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You get what
you ‘pray’ for:
An interview with DevilDriver’s Dez Fafara
August 10, 2009
With its first three albums, DevilDriver firmly established itself as a leading force in American metal. Their fourth effort, Pray for Villains, takes the band to another level. Vocalist Dez Fafara, guitarists Mike Spreitzer and Jeff Kendrick, bassist Jon Miller and drummer John Boecklin have all raised their game on an album that showcases both virtuoso musicianship and great songwriting—a rare feat. The relentless road warriors began their assault on audiences across the globe earlier in the year, long before the album’s release, and in late July, started a headlining run on the U.S. Thrash and Burn Tour. Dez recently checked in with Live-Metal.net’s Greg Maki to discuss the new album, touring and more.
Live-Metal.net: First, I’d just like to say, congratulations on the new album. It’s really amazing. I think it’s the best thing you’ve done so far.
Dez Fafara: Appreciate it, man. That’s very much appreciated. Thank you.
Before you started working on it, did you have—I don’t know—maybe a band meeting or something to sort of talk about the direction and what you wanted to accomplish for this?
You know what, we never do that. It’s always built kind of organically, and it’s always built on a form that not many bands are built on, which is every band member writes guitar. So you’ve got every single band member writing their own tunes. Then they get together in pairs. Then they go over to Mike’s house and make demos and stuff. Then they bring it to me, and I tend to either say what’s right or what’s wrong, and then I go in and demo the tunes. So no, we really don’t have that.
But what we really, I think, wanted to concentrate on as a whole was making sure that the songwriting was there. We know we can go fast, we know we can go brutal, we know we can go so guttural you can’t understand me—all this other shit. We know we can do that. We kind of wanted to push the art boundaries in a totally different way. I think, by doing that, we really concentrated on the songwriting and the hook and the groove.
One of the things I really like about it is you’re able to have vocal hooks and almost melody without going to the kind of clichéd clean vocals that so many other bands are using.
Right. The genre is just convoluted, full of bands right now at this point. I’m a fan, in a way, in that everybody is heavy as shit, and that just means that basements all over the country are rumbling with kids doing heavy music, which is making me really stoked. But on the other hand, I think everybody is kind of sounding the same and just kind of doing the same thing. We really wanted to make sure we defined ourselves on this, man. And for myself, too, I don’t think I can go to—I mean, I can go to a clean place once in a while, but I can’t go to a big, clean hook on a chorus. Our fans would just hate us for it. And I think predominantly the reason why bands are doing that—is it really in them, is it what they want to do or does it get them radio airplay and get them a little more accepted? So I’ve kind of got my middle finger up to all of that, as well. Do you know what I mean?
Yeah, I think that’s a great attitude.
I believe in making art for yourself. So if the one thing was to be said, DevilDriver, we just do this music for our own love of what we do and then if it’s accepted, it’s good.
I saw you went out to Los Angeles to record. How was that experience out there?
It was really cool. The Fury [of Our Maker’s Hand, 2005] and The Last Kind Words [2007] were recorded on the Texas ranch out in the middle of nowhere. It’s a beautiful place to record and get yourself together, but really it didn’t add any vibe or energy to the project. I’m born and raised in Los Angeles and the band was formed out of the area there. I said, “Look, let’s just go to Los Angeles.” And it really did add a vibe to that record. There was places to go, we ended up going to clubs together, we ended up going to bars together and we ended up kind of, I think, bonding a little more than you probably would have. You wouldn’t believe how separate you can really get in the studio when everyone’s really concentrating on what they have to do. I may be somewhere writing, guitar player may be in a room all day long rehearsing solos before he’s got to lay tracks. With this, we were kind of all vibing together, which was really nice.
I was just watching the DVD with the special edition and I was amazed at how short a time period it was that you actually recorded. It was only about a month or so, right?
Yeah. Everybody worked, so you can see me locked up in the hotel room working 24/7. Just to go out and escape and get lunch, I felt like I was dong myself a disservice. [laughs] It was really badass, man. We went and we had all the preproduction done, ‘cause when the band gave me the songs, I went in and when I demoed them all, I did a lot of rearranging. That’s primarily my function, is to write all the lyrics and then arrange the songs. Any tracks on DevilDriver are never like they are when I first get them. I always arrange them. Verses can become choruses, choruses sometimes verses and parts snipped out of them and stuff. I’m in love with what we’ve done and I’m just glad to hear everybody positive about it.
