When the metal world found out about the tragic passing of Power Trip frontman Riley Gale on August 24 2020, fans around the globe, and even some of his bandmates, feared it was the last we would see of one of the finest up and coming metal bands on the planet.
Riley was such a force, such a personality and so crucial to Power Trip that it was hard to imagine them without him. But, on December 1 2023, Power Trip shocked the world by taking to the stage of The Mohawk in Austin, Texas, with Fugitive frontman Seth Gilmore handling mic duties, to blast through a short set to announce their surprise return.
Since then, the Texan crossover thrashers have announced that Gilmore will continue to front the band as they tour throughout 2024. We caught up with drummer Chris Ulsh to find out how they found the strength to come back.
What was it like stepping back onstage as Power Trip once again?
Chris: “It was interesting. I mean, a lot of things were the same and a lot of things were different. I had some moments where it just felt really strange to me, and then I would do something like drum warm-ups or rudiments with Nick (Stewart, guitar) standing next to me warming up on his guitar, and I felt like it was 2018 or something. We only played... maybe 4 or 5 songs, and I think it was nice to dip our feet in a little bit and get that out of the way before all these other shows coming up.”
The footage looked amazing.
“It was. We’ve played at that venue so many times, and the shows there were always crazy and there's this huge balcony that people would jump off, and it looks like something out of a movie. It was just nice to know that nothing changed. And it was full of people that were close to the band, had had worked with us, toured with us or whatever, like family. All those people were there. Yeah, it was fun, it was just a good feeling, man.”
The reaction has been very positive indeed.
“The reaction was awesome. It's nice to see that people still care and still want to see this band play shows and that they're as crazy as they always were. I think that was the boost we needed to start scheduling all these shows that we have coming up this summer.”
How did the decision to return as Power Trip come about?
“During Covid we were still having bi-weekly or monthly zoom meetings, and at one of those, we just came out with it, like ‘Hey, do you guys want to keep playing music together?’ Everybody obviously still wanted to do that, but we didn't really know if it was going to be Power Trip or a different band or whatever. As those conversations progressed, we realised we wanted to keep doing Power Trip, but didn't really know what that would look like.
As the Covid restrictions started lifting, Blake (Ibanez, guitar) and I were getting together, working on some new music, just to keep busy. We tried out a couple things, with different people, just demoing vocals over it, just to kind of get a feeling for the full song. But initially nothing really came of it, it just didn't come as easily as maybe we would have thought.”
You’ve got Fugitive vocalist Seth Gilmore fronting you now.
“Yeah, during that time, Blake started Fugitive with Seth – he was someone that we reached out to at the beginning, but he wasn’t ready. Somewhere along the way, I think he started feeling a lot more comfortable filling that role. We decided to test him out at that show in Austin, since Fugitive were playing, and one of my other bands. So, we just had everyone get onstage.”
How did he fit in?
“My bands have been playing with Seth's bands for a long time around Texas, so we already knew he was a great front person, he comes from the same scene that Power Trip came from and he was friends with Riley. It just seemed like a good fit, all things considered, you know?”
Do you think he initially felt daunted by the idea of filling Riley Gale’s shoes?
“I don’t know. But, Seth’s the type of person that is willing to rise to the challenge. He works super-hard. He wouldn’t agree to something without putting everything into it. We already knew he was a great frontperson; we have a lot of confidence in him.”
How did it feel getting nominated for a Grammy in 2021, for Executioner’s Tax (Swing Of The Axe) – Live?
“I was totally surprised by all that. It’s obviously a huge honour. I think it legitimises this extreme and subversive heavy metal band that we that we have become. Which is a cool feeling, legitimising it to the public or the powers at large that control the Grammys. I wish we would have won, but maybe next time.”
Was there any point where you thought you might call this something else?
“Yeah. I think ultimately it was important to carry on with the name because we put so much into this band since we were kids. It just seemed like... I don't know, tragic to put it down after this awful thing that happened to all of us. Yeah. Even people that really like this band that knew us and knew Riley, a lot of people feel really close to this band, which is a really cool feeling.”
Were you guys annoyed when the festival Power Trip came along and just used your name?
“It’s funny; my mom’s friend took a picture of someone wearing the shirt from that show. It had the line-up on the back and it said Power Trip on top. So my mom was like, ‘Oh, that’s so cool that you played with Ozzy and Metallica!’ And I was like, ‘You think we headlined over Ozzy and Metallica and Guns N’ Roses?!’”
Power Trip had been on such a great run when the pandemic and Riley’s passing happened, all of that must have been so difficult to deal with.
“Yeah, I think about that all the time. It's the ripple effects of that are still very real to all of us. It does seem kind of deeply unfair, you know, I know a lot of bands had it bad,cand a lot of people had it bad during the pandemic. It was another strange feeling when bands started playing again right after Covid. We were all just kind of like ‘Oh yeah, we can't play.’
It was like ‘Oh, finally we can go see live music, we can go see our friends, we can travel and stuff.’ And then it was like ‘Oh, but our livelihood is still not there.”
How did all of you in the band deal with all of that turmoil around that time?
“(Pause) I don’t really know how to answer that.”
Going forward, what’s the plan for Power Trip after these shows? Full steam ahead with new material, or are you taking things a bit slower?
“I think it's the latter. I think we'll just assess after the shows and make some moves, although I wish I had more to tell you. Blake and I have a ton of music that we've been working on, there's plenty of stuff there. We just haven't even really gotten there mentally, because we want to get these shows past us first.
There's a ton of people that have never seen Power Trip before, that found out about the band on the internet or Spotify or whatever. And since so much time has passed, I think the most important thing to us is just playing the old songs again for people. Then after that we can start thinking about maybe getting something new out there.”
You must have been very proud to have seen the outpouring of love for Riley when the news of his passing broke?
“Yeah, absolutely. It's kind of bittersweet listening to our music and playing it, because, on one hand, it feels great to celebrate this thing that me and Riley worked on together, but on the other hand, he was one of my best friends in the world, and I miss him a ton. He was just a very magnetic person and I consider myself really lucky to have a lot of close memories and experiences with him that most people in the world don't have.”
Gerard Way from My Chemical Romance actually dressed as Riley in tribute to him at one of their stadium shows in the UK. Were you aware of that?
“Yeah! So, I actually met Gerard a couple years ago. He came to see Power Trip in Los Angeles when we were playing with High On Fire. Devil Master was the band playing before Power Trip, and I think he ended up really liking Devil Master. Maybe a year later, I moved to Philadelphia and joined Devil Master, then My Chemical Romance asked us to play three or four shows with them here. I actually got to meet him and talk to him. That was pretty cool, he’s a pretty interesting guy.”
Did the MCR fans like you?
“It seemed like they were just staring at us like we were aliens.”
Power Trip play the Knockdown Center in New York on August 24.
