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- As part of the 2007 Gigantour, Devildriver was in Melbourne playing at Festival Hall. Sam Sutton from First Legion was lucky enough to catch up with Mike Spreitzer, one of Devildriver's guitarists.
SS: How is the tour going so far?
MS: Pretty good, only the 3rd day but the shows have been really good, sold out, good response. Second time here, it's been fun.
So good to be back in Australia?
Oh yeah, definitely. For me personally, this is my favourite country to tour in that I've been to so far, and Megadeth is one of my favourite bands from when I was growing up as a kid, I've learned a lot of their songs on guitar, and Lacuna Coil is probably my favourite band to tour with, so for me it's a lot of fun.
Actually I wanted to ask about Lacuna Coil because I was a bit surprised they were on the Gigantour lineup because they aren't as heavy as the rest of the bands.
Right, but I think they get a lot of respect from the metal community at the same time.
Yeah for sure, I like them as well, so they're good to be on tour with?
We did Ozzfest 2004 with them and became really good friends with all of them, they were the main band I hung out with in free time there. Haven't toured with them, done some festivals in Europe but that's pretty much it, so good to be on tour with them.
Earlier in the year you toured with Dimmu Borgir in the States. What was it like playing with them?
They were a great band, a lot of fun to hang out with, and the crowds were really into us, definitely tour with them again.
How were the crowds given that yours and Dimmu's metal styles are quite different?
Well the whole package was like that: it was [Dimmu], Kataklysm, Unearth, us, you know, so you got a little bit of everything, the crowds loved it.
You only have a 10 day break between Gigantour and your US tour with Lamb Of God, Killswitch Engage and Soilwork. Does the touring life get tiring?
Yeah it can be... but I have more trouble getting ready to go on tour... once I get out there it's fine, it's getting everything together and practising, and making sure [you've got] all your gear and sometimes you gotta fix old stuff, it's more trouble than actually being out there, but I love it. Usually when the time comes to go home, unless we've been out for 2 or 3 months, I don't really wanna go home, cos it's so much fun, but yeah it doesn't bother me, I'm used to it, and it's a lot better than having to work in an office.
I was reading the other day about your Guinness book of records attempt for biggest ever circle pit at Download festival. What's it like watching something like that from the stage, it must have been crazy!
I think I actually missed a couple of notes when it kicked in, me and my bass player were like just - he said the same thing to me - we were just like holy shit! Security was going crazy, they were trying to get us not to do it but we're like we're doin it, it was crazy - you seen the video of it?
Yeah it's nuts!
Yeah it was pretty cool.
I guess you won't really be able to get the same thing going here since it's not a very big venue, but are you still going to try and get a big circle pit going?
Oh yeah definitely, we had a good one last night, a really good one.
Nice, I'm sure we'll be able to top it here though (laughs).
(Laughs) Cool.
Your new album, The Last Kind Words: have you been happy with the general response from fans and critics?
Very, yeah. I mean pretty much every review has been 9 or 10 and maybe a couple of 8s here and there but not that many so the critics are liking it, the record company was very happy with it and...we've had a lot of people tell me they weren't really into us for the first two records and now this record is really...
Getting you a lot of new fans?
Yeah.
I have to say one of the first things that stood out for me was there's so much more melody on this album, it awesome. I guess it makes it a bit more accessible to newer fans?
Yeah I think so. I personally am more into the melodic bands, myself so I tend to write in that style a little bit more and they let me write a lot more on this record than the last one and I didn't do the first one.
[Mike joined the band after the release of Devildriver's self-titled album]
But yeah I got to do a lot more of the writing, which is cool.
So a bit more of your influence coming through?
Yeah, I mean, you know, it's all of us, we all write. My drummer writes a lot of the music too and plays guitar...
Yeah I saw on The Fury of Our Maker's hand that the drummer and bass player both have guitar credited, do they write a few riffs?
Yeah they write, and they record. We all pretty much write, and then whatever part you write that person records it in the studio. We all have a certain way, you know, certain styles and we want it to come across exactly the way we wrote it.
Did they do any of the recording for guitars for this album?
Oh yeah, Boecklin (drummer) did a lot of it, Miller (bassist) did some, Jeff did some, and I recorded everything that I wrote.
So which songs have a lot of your influence in them?
Clouds Over California, These Fighting Words, and Head Onto Heartache, and tid bits here and there.
Clouds Over California: I can't get that outta my head, it's so catchy!
Thank you very much.
So as a band did you decide to go down a more melodic path?
We didn't really sit down and decide where we wanted to go, we just started writing, and you know, we just wanted it to be good, and you know... a lot of people I think have a tendency to think that a band sometimes sits down and will say let's go in this direction on this record, and I don't think bands do that, personally we don't. We just started writing and songs that we liked we worked on and made them better and songs that we didn't like, we threw away.
So do you all have different music tastes?
You mean like influences?
Yeah.
Oh yeah, like I listen to a lot of industrial stuff, like German industrial bands, you know that don't even have guitars, like Das Ich... and there's a band from Toronto that's more of like an electronica, goth with a little bit of metal in there called The Birthday Massacre that I listen to a lot, and you know I'm also into trance and classical music and stuff like that but for the most part I'm into metal, and I'm more into like melodic stuff - I like 80s stuff like Def Leppard - and mostly Scandinavian metal bands are the stuff I like.
