“Tirades of Truth” - DevilDriver guitarist Mike Spreitzer is the guilty bearer of good news with third opus The Last Kind Words


By Anthony Morgan

When the smouldering ashes of Californian Alternative Metal act Coal Chamber, media pundits wondered where frontman Dez Fafara would next ply his trade. That materialized into what's now known as DevilDriver (formerly called Deathride), a collaboration with guitarist Evan Pitts. Two members soon evolved into a fully fledged band, and a debut album certainly became on the cards. Fafara had began cutting demos in between recording sessions for Coal Chamber's 2002 swansong Dark Days, yearning for pastures new. Provisionally titled Thirteen and then Straight to Hell, the eponymous effort emerged in October 2003 via old associates Roadrunner Records. Initial detractors who derided the group due to Fafara's association with the Nu Metal scene were soon silenced, passing judgment prior to hearing DevilDriver's musical offerings. Much heavier and featuring more technical musicianship, the group's style bears Death Metal influences combined with a more groove laden affair.

Wishing to jettison the touring lifestyle, Pitts quit the group. With new guitarist Mike Spreitzer onboard, began cutting the group's sophomore effort with Colin Richardson during November 2004. Described as “much faster and way heavier” than its predecessor by Fafara, The Fury Of Our Maker's Hands was issued in June 2005. Fafara lent guest vocals to the track “Baptized in the Redemption” for the star studded compilation Roadrunner United: The All-Star Sessions, coming out via compact disc in October of that year.

DevilDriver entered Sonic Ranch studios in El Paso, Texas once more during November 2006. Drummer John Boecklin laid down his drum tracks within a matter of three days, and by January 13th 2007 Fafara had finished the rest of his lyrical offerings in native Santa Barbara. Jason Suecof (Trivium, Chimaira, God Forbid, Bury Your Dead) handled production duties, actively pushing the musicians to their very limits. Purposely frustrating Fafara on an emotional level, it caused the vocalist to deliver his harshest grunts to date. Mark Lewis engineered the full length, while the famed Andy Sneap (Megadeth, Exodus, Opeth, As I Lay Dying) mixed the songs at Backstage Recording Studios in Derbyshire, England. Third album The Last Kind Words was described as “faster and more riffy” than The Fury Of Our Maker's Hand, and notably boasted more guitar solos.

Fresh from an August 2007 stint on Ozzfest's second stage and a failed attempt to make it into the Guinness Book of Records at Donington Park's Download Festival in the UK during June, the Californian Metal act returned to the UK for ten headlining dates in October. With US Metalcore act God Forbid and Brit moshers Malefice in tow, DevilDriver set to unleash their third album upon eager attendees. With one such date being scheduled for The Point down Cardiff Bay on October 15th, the prospect of an interview seemed too tempting. After an email exchange with Roadrunner Records Head of UK Press Michelle Kerr, Lucem Fero was booked in for a brief interview with drummer John Boecklin at 3pm on the day of the gig. When this interviewer got there though, he was politely informed that Boecklin was still asleep and recovering from a hefty bout of partying the night before in London. With quick thinking, the road crew fixed up Lucem Fero with guitarist Mike Spreitzer. Spreitzer discussed various aspects of the UK tour, and DevilDriver's live set list. The world record attempt, the group's third album, the verbal dispute over tour commitments with Newcastle's Venom and upcoming DVD plans comprise the other topics which are touched upon. A charming gentleman with a thick Los Angeles accent, let's hope Spreitzer makes another chance encounter with Lucem Fero.

 

  • How's the UK tour going?
  • It's been awesome, and very good. We got to play London yesterday, and we sold it out. The crowd was absolutely incredible. Seriously, I think it was one of the best shows that DevilDriver has ever had. It was great.
  • Every time you come back, do you feel as though DevilDriver is getting a bigger and bigger reception?
  • Definitely. Every time that we come back some place, it always seems that our crowds are gradually getting bigger and bigger. I guess we're doing something right then, and it feels good. We've been working our asses off for the last four years. I've been in the band almost four years now, but they've been around for almost five or six I think. It's been great though, and all the hard work is paying off.
