<![CDATA[Hammerfest: Malefice, Sondura & No Made Sense]]>Check out the best of British from yesterday’s Hammerfest action! (more…)
]]>Check out the best of British from yesterday's Hammerfest action!
Wandering around in sharp suits and then plugging in with sharper riffs, No Made Sense set about really making a name for themselves in the confines of Hammerfest’s third stage. It may be a little early in the day for prog leanings but these Brit newcomers make quite the impression while we try to stop feeling like we’ve been run over by a steamroller twice.
Sondura are a little more meat-and-potatos than NMS but it just goes to show that, even amongst the less-established bands, Briatin is a hot-bed of talent right now and Sondura are leading their own charge for recognition at full-force this afternoon.
When it comes to British breakthrough metal-acts, nobody’s getting near Malefice. From the second that the Reading bruisers burst through the barricades, for the first time this weekend, the pit ignites from front to back and side to side during 40 minutes of what is not just one of the best sets of the weekend but is one of the finest displays of pure, red-blooded, no fucking about, groove-orientated metal perfection we’ll see all year. Laying waste to North Wales and with a full-throated Malefice chant piercing the air at the climax of the show, on this kind of from, Malefice can take the Pepsi challenge with any metal band on Earth. Next time they play your town, miss them at your peril.]]><![CDATA[Beez: Hammerfest Night One – Let The Fun Begin!]]>Metal! Booze! Party! Yeah! (more…)
]]>Metal! Booze! Party! Yeah!
As we nurse the kind of hangover that could down an elephant after consuming a reservoir of booze (including shots on the train. Who thought that was a good idea?), it’s fair to say that Hammerfest is well and truly underway.
After arriving at just gone eight o’clock, Hammer enters the second stage room to be greeted by a room full of rockers, hot ladies dressed as Spartans and loud, heavy fucking metal. Beholder are up first, frontman ensures things off to a riotous start. One thing’s for certain, the readers of Hammer know how to party and Beholder do an awesome job of getting things off to a kick-ass start.
Arthemis are up next. Italians are more famed for their designer facial hair and cuisine than their metal but the musicianship and vocals on display are perfect drinking fodder. We mentioned that they serve booze here, right? Good, good.
Liverpool may not exactly be a hot-bed of thrash metal talent but SSS can hold their own with the best of the UK thrashers. One suspects that global domination may not be on the cards for the boys but this isn’t the time for stroking your chin and worrying about such things, this is the time to party and party we do. Am I starting to sound like Andrew WK’s Twitter feed? Sorry, it’s just we came to party. Hard.
Gentlemen’s Pistols were a stunning addition to tonight’s proceedings. Dressing like the dudes from the 118 adverts isn’t big nor clever but when it’s backed up by big beards and bigger riffs, their retro sound is ideal chugging music. Come back again, guys, that was rad.
The rest of the night is something of a hazy blur. We remember standing in a circle and screaming the words to Dividian, Bring The Noise and Dead Skin Mask and I’m pretty sure I tried to recreate the scene from Every Time I Die’s Shit Happens DVD where they make each other pass out with Scuzz TV Digital Darkside legend Alex Herron, but if the police ask, it wasn’t me and you can’t prove anything.
Same again tonight? Oh, go on then…]]><![CDATA[Pornstars And Metalheads: It’s Only Natural]]>So, Howard Jones has allegedly copped off with a pornstar. Here are 9 other rockers/metallers who have managed to have their way with adult stars (complete with work safe pictures!) (more…)
]]>So, Howard Jones has allegedly copped off with a pornstar. Here are 9 other rockers/metallers who have managed to have their way with adult stars (complete with work safe pictures!)
1) Jon Davis - Devon Davis
2) Wayne Static - Tera Wray
3) Dave Navarro - Jenna Jameson
4) Evan Biohazard – Tera Patrick/ Lupe Fuentes
5) Marilyn Manson - Stoya
6) Mustis - Jasmin St Claire
7) Gene Simmons – Shannon Tweed
8 ) Travis Barker – Shanna Moakler
9) Vince Neil - Janine Lindemulder
Honorary Members:
Tommy Lee – Pamela Anderson
Fred Durst – Paris Hilton, Britney Spears (?)
Good Charlotte – Paris Hilton
Bloodhound Gang wrote The Ballad Of Chasey Lain
]]><![CDATA[Devildriver’s Dez Fafara: “I Won’t Tattoo My Penis. I’m Italian, So It’s Huge”]]>Hammer asks Devildriver some probing questions, and get more than we bargained for! Read a preview inside and get the full feature in this month’s Metal hammer – on sale now! (more…)
]]>Hammer asks Devildriver some probing questions, and get more than we bargained for! Read a preview inside and get the full feature in this month's Metal hammer - on sale now!
Dez, is your penis covered in tattoos?
Joel, via metal hammer.co.uk
Dez: “No. I won’t cover my penis. I’m Italian, so it’s huge. It’d take two dudes an hour to tattoo that thing. That’s a lot of pain. Nothing touches my penis except me and my wife, or an occasional dirty toilet seat when you sit down in the bathroom.”
What’s the best women’s mag to wank to when you don’t have access to porn?
Tim, from Hounslow
Jeff: “Ooh, good question. There’s a ton of magazines. In the US we don’t have the freedom that you guys have in the UK. Maybe Victoria’s Secret or the Sears cata- logue from 1981? Ha ha! Would you consider Maxim to be pornographic?”
Dez: “I don’t really look at magazines and jack off. It’s so weird to me. My mind is so fucking filthy, I can conjure up the most insane, hanging upside-down, fetish spanking crazy shit. Fuck magazines. In my mind I’ve already been there, so I just pick out a few moments from the past and implement them. Immediately! Ha ha ha!”
Jeff: “This is the informa- tion the fans want to know!”
Get DevilDriver's full Spanish Inquisition in this month's issue of Metal hammer - on sale now!
]]><![CDATA[Exclusive! HIM’s Ville Valo Takes Hammer Into His Home]]>Ville Valo, HIM’s iconic frontman invited us into his home for a never-before seen look at his house. Here is the first in a series of sneak previews of the whole article in this month’s issue of Metal Hammer… (more…)
]]>Ville Valo, HIM's iconic frontman invited us into his home for a never-before seen look at his house. Here is the first in a series of sneak previews of the whole article in this month's issue of Metal Hammer...
Below is a small portion of Hammer's very personal interview feature with HIM's Ville Valo. The whole interview can be read in the latest issue of Metal Hammer, on sale now!
“Welcome to my office,” he says, taking a seat on a narrow, antique bench he calls a bed. “The actual bedroom upstairs has been converted into a home studio,” he explains. He’s looking tired. Just last night he headlined Helldone, a festival at Helsinki’s legendary Tavastia venue which he’s been curating for the last 10 years, for the fourth riotously sold-out night in a row. He played at midnight when the clock struck 12 and – in keeping with his Batman-like habits, swiftly eschewed his home city’s notoriously boozy New Year celebrations for the solitary confinement of his castle.
A whirring laptop sits across from him, and just beyond it a giant widescreen bedecked by an Xbox and countless DVD box sets like The Sopranos and True Blood. Momentarily forgetting that we’re sitting in a tower built by a Finnish eccentric in the 19th century, it would all appear to be a typical workaholic’s lounge were it not for a steeple-shaped Bavarian altar at one side, the mammoth 15-foot oil on canvas depicting a latter station of the cross above the TV, another near it depicting St. Erasmus having his intestines pulled out, or – and let’s get this out of the way, almost everything here is antique – the antique Finnish pump organ at the other side topped by a religious diorama. A small portable reed organ sits at the base with a porn VHS tape, artfully titled Cunts, on top. Everywhere you look there are animals, dead ones; a huge stag atop a piano, a furry rug, a small bear, a black sheep Ville confesses is of questionable authenticity, and everywhere, 10, 12, no… at least 30 stuffed owls of every colour and size.
“I just have a one-track mind. I got my first owl, a barn owl about eight years ago. You rarely see them here and they’re nocturnal; they’re rarely seen and there are a lot of myths. They’re quirky and thought-provoking – much more striking than, uh, mandrills for instance.”
