ACT OF DEFIANCE Guitarist Says New Album Is 'Much More Of A Group Effort' Than Band's Debut

During the 2018 NAMM convention, ACT OF DEFIANCE guitarist Chris Broderick (ex-MEGADETH, ex-NEVERMORE) and vocalist Henry Derek Bonner (ex-SCAR THE MARTYR) spoke with RadioactiveMike Z about the differences between the group's new album, "Old Scars, New Wounds", and the band's 2015 debut, "Birth And The Burial". "'Birth And The Burial' was much more Shawn [Drover, drums, also ex-MEGADETH] and I going, 'We want to get this out as quickly as possible,'" Broderick recalled. "At the time that we were writing the material, we were also forming the band and coming up with the ideas of the band name, the logo, shopping for the label, all that crazy stuff at the same time, so we definitely felt a huge sense of urgency with that one. This one, obviously, we all came into it together. The process started out the same, with us each kind of presenting demos, but then, once we collectively had all the demos, then we got together and started looking at what was best for the chorus or the arrangement of the song or tempos, things like that. We spent a lot of time crafting the song in general this time, and it was much more of a group effort.

"I even [remember] a point," he continued, "where Henry and I both agreed that there was this one vocal line should be sung cleaner, and it was on one of [bassist] Matt [Bachand]'s demos, and we tried it both ways. We agreed — Henry and I were, like, 'Yeah, it should be sung clean,' so we recorded it clean. Then when it came to do finals, Shawn and Matt were like, 'No, that's got to be sung heavy.' I didn't agree with that, but ultimately, because it was Matt's song, I was like, 'Matt gets the say', so we sang it heavy."

"Compromise is important in any band or group," Derek added. "If one person doesn't feel like they have input, or if one person doesn't feel like they're being respected in terms of what their vision is, and they're writing the song, there's a problem. You really have to respect someone's musicianship and their contribution in a band. I think a lot of people, they try to kind of pick things apart when sometimes compromise is the best thing you can do."

ACT OF DEFIANCE will embark on a headlining tour in March with support from SHATTERED SUN.

"Old Scars, New Wounds" was released last September via Metal Blade Records. The disc was mixed by Dave Otero, who has previously worked with CEPHALIC CARNAGE and CATTLE DECAPITATION, among others. The cover artwork was created by Travis Smith (KING DIAMOND, OPETH, AVENGED SEVENFOLD, STRAPPING YOUNG LAD).