Also on the DVD, at one point you talk a little bit about how the lyrics for this album are more personal than they were for The Last Kind Words. Is there a reason for that?
Well, I don’t know why. But I think the stuff that I was writing in the last year or two is extremely personal because of a lot of things that happened to me. I moved my family due to wildfires—all sorts of stuff. My old, former bandmate in Coal Chamber, Meegs, came into the picture to apologize to me, my wife, my mom. It was just a lot of things. Out of that that happened, I wrote “Forgiveness Is a Six-Gun,” which is about learning how to give up a grudge and give up the hate that you hold for somebody that trespassed against you and learning to grow from it and let that go and be forgiving. I really got in touch with a lot of that, a lot of the aspect of, “OK, what is it really to be a human out here on this planet?” Same thing with “Resurrection Blvd.” Everybody lives on resurrection boulevard once or twice in their life. It’s when you get humbled to the point where you’ve gotta grow from it as a human. So I just found myself writing about more personal shit. Like I said (before), if this was the last record ever, I’m gonna write the lyrics as if it’s the last. And I think going into it with that mentality really helped.
Obviously, there’s a song on the album called “Pray for Villains,” but aside from that, why did you choose to name the album that?
It was a good title track, really kind of summed up a career of what I think is an underground band coming to fruition at this point, DevilDriver, as well as it kind of goes with my philosophy of every time you put your eggs in one basket, in the good guy, then the bad guy comes in black with a shotgun and takes care of the situation. Also, my love of Westerns and Kurosawa samurai films, as well. So it all just kind of plays together.
I think my favorite song on the album has got to be “I’ve Been Sober.” Everything I love about the album all comes together on that song and I think it’s just really amazing.
I appreciate it, man. It’s my favorite song and we’re actually gonna start playing it live. We rehearsing it on Monday and I appreciate you saying that. If I was gonna get personal, it would be that song. It was extremely personal to write because I’ve actually got to tell my family, “I’ve gotta leave. I’ve got a cross to bear out on the road. I’ve gotta go. I’ve gotta get out of here, I’m getting jittery.” It can be hard to do. I appreciate it.
I think all five guys in the band really stepped up this time.
Oh, fuck yeah.
And especially to me because I kind of used to play the drums a little bit, the drums really just leap out at me on that song and the whole album.
Yeah, he’s a great drummer. I’m surrounded by great players, and I’m hoping that they can keep up with the pace which I’ve set on touring. Everybody seems to have their head on together and knows that we’re gonna have a long run on this one. I’m just real proud to be surrounded by great players and good dudes.
Your producer on this one, Logan Mader, he’s made some of my favorite albums of the last few years now. So what was it like to work with him?
Absolute great dude. Just a great guy. Total zen. Came into the situation completely focused. His studio was small and intimate, but he works one on one. He had me extremely focused on the vocals. I had no alcohol behind the mic—none of that. We were real focused. He’s a pleasure to work with. He’s also a monster behind the board. He knows how to get tones. He won’t just put his sound on every band he produces. He gets your own individual tone, which is really, really cool.
You just a couple weeks ago got back from Europe. One of the things you did over there was play the main stage at the Download Festival. How did that go?
85,000 people and four of the biggest circle pits I’ve ever seen in my life. Absolutely a great time. You know, what’s great, man, is festivals are amazing ‘cause the minute you step off the bus there’s 35, 40 bands and crew, all that you know, all in the same place and same area. It’s unbelievable. It’s so fun, dude. Every festival is like a class reunion of 40 bands. Killer.
You’ve gotten to tour all over the world. Are there noticeable differences in the fans and how they react in different spots of the world?
Everybody right now has been loving it. And those places who love the metal certainly love their metal. The States love it, the U.K. loves it, Germany’s loving it. Everyone right now is having a good time at the shows. Is there one that just stands out? Nah, not really. I do 280, 300 shows a year, so I can’t really discern. You can go from small clubs of 600 people to 80,000 and it’s all the same vibe for me, man. As long as there’s a microphone there, I’m in.
Yeah, I can tell that. I’ve seen you play at Ozzfest and then I’ve seen you in the clubs, and yeah, you’re absolutely right.
