DevilDriver, for the last decade, has been that band to destroy you in the live setting and always had a monster record to back that up and with Winter Kills, they have upped the ante. Winter Kills is a nasty piece of work and if it does not crush you upon first listen, you are deaf. Dez Fafara took the time to give you the fans a disturbing view into his mind with this exclusive to Metal Exiles.
An interview with Dez Fafara of DevilDriver.
By Jeffrey Easton
Metal Exiles: With your new album Winter Kills about to drop how does it feel to be Dez right now?
Dez Fafara: I am having the time of my life right now, just hanging out with my family. We put alit of hard work into this record and it is a full on groover. It has a lot of special moments and it is the most cohesive record we have done, every song flows.
Metal Exiles: You have been involved with family health issues as well as touring with Coal Chamber, how easy was it to get refocused on DevilDriver?
Dez: I was only with Coal Chamber all in all for about three months with the dates that we did so it did not affect me at all since it was my off time from DD. The band has been writing for a while and I have been writing off and on for a year and a half so I was really prepared when I got the demos.
Metal Exiles: Everything I read on you refers to DevilDriver as groove oriented metal but I think your sound is more ferocious than that but with melody. How does DevilDriver balance the ferocity with the melody that turns up in the music?
Dez: I think we are definitely the square peg in the round hole as you cannot fit us into these genres that are happening now. Long ago our fans started referring us to the California Groove Machine and I accepted that title because nobody else is referred to as that. We always have a form of melody with as you said ferociousness and it is important to try to balance the two. This record has a lot of tight arrangements as we really got down and concentrated on the song writing as we wanted the hooks and choruses to stand out. The way we balance it is that we make sure the arrangements are tight and every song had a special momentum.
Metal Exiles: I read the bio on Winter Kills and one of the things that stood out is that you’re fascinated with the dying off and rebirth of things. What fascinates your about that?
Dez: I love that, I have no idea why. Right now its approaching Fall and Winter and things are going to be dying off. I also like to start new things like business’s and bands, travel to new places otherwise life becomes stagnate.
Metal Exiles: With the title Winter Kills, the theme is very dark. What made you want to take this mental route?
Dez: We wrote and recorded during the Winter time and technically we are releasing in the Winter time since it is almost fall and you will be listening to it during the Winter months. A lot of the lyrics involve reconditioning yourself to a higher level and taking your life to the next stage so that title really stood out to me. We needed a title track as well and that just stood out to me.
Metal Exiles: What points to a rebirth for you?
Dez: You have to take the lyrics for what they are and I am always that guy who will crack open the door and show you a little bit of light so sometimes you have to point out the negative to do that. If you take the lyrics and really look into them you will see those places. The record as a cohesive whole really points to that. The band has a new label with Napalm and a new bass player, Chris Towning, so it really is a rebirth for us. This is our sixth record and we really found out who we are and what we do best with our sound. We have five different records with different sounds but to me Winter Kills really captures who we are.
Metal Exiles: I know that Desperate Times was written around the time of your sister’s Cancer diagnosis. How is she doing now?
Dez: It was written around that as well as some other things. She is doing ok but that song title and the lyrics reflect the desperate times we go through to get to the positive times.
Metal Exiles: What else in your life was pushing the songs, like Curses And Epitaphs?
Dez: Everything in life can be that, a curse or an epitaph. At one point things end and begin and if you really go into the lyrics you will see that it speaks of people in my past. Friends that take you down the wrong path or business people that are not really with it, so you have to really wake up and clean house.
Metal Exiles: I know you like being home with your family so you recorded your vocals at home. What was that like as opposed to going to a studio?
Dez: You find yourself thinking that if you displace yourself , putting yourself in the odd place out, making yourself uncomfortable will give you a feel that metal needs but for me that’s not the case. I was getting to a point that I was saying “ok, I got four more songs and I can go home. I did not want to do that, I did not think the listeners deserved that nor the art. I was just done with being gone for months on end just to record a record. So I put a vocal booth downstairs and I think it added a lot to the feel of the record. The clock wasn’t ticking; we got a lot of the tracks on the first take and if I wasn’t feeling it that day we could just call it quits. It made me feel more comfortable while recording because I was in a state I created. It was very moody, no direct lighting on me and I think that lent to the attitude of the record.
Metal Exiles: Usually a producer will not go along with that but you did bring Mark Lewis back. Was he down with flying out and doing this with you?
Dez: At this point I am only going to work the way I want to work obviously but he had a great time here, he loves California. He was very professional and he loved the studio I set up, it had a great vibe.