Miller's kinda on the same page as me, he pretty much just listens to more of the melodic metal, Boecklin likes a little bit more of the thrashy stuff like Napalm Death, stuff like that, and Jeff is kinda like the same as Miller. But then Dez, he listens to Johnny Cash...and I've just recently got into this alternative country band called 16 Horsepower that I think everyone should listen to, they're absolutely incredible, and even some of my friends are like 'what the hell are you listening to' and I'm like 'hey man it's good!' So a lot of different influences.
Another thing with the new album is there are heaps of solos.
That's actually one thing that I personally like, it's not so much we sat down as a band, I personally insisted on and luckily everyone was cool with, like I wanted there to be more solos on this record, I wanted to prove to people that we can actually really play our instruments, and that was really an important thing, and one thing I worked the hardest on on this record, I mean I rewrote those solos to death, our producer was just like 'dude stop writing, it's fine!', but he helped me out a lot, Jason Suecov, with the writing, he opened up a lot of doors for me which is really cool.
So what was it like working with Jason?
I loved working with Jason and his engineer Mark Lewis, they're amazing guitar players, both of them, and they just have a lot of really good ideas. Jason's a total goofball so he always puts you in a good mood too, and a lot of fun to hang out with, very knowledgeable. He's an engineer as well as producer, he's very familiar with Pro Tools and he's got a lot of great ideas.
Another good thing about this album is that although it's melodic, it's still brutal, probably equally as brutal as The Fury of Our Maker's Hand. Do you think you have a good combination of brutality and melody?
Yeah we sped it up a little bit, generally this album's got more faster songs than the last two, but yeah I think there's a nice contrast there and that's kinda like where I'm more on the melodic side, and Boecklin for instance, he's more into the thrashy stuff so when it comes together I think we have a nice mix. The songs tend to be very diverse from one another, especially if you compare one of my songs to one of Boecklin's songs, you know they're pretty different but it all sounds like Devildriver, I think, so it came out good.
And Dez's vocals, he sounds really pissed on this album!
Oh yeah he was pissed, Jason has a tendency to really piss off singers in the studio, I mean, he's all 'do it again, do it again, do it again' but in the end he gets a really good performance out of them.
Yeah, he definitely captured that aggression. So was there any particular reason from switching from Colin Richardson on the last album to Jason, Mark and Andy Sneap for the new record?
The main thing was that we heard a record that Jason had a done by a band called Bury Your Dead, and we just thought it sounded so good, the production of it, that was a key factor. We were actually at first trying to get Andy Sneap but he was busy doing something else, and second choice was Jason, mainly from what we heard on that Bury Your Dead record, and we'd heard a lot of good things about him, we met him a couple of times in Florida and got a good vibe from him. Saw him play guitar, that was one thing.
He did Trivium's new stuff didn't he, do you know if he helped out with any riffs with them too?
I dunno, I think he did, he probably did...there's only really one [Devildriver] song that he changed a lot and that was Bound By The Moon, that song came out a lot different because of him, he did a few little extra things to it that made it a lot better...listen[ing] to the production of the album... I think we made a really good decision.
There is definitely quite a lot of difference between the production on this album and previous ones.
Yeah and it's also tuned half a step higher than the last two records. We were on Sounds of the Underground in the States in 2005 and our sound engineer - our front of house sound guy - was thinking the guitars sounded a little bit too muddy so we tried tuning up a half step and it just made everything a little bit clearer, and I just didn't think there was much point to be tuned all the way down to drop B, you know, it's a pretty low tuning, and I think that's one thing the that made the amps sound a little better.
Different amps too, the main tone on the Fury of Our Maker's hand is from a 5150, the new record is mostly duel rectifier Mesa Boogie. I actually used the same guitar to do most of the rhythm tracks though, but that was, you know, the big cause of the change in tones.
So what guitar were you playing?
We were actually using a vintage Les Paul, it had EMG-81s built in. We used that on the Fury of Our Maker's Hand [as well] and it sounds - out of the studio - it's the best sounding one so we just ended up going with that.
What about live?
ESP. We both have custom guitars. Jeff's is like an Eclipse model and I've got a custom that's basically like Alexi Laiho's body style but without the tremolo, no Floyd Rose on it, I don't really use it much.
You don't really use tremolo?
No I never really - I mean I have a couple of guitars with whammy bars and stuff like that but I never really use them that much, should though (laughs), do something different. But I dunno, it's not something I ever got into and changing strings on those things would be such a pain in the ass... at least until we have a solid guitar tech out with us on every tour, we usually do now but, you know we don't have one right now so I'm doing myself, but yeah, just never really got into it.
Do you think you'll for the next album you'll try and get Andy Sneap?
No, we're probably gonna end up working with Jason again, most likely, just as long as he's not doing something else, but I can definitely see us working with Jason again, we all really, really liked him. Him and Mark really got into doing the record just as much as we did, you know, it wasn't so much a job, like we were all having fun and they - for me personally - I almost felt they were like another part of the band for that period of time, you know it, it made things go really, really smoothly, we recorded the music in like 3 weeks, we just flew through it, it was really good.
