SOURCE – Tell us about your new album, Eclipse. What is the inspiration behind the new album? Talk about the album’s theme.
Stephen Cobucci (Guitar, Vocals) – I didn’t realize the theme of the album until I had finished writing the lyrics to all of the songs. At the end I realized that the song “Eclipse” best encapsulated my thought process during the time of writing the songs. The phenomenon of an eclipse was what best described what I was going through personally and also what I was seeing in my culture. I went through a time of wrestling through the idea of holding on to the hope I have that God has saved me and loves me despite all the sin and failures I saw in my life. Wrestling with the reality of my brokenness and holding on to the truth that God’s love for me was in spite of my weakness and failure. It was my sin and darkness that seemed to hide the bright and comforting light of God’s love. Yet just because it seemed hidden didn’t mean that it did not truly exist.
Just like an eclipse, just because it seems as though the sun is blocked in darkness, does not mean that it isn’t shinning brightly. It takes faith to believe in the truth of what God has spoken despite seeing things in my life and in our society that He is not good and present with His people.
SOURCE – Is there a reason the album is constructed the way it is, in terms of album order and arrangement?
Stephen Cobucci (Guitar, Vocals) – The song order is always difficult because you truly want everyone to listen to the whole album. We ordered the album in a way that we felt best takes the listener on a journey to enjoy the different nuances of the songs with their various sounds, feels, emotions, and messages.
SOURCE – Do you believe it’s always important to have that versatility on an album – because the dynamics allow the listener to not get as bored because of the differences?
Stephen Cobucci (Guitar, Vocals) – Definitely. Artists and music listeners seem to have grown out of love with the idea of an album, but we believe that it is only a trend. To provide longevity for our band and to honor the investment our fans make in supporting us, we want to give our listeners our best effort for an entire album.
SOURCE – What do you think are some of the toughest and more difficult decisions a band at Wolves At The Gate’s stature has to make that may be difficult for the average fan to understand?
Stephen Cobucci (Guitar, Vocals) – Touring is definitely a difficult decision for our band as we all have families that we are responsible for and want to make sure that we are good husbands and fathers first. As well, we have a great responsibility and privilege in having a voice into people’s lives. We want to do the best that we can to honor that opportunity by speaking about the hope of salvation in the life and death of Jesus. His incredible love and grace is something often misunderstood, rejected, and ignored. Our desire to share this message has turned people off to our band’s music and cost us opportunities, but we cannot change the effect that God’s love has had in our lives and create art that we are proud of without being true to who we know are. There is a lot of hypocrisy in American Christianity, and also a lot of people who want us to shed the way we share the message of the Gospel. Yet if we did, we would be the hypocrites that people ridicule. So it’s a losing battle trying to please people and therefore we simply desire to stay true to the message of the Gospel that has brought us great joy and hope.
SOURCE – In a time where streaming and digital consumption of music is more the norm than owning physical releases, do you believe that great artwork is still crucially important for albums?
Stephen Cobucci (Guitar, Vocals) – Album artwork is just as important, if not more. With the massive amount of content out there, great album artwork can help your music cut through the noise. We are very visual people due to television, movies, and social media. People flip through Instagram just as much as they watch Netflix so having awesome album art can help people stop and pay attention to what you are doing.
SOURCE – The music industry seems to be putting a lot of emphasis on a band’s Facebook status, with bands getting signed based on how many ‘friends’ they have, or how many plays they get per day. Do you see this as having a negative impact on the scene integrity, or as a way for bands to easily get attention?
Stephen Cobucci (Guitar, Vocals) – It is both good and bad. It does provide a great opportunity for some bands to get recognition that might live in small cities, but it also is a way that bands can essentially create a facade to appear more popular than they actually are. At the end of the day, hopefully good music and artistry will rise to the top.
SOURCE – Tell us about the culture in the Christian post-hardcore music industry. What’s it like to be a post-hardcore band?
Stephen Cobucci (Guitar, Vocals) – Well, there really isn’t a Christian post-hardcore culture. Maybe at one time there was, but it isn’t really the case anymore. I think it’s good for bands to be honest about their beliefs and not be ashamed of their faith in Christ, but I also think it’s good for the music scene to not draw hard lines of affiliation because it just causes more close-mindedness and unnecessary division.
SOURCE – What’s next for Wolves At The Gate? How can we be praying for you?
Stephen Cobucci (Guitar, Vocals) – We are just finishing up an acoustic EP that we are really excited to share soon. We are also working on writing new songs for a new full-length record. Pray for creativity and powerful lyrical content.
Contact:
Wolves At The Gate
Videos: