Sauce

Want to hear all the usual answers to all the usual questions? Want to hear Devildriver growler Dez Fafara spend an entire interview plugging the latest album? Go somewhere else! For the rest of you, sit back and enjoy as the gravel-throated vocalist took some time out with SAUCE to shoot the shit on food, his kids, and what Devildriver and Megadeth would be in the animal kingdom …

You’ve got the very intense tatts and the piercings. I’m just wondering what your kids think of it …
Well, they’ve kind of grown up where they’re used to it, obviously. But I mean, if you go to their school, you see piercings … of course, no tattoos yet, just because they’re in elementary and junior school. But you know, my young one’s got long hair and … wears certain clothes and this and that, so, you know, they’ve grown up used to it. They accept everything that they’ve been raised around, you know?

Obviously, Devildriver followed on from your work in Coal Chamber as a much darker, heavier project – far more intense, as far as metal goes. It’s something that I’ve noticed in a lot of bands – if they used to play nu metal or hard rock or something, all of a sudden they’ve got this tendency on the next album to … head in a more “metal” direction. What’s your view on that?
If we’re going to speak about the scene, what I’ve been seeing is the opposite, where downloading and things of this nature are killing underground artists, and forcing them to go in a more actual “pop” way. A lot of the metal bands now are doing a very predictable, very clean choruses – when they hit the chorus, it’s got to be clean, otherwise it’s very scream-y. And so, I just know that Devildriver wants to do what’s not popular. So, if people are doing “B”, we’re going to do “A” – if they’re doing “C”, we’re going to do “D”. We knew that right now, especially in the United States, this kind of a record was needed – that was just heavy all the way through, and was non-compromising. And it’s coming across great – people are taking to it exactly like we thought they would’ve. If we stayed with what our hearts wanted to do, we knew people would come to it, and they are. [And] In an organic fashion, through touring, and through a lot of hard work with the band.

The Last Kind Words – now that you’ve got a bit of distance from it, what do you see as its strengths and, perhaps, its weaknesses?
I’m sure over time … any person that views their art – whether it be painting, sculpture, music – can find weakness. At this point I can’t, because we just got done, and I think what we’ve done defines what Devildriver is all about. I think its strengths are definitely in the guitar riffing; in a lot of the guitar work and solo work … really amazing, immense drum playing … structures of the songs – they’re all very diverse. And its uncompromising – vocally, and very much through the sound – and uncompromising lyrically. I’ve always wished I could write about fast cars and women, and I can’t – I go deeper. And I didn’t want to sell it out. I wanted to go deeper … As far as the weaknesses, we have so much growth to still do that the only weakness would be the time. We need time for growth, and I’ve always said to the label that our fourth, fifth, sixth records are going to be way better than this one, because we’re growing so tight as a unit.

One thing that I’ve always noticed, and admired you as a vocalist for, is the tone of your voice. I’m surprised – I’ve never heard your speaking voice before, compared to your singing one. How did you get your voice like that? Is it put on? Or is it just too much whiskey and cigarettes?
You know, through practice, through going to rehearsals, through being really introduced and impressed by bands like Motorhead or early punk bands … or early Black Flag – stuff like that, I think, gave me those tones. I’ve always enjoyed the old blues artists with a lot of rasp and soul to their voice, and so, [I] tried to find that somehow also in the heavy metal genre, in order to define my sound, I guess. I’ve never really looked at it introspectively! [Laughs] I’ve just kind of done what I’ve done, and grown over the years with what I’ve done, with Coal Chamber to now. As long as it keeps growing in a positive way, I keep doing things which are relevant, yet against the grain. That’s the most important thing for me.

Of course, the big news now is Gigantour. You’ll be touring with Megadeth. Both you and Dave Mustaine seem to be, in ways, be outspoken or something. For you, obviously, there was the whole business with Sevendust writing the mean song [which attacked Fafara over a dispute with Rayna, former Coal Chamber bass player, who was married to Sevendust’s drummer]. For Mustaine … well, pretty much every interview he ever does seems to cause some sort of controversy. I’m wondering – are you two of the most misunderstood people in metal?
I have no idea. I mean, that one thing you’re speaking about happened four years ago, and since then, he’s made public apologies on MTV. So the man that back-paddles is obviously the man that’s wrong, in going about something like that … But misunderstood? No, absolutely not. I’m probably one of the most approachable, humble, thankful people you’ll meet in metal, if that’s anything. I believe that there’s six things that kill a band, so I always keep those six things in check. Those are – drugs, alcohol, money, ego, women and lack of communication. So I always make sure those things are in check. But as far as being misunderstood, not really.

Just for fun, I’d like to play with some metaphors now regarding the Gigantour bill. If each act of the bill was an animal, what would they be, and why?
Ah, that’s cool! OK – here we go. I like this kind of shit … let’s rock! Let me think … well, Megadeth … I have to think of a really strong, vicious animal that lives a long time … What would that be? I’m pretty sure a tiger has a pretty long lifespan … [He asks his wife] I’d give them something ferocious, man … Something that lives a long time, you know what I mean? And it’s fierce, because Dave Mustaine … I’ve known Dave for a long time. He’s really cool. He’s always been really just a great guy to me. I just ran into him in Europe recently, and he was just killer. But as far as his guitar playing, and the band as a whole too, they’re ferocious, you know? And they seem to have longevity, so … I don’t know my biology too well, but if a tiger lives long, I’ll give them that.

So what would Devildriver be?
Devildriver? Ah … a fucking rhinoceros, man! [Laughs] We’re just at the stage where we’ve got our head down and we’re shaking our horn, and we’re running through the brush, and you can feel us coming a mile away! Right now, I would give it that! For sure … a rhino, armoured-up, with one horn ready to go! [Laughs] Come on – we both do interviews all day long too, so you know what? Questions like that are always killer. I love it. You wait all day for something you can actually think about, you know? Otherwise I could try to sell you on my band all day long. We might as well have moments like that. I love it.

I was actually considering a question about Italian food …
We have a question about Italian food? Hold on – “ding-ding-ding!”

[Hypothetically] You’ve just finished a gig and you’ve got lots of ingredients. What’s something you’d make?
And had a decent hour to just mellow-out? Making some chicken masala with some angel hair – oh, that’d be the best! [Laughs] Being Italian, I’m so partial. You could just hold a roasted garlic clove in front of me, and I’ll grab it! [Laughs]

A follow-on to the animal question, which [bands], according to Darwin’s theory of “survival of the fittest”, would be killed and eaten?
Oh, wow … I have no idea … Megadeth, who’s the old bull, and we’re the young bull, and where we run uphill and we go to the old bull, “Dad, you see all those cows down there? Let’s run down, and let’s fuck one of them!” And the old bull looks at the young bull and goes, “No, son – let’s walk down, and let’s fuck ‘em all!”

The Last Kind Words is out now.

Listen to the full interview Below