Ville’s quick to point out these once- living artefacts are all pre-1947, so they’re classified as antiques and merely reflect his love of animals, an affair made impossible by his allergies. But seriously, is this some weird shrine?
“No,” says Ville, “it just all seems to go together. Oh fuck. Was that lightning?”
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He glances out the window – not a cloud in the sky. Another flash goes off.
“OK, hold on for a second.”
He gets up to glance at dim black-and-white screen in the hallway through which a CCTV camera reveals a ghostly figure in the night snapping pictures of his home and attempting to peer into the high windows. Ville rolls his eyes and wonders aloud whether it’s the same person who was kicking his door at 5am this morning and prompted a police intervention.
“No, that isn’t her,” he says, sounding relieved and grabbing a Coke from the fridge which is utterly empty save for more soda and a broken bass guitar at the back.
See what else is in this issue of Hammer here.
]]><![CDATA[Exclusive: Hammer Goes To Ville Valo’s House]]>HIM frontman Ville Valo invited us into his home for a never-before seen look at his house in Finland available in this issue of Metal Hammer. Here is the first in a series of teasers… (more…)
]]>HIM frontman Ville Valo invited us into his home for a never-before seen look at his house in Finland available in this issue of Metal Hammer. Here is the first in a series of teasers...
Below is a small portion of Hammer's very personal interview feature with HIM's Ville Valo. The whole interview can be read in the latest issue of Metal Hammer, on sale now!
The big yellow sign on the door says, ‘I want to be alone’ and underneath it, ‘Thank You’. It’s currently minus 18 degrees celsius and spirals of footprints of varying size in the ice-sheathed snow are a telltale suggestion that this particular statement is falling on deaf eyes. Off in the darkness, a snail-like wireframe sculpture sits ominously in the cold, its purpose or significance impossible to judge, and yet somehow – in the dim light streaming from the windows of this particular suburban medieval tower – very little could seem out of place. It’s late in the evening of New Year’s day, and Hammer’s just turned up to Ville Valo’s home for a chat about his infernal majesty’s new record, Screamworks: Love In Theory And Practise. This is the first time any publication has been invited to do so on any such occasion. Come on in.
“Hellooo therrre,” says Ville, shoving the door open against a snowy barricade, a cigarette dangling from his mouth. “Get the fuck inside, it’s cold.”
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This is not a Ville Valo you’ll know or have ever seen. Underneath the formica sheen of this month’s Alice In Wonderland cover shoot, this is a level of warts-and-all intimacy that’s without precedent. Exactly why the friendly baritone has decided to change that now, for us, is a mystery. Questions aside, we’re here to see his infernal majesty up close, and – to borrow a line from Lewis Carroll to whom we owe our cover this month – to discover just how deep this particular rabbit hole goes...
See what else is in this issue of Hammer here.
]]><![CDATA[Exclusive: All Of Black Sabbath Discuss ‘Black Sabbath’ Recording]]>Ozzy: “I used to go around barefoot, because I literally couldn’t afford shoes.” To celebrate 40 years of Black Sabbath’s seminal heavy metal tome, ‘Black Sabbath’ we spoke to Tony Iommi, Bill Ward, Geezer Butler and Ozzy Osbourne for this month’s issue of Hammer. (more…)
]]>Ozzy: "I used to go around barefoot, because I literally couldn’t afford shoes.” To celebrate 40 years of Black Sabbath's seminal heavy metal tome, 'Black Sabbath' we spoke to Tony Iommi, Bill Ward, Geezer Butler and Ozzy Osbourne for this month's issue of Hammer.
Here is a section of Hammer's extensive story behind the making of Black Sabbath's 'Black Sabbath'. You can read the whole article in the latest issue of Metal Hammer, on sale now!
...The session was produced by Gus Dudgeon and engineered by Rodger Bain. In all, an amazing 19 takes were done of this song.
“Gus Dudgeon tried to tell us what to do,” says Ozzy. “And, if you knew us back then you’d understand that when we got ordered to do something a certain way, then we’d deliberately fuck it up. Gus was lucky that Tony didn’t wrap his guitar round his head!”
The ploy of using an outside writer didn’t work. The band also recorded another Norman Haines song, When I Come Down (sometimes called When I Came Down), but Jim Simpson couldn’t get Sabbath signed, which doesn’t surprise Bill.
“They didn’t work, because it wasn’t us. We felt uncomfortable and it shows through on the demos. We were far happier with our own material, which was very different to these songs.”
In a final act of desperation, and inspiration, Jim Simpson elected to make a bold move. He did a deal with producer and one-time jazz critic Tony Hall, who’d co-hosted a short-lived late-1950s music TV series called Oh Boy! – almost a precursor to Top Of The Pops. It was agreed that Hall would put up the money for Sabbath to do an album, and then try to sell the results to a record company.
“I think Tony Hall gave us £1,000,” says Geezer. “We each got £100 to pay off debts, and the rest went to pay for the album – £600. It sounds like nothing these days!”
“I thought I was rich,” adds Ozzy. “I spent some of the money on a pair of shoes. I used to go around barefoot at the time, because I literally couldn’t afford shoes.”
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In November 10, 1969, the band went back to Trident to have another go at recording a commercial cover. The song chosen this time was Evil Woman (Don’t You Play Your Games With Me).
“This had been a hit in America for a band called Crow [it reached number 19],” says Bill Ward of the choice. “To be brutal, none of us liked the song and we didn’t wanna do it. But what did we know? Jim Simpson and Tony Hall felt it could do us some good, so we reluctantly went along with it.”
Read the whole feature in the latest issue of Metal Hammer, on sale now!
See what else is in this issue of Hammer here.]]><![CDATA[Dom Lawson’s Blogs Of War: Download Will Be Awesome. You Will Suck.]]>Don’t like the Download 2010 line-up? Step this way for a keyboard fist-fight with Hammer scribe, Dom Lawson. Get Download 2010 tickets here!(more…)
]]>Don't like the Download 2010 line-up? Step this way for a keyboard fist-fight with Hammer scribe, Dom Lawson. Get Download 2010 tickets here!
Greetings, fellow residents of planet internet. I hope and trust you are happy and well and looking forward to a delightful spring and a joyous summer packed with indecently entertaining outdoor events. I know I am. And that’s because, my friends, I am vaguely normal and not the kind of oxygen-robbing spunkweasel that moans about festival line-ups three seconds after they’ve been announced. You can hardly have failed to notice the glorious news that Download will be hosting the triumphant return to UK festival land of Aerosmith, Rage Against The Machine and AC/DC this coming June.
Fantastic news for rock and metal fans, of course, and a pretty damn impressive coup for that nice Mr. Copping and his comrades at Download HQ. Yes, Steven Tyler will be there (we are told…and have no particular reason to believe otherwise, frankly) and so will I, with a big stupid grin on my face and a half-guzzled pint of slightly warm cider in my meaty fist.
It’s going to be awesome, isn’t it? Yes, Dom, it fucking well is.
But no. Apparently it’s not going to be awesome.
Apparently, according to a generation of squealing, shit-fringed arseclowns, reared on free mp3s and a ridiculous and distorted view of what the word “metal” means, a Download line-up headlined by two of the biggest rock bands of all time and one of the most influential bands of the last two decades is, in fact, a bit shit. Amazing. I’m so glad that someone pointed this out to me, because otherwise I might have gone along to Download and had a good time by mistake.
Never mind that the rest of the line-up is getting more exciting by the minute - with one or two exceptions, naturally, but then no one in their right mind expects a festival bill to be 100 per cent up their own narrow alley, do they? Really? Fuck me…people are idiots! – or that last year’s Download was so mind-shaggingly awesome that people should just buy tickets for this one anyway and not even worry about who’s playing…no, this moronic and genitally-challenged ragbag of fuckwits that poison the internet every day with their witless ranting have once again decreed that white is black and black is white and really fantastic music is a pile of festering cack.
