DEVILDRIVER Frontman On 'Beast': 'I Had To Get A Lot Of Stuff Off My Chest Lyrically'

Brian Fischer-Giffin of Australia's Loud magazine recently conducted an interview with vocalist Dez Fafara of Santa Barbara, California metallers DEVILDRIVER. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

On the making of DEVILDRIVER's new album, "Beast":

"That's one question that I've always either laughed off or avoided. 'Was it cathartic to make this record?' They ask that on every record since COAL CHAMBER, you know? And I've always kinda laughed that off. But this one? Fuck yes! Very cathartic. Very cathartic to make this record. The minute I got the demos, I cracked a beer and started writing. It was flying out of me. So, that being said, I think the music was provided in an amped atmosphere at a time when it was needed by me and by the band. We really needed to step it up and define who we were. And what's really cool is that I think we've done it. Looking back in hindsight and hearing what everybody's saying about the record, it's just so positive now."

"I had to leave the recording process twice, which I've never had to do. My drummer, who took a lot of the guitar responsibility this time, was going through some stuff in his life as well. So I think what you end up with is something looking back at the time and place you're at, surrounded by the art you're making, and what we came up with is something incredibly visceral and very, very volatile and reflects the time and place we were in. So when you say, 'Were you pissed off at the world?' Yes! This was a watershed year for me, bro. After 15, 16 years in the fucking business, I dropped a lot of people around me who were nothing but vampires, either in business or my personal life. And, literally, when I was going through this dark, hard, hard time, really realized who my friends really were, who called me on a daily basis. So it was an awakening. I had to get a lot of stuff off my chest lyrically and the music the guys gave me from the demo provided the fuel for the fire."

On "Beast"'s dark and angry vibe:

"The time and the place we were when we were making this record was just overpowering. So you get that kind of record. Different guys take different leads on writing the record on guitar, and this time it was my drummer, John Boecklin. So you have a different aspect, a different feel. We needed something visceral. We need something to really distance ourselves from our predecessors and our contemporaries. I think it's very important to... once you think of a tagline for us and where we fit into, it's going to be very difficult to find that once you've heard 'Beast'."

Read the entire interview from Australia's Loud magazine.