  • So you see old faces, and new faces, and...?
  • Yeah, you see a lot of faces. We make friends with some of the fans, and I've actually gotten close enough to some that I know them by first name. I've given some people my email address, or my phone number. It's nice to have friends that you can meet up with outside of your band, or the other bands. You look forward to going to cities, and hanging out with them.
  • Do you talk to the fans about things unrelated to DevilDriver, as in general conversation?
  • No, not a whole lot. There are people that I've met on the road who I keep in contact with though, and they're just normal friends now.
  • Are they?
  • Yeah.
  • Alright. Have you met some of the crowd in Wales yet?
  • You know what? Have we been here? I don't even know if we've played Wales before.. have we?
  • I don't think you have, no.
  • I don't think so, no.
  • You play tonight, and then you go to Wrexham tomorrow.
  • I'm trying to think if we've been here with either In Flames, or Lamb of God. I can't remember to tell you the truth though. I've never been in this venue before, I know that (laughs).
  • This is down Cardiff Bay.
  • Yeah, so it might be the first time.
  • Have you ever met any of the DevilDriver fans in Wales?
  • No, not yet.
  • Alright. What can the fans expect when they come and see the band tonight?
  • They're going to get a little taste of every album, that's for sure. We got three albums out now, and we try to give them a little piece of every album. That's to make everybody happy, including us (laughs). It's going to be brutal, and there'll probably be a pretty big moshpit at the end which we always do. Hopefully people will have fun, and won't get hurt.
  • You tried getting into the Guinness Book of Records, didn't you?
  • Yeah. We did that, but they wrote back to us saying that they had no scientific way to accurately measure the moshpit, so.. The funny thing was the email they sent back to us. It almost seemed like they... the tone of it was... well, I can't exactly remember what they said. I read the email, and they were almost offended that we asked them to do something like that.
  • Do you think it's because DevilDriver is a Heavy Metal band?
  • It could be. Yeah, it could be. Or they just think... Unless you're really into Heavy Metal, the idea of a moshpit might seem ridiculous to some people.
  • If it was a group like U2 or one of the more critically acclaimed bands, it would've be taken more seriously.
  • Maybe. Then again though, maybe some people at the offices did sit down and discuss it. Maybe they had a vote, or something like that. It probably wasn't just one person that said no. They wrote back to us, so they obviously considered it. It was a shame; it would've been nice to get in the Guinness Book of World Records.
  • Personally speaking though, do you feel that DevilDriver has the record?
  • I haven't really looked online to see if people have videos of one that was bigger than that. No-one has informed me of anything bigger though, and that's the biggest one I've ever seen.
  • Was that planned a few days before, or was it just on the spot?
  • Well we do it pretty much every show anyway, but we did plan to do it on that day. That's definitely one of the places we've played where we have a decent enough following, thus making it possible to organise something like that. I don't think you would even be able to do it at the main stage at Download, and that's because the two sides are divided. There's a gate that separates the two of them for the security to walk up and down from the mixing console. Yes, it is something we do every day. If we wanted to make it really really big though, that was the day to do it.
  • So it was a special day?
  • Yeah.
  • You said that DevilDriver has three albums out now, and also you all have plenty of songs to choose from. When you talk about the set list, do you say “Wait a minute, I'd like this song” and then another member says “Wait, I'd like this one in the set”?
  • I don't know, but there are certain songs like “End of the Line”, “I Could Care Less”, “Clouds Over California” and “Not All Who Wander Are Lost”. I think those are some of the songs that we will always play live no matter what, but then there are some songs that we will probably never play live. That's just because the energy from them possibly doesn't feel right live, and you only have so much time to play. It's really up to what we think, and what feedback we get from the fans. We can then decide on what songs the majority of the crowd is going to want to hear. There's songs that I wish we were playing live, but some of the other guys don't really like playing those ones.
  • Are there any specific songs you can pick out that you like to play?
