{"id":38102,"date":"2019-07-28T12:20:07","date_gmt":"2019-07-28T02:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=38102"},"modified":"2019-07-28T12:22:12","modified_gmt":"2019-07-28T02:22:12","slug":"dez-fafara-of-devildriver-2019-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2019\/07\/dez-fafara-of-devildriver-2019-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Dez Fafara of DevilDriver"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\u201cI don\u2019t know what it is I think there\u2019s something very authentic about DevilDriver and surely myself because I really have a no bullshit attitude you know what I mean? I\u2019m not going to try and pull the wool over anybody\u2019s eyes and I think people see that and it makes them come to DevilDriver in droves\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

After what seems like an eternity, US metal icons Devildriver are finally returning to Australia to appease their rabid legions. It\u2019s been five long years since the band last headlined here and Dez and the boys are primed and ready to make up for lost time! Armed with their latest release, Outlaws \u2018Til The End: Vol. 1, and a back catalogue of face melting, circle pit inducing anthems, Devildriver in 2019 are as barbaric as ever and will be on point to deliver the goods in a big ole barrel of heavy metal moonshine!<\/p>\n

We gave our old mate, Dez a call to catch up ahead of the Australian tour to discuss what people can expect, new music, changes, authenticity, and much more\u2026<\/p>\n

Hey mate, here we are again, it\u2019s been about a year since we last chatted so let\u2019s catch up, how have the last twelve months been for you?<\/strong>
\nYeah man twelve months have been great, we released a record, we did a lot of touring, came home and wrote and recorded a double album that we\u2019re getting ready to stagger releases next year and the year after, the band is tight as ever and just getting ready for this US run that\u2019s sold out across the board, so it\u2019s it a good time right now in DevilDriver world.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re back in Australia shortly for some shows, finally, after five years since your last headline run what can people expect at this run?<\/strong>
\nGet ready it\u2019s gonna be blistering, the set is so blistering that I don\u2019t think I\u2019m going to be able to say anything but hello for the first nine songs. Definitely going to be bringing some surprises from just let\u2019s say my past and bringing it into my future, not only that bringing out All The Remains, great friends of ours and great partners on stage, I think it\u2019s a great concert for people and I\u2019m looking forward to coming Down Under, I miss it and the only reason it\u2019s been five years is we were supposed to come down there last year with another festival that kind of fell apart, they\u2019ll go unmentioned. It sucks the five year wait, we also let me tell you it was great to be called Australian citizens and at that point I said to myself look, maybe we need to take some time out of the market to really test it, to really see who we are here. Looking at the show tickets and where everything is now, if you\u2019re hearing this and you\u2019re listening to this now you should get a ticket because these are all gonna go clean.<\/p>\n

Eight albums in as the catalogue grows are you finding it harder to put a set list together these days?<\/strong>
\nNo not even, there\u2019s certain songs that have to be played, \u2018Clouds Over California\u2019, \u2018I Could Care Less\u2019, etc, but there\u2019s \u00a0gonna be all the surprises we do to invigorate ourselves so we don\u2019t get bored as musicians and that will transfer to the crowd at large watching us, so there\u2019s definitely gonna be some surprises in this set list for people.<\/p>\n

\u2018Outlaws \u2018Til The End Vol 1\u2019 has been out for almost a year, how has the cycle been so far?<\/strong>
\nThat\u2019s been incredible, I was told in the beginning you should never mash up country and metal but you know what? That thing came out like a monster and when you have things like \u2018Ghost Riders In The Sky\u2019 with John Carter Cash, Johnny Cash\u2019s son, and Randy from Lamb of God and myself it\u2019s like how could that go wrong? We had so many guests on that record and it really came out high on the Billboard charts and it did extremely well, so it was something for and I hate the word fans, but something for our people to listen to in between records, I knew we were going to have this double record coming in staggered release next March and the following March after that and I needed to give people something to listen to in the meantime and doing that record was a good time and having all those guests was certainly interesting and it was definitely a lot of work.<\/p>\n

I know last time we hinted that there may be a Volume 2 of Outlaws \u2018Til The End, any thought as to if this may happen?<\/strong>
\nAbsolutely, I\u2019m looking for next year March to release and then next year March 2021 to release and then we\u2019re looking at 2022 about Volume 2, going to be speaking to the label shortly about that to see if they\u2019re going to be the partner, I\u2019m also launching my own record label along with The Orchard and Oracle records so it may live there we\u2019ll have to see.<\/p>\n

