DevilDriver: We Dare You to Find a More Passionate Band
DevilDriver 2013
Music ~ and, more specifically, being a true musician ~ is about one thing and one thing only…passion. Sure, there’s the look, the gear, the fanfare, the “born with talent” element,” the practice time, but all these little building blocks that bands seem to rely on much too heavily these days are NOTHING when they are not backed and propelled by passion, the kind that runs deep in your blood and your soul, the kind that drives you to distraction if you cannot express it.
So you and I could pretty much name the bands that fall short of having any true, authentic, passion, but we’re not going to do that…too easy a mark. Instead, let’s talk about what you get when that passion and drive become The Rulers of Your Soul …you get Dez Fafara and DevilDriver.
No stranger to the metal scene, DevilDriver have been tearing faces off for the better part of 10 years. The band about to unleash Winter Kills, its sixth studio album, on Napalm Records August 27rd ~ and from this release, you can expect a more honest, less “produced” sound.
Dez shared with us that, “Almost all the vocal tracks are first takes. This music comes from the gut, and I’ve been as guilty as anyone over the years of double and triple takes to make the vocals sound beefier, fact of the matter is, the first take is always the truest, the most real and that’s something I wanted to capture on this record, the organic nature of what we do in DevilDriver.”
While the imagery of Winter Kills might seem at first glance to be about nothing more than desolation and despair, Dez defends the record, explaining that it’s actually anything but: “Winter Kills is more about rebirth, a beginning more than an end. Winter does kill, but that death allows life to begin again…that’s what Winter Kills is about, life…not death, but you can’t have one without the other.”
Coming full circle back to what pushes Dez forward, to what that “something” is that he cannot nor wants to escape, Dez puts it very simply: “DevilDriver is my skin. I do what I do because I love it. I haven’t made enough music to satisfy what’s inside of me. I will never stop.”
He never mentions popularity, or pleasing critics, or ever straying from what he knows must be. When you can call your music “your skin” and “what’s inside of me,” it’s pretty obvious that every cell of your being defines you as a musician. So although DevilDriver and Dez have and will continue to be successful, they have a “Love us or hate us” attitude…but whether you are fan or hater, there’s no way you can NOT respect the passion.
Winter Kills drops August 27th on Napalm Records and DevilDriver will be at the House of Blues in Boston on September 28th along with tour mates Trivium to support the album. Show some respect and be there.
Catch the lyric video for “Ruthless” here.
You can also check out the video for the song “The Appetite” here, directed by Dan Burke of PianoFight Films.
Don’t miss Dez on LIVE video chat on August 21 at 6pm EDT here. Make sure to submit your questions to him now through Twitter using #APAskDevildriver.