Personally, I didn’t even realise it was possible not to like AC/DC or Aerosmith.Maybe it’s the onset of Alzheimer’s, the cumulative impact of 20 years of booze or even the onset of Alzheimer’s, but I’ve always regarded both bands to be an essential part of the musical world and subculture that I proudly belong to.
I realise that neither AC/DC or Aerosmith are strictly heavy metal bands in the traditional sense, but then why the fuck should they be? People who only listen to one style of music are invariably boring arseholes with nothing remotely interesting to contribute to the world. Metal has always been a broad church, encompassing a diverse and far-reaching spectrum of sounds and styles that stretches from Bon Jovi to Agoraphobic Nosebleed and back again, and both AC/DC and Aerosmith are more than qualified to be regarded as integral components in the metal machine. Both have back catalogues worth killing for (if you don’t own the first five Aerosmith albums then you suck, by the way), both have so many hits that they are unlikely to be able to play them all, even in a two-hour headlining set, and both are so obviously awesome that it’s causing me actual physical pain to just think about the kind of swivel-eyed, sweaty-palmed, will-never-get-laid-in-a-million-years twat-hawks that have had the audacity to moan about them playing at Download.
Seriously…what the fuck is that all about? Are you on drugs? Did you fight in Vietnam and are suffering from deranged hallucinations as a result of post-traumatic stress? Are you just a bit fucking stupid? It’s the latter, isn’t it? Dear oh fucking dear.
Then there’s the incessant bleating of 9-year-old “metal fans” on the Metal Hammer website, as every last band that we have the nerve to write about are roundly denounced as “not metal”. Well, listen up, you fucking doughnuts…I’m more metal than any of you will ever be. My penis is actually made of aluminium. FACT. But even ignoring my hideous deformities, I will not be engaged in debate with some dribbling turdpouch who thinks that he (or, indeed, she) has access to some hard and fast set of rules about what is or isn’t metal.
I love Maiden, Machine Head, Megadeth and King Diamond as much as anyone on Odin’s war-torn planet, but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to decry Bring Me The Horizon as “not metal”. They’re a metal band. Get over it. You might not like what they do – and, be honest, it’s the haircuts that bother you, isn’t it? – but if you know anything about music, you will be compelled to recognise that their music is, in one form or another, metal. The same goes for Avenged Sevenfold. Obviously metal. Shut the fuck up. The same goes for Steel Panther. Oh god, why are we even discussing this? Shut the fuck up. The same goes for Bullet For My Valentine. Oh yes, it really does. Even though Matt Tuck is now going around saying that he has always considered his band to be “a hard rock band with metal influences” – and if that’s the case, Matt, why have you spent the last four years wearing a suspiciously new-looking sleeveless Metallica shirt, while throwing the horns and sticking your tongue out? Were you, perhaps, trying to win over the Foo Fighters’ fan base? – it’s not really a matter of opinion that Bullet, no matter how sterile and half-arsed I find most of their music to be, are a heavy metal band. If you don’t like ‘em, don’t listen to ‘em. It’s not fucking hard. But don’t say they’re “not metal”.
Like most people, I got into metal because it was a subculture that seemed to eschew all that trendy, fashionable nonsense in favour of a come-one-come-all policy…dress up if you want, be a scruffy pillock like me if you prefer, but basically live and let live, anything goes, crank it up, down a few beers and act like a bell-end until the police turn up. Simple enough. Once people start shouting the odds in defence of some non-existent principle that is, in essence, exactly the kind of poser bullshit that we would condemn fans of other styles of music for…well, I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not have anything to do with it. But fortunately, I was here first. So the next person to moan about Aerosmith not being metal can fuck off. Go on. I’m waiting. And yes, I have got all day.
This whole tawdry phenomenon is, as you may well be imagining as you wave your fist at your monitor in a fit of rage, symptomatic of the way that the internet has enabled every last hopeless cretin on the planet to harbour the delusion that access to a computer is somehow a guarantee that any and all views should be taken seriously. Not so, my pointless friends, not so. All it means is that you are all free to talk rubbish in public and expose yourself as the fraudulent, flatulent, skin-wasting mounds of twitching arse-rubble that you plainly are. There’s one in the eye for freedom of information! Woo-hoo!
So, in summary: people who don’t like AC/DC and Aerosmith are wankers. Thank you and goodnight.
Get further ranting from Dom here!
Bands confirmed for this year's Download festival thus far: AC/DC, Aerosmith, Rage Against The Machine, Them Crooked Vultures, Deftones, Stone Temple Pilots, Bullet For My Valentine, 30 Seconds To Mars, Stone Sour, Wolfmother, Megadeth, Motorhead, Billy Idol, Lamb Of God, Volbeat, Five Finger Death Punch and many, many more to still be announced. Get Download 2010 tickets here!
]]><![CDATA[Metal Big Brother: Day 17]]>(more…)
]]>The Metal Big Brother house is turned into an old people’s home in Metal Big Brother – The Spoof Online Soap.... The Metal Big Brother House has been quiet of late with all of the genres rubbing along nicely. So, in the interests of antagonism and the subsequent online ratings, Metal Big Brother has requested all of the housemates talk about religion.
David Draiman takes the lead and talks about the anti-Semitism he encountered growing up in a seminary – in training to be a rabbi. He says that true to his faith he has never marked his skin with tattoos as they are forbidden. Fred Durst sarcastically asks if The Torah mentions anything about having two pieces of metal dangling from ones lip is in there.
Adam D admits that he is a Christian but kept it quiet because Christians in metal are about as credible as… Christians in metal. “I only really started to tell people when I heard Underoath.” Who admittedly are quite a cool for a Christian metal band. Gerard Way – himself a Catholic – says “it’s important for people like you to admit their religiousness as it helps dispel the myth of Christians being pious, overbearing, self-righteous and hypocritical.”
As the conversation entered the realms of intellectual discussion, Adam whips his pants down and shouts, “I am the god of hellfire, and I bring you…” He lights a fart which sends flames three feet from his anus, calling “Fi-re!” as he does so. The smell of singed hair punctuates the conversation and everyone leans as far back in their chair as they can.
Draiman addressed Gerard: “If it was my religion I think I’d stick with the stereotype of grumpy hypocrites.”
Gerard turns to Oli Sykes and asks him what religion he is.
“I’m a vegan. Like those ones with the ears in Star Trek. The force is strong an all that.”
Read previous days of Metal Big Brother here.
Kat Von D is in the garden braiding Axl Rose’s hair as punishment for using the week’s toilet paper ration to build a paper mache igloo in the garden.
Manson spoons the remaining mouthfuls of a Muller lite into his mouth and louchely says in his Florida drawl. “Religion is the opium of the masses. Or it was, until opium became the opium of the masses. If God didn’t exist, we would have invented him. And so we did.”
Jurgen pipes up finally, clearly enraged. “All of you need to kneel and worship the horned one! Religion is bullshit! Satan is the one true lord!”
Durst points out that Satanism is a religion. “You can’t have it both ways you Norwegian dumbass.”
“Fuck you nu-metal cock-frotter!” screams Jurgen. “You will pay when Lucifer returns to earth to collect the chosen ones.”
Again Durst pipes in. “Returns? When was he here?”
“Aaaiiieeee” cries Jurgen as he realises his argument holds about as much water as Kat Von Dee’s igloo.
Gerard brushes away a tear and says to himself, “I’m a Catholic get me out of here!”
Read previous days of Metal Big Brother here.]]><![CDATA[Chaos Backstage: Devildriver On Tour In The US]]>
Not a band to rest on their laurels, DevilDriver can be hard to keep up with because they never seem to stop or slow down in any capacity. Most bands that reach this level take the time to enjoy and bask in their success if only briefly, not DevilDriver. When most bands think they need a break, you can find the boys in DevilDriver pushing themselves harder than before. Lack of work ethics, attitudes of entitlement and complacency are absent in the DevilDriver camp.
Is it true you're booked till May 2013?