  • I love playing “Clouds Over California”, and I think that's my favourite song to play right now. I like playing the newer album, and that's just because it's new - it works well as we haven't played it so often. I like playing “End of the Line” for example, another one of my favourites. The next song I would really like to add to our set, that we're not currently playing, is “These Fighting Words”. We've been sound checking it, but we haven't played it live yet. I think a lot of people will want to hear that one.
  • Will that song appear tonight, or in Wrexham?
  • Probably not. It's narrowing down to the end of the tour, and we usually don't like to add songs in the middle of a tour. If we're going to add a song...
  • You want to keep it consistent?
  • Yeah. We haven't actually been able to rehearse as a band for six months; our practice space is so full of merchandise that we haven't had room to set up our equipment (laughs). We'll probably spend some time rehearsing as a band at home, and then maybe add it for Australia (Australia's Gigantour) or for the Killswitch Engage and Lamb of God tour that we're going on in the States. The next time that we come back to the UK and Europe, I'm sure it'll be on the setlist.
  • You said you like to hear what songs the fans like, so would you be up for an online poll?
  • We're actually talking about that, I think. We just started a fan club called The Wretched, and you can get a link to it from our MySpace page. When we get home, I think we're going to organise something for the people that signed up for our fan club. That'll be where everyone possibly picks their five favourite songs. We'll then tally up the votes, and incorporate those winning songs into our set list.
  • So it won't be a whole set list, and just some songs?
  • We'll see how many people give us their votes, and how things go. Maybe we'll just let the fans choose the set lists from now on.
  • Over here you've been playing with God Forbid and Malefice, so what are your thoughts on those bands?
  • I love God Forbid. We toured with them during Ozzfest 2004, and they're just amazing guys. They're so much fun to hang out with, and I think their music is killer. The material that I really like is very melodic, and heavy. They're all just great musicians. I've never heard of Malefice before, but I'm very very impressed. I actually sat down, and watched them for three or four songs yesterday for the first time. It was a good place to see them as it was a good PA. They just sounded amazing, and they're a really good band.
  • So when you come over here, would they definitely be considered for future support slots?
  • It's possible. We'll have to see what happens, but I'm not going to give into any...
  • I'm just wondering how it works, as I'm not too sure to be honest.
  • They would definitely be a consideration. They're cool guys too, and we get along with them. We've done just only six or seven shows with them, so we haven't really had that much time to get to know them. From what I gather though, they seem like really cool guys.
  • When you fix up slots for bands supporting DevilDriver, how much of it is down to the group itself and how much of it is down to Roadrunner Records?
  • Actually, neither on this one. I think our booking agent actually arranged the opening acts on this tour - our management and Dez tend to take care of a lot of those things. We let him take care of it somewhat, and it's not something that has to be ran by the entire band.
  • Yeah, you trust Dez.
  • Oh yeah, of course. He's been doing this for so long, and I feel very grateful to be in a band with someone that's been in the industry. There's certain things that you learn from experience over time. It's good to have someone in the band that's been doing it this long, and someone who can rationalise what decisions to make.
  • So it's probably a lot better for Dez, and that's because it's his second time around - he had Coal Chamber, and now DevilDriver is his second venture. He probably now knows what mistakes not to make.
  • Yeah, you learn from your mistakes. Live and learn (laughs).
  • Could you give me an introduction to The Last Kind Words?
  • It's different than our last two. 90% of the music on the first record was written by a guy that I replaced (Evan Pitts), and the second album came out really well generally speaking. I think that by the third album we had learnt how to write with each other though, and work together better. We've found more of a common ground. If I write a riff, and go “I know the rest of the guys are going to hate this”, then I'm not going to even bother showing it to them. I have a much different style than a lot of the other guys do. Our drummer writes a lot of the guitar riffs, and he's more into the thrashy, groovy material. I'm into more melodic material, so we find a common ground in the middle somewhat. Jeff and (Jon) Miller write a lot as well, and they're in between somewhat.
  • Alright.. so that's a great mix then.
