do something specific and in a certain vein, and not if we do two or three heavy songs, we don't want them to mesh together. So, there's a couple check lists of this record of things that we were trying to accomplish. And I feel very good that we, if we didn't check 'em all off, we checked damn near every one off."

Asked if it was "a daunting thing" to step up and start handling most of the clean vocals in I PREVAIL following Burkheiser's exit, Vanlerberghe said: "I wouldn't say it was daunting. In the past, I said this in another interview, but if you would've told me 13 years ago, or even back when I was in local bands and death metal bands and stuff that I'd be singing ballads in front of a bunch of people, [I would have said], 'No fucking way. I don't believe you.' But over the past half decade or so, maybe a little longer, whether it was vocal injuries or other issues that potentially would've halted shows and I just had to figure it out. And between me and Dylan [Bowman], our guitarist, who also also sings live, it was, like, 'Well, shit, we have this whole tour to go. We've gotta figure it out. We've just gotta figure it out.' And in the past, Dylan took 85, 90 percent of the lifting. But there's parts that, back in the day, where he's playing, and he can't sing the part. So I just [went], 'Well, I've gotta figure it out. I've gotta figure it out.' And [2019's] 'Trauma' and [2022's] 'True Power' [albums], I sang a little bit on harmonies or little verse sections here or there. But, yeah, this is the first time of just belting out choruses and doing the thing."

Eric continued: "As I've said in the past, singing is mostly just being confident, and to have the guys in the band that I have on the other side of the vocal booth, we'd come up with a vocal melody, a music bed, and, 'All right, go see what happens.' I'd hop it in there with some, you know, scratch lyrics just to, just to sing something to see if it fits, knowing that if I hit a sour note or a flat note or whatever, if I stepped out of the vocal booth, I wasn't gonna have people dodging me or avoiding eye contact. I knew that if I had a bad a run in there that they had my back… That was a huge component of finding my voice. And I'm not saying that I found it and I mastered it by any means. But to be in a position where you are just, like, 'Well, shit, we've gotta figure this out. We can't stop. Let's see what we can do.' It was a lot of sink or swim, and to have the guys that I have encouraging me and knowing that they weren't gonna be back there, like, 'Oh, shit,' scratching their head, going, 'What do we do?', that was a huge, huge foundation I could build myself up on. And so I'm super grateful to have these guys with me."

"Violent Nature" is set for release September 19 via Fearless Records. The entire record was produced by the band's bass player Jon Eberhard, and it boasts a total of ten hard-hitting tracks.

In a recent interview with Meltdown of Detroit's WRIF radio station, Vanlerberghe spoke about I PREVAIL's new music. Eric said: "We're really, really excited to put this stuff out. We had the first single ['Violent Nature'], which is quite heavy. [We put that out first] kind to shake up the fanbase and kind of throw everyone… We love to… If you look back at our track record, the first singles have always been either what we thought was just a big home run or something that was just a little off of center, and this one felt like the perfect one to like jar the fanbase and shake up the metal community that I don't think was prepared to hear something like that from us. And then following up with 'Into Hell', which is a complete left turn off of what we just released. But I think that's just what our band's always done, has had this dichotomy or had this like eclectic sound. We're all fans of heavy stuff to pop stuff to… There's some country songs that slip into my playlist just 'cause they're undeniably well written. So [we're] loving all types of music, and it's awesome to be able to filter that into our sound and to put out records that have… Whatever emotion you're looking for, we've probably got it. If you want something to bang your head through the wall, we have that. Do you need something just to sing along to and feel good? We have a couple of those, and everything in between."

Regarding "Into Hell", Eric said: "The song means a lot to me, and I had a lot of fun writing with the guys. When we were picking the singles off the record, we had a couple in mind and sent it over to the radio team and the label, and it was funny. They all picked this one. And not to say that we weren't stoked for that one; we just didn't think that… We were, like, 'Oh, man. Really? You guys think that's single worthy?' And we were, like, 'All right. We'll trust you.' It's not that it's a song that we disliked or anything. We weren't sure if anyone else was gonna see the vision like we did. And, yeah, we're just really, really excited and stoked that our team backed it as much as we felt it. And, yeah, stoked to finally have this out, man."

Burkheiser had handled the clean vocals in I PREVAIL since the band's formation but was forced to step away from the group's touring activities due to his battle with Eagle's syndrome, a condition associated with the elongation of the styloid process or calcification of the stylohyoid ligament, clinically characterized by throat and neck pain, radiating into the ear.

Speaking about his increased vocal role within I PREVAIL, Eric told Meltdown: "I'm singing all over this [upcoming] record now. I've sang a little bit on the past records, parts here and there and harmonies and stuff. But for this time around to go into this and going, all right, well, we're not gonna change our sound dramatically. This is still I PREVAIL. We're gonna have the heavy stuff, but we're also gonna have the hooks that we love to write, the big choruses, trying to aim to write those big choruses. So going into the studio and writing in our little unit we've got, it was — I don't wanna say 'challenging'. It was a big learning curve, but also it was awesome to… When you're doing something creative and putting yourself out there and around other people, the vibe in the room, it means a lot. If you've got someone in there you're a little uncomfortable with, and [you think], 'I don't wanna belt this note and sound bad in front of these people,' but to have my guys, the band just cheering me on and being super supportive and feeling, okay, all right. 'Let's try this melody and sing it.' And, 'Oh, man. That didn't sound good.' And not feeling dumb or feeling bad, but, like, 'Oh, no. Try it again. Try tweaking this.' Or 'You're a little sharp on that. You're good. Just get back in there. You got it.' That was [instrumental in] getting where we're at now with these songs, was just having the confidence to get in there and go, 'All right. No one else is gonna do it. I'm gonna do it. Gotta figure it out.'"

I PREVAIL recently completed the "Summer Of Loud" tour alongside BEARTOOTH, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE and PARKWAY DRIVE as co-headliners. Main support on the trek came from THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, THE AMITY AFFLICTION and ALPHA WOLF.

I PREVAIL released its latest album, "True Power", in 2022 via Fearless Records. It was followed by a sold out, two-leg tour across the U.S. and Canada.

Last October, I PREVAIL released an expanded edition of "True Power", featuring one new song and three reimagined tracks. The updated version included the new single "Hate This Song", the band's collaborative track with ALL TIME LOW, along with reimagined versions of the album singles "Bad Things", "There's Fear In Letting Go" and "Deep End".

Rising to an arena level and receiving two Grammy nominations — "Best Rock Album" for "Trauma", and "Best Metal Performance" for "Bow Down" — I PREVAIL saw its "Hurricane" single top Billboard's Mainstream Rock Airplay chart in 2020, officially the top song on U.S. rock radio at the time. A number of their singles have since been certified gold and platinum, and they have been praised by press far and wide, including Forbes, Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter and NPR.

I PREVAIL is:

Eric Vanlerberghe - Vocals
Steven Menoian - Guitar
Gabe Helguera - Drums
Dylan Bowman - Guitar
Jon Eberhard - Bass

I PREVAIL will perform at Louder Than Life in Kentucky on September 20 and at When We Were Young on October 18 in Las Vegas.