The AvD plays the keyboard and sings backing vocals in The
Defiled. I caught up with him on the day of the Bournemouth show of the
Jagermeister tour.
Julia: How would you describe your musical style to someone
who hasn’t heard it before?
The AvD: Our musical style to someone who hasn’t heard it before? Like a rusty trombone on a sunny day! They’ve described us as ‘industrial metal’ a lot, whatever you want to call us. We’ve written acoustic tracks, we’ve written metal tracks, we’ve written a track that may surprise some people on the new album, so whatever really. That’s up to you guys to pigeon-hole us.
The AvD: Our musical style to someone who hasn’t heard it before? Like a rusty trombone on a sunny day! They’ve described us as ‘industrial metal’ a lot, whatever you want to call us. We’ve written acoustic tracks, we’ve written metal tracks, we’ve written a track that may surprise some people on the new album, so whatever really. That’s up to you guys to pigeon-hole us.
Julia: Who would you say are your major influences?
The AvD: I don’t know, everything really. Growing up, I think anything you do in life is just an amalgamation of whatever you’ve experienced really, so I guess we just get into the studio and whatever comes out comes out. Yeah, I can’t really pin-point one person that changed my life. I’d say maybe when I was younger Nine Inch Nails influenced me a lot into what I studied, but yeah, I wouldn’t say that it’s a major influence on what I write.
The AvD: I don’t know, everything really. Growing up, I think anything you do in life is just an amalgamation of whatever you’ve experienced really, so I guess we just get into the studio and whatever comes out comes out. Yeah, I can’t really pin-point one person that changed my life. I’d say maybe when I was younger Nine Inch Nails influenced me a lot into what I studied, but yeah, I wouldn’t say that it’s a major influence on what I write.
Julia: How has the tour been going so far?
The AvD: It has been going really well. It’s a privilege and an honour to be invited for the third year in row to the Jager tour, they treat us really well on this and to play with Gojira and Ghost is amazing. We’re really big fans of those bands so it’s really good.
The AvD: It has been going really well. It’s a privilege and an honour to be invited for the third year in row to the Jager tour, they treat us really well on this and to play with Gojira and Ghost is amazing. We’re really big fans of those bands so it’s really good.
Julia: How does it feel to sign with Nuclear Blast?
The AvD: Nuclear Blast, ah man! It feels like a payoff for many years of work. To be honest we’ve wanted to work with Monty and Mark, who are the new, I guess, head A&R guys over there now. We’ve been talking to Monty since he was working at Roadrunner Records and when they closed down we were like ‘Oh right, so I guess that’s over now.’ But he was like ‘No, come to Nuclear Blast!’ So we did. It feels really good to finally get a record deal and get recognised. The reckoning is coming! It will be good!
The AvD: Nuclear Blast, ah man! It feels like a payoff for many years of work. To be honest we’ve wanted to work with Monty and Mark, who are the new, I guess, head A&R guys over there now. We’ve been talking to Monty since he was working at Roadrunner Records and when they closed down we were like ‘Oh right, so I guess that’s over now.’ But he was like ‘No, come to Nuclear Blast!’ So we did. It feels really good to finally get a record deal and get recognised. The reckoning is coming! It will be good!
The AvD: Yeah, it is recorded; we recorded it in Florida with Jason Suecof. We
recorded fifteen tracks and I think we’re going to release eleven. It is going
to be called ‘Daggers’ and it’s sounding pretty brutal, I think. I don’t know,
I hope you guys like it, basically!
Julia: How does it feel to be playing in Bournemouth
tonight?
The AvD: Bournemouth! Man, we used to play Bournemouth in… What was it called? I can’t remember. ‘The Gander’? We used to play really little clubs over here and now we’re playing the O2 Academy, so it feels really good. Showing people we’ve moved on, really.
The AvD: Bournemouth! Man, we used to play Bournemouth in… What was it called? I can’t remember. ‘The Gander’? We used to play really little clubs over here and now we’re playing the O2 Academy, so it feels really good. Showing people we’ve moved on, really.
Julia: What’s your favourite thing about touring?
The AvD: My favourite thing about touring is seeing parts of the world I’ve never seen before. Touring just makes you a better person, I think, because you’ve got to respect people in a certain way that you don’t need to generally in life. You live in a really close proximity to people and everyone has their little weird things and it makes you just learn to leave people alone and give people down time. I think it makes you a better person, that’s the best thing about touring.
The AvD: My favourite thing about touring is seeing parts of the world I’ve never seen before. Touring just makes you a better person, I think, because you’ve got to respect people in a certain way that you don’t need to generally in life. You live in a really close proximity to people and everyone has their little weird things and it makes you just learn to leave people alone and give people down time. I think it makes you a better person, that’s the best thing about touring.
Julia: What would you say is your favourite song that you’ve written?
The AvD: That I’ve written? I don’t know, I like all of them, that’s why I wrote them! I’d say the one that means a lot to me is ‘Five Minutes’ on the new album ‘Daggers’ because it’s about a family member that died, so that means a lot to me. I wouldn’t say it’s my favourite, but you know.
Julia: Do you have much else planned for 2013?
The AvD: Yeah, a lot planned for 2013! Basically once we release this record this summer it’s go, go, go! It’s going to get a worldwide release and we’re going to be touring globally. We’re going to be playing festivals, we’re going to be releasing our reworks album, we’re probably going to release a covers EP as well. I don’t know if we’re going to do it as a deluxe edition of ‘Daggers’ or whatever, but we’ll see.
Listen to the interview here: https://soundcloud.com/juliaconopo/interview-with-the-avd-from
Check out The Defiled here: http://www.facebook.com/thedefiled/
The AvD: Yeah, a lot planned for 2013! Basically once we release this record this summer it’s go, go, go! It’s going to get a worldwide release and we’re going to be touring globally. We’re going to be playing festivals, we’re going to be releasing our reworks album, we’re probably going to release a covers EP as well. I don’t know if we’re going to do it as a deluxe edition of ‘Daggers’ or whatever, but we’ll see.
Listen to the interview here: https://soundcloud.com/juliaconopo/interview-with-the-avd-from
Check out The Defiled here: http://www.facebook.com/thedefiled/
Hey this is really cool, are you just studying journalism in general? I'm in my last year of sixth form hoping to do a music journalism course at uni, check out my blog too :) http://www.riffraffgeorge.blogspot.com
ReplyDelete