DEZ DRIVER
Metallica
C
alifornia groove-metal machine , DevilDriver have returned with a ferocious seventh album , Trust No One . On 10 tracks , vocalist Dez Fafara is like a ticking time bomb ready to explode . With a dose of anger and brutal rants about life being destroyed by trust , this is Fafara at his cynical best . Gearing up for their first headline tour in three years , Fafara is locked and loaded .
IE : Bound By The Road Tour with Death Angel , Winds of Plague , The Agonist and Azreal will be your first headline run in three years . How stoked are you ? Dez Fafara : I ’ m really excited . Those are really killer bands in their own right . For
By Kelley Simms
DevilDriver
us , it ’ s been a longtime coming . We ’ ve just been doing so many other things and hadn ’ t had a chance to properly headline . We ’ re bringing a full production with huge LED screens . The live show that we ’ re bringing is going to be incomparable to anything DevilDriver has ever had . I would say if you ’ ve seen us before , this is the time to come back . And if you ’ ve never seen us before , get ready to establish one of your favorite live acts after we get ready to show what we have to show off .
IE : How has the preparation gone leading up to the tour ? Has it been a bit nervewracking ? Dez Fafara : Not really . I ’ ve just been going over the last-minute details right now . There ’ s three / four minute videos for each song that has to be done to a click track and all sorts of stuff . I ’ ve been putting together the show for about two months now . There ’ s a lot of preparation . We go into rehearsal for four days with the band with full-scale production with lights and full crew . We ’ re truly trying to do something different on stage that not a lot of people are doing . So it ’ s going to be a fantastic thing to come out and watch .
IE : Since your last album , Winter Kills , you went through another band change with the departure of guitarist Jeff Kendrick and drummer John Boeklin in 2014 . How did you approach the songwriting for Trust No One ? Dez Fafara : I let cats do what they wanted to do . Neal ( Tiemann , guitar ), my new guitar player is a very talented guy in his own right and I told him to bring me some songs . He brought a fair amount to the demographic of the songs that we had . The first single that we released was “ Daybreak ,” which was Neal ’ s song . So it ’ s not very often that a new member can come into a band and you release their single as the first track . But he just fit in so well . And I told Austin ( D ’ Amond , drums ) that I like it to groove and I like it to swing . Other than that , I wanted him to put his own style into it and not just file in and follow underneath the last guy . So things didn ’ t really get thrown upside down other than the vibe getting much better . As you know , often times if you leave a job or other people leave a job , sometimes the air all of a sudden comes back into the room . And that ’ s what it ’ s been like for DevilDriver since . It ’ s been an absolute
fantastic time touring and writing music with those guys and I ’ m glad that the change did happen in the long run .
IE : On past albums you ’ ve had to call out certain people . Was anger a motivation for this album ? Dez Fafara : Not necessarily anger , but it ’ s me exploring the way that human relationships are . This record isn ’ t about calling anybody out per se , but it ’ s about calling out people in general . I ’ m saying watch how you treat people , watch how you ’ re treated . This record really does dive into so many aspects and perspectives of what it ’ s like to be a human on this planet . I got a lot off my chest definitely .
IE : What were you trying to say lyrically ? Dez Fafara : Heavy metal and especially what I do , is kind of incumbent on me to be the speaker of the house for a lot of people who can ’ t get up and explore those emotions , either anger or frustration . If you ’ re driving home from work and a construction truck slows you up , and you put on DevilDriver , you ’ re going to get to let it out . So it ’ s my job to capture those emotions that you may be feeling but might not want to put it forth or may not want to experience it on a daily basis . No pun intended , but a lot of people say , ‘ Driving is fun when you ’ re driving to DevilDriver !’
IE : Trust no One was once again produced by Mark Lewis . After five albums now , it seems like you ’ re both on the same page . Dez Fafara : I ’ ve done a lot of records with Mark . He started co-producing us back when we did The Last Kind Words . From
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