Seriously, you\u2019re one of the busiest people in music, I love it you never seem to stop!<\/strong>
\n*laughs* Appreciate that man, thank you. I\u2019m not one to sit on my laurels I really can\u2019t sit at home and watch TV, I\u2019m addicted to building businesses I think that started when I eft Coal Chamber and had my own tour bus and got back in a van and started DevilDriver I realised I had an addiction building businesses, so everything from DevilDriver to SunCult which is my family brand which Randy from lamb of God is a partner in that as well, to our Oracle merchandise company that\u2019s rather large, Oracle Management which we have huge artists on that as well. I\u2019m addicted to building business and we got an opportunity from the Orchard who\u2019s massive out here and we had a meeting and got an opportunity to launch a record label, we hired a woman named Angelina who\u2019s a label president and has made millions of dollars for the labels she\u2019s worked for, she\u2019s got Grammy awards, Grammy nods for her executive producing records so we\u2019ve got her on. I\u2019m just addicted to seeing businesses start, watching them grow and watching them flourish, I get off on that rather than watching football or some other bullshit you know?<\/p>\n

You talked about new music and the double album staggered release, is it a concept or two separate albums, what can you tell us about what\u2019s coming?<\/strong>
\nYeah definitely a concept record I mean of course we\u2019re not really doing press on that right now, but just telling people anything that you like from my past and anything you like from Coal Chamber or DevilDriver like I broke all the rules on this record. We\u2019ve got almost twenty songs recorded and all the rules broke, this thing is a heavy monster, it\u2019s groove laden with massive, massive hooks, not one bit of sell out within it which you\u2019re starting to see all over metal now which is the heavy verses and the big clean choruses those are obvious ploys by bands to get on the radio and we make no such effort, we stay true to what we do and if radio or other outlets pick it up, they do. I mean people are gonna love this next record coming and when we get into the conversation and I have no doubt you and I will do interviews I\u2019ll tell you more about the process, more about what makes this record an individual apart from the other DevilDriver records, I\u2019m not looking to repeat myself whatsoever I\u2019m looking to grow the sound and the brand itself and I think this next double release is definitely going to do it.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re gonna flip this question because I\u2019ve asked you the reverse, but over time it can be easy to say what\u2019s stayed the same but what\u2019s the biggest change you\u2019ve seen take place within DevilDriver?<\/strong>
\nWell look I\u2019ve been around a long time with this band almost twenty years now, we\u2019ve seen only two line-up changes which is pretty amazing if you look down the line at a lot of bands that have had you know change after change after change, I think that the music and I said this on DevilDriver\u2019s first record, I said the record will keep getting better, we were a young band at the time and now with this current line-up and the way we\u2019re writing and the way I saw the recording going down it\u2019s almost as if we\u2019re finding our step. So I think what has stayed the same is we continued to stay the same and do our own thing and have real heavy groove and big hooks and do it different than most bands but what is different about this is this record is definitely a game changer in the sound, in the tone, and in the way we went about the writing process and people will hear that from very start when they put on this next record.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been intrigued recently with your social media profile and your lock down if you like, as important as social media is these days what do you think can change this attitude so many people have where they are keyboard warriors or trolls?<\/strong>
\nYou know it\u2019s real strange, I don\u2019t get a lot of hate, I\u2019ve probably blocked like four people in ten years I just for some reason don\u2019t get a lot of hate but what I\u2019ve realised is bands, a lot of other people just checking in on my life rather than having to follow and I said right I\u2019m just done with that, if you wanna come into what I\u2019m doing then you\u2019ve gotta follow me and let me know who you are and that you\u2019re there and that\u2019s just the way that goes. Most people will be thinking if you go private account that you\u2019re not gonna grow your brand or you keep people out of the loop, it doesn\u2019t matter I\u2019m extremely private in my life I mean I make Ozzy look outgoing I\u2019m just now doing my first meet and greets in Australia ever where I don\u2019t really do meet and greets much and I think it\u2019s just you know par for the course and make some changes along the way.<\/p>\n