I love it, man. Look, if I didn’t love what I was doing, I could do a lot of other things.
Later this month, you’re heading out on the Thrash and Burn Tour. It looks like a pretty cool lineup. What can the fans expect?
Well, you know, it was really killer when we got introduced to the notion of the Thrash and Burn. They’re been around for a couple years and they’ve had success at it. What it is, is turning people on to new music. It’s not your standard festival where you get 15, 20 bands, everybody knows their tunes and you put them all together in order to get a lot of people in the room. I think what it is, is turning people on to bands they may have never heard. So it’s killer. It’s like oil and water, this one, because it’s hardcore and it’s metal. So there’s half hardcore bands and half metal bands. You’ve got nine bands. It starts nice and early, one o’clock, two o’clock in the afternoon, goes all day long and you’re gonna get to be turned on to some new stuff that you may never have heard and you’re gonna be shown and showcased other kinds of art. So if you’re a hardcore fan, you’re gonna get some metal. If you’re a metal fan, you’re gonna get some hardcore. For me, the roots of both kinds of music and genres is punk rock, which some people have compared our live show to a punk show. For me, it was all heavy, so I was all in.
You’re kind of a veteran now, you’ve been out touring for a long time. As you’ve gotten older, has touring changed for you at all? Has it gotten more physically demanding or anything like that?
Demanding in the sort of way where I’m not gonna go drinking a fifth of Jack Daniels every night and staying up til five in the morning like I would when I was a kid and first started touring, of course. I’ve got to keep a regimen. I’ve got to get up, I’ve got to work out every day. But that’s all because I want to keep my stamina up and not let some 20-year-old in a band come up and touch me—It’s not gonna happen. So I think at that point, the answer is yeah, things have definitely changed because I’m looking to longevity. I’m not thinking live fast, die young. I’m thinking live fast, die old. [laughs]
There’s a DVD that goes along with the special edition of the new CD, but will there be a full DevilDriver DVD with a concert and other stuff at some point?
Yeah, we’ve been filming since the beginning of time, since the preproduction of the first record seven years ago. That’s how much footage we have. It’s gonna be something comprehensive, something with a full one or two shows. We’re just really realizing how big of a project that’s gonna be and realizing that it’s probably not gonna come out until next year. But we’re gonna have to do it, and when we do, it’s gonna be a good three or four DVDs, I would imagine.
Just before you called, I was on MySpace checking some of the High Desert Moon thing that you did.
Oh, killer.
How did that come about? That’s pretty interesting.
Long story short, I broke my finger three years ago playing with my Doberman. I had to get a real crazy, gnarly surgery on it and it was on my right hand. They told me I’d never have a grip again, never be able to grab a baseball again. And after the surgery, I didn’t believe them, so I stopped in New Mexico one time, out by the Navajo range, and I bought a flute from an old Navajo gentleman. I started playing that thing, and I’m telling you, man, in about a year and a half, not only was my finger back to almost normal and my grip was tightened, but I found something spiritual to take me completely away from my world on tour. I could go on the back of the bus, play that flute for hours and just drift off. And for me, that came about, my good friend Greg Weiss, his father—people should know this about Greg. Greg is an incredible musician. He teaches at Musician’s Institute in Los Angeles, and his father wrote probably 20, 30 of the biggest hits known to man, like “Rhinestone Cowboy,” “Bend Me, Shape Me” by The Animals—I could go on for days. We got together one day. He said, “You’ve been playing flute, I play slide guitar.” He said, “I’m gonna come over, bring all my recording stuff, we’re gonna smoke one and we’re gonna record.” And that’s what we did. It was just for good times and it ended up to be just a really killer project. It’s something diverse. I do a lot of diverse shit. Just like I don’t only listen to metal. I listen to blues and outlaw country, everything from outlaw country to Billie Holiday to black metal. So I like to be well-rounded, man. Enjoy that High Desert Moon. That shit’ll put in a chill space.
Is there anything else you’d like to add right now?
Yeah, man. Anybody who is anybody behind this band, we’re really appreciative. We’ve been grinding it for years and years and years, so we’ll see you at the shows. We’ll keep it up as long as they keep coming out.
RELATED LINKS:
www.devildriver.com
www.myspace.com/devildriver
www.thrashandburntour.com
www.myspace.com/highdesertmoonmusic
©2009 Live-Metal.Net
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