  • Yeah. I think we spent over a year writing it. We record everything in my studio at my house first; we record guitars and then drums, and then... We listen to it in our cars, and just listen to it over and over again. We'll say “I don't like this riff”, “I do like this riff”, “We need to change this”, or “This could be better”. Once the four of us are then happy with it, we put it on CD and give it to Dez. He'll either say “Yeah, I like this song” or he'll say “Can you make some changes here?”. He'll then write lyrics over it.
  • Does Dez has the final say with the voting, or is it all a band decision?
  • It's a band decision, though sometimes it takes time for us to grow on a song. We'll give a song to Dez, and sometimes he'll say “Dude, I really don't like it”. We'll then say “Dude, just write to it”, and he'll work on it. Once he does though, he really likes it. It goes the other way too sometimes; he'll record vocals on a song, and within the first hour I'm thinking about it somewhat. I let it sink in a little bit though, and then I say to myself “That's really good. I actually really do like that song”.
  • So as DevilDriver progresses with every album, the chemistry is just improving all the time?
  • I think the chemistry of the band is just improving over time too. With every tour that we do, it seems like we're getting along better and better.
  • So DevilDriver is getting better as a live act?
  • Oh yeah, yeah. Definitely. The only way to get good at playing live is just by doing it over and over again - the more experience, the better.
  • Are you happy with the reception The Last Kind Words has received?
  • It's been great, and our first week sales were better than the last two records. Since the album came out, I think I've heard one fan say that they liked The Fury Of Our Maker's Hand a little bit more. That's it really. Everyone is pretty much telling us that this is the best DevilDriver record ever, and that makes me really happy. I've heard a lot of people say that. Chris Adler from Lamb of God, who I've been friends since 2004, came up to me at Ozzfest. He said “You know what? I liked you guys, but I listen to the new album all the time”, and I just replied “Wow! Thanks man”. There are people out there that weren't really into us, but with this record they're saying “Alright man, maybe I'll give these guys another chance”.
  • You've one over a few fans with this album then? People that thought “they're alright, but they're not really good”? With this third album though, they think “Oh, that's really fucking good that is”? Is it like that?
  • Oh yeah. I like to hang out afterwards; we're not the type of group that gets off stage and goes on our bus right away, or hangs out in the dressing room. We go out, hang out and then go to have some drinks with the fans. We go to bars, and party with them. We get some feedback there, and they tell us what they think.
  • How did you approach your contributions to this album?
  • I had a little more influence on this one than the second one. I primarily wrote “These Fighting Words”, “Clouds Over California”, “Head on to Heartache”, and bits and pieces here and there. My favourite part about this album though is that there's so many guitar solos; we've never had more than two guitar solos on an album, whereas on this one there's seven or eight I think. It made me feel very proud to be a guitar player on this record, and that's just because I took more time. I spent a lot of time writing the solos, and I'm really happy with them.
  • So there's more of you on this album?
  • Than before, yeah.
  • How did the recording process develop at Sonic Ranch?
  • Very quickly. We breezed through this album quicker than we thought, and actually got it done early. Since we record all the guitars and drums at my house before entering the studio, we don't have to do any pre-production. It's already done. We already knew our producers, and engineers, had already heard the songs. Once we got in there, we made some very minor changes to the songs as far as structure is concerned. We basically went in there, started the drums and got that done in three days I think. In roughly three weeks, we got all the music done. Dez did half the lyrics at Sonic Ranch, and then we went home early. He finished the rest of the lyrics in Santa Barbara.
  • Do you write while you're on tour?
  • Yeah, but not as much as when I'm at home. It depends, but I don't write as much as I do in the States; you're limited in what you can bring, and that's because you have to take flights over here. When we just have our own bus and things like that, we can sit in the back lounge. It depends on the venue too, and whether there's a good place where I can sit down. If there's a good place, I can then bring in an amplifier which I plug into my headphones. I just sit there, and jam in the middle of my dressing room sometimes. I already got some ideas for the fourth record that I wrote while on this tour, but the majority of the writing is done when the band is at home.
  • Will your ideas follow the approach of The Last Kind Words, or will they go in a different direction?
