If you're a Wisdom In Chains fan and haven't heard yet, the long-running Pennsylvania hardcore band has parted ways with vocalist Mad Joe.
The news officially broke on the This Is Hardcore episode earlier today, but Wisdom In Chains guitarist Richie Krutch reached out to me a few days ago to see if he could explain how everything went down with the change.
Here's my conversation with Richie about Wisdom In Chains' new chapter.
From what I understand, there's a new chapter in the Wisdom in Chains story about to begin. Can you share the details?
Yes, after a great run with Mad Joe and a lot of albums that we are very proud of, we have a new singer. In more recent years, doing anything with Joe just became harder and harder. He didn’t seem to have much time, certainly wasn’t in his upper priorities, we recently had to cancel another European tour that we committed to, and on top of it, he was having some vocal issues, hinting to our drummer Luke that he didn’t think he could sing this sort of music anymore.
It was a tough decision, because I personally feel Joe is a high level guy when it comes to lyrics, not to mention one of our best friends. I love his stuff, he has written some killer stuff with us, some of his lines are so cool. He really deserves more credit within the scene for being “that guy” when it comes to lyrics.
Was the split amicable? From what you're saying, it sounds like Joe might have been relieved to be able to move on.
I can’t really say, I think it was, but he did hint that he felt a certain way about it. I do imagine that in the long run, although he may feel a certain way now (I really don’t know if he does), at the end of the day, it totally seemed that the band was a burden for him, at least that’s how the rest of us felt.
I did it via text, which isn’t the coolest, but that’s just the way we communicate. I sort of thought he was already feeling he was moving on, due to a convo he had with our drummer, but when we did it “officially," he seemed surprised.
When it comes to Mad Joe, there is no human on this earth that I have travelled more with. I’ve been touring with that guy with Krutch, I filled in for his first band Feeble, we travelled with Mushmouth together, Boxcutter, Comin Correct, and of course Wisdom. We lived together in crappy apartments, in haunted houses, we did dirt together, shared a million meals, and honestly in all that time, never had even one little argument or fight.
So the love is real, the songs were real; but the rest of us just wanted to keep playing, and we couldn’t get anything done with him anymore.
So, who is the new vocalist of Wisdom In Chains, and how did you come to make the decision they were the right person for the job?
Well, when he did cancel this last tour we had set, we told our agent Snoop. Snoop was pretty bummed, because it was all set, completely booked, rentals done, merch being printed, pre sales, deposits. Snooped asked me to call him, and he never does that. I called, and he really wanted us to just at least try to find a fill in.
One of the people that immediately came to mine was Frankie Puopolo from Death Before Dishonor. Some just know him as a bass player, but the guy is a super talent. He’s like one of those assholes that’s just good at everything they do [laughs]. I was in a side project years ago with Frankie called Trust in Few, and he actually did guest vocals for us in the past on a song called "My Promise."
Currently Frankie has been doing this really cool acoustic stuff, his voice is awesome. Unfortunately, he couldn’t do the tour, honestly no one we asked could, there just wasn’t time.
So after we failed on getting a fill in, Luke talked to Joe one more time. He asked him to just do the tour, don’t push his vocals, and have me and Evan step up on vocals just to get the tour we committed to out of the way. Joe still said no, so we had the convo between the rest of the members and I told them that Frankie was really excited to do it, but just to short of notice. We decided to ask him, and he was all about it. The guy can sing for real, he is a great musician and we are excited.
What's the plan now that Frankie is fronting the band? Can we expect any new music from the new lineup in the near future?
Yes, Frankie is our singer now. First thing, we are on a tribute to Motörhead comp with some great bands. So we are recording a Motörhead cover and some other covers at the end of the month. Once we get that out of the way, we are jumping right into a new album.
It’s been over 6 years since we put out an album, and to us, that’s nuts. Musically, no lie, we have over 100 songs written. We are letting Frankie hear some of those, and also writing new ones. I know it’s a big deal to replace a singer, but we do see it. Ignite recently did it, so we figured, let’s give it a shot.
We got the right guy, we will write some dope songs, if people like it, great! We keep doing our thing, if they don’t, fuck it, we gave it a shot. But trust me, this shit is going to be fucking dope. We aren’t playing. We know how to write, and we write what we know. So we are ready.
Since you've ended the Mad Joe part of the band's story, what song would you say best captures the energy and spirit of Wisdom In Chains up this point?
Oh, for sure, "Someday." Joe's lyrics on that, beautiful! A guest vocal from Freddy Madball, and musically, so fun to play, it’s obviously hardcore, but with something just a little extra. There are lines in that song that really fit how every member of the band felt, it’s holds up perfectly for an example of what we were and could be, when we were united as a band.
Stay tuned to Wisdom In Chains' Instagram page for more updates.
Tagged: death before dishonor, wisdom in chains