"Yeah we're booked. When I say booked, I mean that we know exactly what we are booked for. When we come off this tour, we head overseas to do the Metal Hammer festival that we're headlining and we are extremely happy about that. After that around April/May we go in to start the new record. [I remark 'Already!'] Yeah already! We put out a record every two years and in order to do that you have to know when to get into that window. We've been writing so much music. They [rest of DevilDriver] wrote a song last night that is UNBELIEVABLE. After the record is finished we start back out on the road again in June and all the way through until at least the end of 2012. Wait...actually there is something booked if the world doesn't go to hell there's something we are talking about booking in 2013, so really I guess you could say we are booked until then. I enjoy the road and I hope the rest of the band does as well, because it's about to get REAL HEAVY. I interject in jest 'Maybe the band should consider a name change from DevilDriver to Workhorse. Yeah maybe the next record...that would be a great title for the next album...I'll use it!"
If you have been in a coma for the past several years then you would have an excuse for ignorance regarding the sheer phenomenon that is a DevilDriver circle pit. I wanted to know if Guinness has sanctioned an official world record for them yet. 'No they didn't. When we did the first big one under the tent, they told us they didn't know how to measure or sanction it. They actually showed up to Download without us inviting them when we played the main stage.
People were divided up into two...no wait I think it was about four or five groups so they could do circle pits. When I noticed the helicopter over head someone had told me that it was Guinness but we never heard back from them. It definitely would be cool though. I tease Dez that at Download with the massive crowd, thousands of fans chanting 'Devil-Driver" with vigor, colossal circle pits and the likes of helicopters flying over head was a serious 'Rock-star' moment. "Rock-star is a dirty word Bro, I'm just a working class man, that's it. I've met a couple of them and it's no good."
Ever wonder what it's like to have people you have not and probably will never meet, publicly talk shit about you? I have.
"Gotta have a thick skin Brother! If I ever listened to any of that crap DevilDriver never would have made it past the first couple years. I isolate to the point of...stick and stones and all that, you know? It's like, some guy sitting in his basement on his computer, who has no life experience and with nothing better to do, who will never get to tour, has something to say about what I do? It's like come on dude get real."
You were incubated from birth for five or six months? When's the last time someone called you 'Peanut'?
"Yeah actually I just talked to my Mom about that, actually it was around four months."
As a result you were given a nickname. When was the last time someone called you 'Peanut'? Dez's face lights up with a big bright smile
"God, my Mom EVERY Christmas. She's like 'Come over here Peanut and give me a kiss.' It's my Mom, you know? That's why I put that on my neck [tattoo of 'Peanut'] because she was fighting cancer at the time. She survived luckily and I'm very grateful for that. So I got that tattoo to remind me of the affirmation of life.' Being friends with Dez for some time now, it was natural for me to discuss my own situation about my father in-law now battling stage four pancreatic cancer and the inevitable heart-wrenching experience of seeing my wife emotionally beaten while my hands are figuratively tied behind my back."
At this point Dez wants to temporarily stop recording. I won't go into detail, but for being such a brutal vocalist and road hardened individual, he possesses a much more compassionate and empathetic insight than one might assume. Seems kind of heavy right? Just when some brevity would be welcomed, Dez's long time friend and road-mate Frank [affectionately known as 'Frankenstein'] busts into the lounge in the back of the bus with a handful of current issues of High-times magazine. "Finally it's here dude!" Frankenstein exclaims with a level of excitement that would be warranted from news that Metallica have finally released the album that should have followed 'And Justice For All'. The commotion is due to Dez's interview being the feature of the issue.
"Forget 'Rolling Stone' put me in High Times! I'm so glad you are here to share this with me Bro! I feel like a kid in a candy store right now! My parents had me on Ritalin for eleven years. When I discovered weed when I was around fifteen, I found out I could focus better, do better in school. It was opposite of the stoner image for me. Now I have to get High Times to come and check out my dispensary because I can grow like a motherfucker!"
Recording is resumed. I had drawn a blank about where we left off and asked Dez.
"We were talking about my nickname that was given to me when I was a baby, then we got off the subject and because we're Bro's, we started talking about other stuff.
That's right. Speaking of children your son 'Simon' contributed vocals to 'Tirades Of Truth' [The last kind words] on the last two lines of the chorus. Did he do anything on 'Pray for villains'?
"No, it was the kind of thing where I picked him up at school, brought him to the studio to check it out. He was like 'I want to sing and you can't say no!' So I put headphones on him, held him up to the mic and let him scream a few lines. I hope he remembers it for the rest of his life, I think he will. Now he's almost thirteen with long hair, wearing Slayer shirts and is now at the point were he is informing me of what bands are heavier than me. [We both bust out laughing and agree that it was cool as hell.] I'm the greatest Dad... it's like six-thirty in the morning and instead of saying turn it down I say turn it up!"
We go on about his son who is taking drumming lessons and aspires to be the next Gene Hoglan, and how my son happens to be a very brutal screamer. What Dez said next blew me away.
"We should get our kids together and see what happens."
Wow, how cool of an opportunity would that be for my boy?!?
The discussion takes a different direction when we start talking about our kids downloading, which led to the topic of format evolution. I touch on the point that many kids these days view downloading MP3's as the new format like that of it's predecessor's such as vinyl, Compact disc etc.
"My thirteen and fifteen year old don't even own a CD, yet they have Ipod's FULL of music. I don't know where it's going to go or lead to. It possesses the propensity to put underground bands out of work by the potential of not being payed for what they do and would not be able to do it full time unless they are on the road full time like a band like DevilDriver. I think somewhere around four years from now, record labels will cease to exist. If they do survive it will be because they were able to get enough bands to sign '360' deals'. If you are a band reading this and you are getting a record deal or you want a record deal or are looking to get in this industry, WATCH OUT FOR THE TERM '360' DEAL'! 360' means fifty percent of EVERYTHING. Fifty percent of your publishing, merchandising, even fifty percent of your door take every night when you play, while they sit comfortable up in their ivory towers with no threat of losing THEIR jobs. We did not sign a 360' deal and we never will. When we were in the process of resigning with Road Runner, they tried to get us to sign one and we refused. There was actually a stand-off for about a month. They finally came back and said they want the band. I said OK, for a decent rate then and give us some money to make a record but NO 360'. We would not be able to survive otherwise. Our merch pays for our food, our bus...our everything."
Your long time friend Logan Mader was slated as producer for 'Pray for Villains' any plans to use him for the next album?
"No, I think we're going to use Mark Lewis and Andy Sneap. No question Logan is a very close friend of mine, an amazing producer and artist but every record we seem to look for somebody different to help keep things fresh. Mark Lewis helped engineer 'The last kind words', got the tones and basically did about ninety percent of the work. Not to take anything away from Jason Zucoff. Sorry J, but Mark did do the majority of the work. Using Mark Lewis on the new album is like giving him a shot to stand up and be counted. We feel that is the right thing to do by him.' I mention the possibilities regarding Mark Lewis and Andy Sneap working in tandem on a DevilDriver album. 'It's going to be unbelievable, Andy is an incredible talent! We are excited to get the tunes to these guys, they are really going to bring what we do to fruition. It's not easy putting out a record every two years."
It seems to be a three or four year cycle for most bands. Do you think the fault lies more with the artists or the labels?
"Both man. When we were kids we would get an album a year from our favorite band, whether it was KISS or Areosmith or whoever. Now when people wait three or four years between records, I don't think they realize how it breaks down. Take my son for example. He's going to get a record in grade six from a band he likes and then not see another record from that band until he's in grade ten? You think he's going to 'stay' with that band? No fucking way. It's kind of a rip-off when you think about it. People buy the record, pump it up to their friends, go to the shows then you jack them off and not give them any music for three or four years? It's just bullshit. If I ever have to wait that long, it will be because I HAVE to wait that long to make an album."
You haven't had any significant amount of time off in the past...what has it been thirteen years now?
“I have not had any real time off since 1995.”
Any chance of that changing in the near future?
“My wife is asking me for a solid year off. I just can't commit to that. I can totally commit to marriage and kids but I can't commit to taking that much time off the road. It has nothing to do with my family, I LOVE being at home. We spoke about how we agree that it's better to have a parent 100% present emotionally when they are home and how detrimental it can be to a child/parent relationship if the parent is absent emotionally.
