DEVILDRIVER's DEZ FAFARA On Using A.I. To Create Music: 'The Computer Doesn't Have F***ing Heart'

In a new interview with Tomasz Michalski of Poland's MetalSide, DEVILDRIVER frontman and mastermind Dez Fafara weighed in on a debate about people using an A.I. (artificial intelligence) music generator as a tool to create melodies, harmonies and rhymes based on artificial intelligence (A.I.) algorithms and machine learning (M.L.) models. Dez said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I don't know. I mean, it's another tool. I just don't use it. I know a lot of vocalists that use A.I. to write. Like, how are you gonna fucking put in a computer, let it write your vocals, and then sing 'em? It fucking makes no sense to me. But as a tool… To give you an example, any time we put out the new record cover and you see it moving, the hyena moving or growling, obviously that's A.I. So as a slight tool, like, one little tool in your toolbox, cool, but to use it for music, to use it for writing, to use it for all the videos or all the artwork, no fucking way."

Dez continued: "Look, the only time I'll use A.I. is when I need to rhyme a word maybe. Like, 'Ah, fuck, what rhymes with' — whatever. 'What rhymes with 'dog'? Okay, 'fog', 'dog'. Well, I need another one. Hey, what rhymes with 'dog'? Oh, shit, there's 30 other words that rhyme with that.' But otherwise, no. I don't use it as a tool, man. Is that to say that I won't? Video-wise, I don't know. I mean, I've seen some pretty good fucking A.I. videos. But it doesn't have a heart to me. The computer doesn't have fucking heart. And we'll all see, man, 'cause if we let this A.I. thing keep happening, maybe you've not seen the movie 'Terminator', but fuck, man, we're gonna be in big trouble. As soon as they become sentient and start thinking for themselves, we're all fucked."

DEVILDRIVER will release its eleventh full-length album, "Strike And Kill", on July 10 via Napalm Records. The LP features Dez, the guitar duo of Alex Lee and Gabe Mangold, drummer Davier Ortega Perez and returning bassist Jon Miller.

In a recent interview with Australia's May The Rock Be With You, Dez stated about "Strike And Kill": "Well, we wrote a lot of songs for this [record]. It was over two and a half years, three years almost, in the making. It was very hard to find a single, meaning we had so many. So what you're gonna get is a lot of what you heard. Even the second single that's coming is very old school, almost reminiscent of the first and second record. Then 'Strike And Kill', which is the title track, that's coming for the third video, and that's gonna blow people away. And the whole record is of that ilk. It's just nonstop bludgeoning. We do have a couple moments where we take a reprieve, which I think people are gonna love, on one song, actually. And I just think it's a fantastic record."

He continued: "When you take the time to actually make a piece of art great, meaning comb over it as much as you can, and everybody's in it. I mean, I've got great players with me, man. The guys that are writing with me right now are absolute monsters on their instruments, and I'm humbled to be able to just sing to this stuff. So I think people are gonna get a record that's fantastic. Listening all the way through is gonna be a pleasure, and when you get to the end, you're gonna wish there was more, even though there's 13 tracks."

Asked if DEVILDRIVER fans can expect another album "much sooner straight after" the release of "Strike And Kill", Dez said: "We're digesting this right now, man. I mean, we've already started to write. Nothing from the old writing sessions will ever make it to the new, even though there's a ton of those songs. That's just how I've always been. You may get a riff or something, but, really, we start. But these guys are already writing. This is just a scenario where when the feedback started coming in, it was, like, 'We are on the right path here.' And if you're a fan of DEVILDRIVER, you're gonna get exactly what you want out of this record."

Regarding whether there been any change in the approach in the way he writes lyrics now compared to his beginnings, Dez said: "Uh, no. I tend to say, 'Don't give me a song. Send me five.' 'Okay, we're in the right territory. Let me write to one or two of these,' which I did. I wrote to three of them. I sent them voice notes. They all said the same thing: 'Don't change a thing. You're on it.' And I said, 'Cool, now let's continue with this path as we continue to write.' It normally goes like that. And I'm very democratic with the situation, man. Like, what do you guys like? What do you don't? They came with the setlist that we're getting ready to do live. They came with the order of the songs, of what they think they wanted them to be. As a vocalist, I kind of put myself into a lyrical content and into getting it over live, but I let everybody else around me kind of make decisions when it comes to the art. I think that's a fair way to go about it."

Dez previously talked about "Strike And Kill" this past May in an interview with Jai That Aussie Metal Guy. On the topic of DEVILDRIVER's "Dig Your Own Grave" single, Dez said: "When I first got the music, I was just intrigued by what we were writing. And I think that everybody knew it was time to kind of go back to start a little bit. I've had Alex, my guitar player, and Davi, my drummer, have been with me a very long time now, actually. I got my original bass player back after — I don't know — a 12, 15-year hiatus; he's been gone. So him back and writing, and then I got Gabe as well, who produced the record and is playing guitar. But once we started writing, we all kind of said, 'What's the direction?' And I said, 'Look at the logo, man. The logo will tell you what we fucking need to write.' Like, period. And even for myself. So when I got the first three or four tracks, I was blown away. I was, like, 'Okay, this is where we wanna go.' And I started making voice notes for everybody, sending it, and they came back about the voice notes and said, 'Look, don't make a change. You're going the right direction.' And it just started to really fall in place, man."

Dez continued: "I feel blessed to have this group of guys around me at this time in my life after everything I've been through in life, that this is happening. And I think that watching people come to the table with this first single… I really don't read comments and shit — I don't put myself online like that — but in my ears is my managers, my label, are my bandmates, and they're, like, 'People are loving this.' And I go, 'Great. Let's give them more of the same.' So the next single that's coming is very old school, almost first-, second-record old school, and that just came out. We didn't decide to, like, 'Let's go back to start.' We just said, 'Let's write something heavy and groovy like what we are,' and that's what came out. So I think people are really gonna enjoy the second and the third single. But the best thing is this: when you get the record, you're gonna listen to it in its entirety, and at the end, you're gonna be, like, 'I wish we had more.' But there's already 13 tracks… I mean, even the label said, 'Look, we're good with 11,' and I said, 'Okay, these other two songs. You wanna leave them off?' And they were, like, 'Oh, fuck no.' I said, 'Well, then there you go.' If people are gonna spend money, let's give 'em their money's worth. And I think that's what we did with 13 tracks."

Elaborating on "Strike And Kill"'s overall presentation, Dez said:  "Look, people are gonna love this record. I love everything from the artwork to the music that I was given. I let the guys choose the song arrangements, like what's gonna go first on the record. Even the setlist, what set do you guys wanna play? And it's good for me to have a powerful team behind me, because I can sit back and go, 'No, you tell me what you wanna play. You tell me the order of the songs on the record. You guys tell me if you like the visuals that I've come up with.' And it's a powerful tool to be able to let that happen and to listen, man.

"The first time that I listened to the record in its entirety was about two weeks ago," Dez added. "And we were going through the mountains over here in California. I had no signal on my phone, which, for me, is a miracle, and I was, like, 'Great.' I got no phone calls for 45 minutes," and we put the record on. And when it was done, I actually said to my wife, who was driving, I go, 'That's it?' And she's, like, 'Yeah, that's it, man. You guys got 13 tracks.' And I was, like, 'I want more.' So that's a really good thing, I think, for sure to have. And this thing is back on track. And wait till you see it live, man. It is a no-nonsense throwdown."

Photo credit: Stephanie Cabral