DEVILDRIVER Frontman Is Looking For 'Passion' In Next Label Home

Jo Schüftan of Horns Up Rocks! conducted an interview with vocalist Dez Fafara of California metallers DEVILDRIVER before the band's March 21 concert at the Gramercy Theater in New York City. You can now watch the chat below.

On what caused DEVILDRIVER's split with longtime label Roadrunner Records:

Dez: "A lot of things, I think — if you talk to them or you talk to us. But I think that the main thing is, yeah, we're label shopping. So [at] tonight's [show in] New York City, at least ten labels are here right now [to check us out] — I just talked to a bunch of them — and it's good to see them coming out for us. I think it shows what we've done in the past. Roadrunner has been my home since '96 [when Dez was still a member of COAL CHAMBER. — Ed.]. We'll really see what happens. For us, it's not about where to go for the money or any of that right now, it's where do we go for the passion? We're all remaining on good terms [with Roadrunner], so that's a good thing, and we're just moving forward."

On the songwriting process for DEVILDRIVER's next album:

Dez: "[The other guys in the band] played me three songs. Two of them, there's maybe bits of. You know, until you find the sound, you don't really go for it. But the other night in Texas, at South By Southwest, they jammed me one that they had recorded that I think is absolutely astounding — reminiscent of our first three records, but with a whole another take on DEVILDRIVER.

"What we do is we try to make every record different without going too much outside of ourselves, so we can remain who we are, really. And I think they touched on a really cool sound with this one tune that I heard. We all started writing lyrics to it and everything right away. We've kind of got a little chorus for it already that I think is amazing. So we'll see what happens.

"It's gonna be a very critical record for us.

"We've always taken time writing. Like, if we put out a record every two years, it was because we had the music, it was demoed and we were ready to go in. This one, I wanna make sure that we're ready. And I think the rest of the band does, too."

DEVILDRIVER bassist Aaron "Bubble" Patrick was released from the hospital on March 21 after receiving treatment for Streptococcus pneumonia, an inflammation and swelling of the lung, caused by an infection with the bacteria.

Patrick is sitting out DEVILDRIVER's Metal Alliance Tour, which kicked off on March 15 at the South By Southwest festival in Austin, Texas. Filling in for him is Aaron's former BURY YOUR DEAD bandmate Chris Towning.

Patrick joined DEVILDRIVER as the replacement for Jonathan Miller, who quit the band in March 2011, calling it "the most difficult decision of my life" but "something that I needed to do for myself."