So were you quite prepared beforehand?
Yeah we record everything in my studio at home, all the guitars and drums, so pretty much all the pre-production is done before even going to the studio, so we don't have to do pre-production in the studio, we just start recording. It's pretty much done, we've got the tempos, you know, we have CDs that we give to Dez so he can start writing lyrics over them, so basically we just go in and start recording the drums, right off the bat.
So do you find you have to write much on the road because you're touring a lot?
Most of the stuff we write at home, but I'm gonna start bringing out a little studio on the road so we can start recording, just you know, my Mac and get a sound card and just start recording ideas on there and when I get home I'll transfer them to my computer at home...we're gonna have some time off from the end of December until about the beginning of January I think, so we're actually gonna start writing again for the fourth record.
I guess it's a bit early now but any plans for the new record?
You know it depends, I think we're a little bit more focussed on getting our DVD out right now, but whenever we have a month or two off we're all writing. I've already got some stuff recorded and I know my drummer's got some things done already too for the fourth record, so we want a good pile of riffs and ideas so when we do want to sit down and write we have a lot to choose from. Sometimes you sit down and you get writer's block and you sit just there for a week and play all day and just nothing sounds good, so it's good to have a little bit of something, you know, already done.
What's going to be on the DVD?
What's on it? A shitload of stuff from us being on tour...
A bit of documentary sort of thing?
Yeah, we're gonna try and do something original, don't really know what yet, but we're gonna do a live show, we haven't done yet, we'll probably do it on our headlining tour in the States, which I think might be around February, March, somewhere around there. We have loads of footage, the first tour we started getting footage on was when we toured with GWAR in 2005, and our video guys have been coming out consistently so we've got a lot, probably like ten tours worth of footage, so we got a lot of stuff we can use. So basically I think when we get home our video guy Dan is gonna sit at home and spend some time doing that, putting it together and then we get to do the live show.
So will it be in a big venue so you can pack out the house?
Yeah, we're not exactly sure where we're gonna do it yet, there's a couple of ideas, I won't say where yet, but I think we've narrowed it down pretty much to about three or four where we wanna do it, but we'll see.
After this tour you're playing with Killswitch Engage, Lamb of God and Soilwork in the States, have you played with Soilwork before?
No, I don't think we've done any festivals with them...they didn't make it to Download Festival one year and they let us play another day in their slot, but I was really excited to go see them that day cos I'm a pretty big fan of Soilwork but never met em. Heard they're very cool guys though, but haven't toured with them yet.
Have you played with Opeth before?
The band has toured with them... twice. The first tour I was not in the band yet, that was the last tour the other guitarist did, and then we did another tour with them in the States with them and Dark Tranquillity. And that was cool, great guys. I was really bummed to find that Peter quit the band.
So on this tour you're also playing with Static X, you've played with them before?
They were on Ozzfest, last summer, so that was the first time I met a few of them. They were on main stage and we were on second stage and sometimes they're so separated that you know you don't really have as much interaction with people that aren't on the same stage as you, but I hung out with Tony and Nick a few times, but I've actually gotten to know them in the last two days, three days that we've been in Australia that I've actually got to know them a little bit better than on that entire tour. But yeah they seem like cool guys. I was pretty big fan of the first, the first three records I really like a lot. Yeah I haven't picked up the newest two yet, it's really great but yeah the first video they put out, a touring video, I'm actually in it, for a little bit. They were talking about their street team, which I wasn't on their street team but they focus in on me in front of the Palace in Hollywood at a show I went to, and I was like hey it's me! I think I was 19 or something, it was... seven years ago...
So you're what, 25, 26 now?
26.
That's awesome, so you're 26 and touring the world, do you ever have to pinch yourself and wonder how you got here?
I'm pretty used to it now but I mean it's pretty cool to go home and bump into old friends from high school and it's like 'what are you doing?', 'I work in this office, what are you doing?', 'I play guitar in a heavy metal band' and they're just like 'what?!', you know so it's pretty cool, I like it. I was just in the right place at the right time.
So you going out tonight after the show?
Yeah we have a day off tomorrow, I think we gotta be up at 9.30 in the morning for a flight but, I haven't gone out the last two nights, gone to bed pretty early, so tonight I think I'm gonna let loose a little bit - we have a day off tomorrow you know so I can stand to be hung over on a plane for an hour or so and then just go to my hotel room and sleep it off!
But I can't wait to go to Sydney, last time we were here I was so tired by that time of the tour that after the show I was like 'I can't go out man, I gotta go back to the hotel' but it looks like a really fun city.
You've got two shows in Sydney right?
Yeah two shows, Luna Park, very cool. It's always nice, the only other time we played two shows in a row was with GWAR in Hollywood. It's kinda nice relief cos you can keep all your gear there, you can stay at the hotel, you don't have to take a flight so you play two shows in a row in the same place, it's really nice.
Well I think we're pretty much out of time, so thank you very much for the interview.
Yeah no problem, thank you very much, hope you enjoy the show.