“My Step-Dad growing up was 'there', but not there, you know what I mean? He came home from work and was an asshole to me. My Mom used to have to call the cops on him for beating me... that's the kind of life I had.
“Now we get along well. I can sit there and crack a beer with him and say: you know you were a real asshole to me when I was a kid! Then he would respond 'Fuck yeah, I'm really sorry about that.' If I wasn't able to go out on the road I would not get to do what I love, a bottle of wine and a microphone, and I would not see my friends. For example, you know, you and I are going to hang out all night and have drinks. Things like that I would miss out on. I am blessed everyday, but even when it comes to simple things like I can't sleep in a normal bed for more than three hours. I can only get a good sleep in a bunk when the bus is moving and houses aren't moving.'
Unless you are on a houseboat.
“Ha ha yeah, or if you live in California during earthquake season. When it comes down to it, if my Wife is adamant about me taking a year off I'm just going to tell her to pack up the kids and come out with me on the road for a year. She's been out with me before. I've always admired Ozzy [Osbourne] and the family. That's how they were. Same with Zakk [Wylde]. I love Zakk man, he's one of my favorite people in the whole business. We want him to live a long time. From the time I was a kid he's been so cool to me. Our bus pulled up beside his in L.A. We found out it was him, ended up drinking all day at the ranch beside us. To give you an example of how cool he really is, Zakk came out and introduced us at the House of Blues then handed my guitarists their guitars when they came out on stage! The guy is just amazing, I love that dude. Send him my best wishes."
I acknowledge that 'Pray for villains' is the most technically proficient addition to the DevilDriver catalog and ask if this direction was deliberate. 'Well, I think it's important for musicians to get deserved recognition. This isn't the fucking 'Dez Fafara Experience'. Technical ability is something my guys have, so it's good to see them showcasing it. On the next record it will be even more prominent.' Something most people probably do not know about Dez, is that he plays Native American flute. I asked how he started.
"I broke the middle finger on my right hand playing with my Doberman. I was told I would never have a grip with that hand again, ever. I wouldn't accept that. Going through New Mexico I picked up a Native American flute. It rehabilitated my finger, my hand, my soul. Two and half years later I own twenty flutes, and cut a record called 'High desert moon'. You can check it out at www.myspace.com/highdesertmoon. I layed it out with Greg Wice who's father is responsible for writing songs like 'Rhinestone Cowboy', 'Bend me, shake me.' by The Animals, and probably between twenty or thirty number one hits. Me and Greg held up in my house for about a week and a half recording the album, it was life changing for me. It can be therapeutic for me going from furiously screaming to playing my flutes, I can just get lost.' Dez wanted to assure the fans that everything else that he is interested will be not ever be a part of DevilDriver. He states 'There are so many things I want to do that can't be a part of DevilDriver. DevilDriver is an entity that by design, was built not to let people down."
I brought up the subject of some of our past conversations about music. Dez used to tell me that he was not an Iron Maiden fan and that he never really got it. So of course I took the opportunity to rib him about the recent cover of Iron Maiden's 'Wasted Years' on 'Pray for Villains'.
"We covered that song because the lyrics ended up meaning so much to me. Obviously I was familiar with 'Number of the Beast'. After that I lost them completely. I just recently saw 'Flight 666' and thought it was FUCKING AMAZING! and I really started to listen to a lot of Maiden. Actually I take back all my previous statements I said to you. Now I've come full circle with that, I'm a MASSIVE fan now. Dez has an infinity for Westerns that is highlighted in 'Pray for Villains'."
I asked if he ever had any thoughts of producing a dark Western.
"Crazy you would say that Bro. I just talked to our film guy about it. [referring to the videographer that has followed DevilDriver from day one compiling footage for the highly anticipated DevilDriver DVD] If I were to entertain the thought of the laborious process to do a movie, I've got the perfect guy to star in it. He's a Western singer cat that I'm helping to manage right now who's name is Wil Ridge, you can check him out on myspace. He's a good looking dude, the ladies love him. He kind of looks like Elvis!' Dez has always wanted to take DevilDriver to Japan. I ask why it hasn't happened yet. 'It's being worked on as we speak. We were going to go last year but we had other commitments. It was frustrating, but we are going to get over there for sure this year, without a doubt. It's ridiculous for someone who has been in the business as long a me, to not go, to Japan. Every time the opportunity has been presented to go, something has come up. Like with Coal Chamber, it was like OK, do you want to do the Black Sabbath tour, Pantera tour, Megadeth tour or go to Japan? See what I'm saying? With DevilDriver it's like you're already booked solid, do you want to cancel to do two days in Japan? Of course we can't do that."
When asked what type of metal DevilDriver is, how do you respond? It is difficult to pigeon hole DevilDriver's sound, so I asked the man himself why he thinks it is tricky to label them.
"I think it has a lot to do with the multitude of influences within the band. You'll never be able to pin us into a category. We can't even define what we are doing at this point. I'm sure ten years from now there will be a name for it. We coined it groove metal because we couldn't figure out what to say. When I figure out what we are, I'll let you know."
One thing you can count on from DevilDriver is that they do not try to recreate the last album and will never give you the same record twice. One can only appreciate the contrast from album to album when it comes to Devildriver's repertoire. When I asked Dez the direction of the new album this is what he had to say. 'It's coming from a totally organic place, that's the first thing you will notice. The second thing is, it will incorporate more ferocity when it comes to guitars and tempo. I don't want to use the word heavier because it just doesn't sound right to use that word. I do think that the new record will surpass Pray for Vilans and The last kind words. If you think of those two records wrapped up into
this one, you're good to go.
Dez couldn't finish without some kind words about Hammer.
"What's awesome about Metal Hammer is that they never just stuck us out there as the next big thing. They waited for us to grow, and they grew with us and finally gave us the cover when we deserved it. Now it's come time where we're pairing up. They're going to want to be involved in what we're doing this year, and we are going to want to be involved in what they are doing this year. We are going to fucking groove together, it's going to be killer! We can't wait to come over for Hammerfest, it's going to be incredible for us. Everyone at Metal Hammer has treated me really well over the years. I want to thank them, the readers and everyone who helps put it together. I make a mean Lemon drop, want one?]]>
Check out the best of British from yesterday's Hammerfest action!
Wandering around in sharp suits and then plugging in with sharper riffs, No Made Sense set about really making a name for themselves in the confines of Hammerfest’s third stage. It may be a little early in the day for prog leanings but these Brit newcomers make quite the impression while we try to stop feeling like we’ve been run over by a steamroller twice.
Sondura are a little more meat-and-potatos than NMS but it just goes to show that, even amongst the less-established bands, Briatin is a hot-bed of talent right now and Sondura are leading their own charge for recognition at full-force this afternoon.
When it comes to British breakthrough metal-acts, nobody’s getting near Malefice. From the second that the Reading bruisers burst through the barricades, for the first time this weekend, the pit ignites from front to back and side to side during 40 minutes of what is not just one of the best sets of the weekend but is one of the finest displays of pure, red-blooded, no fucking about, groove-orientated metal perfection we’ll see all year. Laying waste to North Wales and with a full-throated Malefice chant piercing the air at the climax of the show, on this kind of from, Malefice can take the Pepsi challenge with any metal band on Earth. Next time they play your town, miss them at your peril.]]>
So, Howard Jones has allegedly copped off with a pornstar. Here are 9 other rockers/metallers who have managed to have their way with adult stars (complete with work safe pictures!)
1) Jon Davis - Devon Davis
2) Wayne Static - Tera Wray
3) Dave Navarro - Jenna Jameson
4) Evan Biohazard – Tera Patrick/ Lupe Fuentes
5) Marilyn Manson - Stoya
6) Mustis - Jasmin St Claire
7) Gene Simmons – Shannon Tweed
8 ) Travis Barker – Shanna Moakler
9) Vince Neil - Janine Lindemulder
Honorary Members:
Tommy Lee – Pamela Anderson
Fred Durst – Paris Hilton, Britney Spears (?)
