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Interviews : Devildriver – “Australia is just such an amazing market for the band” (with Jeff Kendrick and Dez Fafara)

By on March 6, 2014

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Californian melodic death metal act Devildriver has just completed their third Australian tour with the 2014 Soundwave festival. They have been paving their own path in the world of metal since 2002, with Coal Chamber frontman Dez Fafara at the helm. In August of 2013, the band released their sixth studio album Winter Kills via their new label Napalm and are currently touring Japan before heading to the UK and Scandinavia. Metal Obsession had the pleasure of sitting down with Dez Fafara and guitarist Jeff Kendrick during Melbourne’s Soundwave festival.

Metal Obsession: This is your third time playing the festival, what do you dig about it that keeps you coming back?

Jeff Kendrick: It’s just one of the best times you could ever have in a band, straight up, it’s just amazing. Australia is just such an amazing market for the band. And I really gotta give it up to everyone who puts this together, I mean AJ and Jo and the whole team. The logistics of this festival are on another level, it’s incredible.

MO: Winter Kills is your first album through your new label Napalm, how are you enjoying this new partnership?

JK: Dez has just joined us.

Dez Fafara: Hello.

MO: Hi Dez, how are you?

DF: Good! You know we love Napalm; they’ve been a wonderful partner. They’ve really come to the table and stepped up things. The record debuted higher all over the world than one ever has and it’s just an amazing partnership. So for now, let’s do business. It’s always incredible, when you send a label the tunes and they say to you, “oh my God we’d love this record” and then you get emails at 3 o’clock in the morning from the owner of the label going, “I can’t stop listening”. It makes you go, I want to give you more, let’s do more together. We’ve had this conversation, Jeff and I about the label, and we’re very happy.

MO: You said that Awolnation’s ‘Sail’ spoke to you, what was it about that song that struck you & lead you to cover it on your new record?

DF: Well first of all when I heard it I sent these guys the tune and five minutes later they hit me back and said, “holy shit let’s do it”. But the lyric, “blame it on my ADD”, I suffer from ADD, now ADHD, all my life and the lyric, “sail”, hello, I’ve lived on the road for 20 years and these guys for almost for almost 12 with me. So it spoke to me man, it really did.

MO: Can you explain the concept of Winter Kills to people who may not have read about the record?

Jeff Kendrick: I think about like rebirth, I mean it can be taken like literally, it can be a rebirth and change. At least that’s what I take away from it.

DF: We were writing and recording in the wintertime, the title just stuck, it just felt right.

MO: You’ve worked with Mark Lewis on Winter Kills & Beast, what’s it like working with him in comparison to other producers?

JK: Mark, especially for us with the guitar stuff, he’s an incredibly accomplished player. I just think he really understands what the hell we need as he done with all the bands. He loves all the bands we like. He’s very knowledgeable; he’s like an expert in everything.

DF: What’s killer, I think, because he has so many of the same influences, he knows how to keep our sound. And he knows when he does other bands, not to give our sound or our things we do to other bands. So that’s a very important thing. Working with him with vocals, he’s the only guy that’ll go, “ahhh, I don’t know if I like that”. And I’d come out of the booth and listen and say, “yep. I’m hearing what you’re hearing”, and we’d work together.

MO: That’s a pretty special relationship to have with a producer.

DF: You need that outside source to go, “that’s great” or “that sucks”, otherwise you think everything you’re doing is proper.

JK: Essentially the producer works with the band but their job is to critique what you do not just say, “oh, that was great”. You need that. You need someone to say, “that sucked, do it again”.

DF: Plus he really has a fuckin’ work ethic man. You know, everybody works differently. These guys may want to record late at night, I’m the kind of guy that’s like, “be at my house at 10 in the morning, we’re going to slam this out”, and he’s there an hour early. So I love that. You gotta have a work ethic to be a really good producer and he surely does.

MO: Dez, you’ve recently started learning to play guitar, how’s that going?

DF: I know two chords!

MO: Congratulations!

DF: I can play Smoke on the Water.

JK: He’s got some nice guitars though.

DF: Yeah, I’ve got some nice guitars. Smoke on the Water is going to get me far. I don’t know my goal is just to be able to strum and hum by myself. Hopefully over the next couple of years that will come to fruition. I don’t have a lot of time at home, but when I do, you know, there it is.

MO: You live in the Californian desert, I’ve spent a lot of time driving through some of those deserts and I find them very inspiring as a writer, do they have a similar impact on you creatively? And what drew you to such a beautiful yet harsh place?

DF: Exactly that. All of a sudden it’s 40/50 degrees [4/10 C] in the morning and 110 [43 C] in the afternoon. I love it. It’s outside of LA, I really am not the kind of guy that goes to clubs and hangs out and does all that. So I needed a small town to get out and raise my kids in and it’s a beautiful place. It’s a place where a musician can afford a nice house and have a great life.

MO: And it keeps you out of the craziness of LA.

DF: I moved away from home when I was 16. I moved to Los Angeles, slept under bridges and stole food, I really don’t need to be there for business. But I do like driving into LA. I mean my lodge is in LA. My brothers, Jeff and them all live in LA. So it’s good to come into LA, and have a night or two and then go back home.

MO: You’re very into philosophy & theology, it’s a huge area of thought & discussion, but if you could express one truly valuable concept with your fans, what would that be?

DF: Watch your karma!

MO: Solid advice. Thank you so much.

JK: It was nice to meet you.

DF: It was a pleasure.

Winter Kills out now via Napalm Records

About

Amber has been a writer and photographer for 2020 BMX Mag, Reverb Street Press and 3DWorld. She has booked and managed hardcore bands and takes an interest in anything from hardcore to hair metal, particularly if it screams dirty Hollywood. Amber is also the author of a sex blog. You can follow her on Twitter Twitter or check out her blog.