Over the two decades you\u2019ve been making music, what for you has been the most defining moment you\u2019ve witnessed in music over that time?<\/strong>
\nOh I\u2019ve witnessed a lot of changes, mate. Everybody I ever started with is done you know, not many bands have stayed and the bands that have stayed from the era which I existed in in the 90\u2019s have all really turned into radio bands. Where you had a few bands in the scene that were really doing something fantastic and authentic I think a lot of that has changed now and a lot of those bands have become radio bands which I never have, I\u2019m gonna die with my boots on much the same way that a hero of mine Lemmy did in Motorhead, I want to make the music I want to make and make art the way I want to make it and I think we are doing that and we are staying the course for not only ourselves but for our fans. There\u2019s been a lot of changes along the way, man, it\u2019s crazy to think that I entered in 94 \u2013 95 and I can only name a handful of bands that re still around, even when DevilDriver began in the early 2000\u2019s there was a whole group of bands that were out at that point and they\u2019re all basically gone too. I don\u2019t know what it is I think there\u2019s something very authentic about DevilDriver and surely myself because I really have a no bullshit attitude you know what I mean? I\u2019m not going to try and pull the wool over anybody\u2019s eyes and I think people see that and it makes them come to DevilDriver in droves and somebody said to me last week they said last time I saw you it was a whole bunch of twenty year olds, how is that possible? Obviously a guy not in his twenties, and I said I don\u2019t know, our fan base happens to be young, happens to be driven by an authentic nature and they take to DevilDriver when it comes to that. So I\u2019m extremely pleased over all these years to see the brand alive and well and not only alive and well but massively thriving. I\u2019m venturing out on a tour for six weeks and we only have two more shows until sold out and they\u2019re all sold out clean. So it\u2019s a pretty amazing thing, we just got back from Japan, my first headlining tour over there and I mean Tokyo was so insane I thought I had to stop the show at one point because it was just insanity.<\/p>\n

The reputation with DevilDriver kind of precedes itself a little bit I will say because there are certain venues in The United States that we\u2019re not allowed to play because it gets I will just say it gets pretty insane so that\u2019s another good thing, it\u2019s not like we\u2019re laying on our laurels turning into a big radio band etc etc, we\u2019re doing what we\u2019re doing and I think people are feeling the authentic attitude. I\u2019ll give you an example, we recorded twenty to twenty five songs for this new record and there was one track and I\u2019ve never sung clean within DevilDriver and I was like you know what, this verse probably deserves to be clean and this chorus is going to be the heaviest chorus that anybody\u2019s ever heard, that is true art, that\u2019s not skewing it towards the radio, when you do it the opposite way with the verse is a little heavy and the chorus is a big and melodic you\u2019re obviously skewing towards making sure you get on the radio, making sure you get on TV, making sure you get a hit out there and I have never been that way. So it\u2019s just gonna be really interesting to see where metal goes in the next four or five years and to see and watch a lot of the bands that are doing that thing actually play themselves out and it\u2019s gonna be interesting to me for sure.<\/p>\n

Lastly as always let\u2019s look ahead to the future, finish this sentence for me, by the end of 2019 DevilDriver wants to\u2026<\/strong>
\nBy the end of 2019 DevilDriver wants to be in the place we deserve to be and ending a tour cycle for 2019 that will be one of the biggest tour cycles in our whole entire life to be honest with you, so that\u2019s where it\u2019s at right there. At the end of 2019 I want to sit down before Christmas and say right, those were the biggest shows we\u2019ve played in our life and we\u2019ve been around eighteen years, how is that happening? The band is growing and it\u2019s got some kind of momentum that\u2019s magic right now and everybody\u2019s feeling that thing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TOUR DATES<\/strong>
\nThursday, August 22: Metro Theatre,\u00a0Sydney<\/strong>
\nFriday, August 23: The Basement,\u00a0Canberra<\/strong>
\nSaturday, August 24: Valley Drive In,\u00a0Brisbane<\/strong>
\nSunday, August 25: 170 Russell,\u00a0Melbourne<\/strong>
\nTuesday, August 27: Jive Bar,\u00a0Adelaide<\/strong>
\nWednesday, August 28: Amplifier Bar,\u00a0Perth<\/strong>
\nAll shows 18+<\/p>\n

tickets.<\/a>destroyalllines.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Essential Information<\/u><\/strong><\/h2>\n

From:<\/strong>\u00a0Santa Barbara, CA, USA<\/p>\n

Band members:\u00a0<\/strong> Dez Fafara \u2013 Vocals, Mike Spreitzer \u2013 Guitar, Neal Tiemann \u2013 Guitar, Diego Ibarra \u2013 Bass, Austin D’Amond – Drums<\/p>\n

Website:<\/strong>\u00a0http:\/\/www.devildriver.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Latest Release:<\/strong> Outlaws \u2018Til The End Vol. 1 (out now)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n