Good Charlotte – Paris Hilton
Bloodhound Gang wrote The Ballad Of Chasey Lain
Hammer asks Devildriver some probing questions, and get more than we bargained for! Read a preview inside and get the full feature in this month's Metal hammer - on sale now!
Dez, is your penis covered in tattoos?
Joel, via metal hammer.co.uk
Dez: “No. I won’t cover my penis. I’m Italian, so it’s huge. It’d take two dudes an hour to tattoo that thing. That’s a lot of pain. Nothing touches my penis except me and my wife, or an occasional dirty toilet seat when you sit down in the bathroom.”
What’s the best women’s mag to wank to when you don’t have access to porn?
Tim, from Hounslow
Jeff: “Ooh, good question. There’s a ton of magazines. In the US we don’t have the freedom that you guys have in the UK. Maybe Victoria’s Secret or the Sears cata- logue from 1981? Ha ha! Would you consider Maxim to be pornographic?”
Dez: “I don’t really look at magazines and jack off. It’s so weird to me. My mind is so fucking filthy, I can conjure up the most insane, hanging upside-down, fetish spanking crazy shit. Fuck magazines. In my mind I’ve already been there, so I just pick out a few moments from the past and implement them. Immediately! Ha ha ha!”
Jeff: “This is the informa- tion the fans want to know!”
Get DevilDriver's full Spanish Inquisition in this month's issue of Metal hammer - on sale now!
Ville Valo, HIM's iconic frontman invited us into his home for a never-before seen look at his house. Here is the first in a series of sneak previews of the whole article in this month's issue of Metal Hammer...
Below is a small portion of Hammer's very personal interview feature with HIM's Ville Valo. The whole interview can be read in the latest issue of Metal Hammer, on sale now!
“Welcome to my office,” he says, taking a seat on a narrow, antique bench he calls a bed. “The actual bedroom upstairs has been converted into a home studio,” he explains. He’s looking tired. Just last night he headlined Helldone, a festival at Helsinki’s legendary Tavastia venue which he’s been curating for the last 10 years, for the fourth riotously sold-out night in a row. He played at midnight when the clock struck 12 and – in keeping with his Batman-like habits, swiftly eschewed his home city’s notoriously boozy New Year celebrations for the solitary confinement of his castle.
A whirring laptop sits across from him, and just beyond it a giant widescreen bedecked by an Xbox and countless DVD box sets like The Sopranos and True Blood. Momentarily forgetting that we’re sitting in a tower built by a Finnish eccentric in the 19th century, it would all appear to be a typical workaholic’s lounge were it not for a steeple-shaped Bavarian altar at one side, the mammoth 15-foot oil on canvas depicting a latter station of the cross above the TV, another near it depicting St. Erasmus having his intestines pulled out, or – and let’s get this out of the way, almost everything here is antique – the antique Finnish pump organ at the other side topped by a religious diorama. A small portable reed organ sits at the base with a porn VHS tape, artfully titled Cunts, on top. Everywhere you look there are animals, dead ones; a huge stag atop a piano, a furry rug, a small bear, a black sheep Ville confesses is of questionable authenticity, and everywhere, 10, 12, no… at least 30 stuffed owls of every colour and size.
“I just have a one-track mind. I got my first owl, a barn owl about eight years ago. You rarely see them here and they’re nocturnal; they’re rarely seen and there are a lot of myths. They’re quirky and thought-provoking – much more striking than, uh, mandrills for instance.”
Ville’s quick to point out these once- living artefacts are all pre-1947, so they’re classified as antiques and merely reflect his love of animals, an affair made impossible by his allergies. But seriously, is this some weird shrine?
“No,” says Ville, “it just all seems to go together. Oh fuck. Was that lightning?”
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He glances out the window – not a cloud in the sky. Another flash goes off.
“OK, hold on for a second.”
He gets up to glance at dim black-and-white screen in the hallway through which a CCTV camera reveals a ghostly figure in the night snapping pictures of his home and attempting to peer into the high windows. Ville rolls his eyes and wonders aloud whether it’s the same person who was kicking his door at 5am this morning and prompted a police intervention.
“No, that isn’t her,” he says, sounding relieved and grabbing a Coke from the fridge which is utterly empty save for more soda and a broken bass guitar at the back.
See what else is in this issue of Hammer here.
Ozzy: "I used to go around barefoot, because I literally couldn’t afford shoes.” To celebrate 40 years of Black Sabbath's seminal heavy metal tome, 'Black Sabbath' we spoke to Tony Iommi, Bill Ward, Geezer Butler and Ozzy Osbourne for this month's issue of Hammer.
Here is a section of Hammer's extensive story behind the making of Black Sabbath's 'Black Sabbath'. You can read the whole article in the latest issue of Metal Hammer, on sale now!
...The session was produced by Gus Dudgeon and engineered by Rodger Bain. In all, an amazing 19 takes were done of this song.
“Gus Dudgeon tried to tell us what to do,” says Ozzy. “And, if you knew us back then you’d understand that when we got ordered to do something a certain way, then we’d deliberately fuck it up. Gus was lucky that Tony didn’t wrap his guitar round his head!”
The ploy of using an outside writer didn’t work. The band also recorded another Norman Haines song, When I Come Down (sometimes called When I Came Down), but Jim Simpson couldn’t get Sabbath signed, which doesn’t surprise Bill.
“They didn’t work, because it wasn’t us. We felt uncomfortable and it shows through on the demos. We were far happier with our own material, which was very different to these songs.”
In a final act of desperation, and inspiration, Jim Simpson elected to make a bold move. He did a deal with producer and one-time jazz critic Tony Hall, who’d co-hosted a short-lived late-1950s music TV series called Oh Boy! – almost a precursor to Top Of The Pops. It was agreed that Hall would put up the money for Sabbath to do an album, and then try to sell the results to a record company.
“I think Tony Hall gave us £1,000,” says Geezer. “We each got £100 to pay off debts, and the rest went to pay for the album – £600. It sounds like nothing these days!”
“I thought I was rich,” adds Ozzy. “I spent some of the money on a pair of shoes. I used to go around barefoot at the time, because I literally couldn’t afford shoes.”
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In November 10, 1969, the band went back to Trident to have another go at recording a commercial cover. The song chosen this time was Evil Woman (Don’t You Play Your Games With Me).
“This had been a hit in America for a band called Crow [it reached number 19],” says Bill Ward of the choice. “To be brutal, none of us liked the song and we didn’t wanna do it. But what did we know? Jim Simpson and Tony Hall felt it could do us some good, so we reluctantly went along with it.”
Read the whole feature in the latest issue of Metal Hammer, on sale now!
See what else is in this issue of Hammer here.]]>
Don't like the Download 2010 line-up? Step this way for a keyboard fist-fight with Hammer scribe, Dom Lawson. Get Download 2010 tickets here!
Greetings, fellow residents of planet internet. I hope and trust you are happy and well and looking forward to a delightful spring and a joyous summer packed with indecently entertaining outdoor events. I know I am. And that’s because, my friends, I am vaguely normal and not the kind of oxygen-robbing spunkweasel that moans about festival line-ups three seconds after they’ve been announced. You can hardly have failed to notice the glorious news that Download will be hosting the triumphant return to UK festival land of Aerosmith, Rage Against The Machine and AC/DC this coming June.
Fantastic news for rock and metal fans, of course, and a pretty damn impressive coup for that nice Mr. Copping and his comrades at Download HQ. Yes, Steven Tyler will be there (we are told…and have no particular reason to believe otherwise, frankly) and so will I, with a big stupid grin on my face and a half-guzzled pint of slightly warm cider in my meaty fist.
It’s going to be awesome, isn’t it? Yes, Dom, it fucking well is.
But no. Apparently it’s not going to be awesome.
Apparently, according to a generation of squealing, shit-fringed arseclowns, reared on free mp3s and a ridiculous and distorted view of what the word “metal” means, a Download line-up headlined by two of the biggest rock bands of all time and one of the most influential bands of the last two decades is, in fact, a bit shit. Amazing. I’m so glad that someone pointed this out to me, because otherwise I might have gone along to Download and had a good time by mistake.
