"OK, we’re dropping the ballad. We’re cutting it from the set.” We’re in Eindhoven at Dynamo Metalfest and I Prevail frontman Eric Vanlerberghe has just purposefully strode up to Metal Hammer to tell us some breaking news.
Iron Maiden’s The Trooper is currently blasting out of the huge PA. When it finishes, the Southfield, Michigan band are due to step out onto the stage for their set. This long-running Dutch festival has been headlined by everyone from Metallica to Manowar. This year’s line-up features such heavyweights as Rivers Of Nihil, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Kublai Khan TX, Kreator, Obituary and Kataklysm.
I Prevail themselves are sandwiched between Kerry King and headliners Gojira. The problem is that Eric has peered out from the wings to see what’s happening out front just before his band are about to go on, and a seed of doubt has been planted in his mind. Hence the last-minute change, resulting in members of I Prevail’s crew printing out new setlists, setting up new lighting cues and generally figuring out how to facilitate the decision to dump the ballad.
“This is a proper metal festival,” Eric says, not incorrectly. “They don’t wanna hear that shit.”
The guys are obviously keen to make a good impression with their sleek post-hardcore, metalcore and arena rock mash-up. In their defence, it’s not like they aren’t flexible. This summer they’ve mostly been playing non-metal festivals with very mixed bills.
“The other day in Belgium, we went on straight after Chappell Roan!” Eric had told us a few hours earlier. “It was so weird to us to think that all these people were going to be singing along to Pink Pony Club and then come over and scream Violent Nature with us.”
“Dylan [Bowman, I Prevail guitarist] is a huge fan of hers,” adds guitarist Steve Menoian. “So we went out in the crowd to watch her, and he was singing along to every word. We did wonder if there was anyone in the crowd that knew that they were stood next to the heavy band onstage straight after her.”
Juggling setlists to suit Gojira or Chappell Roan fans is something most metal bands won’t ever have to worry about, but I Prevail are a different matter. Over the last 10 years, they’ve stealthily risen from a band best known for a Taylor Swift cover to become one of heavy music’s biggest breakout bands.
They might not grab the headlines in the same way as peers such as Bad Omens and Sleep Token, but with two US Top 20 albums, a pair of Grammy nominations and one 2023 headlining show at Wembley Arena already under their belt, the facts speak for themselves.
“I think it’s just that, right from the start, we prioritised being a very fan-driven band,” says Steve of the lack of fanfare that surrounds them. “The industry never really knew what to do with us, and that’s fine. We always made sure we toured and connected with our fans and grew that way. The industry’s always just been a little bit behind the curve.”
I Prevail are about to release their fourth full-length album, Violent Nature, to an ever-expanding fanbase. It’s the best thing they’ve done so far, balancing slick, hooky arena-sized tunes with some destructively crushing riffs, a blast of punk spite, a dollop of underground metal grit and vocals that occasionally stray into death metal territory.
“It’s all about mixing and contrasting the aggressive with the beautiful,” Eric says of Violent Nature. “We felt like we were on really good form. But it’s been a worry for us with this album, whether or not the fans were going to jump onboard and take this journey with us. That was the great unknown.”
Despite their success, it’s been a difficult time in the I Prevail camp recently. Original clean vocalist Brian Burkheiser left the band in May, having missed a large part of 2024’s touring schedule after being diagnosed with Eagle Syndrome, a rare condition that affects the jaw and throat, causing sharp, nerve-damaging pain when swallowing or moving the neck.
“It’s been rough,” sighs Steve. “When relationships have to end it’s always hard. But it had to happen for both sides, both of us had to move away to find our own new path. It’s like a divorce, they’re always hard. But it’s good in a way – it meant that other dynamics in the band have been able to flourish.”
“I think we felt great being in a room and writing these songs,” agrees Eric, who took on sole vocal duties after Brian’s departure. “We’ve put our best foot forward; written the biggest songs we can muster and are happy to put them out into the unknown.”
I Prevail are also coming to terms with the aftermath of a tragedy. In May of this year their long-time agent, Dave Shapiro, who also represented everyone from Pierce The Veil to Sum 41 to Parkway Drive and many more, was killed in a plane crash in San Diego.
When Eric tells us that I Prevail have been “dealing with a lot recently”, he’s not exaggerating. Onstage later, the singer will make a heartfelt speech in tribute to Shapiro prior to performing Hurricane, and as he does there is a tangible, palpable sense of deep sadness that suddenly descends from the band onstage to the crew.
When I Prevail formed in 2013, Steve would have been happy if they’d become as big as pop-punk outfit A Day to Remember. He nods towards Eric.
“I guess now we have to let him name-check a load of obscure grind and death metal bands and subgenres that we all argue over.”
Indeed, Eric begins talking up his current love of underground death metal artists, PeelingFlesh and Snuffed On Sight, before name-checking Whitechapel, Avenged Sevenfold and Lorna Shore as some of his biggest influences.
“Who was that band you saw the other day?” Steve asks. “You know, the poop band.”
“I saw this band called Gutalax!” Eric enthusiastically says of the Czech goregrind crew. “They all wear hazmat suits and all of their songs are based on shit. They’re the shittiest band of all time, in a good way.”