  • Musically, we're going to try to do something different. We don't want the next record to sound like any other record that we've done. Obviously, we want it to be better. As far as the approach of how we write it goes though, we've never really been the type of band who sits in the practice room and practices all together. We don't really write that way. We usually write on our own, and come together. Sometimes, those three guys will jam in Santa Barbara. I live in Los Angeles which is about two hours away, so I pretty much stay at home. I have my own ideas, and record them. We then come together at my house, and share our ideas. After that, we decide what we're going to use and what we're not going to use. We'll probably do that same thing for the next record.
  • Is living two hours away a bit difficult then?
  • It hasn't been. I don't really mind driving up to Santa Barbara, and two hours is nothing. When I go up there, I got places to stay with friends. I usually stay with (John) Boecklin at his house, so it hasn't proven to be difficult. They don't really like coming down to my house sometimes, and that's because of the drive. You have to drive through LA, but being two hours away doesn't make things difficult. During the writing process of The Fury of Our Maker's Hand, I did live in Santa Barbara. I think the writing process on The Last Kind Words was easier though.
  • How did Jason approach capturing the vibe of DevilDriver?
  • He did an amazing job. He really pushed Dez a lot, and got him really pissed off too (laughs). Jason's known for really pushing singers in the studio to the point where they get frustrated, but he really ends up getting a good performance out of them. If you listen to Dez on this record, he sounds fucking pissed. We like that. For me personally, he really helped me out by pushing me. Also, he helped me write decent solos. I would get stuck, so then I would just listen to him play guitar for ten minutes. I'd eventually say; “Stop. Ok, give me the guitar again; I got an idea”. He would then leave. If I was stumped though, he'd come in and play guitar. Mark Lewis, the engineer, was a great help too. He had some good ideas too which made things better.
  • I better hurry up as my battery is running out (laughs).
  • Ok (laughs).
  • With every album, it seems to be getting harder and more and more brutal. Could you tell me about that?
  • Yeah. The overall tempo of The Last Kind Words is faster than the last two, and it's just the direction we really wanted to go in with this record. We wanted to give everybody something faster, and more brutal. Also, we wanted to prove to people that we're a legit Metal band. I like to think that we did it; most people seem to be happy with it.
  • I'm going to ask a difficult question now. In a recent interview, Dez was asked about an ongoing issue with Venom. What is your perspective on it?
  • To tell you the truth, I don't even know the whole story. What happened though was the following; we were supposed to tour with them, and it got postponed. We were still going to do the tour with them, but then it got postponed again. When they yet again wanted us to tour with them, we were going to go to Australia with Fear Factory. Obviously, we couldn't do it as we were already committed to do Australia. I heard that they were on a radio station, and said something bad about us. That really bumped Dez out since he's a huge Venom fan; he used to wear the shirts onstage all the time, and he's really into their new album Metal Black (2006). He's listened to that record so much. That's basically the story, though I actually haven't even heard exactly what they said. Who knows? It might not even be true.
  • What are DevilDriver's plans for the future, and what is your message for the fans?
  • We're going to keep on touring until our heads spin off on this record. When we then feel it's time to go in the studio and do another record, we're going to. We're going to be releasing a DVD next year - we got a lot of material already. We've had a video guy with us for roughly two years, and he's going to start working on the DVD very soon. It'll have a live show in it.
  • Have you got a release date for that?
  • No, not yet. It'll be sometime next year.
  • Is there going to be another video from The Last Kind Words?
  • Yeah, definitely.
  • I've heard some people say that “Horn of Betrayal” may be the next video, but I don't know.
  • We haven't decided yet, but there'll definitely be another video.
  • Will that be out this year, or next year?
  • No, next year. Sometime next year.
  • Do you have a message for the fans of DevilDriver?
  • Come out to the shows, and thank you for your support. We fucking love you.
  • (Laughs) Short, but sweet. Alright, thanks very much for the interview. I really appreciate it, and thanks for being so down to earth.
  • Cool. I hope you enjoy the show, and I'll see you a little later.