Metal Exiles: Your albums with him sound amazing. What does he bring that you guys would not be able to do by yourselves?
Dez: He does not try to become the sixth member and he does not try to take it in a different direction. He just tries to get the best out of you. I know he gets the best out of the instruments but with me I need someone who is on and can work fast. When I am working I am working. I want to get take after take, I don’t want someone outside the glass analyzing the lyric because it is not written by him, for him or too him, I want someone who can punch me in and out and get it done. Mark lewis is the person to get that done for me.
Metal Exiles: Some producers want to be involved in every aspect of the band and recording, why do you think they want that control?
Dez: A lot of producers have that ability but they are often working with young bands that need that, some who can fix their songs but in our case we do not need that.
Metal Exiles: I know you have a positive nature but most perceive metal as negative. What is the best way that Dez can put it out there that DevilDriver has a more positive message?
Dez: Nobody does dark like me, if you wanted to find a dark soul on the planet you are looking at it which is why I am always trying to look into the light. What I do in an essence is that door you are afraid to look into, that room your afraid to go into, I crack it open so you can look through it with my lyrics. If anything, metal was the place I could go to when I was younger an my parents were fighting and going through a divorce, metal was the thing that place I could go to. I want to have that band that is there for you.
Metal Exiles: I know what’s that like, when I was a kid my parents divorced so I had KISS.
Dez: There you go. Music was always that place for me and if we can exist for someone then wonderful.
Metal Exiles: Napalm is putting this record and to me they have always been this underground label dealing in amazing music. Do you think DevilDriver is going to be that band to take them to a wider audience?
Dez: Who knows but as far as a working partnership so far things have been amazing. We will see not this Tuesday but the next when the numbers come in. We have done our job as a band, they have done theirs a label so it is up to the fans to go buy the record. I would like to think we are raising the flag and trying to be that flagship band for Napalm especially in the U.S. and if it works out I would like to work with them again.
Metal Exiles: You have a lot going on with the release of Winter Kills. What is the touring going to be like?
Dez: We have the co headlining tour with Trivium this fall and after Christmas we are going to do Soundwave in Australia which is always amazing. There will be a lot of touring for this album we will break records with this tour.
DevilDriver is always a force to be reckoned with and with the release of Winter Kills it only gets deadlier.
Official DevilDriver Site
BUY Winter Kills
BUY Winter Kills on Vinyl!
An interview with Dez Fafara of DevilDriver.
By Jeffrey Easton
Metal Exiles: With your new album Winter Kills about to drop how does it feel to be Dez right now?
Dez Fafara: I am having the time of my life right now, just hanging out with my family. We put alit of hard work into this record and it is a full on groover. It has a lot of special moments and it is the most cohesive record we have done, every song flows.
Metal Exiles: You have been involved with family health issues as well as touring with Coal Chamber, how easy was it to get refocused on DevilDriver?
Dez: I was only with Coal Chamber all in all for about three months with the dates that we did so it did not affect me at all since it was my off time from DD. The band has been writing for a while and I have been writing off and on for a year and a half so I was really prepared when I got the demos.
Metal Exiles: Everything I read on you refers to DevilDriver as groove oriented metal but I think your sound is more ferocious than that but with melody. How does DevilDriver balance the ferocity with the melody that turns up in the music?
Dez: I think we are definitely the square peg in the round hole as you cannot fit us into these genres that are happening now. Long ago our fans started referring us to the California Groove Machine and I accepted that title because nobody else is referred to as that. We always have a form of melody with as you said ferociousness and it is important to try to balance the two. This record has a lot of tight arrangements as we really got down and concentrated on the song writing as we wanted the hooks and choruses to stand out. The way we balance it is that we make sure the arrangements are tight and every song had a special momentum.
Metal Exiles: I read the bio on Winter Kills and one of the things that stood out is that you’re fascinated with the dying off and rebirth of things. What fascinates your about that?
Dez: I love that, I have no idea why. Right now its approaching Fall and Winter and things are going to be dying off. I also like to start new things like business’s and bands, travel to new places otherwise life becomes stagnate.
Metal Exiles: With the title Winter Kills, the theme is very dark. What made you want to take this mental route?
Dez: We wrote and recorded during the Winter time and technically we are releasing in the Winter time since it is almost fall and you will be listening to it during the Winter months. A lot of the lyrics involve reconditioning yourself to a higher level and taking your life to the next stage so that title really stood out to me. We needed a title track as well and that just stood out to me.