Never mind that the rest of the line-up is getting more exciting by the minute - with one or two exceptions, naturally, but then no one in their right mind expects a festival bill to be 100 per cent up their own narrow alley, do they? Really? Fuck me…people are idiots! – or that last year’s Download was so mind-shaggingly awesome that people should just buy tickets for this one anyway and not even worry about who’s playing…no, this moronic and genitally-challenged ragbag of fuckwits that poison the internet every day with their witless ranting have once again decreed that white is black and black is white and really fantastic music is a pile of festering cack.
Personally, I didn’t even realise it was possible not to like AC/DC or Aerosmith.Maybe it’s the onset of Alzheimer’s, the cumulative impact of 20 years of booze or even the onset of Alzheimer’s, but I’ve always regarded both bands to be an essential part of the musical world and subculture that I proudly belong to.
I realise that neither AC/DC or Aerosmith are strictly heavy metal bands in the traditional sense, but then why the fuck should they be? People who only listen to one style of music are invariably boring arseholes with nothing remotely interesting to contribute to the world. Metal has always been a broad church, encompassing a diverse and far-reaching spectrum of sounds and styles that stretches from Bon Jovi to Agoraphobic Nosebleed and back again, and both AC/DC and Aerosmith are more than qualified to be regarded as integral components in the metal machine. Both have back catalogues worth killing for (if you don’t own the first five Aerosmith albums then you suck, by the way), both have so many hits that they are unlikely to be able to play them all, even in a two-hour headlining set, and both are so obviously awesome that it’s causing me actual physical pain to just think about the kind of swivel-eyed, sweaty-palmed, will-never-get-laid-in-a-million-years twat-hawks that have had the audacity to moan about them playing at Download.
Seriously…what the fuck is that all about? Are you on drugs? Did you fight in Vietnam and are suffering from deranged hallucinations as a result of post-traumatic stress? Are you just a bit fucking stupid? It’s the latter, isn’t it? Dear oh fucking dear.
Then there’s the incessant bleating of 9-year-old “metal fans” on the Metal Hammer website, as every last band that we have the nerve to write about are roundly denounced as “not metal”. Well, listen up, you fucking doughnuts…I’m more metal than any of you will ever be. My penis is actually made of aluminium. FACT. But even ignoring my hideous deformities, I will not be engaged in debate with some dribbling turdpouch who thinks that he (or, indeed, she) has access to some hard and fast set of rules about what is or isn’t metal.
I love Maiden, Machine Head, Megadeth and King Diamond as much as anyone on Odin’s war-torn planet, but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to decry Bring Me The Horizon as “not metal”. They’re a metal band. Get over it. You might not like what they do – and, be honest, it’s the haircuts that bother you, isn’t it? – but if you know anything about music, you will be compelled to recognise that their music is, in one form or another, metal. The same goes for Avenged Sevenfold. Obviously metal. Shut the fuck up. The same goes for Steel Panther. Oh god, why are we even discussing this? Shut the fuck up. The same goes for Bullet For My Valentine. Oh yes, it really does. Even though Matt Tuck is now going around saying that he has always considered his band to be “a hard rock band with metal influences” – and if that’s the case, Matt, why have you spent the last four years wearing a suspiciously new-looking sleeveless Metallica shirt, while throwing the horns and sticking your tongue out? Were you, perhaps, trying to win over the Foo Fighters’ fan base? – it’s not really a matter of opinion that Bullet, no matter how sterile and half-arsed I find most of their music to be, are a heavy metal band. If you don’t like ‘em, don’t listen to ‘em. It’s not fucking hard. But don’t say they’re “not metal”.
Like most people, I got into metal because it was a subculture that seemed to eschew all that trendy, fashionable nonsense in favour of a come-one-come-all policy…dress up if you want, be a scruffy pillock like me if you prefer, but basically live and let live, anything goes, crank it up, down a few beers and act like a bell-end until the police turn up. Simple enough. Once people start shouting the odds in defence of some non-existent principle that is, in essence, exactly the kind of poser bullshit that we would condemn fans of other styles of music for…well, I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not have anything to do with it. But fortunately, I was here first. So the next person to moan about Aerosmith not being metal can fuck off. Go on. I’m waiting. And yes, I have got all day.
This whole tawdry phenomenon is, as you may well be imagining as you wave your fist at your monitor in a fit of rage, symptomatic of the way that the internet has enabled every last hopeless cretin on the planet to harbour the delusion that access to a computer is somehow a guarantee that any and all views should be taken seriously. Not so, my pointless friends, not so. All it means is that you are all free to talk rubbish in public and expose yourself as the fraudulent, flatulent, skin-wasting mounds of twitching arse-rubble that you plainly are. There’s one in the eye for freedom of information! Woo-hoo!
So, in summary: people who don’t like AC/DC and Aerosmith are wankers. Thank you and goodnight.
Get further ranting from Dom here!
Bands confirmed for this year's Download festival thus far: AC/DC, Aerosmith, Rage Against The Machine, Them Crooked Vultures, Deftones, Stone Temple Pilots, Bullet For My Valentine, 30 Seconds To Mars, Stone Sour, Wolfmother, Megadeth, Motorhead, Billy Idol, Lamb Of God, Volbeat, Five Finger Death Punch and many, many more to still be announced. Get Download 2010 tickets here!
"Forget 'Rolling Stone' put me in High Times! I'm so glad you are here to share this with me Bro! I feel like a kid in a candy store right now! My parents had me on Ritalin for eleven years. When I discovered weed when I was around fifteen, I found out I could focus better, do better in school. It was opposite of the stoner image for me. Now I have to get High Times to come and check out my dispensary because I can grow like a motherfucker!"
Recording is resumed. I had drawn a blank about where we left off and asked Dez.
"We were talking about my nickname that was given to me when I was a baby, then we got off the subject and because we're Bro's, we started talking about other stuff.
That's right. Speaking of children your son 'Simon' contributed vocals to 'Tirades Of Truth' [The last kind words] on the last two lines of the chorus. Did he do anything on 'Pray for villains'?
"No, it was the kind of thing where I picked him up at school, brought him to the studio to check it out. He was like 'I want to sing and you can't say no!' So I put headphones on him, held him up to the mic and let him scream a few lines. I hope he remembers it for the rest of his life, I think he will. Now he's almost thirteen with long hair, wearing Slayer shirts and is now at the point were he is informing me of what bands are heavier than me. [We both bust out laughing and agree that it was cool as hell.] I'm the greatest Dad... it's like six-thirty in the morning and instead of saying turn it down I say turn it up!"
We go on about his son who is taking drumming lessons and aspires to be the next Gene Hoglan, and how my son happens to be a very brutal screamer. What Dez said next blew me away.
"We should get our kids together and see what happens."
Wow, how cool of an opportunity would that be for my boy?!?
The discussion takes a different direction when we start talking about our kids downloading, which led to the topic of format evolution. I touch on the point that many kids these days view downloading MP3's as the new format like that of it's predecessor's such as vinyl, Compact disc etc.
"My thirteen and fifteen year old don't even own a CD, yet they have Ipod's FULL of music. I don't know where it's going to go or lead to. It possesses the propensity to put underground bands out of work by the potential of not being payed for what they do and would not be able to do it full time unless they are on the road full time like a band like DevilDriver. I think somewhere around four years from now, record labels will cease to exist. If they do survive it will be because they were able to get enough bands to sign '360' deals'. If you are a band reading this and you are getting a record deal or you want a record deal or are looking to get in this industry, WATCH OUT FOR THE TERM '360' DEAL'! 360' means fifty percent of EVERYTHING. Fifty percent of your publishing, merchandising, even fifty percent of your door take every night when you play, while they sit comfortable up in their ivory towers with no threat of losing THEIR jobs. We did not sign a 360' deal and we never will. When we were in the process of resigning with Road Runner, they tried to get us to sign one and we refused. There was actually a stand-off for about a month. They finally came back and said they want the band. I said OK, for a decent rate then and give us some money to make a record but NO 360'. We would not be able to survive otherwise. Our merch pays for our food, our bus...our everything."
Your long time friend Logan Mader was slated as producer for 'Pray for Villains' any plans to use him for the next album?