The pair admit that, early on, trying to find a way to combine a love of pop-punk and grindcore in one band was borderline impossible.
“Yeah, these days, believe it or not, some of Eric’s influences are finally making their way into our music,” Steve laughs.
“It’s been a long road! But we made it!” adds Eric.
The first big moment in I Prevail’s career came when their heavied-up 2014 cover of Taylor Swift’s Blank Space blew up, peaking at No.90 on the Billboard Hot 100 (it currently has 168 million plays on Spotify). For many bands, that would mean an instant 15 minutes of fame, but it actually took five years for the song to go platinum in the US. This is news to Steve.
“I didn’t actually know that,” he says. “That’s pretty crazy. We had our nose to the grindstone the whole time, so it sort of snuck up on us.”
Have they had any feedback from the world’s most famous pop star?
“I don’t believe she even knows who we are,” shrugs Eric.
“I’m not sure,” counters Steve. “My fiancée’s father is friends with a guy who is her dad’s neighbour or something. He showed me a text message where he had sent the song to Taylor’s dad and he replied, ‘Oh, that’s awesome.’ So, you know, it got that far…”
Whether Taylor Swift is an I Prevail fan may be up for debate, but they have other celebrity fans.
“We bumped into Post Malone in a diner in Nashville recently,” Eric tells us. “We were out there recording and just happened to end up at the same restaurant as him. I’d have kicked myself if I hadn’t said anything, so I just went up and introduced myself and told him what band I was in. He was like, ‘No way! Are the rest of the band here?’ and he came over and introduced himself to all of us. He was the purest soul I’ve ever met.”
“The coolest thing,” Steve continues, “was that after he left, some of his crew came over and were like, ‘Are you guys really I Prevail?’, so they were fans too. That’s the best credit you can possibly get.”
Their profile was raised further in 2020 by two Grammy nominations – one for Best Rock Album for 2019’s Trauma and one for Best Metal Performance for the song Bow Down.
“That was big,” Eric grins. “The Grammys is one of those universal languages where everyone in your life could go ‘Oh, I get it now’, and it was an honour to be nominated alongside bands like Tool, Killswitch Engage and Death Angel.”
As much of an honour as I Prevail consider attending the ceremony, Eric still found it a humbling experience.
“We weren’t part of the actual televised event,” snorts Eric. “It wasn’t the Grammys that you picture on TV. We stayed for the entire awards, and you see the people sat down the front, and you’re kind of on the outside. It’s still amazing, but there are levels to this sort of thing.”
Nothing can squash your ego as much as turning up to an award show and being sat 100 rows behind Rihanna or Beyoncé, right?
“Exactly!” Eric says. “But I’m waiting for the change. You know, Billie Eilish performed, Tyler, the Creator performed, Lil Nas X performed, Demi Lovato performed, all of the artists at the top of their game. Then when they did the rock artist, it was Aerosmith and Run DMC! That was the greatest way to represent rock in 2025?! You’ve got all these new, young artists selling out arenas in rock and metal… but Aerosmith? I hope that will change soon.”
With I Prevail looking set to follow hot on the heels of the mainstream success of Sleep Token, Bad Omens and Bring Me The Horizon, change is surely on its way. Eric and Steve admit that they’ve had enough of a taste of the big time to want to push it even further.
“Doing these amazing, famous and iconic venues like Wembley Arena, it’s incredible, but we know we can take it even further,” Steve says. “You hear about these places, but when you actually step out onstage and see all the people, it makes you hungry for more.”
“I remember when we played Download and there were about 80,000 people watching us,” says Eric with a smile. “It’s still the most people we’ve played to, I think. You can’t beat that experience.”
It’s a few seconds before stage time. The last-minute setlist changes have been made, The Trooper’s final chords are ringing out and I Prevail walk onstage at Dynamo to a heroes’ reception. For the next hour, they look and sound every inch the modern metal stars.
The singalongs for Hurricane, Self-Destruction and Blank Space can probably be heard in Belgium, while Eric’s voice sounds absolutely monstrous live, his growls and grunts a match for any of the death and black metal vocalists that have played today. A medley of Deftones’ My Own Summer (Shove It), Alice In Chains’ Them Bones and System Of A Down’s Chop Suey! is a bonus treat, and by the time Gasoline closes the set, I Prevail have Dynamo in the palm of their hands. Heading backstage to give our congratulations on a great show, the band are in high spirits.
“That was a good one, right?!” guitarist Dylan shouts as Hammer enters the dressing room.
Sure was. It was basically almost perfect.
“Almost?” enquires Eric.
Yeah, it was great. But we could have used a ballad.
“We’ll do it next time,” Steve says, quick as a flash. “When we headline.”
“You know, it feels weird to think that a few years ago we were playing The Underworld in London to 300 people,” says Eric. “Now we get to do shows like this, we want to be a headlining band. We believe we can keep building and translate to an even bigger group of people.”
Violent Nature is out now via Fearless Records. I Prevail play When We Were Young on October 18 and tour the UK in September 2026. For the full list of upcoming dates, visit their official website.
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