DEVILDRIVER Recruits Former BURN HALO Guitarist NEAL TIEMANN

March 19, 2015

California metallers DEVILDRIVER have announced the addition of guitarist Neal Tiemann (BURN HALO) to the group's ranks. Tiemann joins the band as the replacement for Jeff Kendrick, who left DEVILDRIVER last October.

According to DEVILDRIVER singer Dez Fafara, eleven songs have already been written for the band's next album, which will arrive sometime in 2016. The CD will mark DEVILDRIVER's first studio effort since the departures of Kendrick and drummer John Boecklin and addition of Tiemann and former CHIMAIRA sticksman Austin D'Amond.

Asked what makes Austin the right drummer for DEVILDRIVER, Dez told Full Metal Jackie: "What made him the right guy is he's more than capable.

"You can understand when members leave a band, and Jeff, the guitar player, left 'cause he just didn't wanna tour anymore, and I totally understood that after the schedule we kept for almost 13 years. And John wanted to try and do some stuff on his own, and it was more than okay with me after that length of time. So, when you do replace members, what you wanna do is you wanna get people who are more than capable — or more capable than even who you had [before]."

He continued: "I definitely am looking forward to playing with Austin. He's a great guy, he's a great drummer, [and] he's got an incredible stage presence. And when he came in for the audition, he absolutely just smoked it. He's just an incredible guy. And you get a real good vibe from him, which is another thing. We're gonna tour a lot, so you're gonna have to have that."

Boecklin and Kendrick played their last show with DEVILDRIVER as part of the 2014 Knotfest in Devore, California.

DEVILDRIVER's latest album, "Winter Kills", sold around 11,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 32 on The Billboard 200 chart.

Find more on Devildriver
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).