"No, I think we're going to use Mark Lewis and Andy Sneap. No question Logan is a very close friend of mine, an amazing producer and artist but every record we seem to look for somebody different to help keep things fresh. Mark Lewis helped engineer 'The last kind words', got the tones and basically did about ninety percent of the work. Not to take anything away from Jason Zucoff. Sorry J, but Mark did do the majority of the work. Using Mark Lewis on the new album is like giving him a shot to stand up and be counted. We feel that is the right thing to do by him.' I mention the possibilities regarding Mark Lewis and Andy Sneap working in tandem on a DevilDriver album. 'It's going to be unbelievable, Andy is an incredible talent! We are excited to get the tunes to these guys, they are really going to bring what we do to fruition. It's not easy putting out a record every two years."
It seems to be a three or four year cycle for most bands. Do you think the fault lies more with the artists or the labels?
"Both man. When we were kids we would get an album a year from our favorite band, whether it was KISS or Areosmith or whoever. Now when people wait three or four years between records, I don't think they realize how it breaks down. Take my son for example. He's going to get a record in grade six from a band he likes and then not see another record from that band until he's in grade ten? You think he's going to 'stay' with that band? No fucking way. It's kind of a rip-off when you think about it. People buy the record, pump it up to their friends, go to the shows then you jack them off and not give them any music for three or four years? It's just bullshit. If I ever have to wait that long, it will be because I HAVE to wait that long to make an album."
You haven't had any significant amount of time off in the past...what has it been thirteen years now?
“I have not had any real time off since 1995.”
Any chance of that changing in the near future?
“My wife is asking me for a solid year off. I just can't commit to that. I can totally commit to marriage and kids but I can't commit to taking that much time off the road. It has nothing to do with my family, I LOVE being at home. We spoke about how we agree that it's better to have a parent 100% present emotionally when they are home and how detrimental it can be to a child/parent relationship if the parent is absent emotionally.
“My Step-Dad growing up was 'there', but not there, you know what I mean? He came home from work and was an asshole to me. My Mom used to have to call the cops on him for beating me... that's the kind of life I had.
“Now we get along well. I can sit there and crack a beer with him and say: you know you were a real asshole to me when I was a kid! Then he would respond 'Fuck yeah, I'm really sorry about that.' If I wasn't able to go out on the road I would not get to do what I love, a bottle of wine and a microphone, and I would not see my friends. For example, you know, you and I are going to hang out all night and have drinks. Things like that I would miss out on. I am blessed everyday, but even when it comes to simple things like I can't sleep in a normal bed for more than three hours. I can only get a good sleep in a bunk when the bus is moving and houses aren't moving.'
Unless you are on a houseboat.
“Ha ha yeah, or if you live in California during earthquake season. When it comes down to it, if my Wife is adamant about me taking a year off I'm just going to tell her to pack up the kids and come out with me on the road for a year. She's been out with me before. I've always admired Ozzy [Osbourne] and the family. That's how they were. Same with Zakk [Wylde]. I love Zakk man, he's one of my favorite people in the whole business. We want him to live a long time. From the time I was a kid he's been so cool to me. Our bus pulled up beside his in L.A. We found out it was him, ended up drinking all day at the ranch beside us. To give you an example of how cool he really is, Zakk came out and introduced us at the House of Blues then handed my guitarists their guitars when they came out on stage! The guy is just amazing, I love that dude. Send him my best wishes."
I acknowledge that 'Pray for villains' is the most technically proficient addition to the DevilDriver catalog and ask if this direction was deliberate. 'Well, I think it's important for musicians to get deserved recognition. This isn't the fucking 'Dez Fafara Experience'. Technical ability is something my guys have, so it's good to see them showcasing it. On the next record it will be even more prominent.' Something most people probably do not know about Dez, is that he plays Native American flute. I asked how he started.
"I broke the middle finger on my right hand playing with my Doberman. I was told I would never have a grip with that hand again, ever. I wouldn't accept that. Going through New Mexico I picked up a Native American flute. It rehabilitated my finger, my hand, my soul. Two and half years later I own twenty flutes, and cut a record called 'High desert moon'. You can check it out at www.myspace.com/highdesertmoon. I layed it out with Greg Wice who's father is responsible for writing songs like 'Rhinestone Cowboy', 'Bend me, shake me.' by The Animals, and probably between twenty or thirty number one hits. Me and Greg held up in my house for about a week and a half recording the album, it was life changing for me. It can be therapeutic for me going from furiously screaming to playing my flutes, I can just get lost.' Dez wanted to assure the fans that everything else that he is interested will be not ever be a part of DevilDriver. He states 'There are so many things I want to do that can't be a part of DevilDriver. DevilDriver is an entity that by design, was built not to let people down."
I brought up the subject of some of our past conversations about music. Dez used to tell me that he was not an Iron Maiden fan and that he never really got it. So of course I took the opportunity to rib him about the recent cover of Iron Maiden's 'Wasted Years' on 'Pray for Villains'.
"We covered that song because the lyrics ended up meaning so much to me. Obviously I was familiar with 'Number of the Beast'. After that I lost them completely. I just recently saw 'Flight 666' and thought it was FUCKING AMAZING! and I really started to listen to a lot of Maiden. Actually I take back all my previous statements I said to you. Now I've come full circle with that, I'm a MASSIVE fan now. Dez has an infinity for Westerns that is highlighted in 'Pray for Villains'."
I asked if he ever had any thoughts of producing a dark Western.
"Crazy you would say that Bro. I just talked to our film guy about it. [referring to the videographer that has followed DevilDriver from day one compiling footage for the highly anticipated DevilDriver DVD] If I were to entertain the thought of the laborious process to do a movie, I've got the perfect guy to star in it. He's a Western singer cat that I'm helping to manage right now who's name is Wil Ridge, you can check him out on myspace. He's a good looking dude, the ladies love him. He kind of looks like Elvis!' Dez has always wanted to take DevilDriver to Japan. I ask why it hasn't happened yet. 'It's being worked on as we speak. We were going to go last year but we had other commitments. It was frustrating, but we are going to get over there for sure this year, without a doubt. It's ridiculous for someone who has been in the business as long a me, to not go, to Japan. Every time the opportunity has been presented to go, something has come up. Like with Coal Chamber, it was like OK, do you want to do the Black Sabbath tour, Pantera tour, Megadeth tour or go to Japan? See what I'm saying? With DevilDriver it's like you're already booked solid, do you want to cancel to do two days in Japan? Of course we can't do that."
When asked what type of metal DevilDriver is, how do you respond? It is difficult to pigeon hole DevilDriver's sound, so I asked the man himself why he thinks it is tricky to label them.
"I think it has a lot to do with the multitude of influences within the band. You'll never be able to pin us into a category. We can't even define what we are doing at this point. I'm sure ten years from now there will be a name for it. We coined it groove metal because we couldn't figure out what to say. When I figure out what we are, I'll let you know."
One thing you can count on from DevilDriver is that they do not try to recreate the last album and will never give you the same record twice. One can only appreciate the contrast from album to album when it comes to Devildriver's repertoire. When I asked Dez the direction of the new album this is what he had to say. 'It's coming from a totally organic place, that's the first thing you will notice. The second thing is, it will incorporate more ferocity when it comes to guitars and tempo. I don't want to use the word heavier because it just doesn't sound right to use that word. I do think that the new record will surpass Pray for Vilans and The last kind words. If you think of those two records wrapped up into
this one, you're good to go.
Dez couldn't finish without some kind words about Hammer.
"What's awesome about Metal Hammer is that they never just stuck us out there as the next big thing. They waited for us to grow, and they grew with us and finally gave us the cover when we deserved it. Now it's come time where we're pairing up. They're going to want to be involved in what we're doing this year, and we are going to want to be involved in what they are doing this year. We are going to fucking groove together, it's going to be killer! We can't wait to come over for Hammerfest, it's going to be incredible for us. Everyone at Metal Hammer has treated me really well over the years. I want to thank them, the readers and everyone who helps put it together. I make a mean Lemon drop, want one?]]>