I Prevail Aren't Just Making Metalcore Taylor Swift Covers Anymore

The Music chats with I Prevail duoBrian Burkheiser (clean vocals) and Eric Vanlerberghe (harsh vocals) during their recent Australian trek for the Download Festival jaunt.The Detroit mob debuted material from upcoming second full-length Trauma during the run, and there's palpable enthusiasm about the prospect.

The LP infuses elements of alternative, electronica, pop and hip hop alongside their metalcore fare. “It feels like when a rock band has some moderate success on their record, I feel like they just try and do the same thing,” Vanlerberghe says. “This time around, people think they knew what to expect from us, and we just wanted to give them a big right hook and smack 'em right in the face, and not know what's coming. We can't pinpoint one genre that all of us liked. So we wanted to write a record that had a feel of a bunch of different things all together, but still felt like it was one.”

'Moderate success' is an understatement when describing I Prevail. Releasing a cover of Taylor Swift’s Blank Space in 2014 – before they played a show or released an original song – could have been a risky move for any band eyeing longevity. It paid commercial dividends though, quickly going viral and Gold in the US. They were also able to elude novelty status and parlay said notoriety into a burgeoning career, with2016's Lifelinesproving a breakout release. They've shifted more than 500,000 albums worldwide and sold out numerous shows.  

Their rise wasn't without trials, though. After playing the “strenuous” Warped Tour and being a year-and-a-half into the album's cycle, they had little time to recuperate before undertaking a US headliner. Burkheiser soon dealt with a debilitating vocal injury that jeopardised his future as a singer.

“My voice just started dipping out, and mentally I was just worried about what was going on with myself. Because I didn't feel like myself for a minute. I went into the vocal doctor and they actually found out that I had a polyp on my vocal cord, which was pretty terrifying. I definitely sat there for a minute and thought, 'Shit, am I ever going to be able to do this again?' Once I actually had the surgery it was a really tough place, because I essentially had to sit back home, and I couldn't actually even talk for two weeks after the surgery. They told me if I talked I could really rupture stuff and mess things up even more.

“It was a very scary time and I definitely spent a couple of months in a pretty dark place after the injury, just trying to piece [myself] together, not only on the vocal side, but on the mental side too before I could really go forward. Luckily with this album we had the freedom to write the songs we wanted to do, the music videos we wanted, which I think really gave us a push forward into me getting my mental state back.”

"Eric and I, we actually were pizza delivery drivers before this whole thing popped off. Which is pretty wild, to essentially go from delivering pizzas, and then three months later you're on your first tour in front of 400 to 500 kids."

The well worn adage is you have a lifetime to write your debut record and three months to pen the follow-up. “There was pressure, but it was a different pressure than the first time around,” Vanlerberghe says of Trauma. “The first time around it was like, 'Alright, cool, we've got some success from our EP and our cover, and now we've got to put our foot in the door and make sure people know that we're here to stay.' This record, it was like, we didn't want to put out Lifelines Part II. We wanted to put something out that stood the test of time, and was unique, but felt familiar.”

Now aged in their mid-20s, both admit they're still adjusting to their altered lifestyle, but clearly have plenty of confidence in Trauma and are prepared to dedicate the hard graft to take it around the world. “It is a weird process where you do grow up really quick, and have to figure things out on the fly,” Burkheiser ponders. “Eric and I, we actually were pizza delivery drivers before this whole thing popped off. Which is pretty wild, to essentially go from delivering pizzas, and then three months later you're on your first tour in front of 400 to 500 kids.”

“Especially with a band's success, you definitely have to go out and tour, and the better you're doing, the more you're away from home,” his bandmate chimes in.“You have to grow up and mature real quickly. You're gone all the time; last year we were gone nine months of the 12. You miss weddings, funerals, a lot of things. But you take the good with the bad – you get to do this incredible dream job.”