Metal Exiles: What points to a rebirth for you?
Dez: You have to take the lyrics for what they are and I am always that guy who will crack open the door and show you a little bit of light so sometimes you have to point out the negative to do that. If you take the lyrics and really look into them you will see those places. The record as a cohesive whole really points to that. The band has a new label with Napalm and a new bass player, Chris Towning, so it really is a rebirth for us. This is our sixth record and we really found out who we are and what we do best with our sound. We have five different records with different sounds but to me Winter Kills really captures who we are.
Metal Exiles: I know that Desperate Times was written around the time of your sister’s Cancer diagnosis. How is she doing now?
Dez: It was written around that as well as some other things. She is doing ok but that song title and the lyrics reflect the desperate times we go through to get to the positive times.
Metal Exiles: What else in your life was pushing the songs, like Curses And Epitaphs?
Dez: Everything in life can be that, a curse or an epitaph. At one point things end and begin and if you really go into the lyrics you will see that it speaks of people in my past. Friends that take you down the wrong path or business people that are not really with it, so you have to really wake up and clean house.
Metal Exiles: I know you like being home with your family so you recorded your vocals at home. What was that like as opposed to going to a studio?
Dez: You find yourself thinking that if you displace yourself , putting yourself in the odd place out, making yourself uncomfortable will give you a feel that metal needs but for me that’s not the case. I was getting to a point that I was saying “ok, I got four more songs and I can go home. I did not want to do that, I did not think the listeners deserved that nor the art. I was just done with being gone for months on end just to record a record. So I put a vocal booth downstairs and I think it added a lot to the feel of the record. The clock wasn’t ticking; we got a lot of the tracks on the first take and if I wasn’t feeling it that day we could just call it quits. It made me feel more comfortable while recording because I was in a state I created. It was very moody, no direct lighting on me and I think that lent to the attitude of the record.
Metal Exiles: Usually a producer will not go along with that but you did bring Mark Lewis back. Was he down with flying out and doing this with you?
Dez: At this point I am only going to work the way I want to work obviously but he had a great time here, he loves California. He was very professional and he loved the studio I set up, it had a great vibe.
Metal Exiles: Your albums with him sound amazing. What does he bring that you guys would not be able to do by yourselves?
Dez: He does not try to become the sixth member and he does not try to take it in a different direction. He just tries to get the best out of you. I know he gets the best out of the instruments but with me I need someone who is on and can work fast. When I am working I am working. I want to get take after take, I don’t want someone outside the glass analyzing the lyric because it is not written by him, for him or too him, I want someone who can punch me in and out and get it done. Mark lewis is the person to get that done for me.
Metal Exiles: Some producers want to be involved in every aspect of the band and recording, why do you think they want that control?
Dez: A lot of producers have that ability but they are often working with young bands that need that, some who can fix their songs but in our case we do not need that.
Metal Exiles: I know you have a positive nature but most perceive metal as negative. What is the best way that Dez can put it out there that DevilDriver has a more positive message?
Dez: Nobody does dark like me, if you wanted to find a dark soul on the planet you are looking at it which is why I am always trying to look into the light. What I do in an essence is that door you are afraid to look into, that room your afraid to go into, I crack it open so you can look through it with my lyrics. If anything, metal was the place I could go to when I was younger an my parents were fighting and going through a divorce, metal was the thing that place I could go to. I want to have that band that is there for you.
Metal Exiles: I know what’s that like, when I was a kid my parents divorced so I had KISS.
Dez: There you go. Music was always that place for me and if we can exist for someone then wonderful.
Metal Exiles: Napalm is putting this record and to me they have always been this underground label dealing in amazing music. Do you think DevilDriver is going to be that band to take them to a wider audience?
Dez: Who knows but as far as a working partnership so far things have been amazing. We will see not this Tuesday but the next when the numbers come in. We have done our job as a band, they have done theirs a label so it is up to the fans to go buy the record. I would like to think we are raising the flag and trying to be that flagship band for Napalm especially in the U.S. and if it works out I would like to work with them again.
Metal Exiles: You have a lot going on with the release of Winter Kills. What is the touring going to be like?
Dez: We have the co headlining tour with Trivium this fall and after Christmas we are going to do Soundwave in Australia which is always amazing. There will be a lot of touring for this album we will break records with this tour.
DevilDriver is always a force to be reckoned with and with the release of Winter Kills it only gets deadlier.
Official DevilDriver Site
BUY Winter Kills
BUY Winter Kills on Vinyl!
