LIFE LESSONS
PHIL BOZEMAN
The Whitechapel singer on rising above loss, tragedy and darkness
WORDS: DAVE EVERLEY
PHIL BOZEMAN FACED down the worst life had to offer early on. The Tennessee-born Whitechapel singer lost both parents by the time he was in his mid-teens – his dad to a heart attack, his troubled mother to drug addiction. Rather than drown in his own misery, he channelled his adolescent turmoil into music. The erstwhile deathcore band’s 2018 album, The Valley, used his personal experiences as the basis for a vivid journey through a nightmarish imagined landscape. Follow-up album Kin picks up where its predecessor left off.
THE SOUTH HAS ITS OWN FEEL
“I’m from Knoxville, Tennessee, and I still live here. I’m not one of those people who wants to get out as soon as they can. People here are very polite, very hospitable, just good people living the life. We have our stereotypes, people sleeping with their family members. I mean, that stuff does go on, but thankfully it’s few and far between.”
YOU GROW INTO COUNTRY MUSIC
“I was surrounded by country music growing up, and I did not like it. Riding on the bus when I was younger, that was all the drivers played. But the older I got, it grew on me and now I love it. I like the 90s stuff - Alan Jackson, Garth Brooks, Brooks And Dunn. It’s almost nostalgic in a weird way. It’s comforting to hear it. I never thought I’d be saying that.”