THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA Guitarist: 'We're Just Really Considerate Of Each Other'

Peavey.com recently conducted an interview with guitarist Chris Rubey of the Dayton, Ohio Christian metalcore band THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Peavey.com: What inspired you to play music?

Rubey: I grew up playing [guitar] because my dad played. He got a guitar one day and I was just as interested in it as he was. It's funny, because everybody says that if you listen to this kind of music, you either took the pop-punk route or the nu metal route. My favorite band was LINKIN PARK; Jeremy [DePoyster, guitar] was the punk rock kid, and he was in a band that covered BLACK FLAG and stuff. None of us played real shows, but I was in a nu metal band. As far as musical influences nowadays guitar heroes I like John Petrucci of DREAM THEATER. He's one of the only shred guitarists I liked growing up.

Peavey.com: THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA co-headlined Warped Tour this year. How influential have the punk and hardcore scenes been for the band, and how does a metal band reach those fans?

Rubey: I never went to Warped as a kid, but a bunch of dudes in the band are fans of AGAINST ME!, BLACK FLAG and punk rock bands. They all went to Warped and that was their thing growing up. [But] it's inevitable that change is gonna happen. To my eyes, Warped is not limited by genre. We obviously play a certain brand of rock music. But once we got to a certain point [in our career] we got asked to do it, and that's Kevin's [Lyman] call. We were all over it when they asked. It's pretty sick. We started out on a smaller stage and we got to play the main stage two years ago, then we came back this year and couldn't ask for anything better super big crowds every day.

Peavey.com: THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA still retains its original lineup. What brought everyone together, and what keeps you together?

Rubey: Back when we first started we were friends from the same area. Some of us knew each other from youth group or church, and we were all into the same bands Solid State [Records] bands like AS I LAY DYING and NORMA JEAN. Our singer [Mike Hranica] asked if we minded if he wrote lyrics about God, and we all believe, so of course it wasn't a problem. We've had our moments, but when we fight we look at things from what is right, what is moral. We try to work through the problems. We've found a perfect balance where everyone can coexist perfectly. We rarely fight these days. I wouldn't say it's because we're a Christian band; we're just really considerate of each other. We're all friends. We've never known anything else.

Peavey.com: What were you trying to accomplish with "Dead Throne"?

Rubey: We always try to one-up ourselves, and that comes with growing as musicians. "Dead Throne" is actually two years in the making. It's the first time we worked with a different producer; there were more hands on it than before. Adam Dutkiewicz produced. He's a super-rad dude, and he had tons of good ideas for arrangements. He's also a guitar player, so he was able to work with me a lot. It was awesome.

Read the entire interview at Peavey.com.