Devildriver

Wed 23rd Feb, 2011 in Features

The last time Devildriver were in Australia was to promote their fourth album Pray For Villains and since then the band has been relentless in continuing their touring schedule as well as taking the time to write, record and produce their latest offering, Beast. (An album that vocalist Dez Fafara describes simply as “Volatile”.) Even with such a hectic schedule behind them, there is no rest for the wicked as the band are currently on tour in the United States and Canada before they rock back to our shores at the end of the month with Soundwave Festival.

Fafara, one of the scariest looking lead vocalists in the business, tells me that even though their lives are at a constant pace, they are just keeping fueled and ready to keep things going and that they are also super excited to be back in Australia later this month. “We can’t wait to be back,” Fafara tells FL, “And this time I am going to bring both of my children so that they can see the beauty of the country and we can watch some Iron Maiden and Slayer underneath the moonlight, it’s going to be awesome and I cannot wait!”

For those that live under a rock, the Soundwave lineup this year is quite phenomenal for any metal or punk fan and to stand out from the crowd, bands sometimes have to get creative. Fafara once lead the hugely successful metal band Coal Chamber and I asked if he ever considers bringing some of the popular Coal Chamber tracks to a Devildriver set to give it some diversity. “Nup, we never consider it. Once we had the guitarist onstage and we did a cover, but I think that what is in the past is in the past. It’s time to move forward you know,” Fafara says rather matter-of-factly.

And moving forward they are. Devildriver are a force to be reckoned with, even with some of the obstacles that have been thrown in their path and in particular the issues with founding bassist Jon Miller. Fans have known for quite some time that Miller has always been in tune with the party gods but until recently it wasn’t made public just how out of control he was. When he landed in the ICU on his last birthday for excessive partying, a decision was made for Miller to enter a rehabilitation centre for his substance abuse.

But was the decision a surprise for the band? Fafara says that the decision was made by the band as a whole, as well as with Miller’s co-operation. “No, no, the decision didn’t surprise us because we are the ones that sent him home twice from a tour. The decision was from the band. We told him to go to rehab or we don’t know if we would accept his return. So we don’t know if Jon was going to go to rehab. I mean he had left a few tours and was just doing his thing and everyone knows that he overdosed on his birthday and we all had come to terms with it but we said to him listen, you have to go to rehab if you ever want to be here and work again,” Fafara says.