Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
The resurrected Power Trip stated back in January of this year that they were more concerned with reestablishing themselves as a live entity than with creating new music, as reported by theprp. But now that over a year has gone by, the reimagined Texan crossover band, who replaced the late Riley Gale with frontman Seth Gilmore (Skourge, Fugitive) in 2024, has been inspired. Guitarist Blake Ibanez discussed how the success of his other band with Gilmore, Fugitive, has contributed to the desire to collaborate on new Power Trip material during the past year in an interview with Altars Of Metal.
I’ve always been pretty involved when it comes to Power Trip in the studio. I didn’t write anything for Riley, but just me and him having to write songs together, we had to be on the same page and understand how to… He knew what I wanted him to do in terms of where I wanted things to be, and I know the formula and I know how I like to write songs and how we’ve always written songs. And I have some of those instincts as well.
So I was, like, ‘Well, I’m gonna take what I know from what we’ve always done and what I did with Riley and everything I learned from him and we learned working together, and let’s try to write songs. I think we can do it.’ And so I didn’t know if it was gonna work at all. And then, obviously, we started working together and it was fun.
And [Seth‘s] a talented lyricist and singer in his own right. And there wasn’t the pressure of, ‘We’re making a Power Trip record,’ or something. It’s, like, ‘Let’s just start a new band [Fugitive] and have it be different and have it be its own thing.’ And that kind of just led to playing more shows and bigger shows and having some success with Fugitive out of the gate and building his confidence — playing bigger shows and playing his own songs and songs with me.
And I think over a couple years, I think by the next time the Power Trip idea came around, like, ‘Hey, do you wanna try to sing these songs and see what happens?’, he was ready and he was, like, ‘Yeah. Why not? I’m comfortable playing with you, and I feel good with what I’m doing right now. Why don’t we give it a shot?’ And he was down. And he had to be, because it’s a lot to put on your shoulders. And he has a good head on his shoulders.
Ibanez continued by saying that in addition to wanting Gilmore to be his own person, they also want to respect Gale’s legacy.
You’re never gonna be able to replace anybody that was their own person, an individual, like someone really talented like Riley, but that’s not what anybody’s doing. He’s always gonna be a special person and a force in his own right. And I wouldn’t want anybody to replace him.
But Seth is his own guy, and he brings something different to the table. And we just are here to continue doing what we did and not let it die. ‘Cause I think that would’ve been even more sad. And I think to play the songs and say Riley‘s name on stage every night and have people remember how special he was and all the great songs we wrote, I think, is amazing. And it was really sad when we were in a time where it didn’t seem like that was gonna happen again.
So, it’s just about kind of, like, let’s see what we can do now. And I think based on the relationship that me and Seth have and what we’ve been able to do, I feel really confident about writing more together and opening a new chapter that’s maybe not exactly the same, but it’s awesome and inspiring in a different way. And we’re gonna do the best we can to do that.
We would never do anything that we didn’t feel supremely confident in and feel like it was the right thing. But none of that is ever gonna take away from anything Riley did or anything we did with him. That’s always gonna be special and always gonna be something we did with him. Those were his words and it was our music, and it’s always gonna be special.
But as we’ve seen with other bands — AC/DC and Van Halen and all these other bands [who have changed singers] —you can do something new that’s different. It’s not the same, but it’s an exciting part of [a band’s evolution]… Something that could have ended tragically and never heard from again.
Gilmore has obviously affected the creative process of the band.
Of course we’ll always honor [Riley] when we can. We are moving forward, we have to focus on the future, but that doesn’t mean that we’ll forget him or not honor him. Of course that’s always gonna be a thing that we’ll do and we’ll try to make sure of. But when it comes to moving forward, we’re gonna write music how we wanna write it.
Obviously, like I said before, all the things and the elements of the formula that we’ve always had, I wanna try to keep those as much as I can, obviously, but Seth‘s a different person, he’s a different singer, he’s a different lyricist. So, is he gonna try to write lyrics exactly like Riley would? Well, I would hope he wouldn’t. Those were Riley‘s words, that was his personality.
It doesn’t mean that we don’t believe in everything and still wanna be in that realm anymore — of course we do — but I don’t write the lyrics, so I can’t really control that. I want Seth to write about what he feels strongly about and what he wants to put his name on and sing every night. So that’s not really for me to decide. I think he’s his own person.
We all come from the same world musically, and we have similar tastes and everything. We want it to sound like Power Trip, we want it to sound like something we would do. But I would never tell him to write about this or that. Riley, he was always thinking and changing, and I don’t know what he would be writing about in this day and age either. I don’t know what he would wanna talk about. I can’t really speculate on that. He’s not with us anymore, sadly.
I would feel that would be like trying to fill his shoes, and that doesn’t feel right. I think he deserves that space. I think with Seth, he’s his own guy. He can handle his own thoughts and ideas. I don’t think we would do anything that would, for any reason, go in opposition to anything that he wrote about. But he’s not gonna try to write the same songs or anything like that, so it’ll be something different. But I can’t imagine it’d be anything that people that like us wouldn’t be interested in or be stoked on. But [it’s] not really my call.
Power Trip are a real band – like no other. Their raw energy, musical proficiency, perfect song structure, rich tones, fierce riffs, persecution and collective attitude has seeded them as one of the most prolific underground staples in the U.S. metal, punk and hardcore scenes.
Power Trip have relentlessly toured the world for years now with the likes of Anthrax, Lamb Of God, Cro-Mags, Negative Approach, Turnstile, Backtrack, Eyehategod, Bane, Off! and having performed with literally countless others, in addition to pummeling audiences at major festivals all over the US, EU and beyond.
Their musical proficiency, perfect song structure, rich tones, fierce riffs, delivery and collective attitude has seeded them as one of today’s most prolific acts in any astute or heavy genre. Power Trip boldly surprise their broad fan base by performing alongside less obvious artists – closing the gap that in 2017’s social climate desperately needs to be filled. One month you can catch them playing with Title Fight, Merchandise or Big Freedia, the next you can catch them on a long tour with Napalm Death or Anthrax. They’re a powerful storm of aggression, gaining more and more momentum with true, honest spirit.
