DEVILDRIVER Frontman: 'You Can't Stick Us In A Genre'

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

Loud: Have you got anything yet for the next album?

Dez: Well, I've got parts of about 140 songs written right now. I've just been writing non-stop since "Beast". So I don't know what's gonna make it to the next record or not, but I know I've got lyrics aplenty. When I say that, a notebook... two notebooks full of stuff for the next record. I kinda now where I wanna go direction-wise. So we'll see what'll happen. I've gotten four songs delivered to me, one of which I like. The other three really need some work. So we haven't really found the sound yet or where we're goin' with it, and I don't wanna rush it. It's a very critical record for DEVILDRIVER, the next record, and I really really want to make something that defines us completely. That means, takes all five of those records, and puts it all into one record so that I can say to someone, "If you really want to know what DEVILDRIVER's about, go to number six, the sixth record, and check it out."

Loud: You've said before that in many ways you consider "Beast" to really be DEVILDRIVER's second album, so I agree with you that the next one will be a critical release.

Dez: Absolutely. We've come to know that every record is different. There has to be evolution. It's really important because you can't define what DEVILDRIVER is, you can't stick us in a genre. We don't belong to any kind of moniker, which is good! And I wanna keep it that way. In order to do that, you've gotta go through songs and hunt for it.

Loud: Some bands tend to wait until they're in the studio to start working on songs. You've been touring a lot since "Beast", so is your band one that writes before recording?

Dez: Well, they need a bit of prodding now and then. [Laughs] But now that they know the time is coming, they'll start writing. They'll start writing on the road and everything else. Me, I personally write daily. It's just something that I do. I try to get up every morning and write a song, happy or sad. I have books and books and books of lyrics that will probably never see the light of day unless I publish them outside of the song realm. I enjoy writing. It's something that, when I come up a good line, whether it be 4 in the morning and I have to get up and write it down, or jump out of the shower to find a pen real quick, or grab someone else's iPhone to write a note real quick, I do so. Because those are the kind of lyrics that will end up on the record, sticking with you, those lyrics that come out of the aether. You have to be writing all the time to unleash that spirit all the time in order to have it form that energy otherwise it will just wink its eye at you once in a while and then shut itself off.

Loud: You ever think there may come a time when you want to do a Henry Rollins-type book of all your lyrics that you've never published as songs?

Dez: I don't know. My wife's been trying to get me to for a couple of years, but I don't know. Some of this stuff is so personal that I'm not sure I ever wanna share them. That's the way writing is to me. It's all very very personal. It's like the best song lyrics with the best titles are something I almost don't want to give up. But if you feel that way, if you feel that way about words, it's important to get them out there and share them. So we'll see.

Read the entire interview from Loud.