Straight out of the UK, The Defiled have been another notable band making their stamp on UK heavy metal. They are setting the stage for Download Festival this summer and can't be more excited to continue their climb in the music game. With an image that is just as powerful as their music, you'll be happy with a copy of their album at home and the visual sensation of their live performances.
AFGM was fortunate enough to have a Q&A with keyboard/vocalist AVD about their upcoming plans and their background history.
First off, much thanks to you AVD for taking the time to sit down and hash these out. Where does the roots of the band lie? What did you guys listen to [growing up] that made you want to pick up an instrument/play in a band?
My dad is a crazy music lover. We always had instruments in our house and there was always music playing where ever we went. My sister played the piano and I was obsessed by the drums.
How did you guys come together to form The Defiled?
Stitch and our old bassist Drex where working at Cyberdog in Camden and decided to form a band, they had no members so they where just harassing passers by. I was one of those. They where like "hey, can you play an instrument"? I said yes and that was kind of how all of us started getting together. It was nothing like the Defiled though. We went by the name "Devoid". Curse did all the electronics and keyboards and I was playing drums.
What's the image you guys want to portray to your fans? Basically, what's TD's reason for rockin?!
The reason for rocking is completely out of self necessity. We would be doing this if we had no fans. We have, done this with no fans! It's just really rewarding that some of the people that have heard us happen to feel exactly the same way we do!
You seem to have a great reputation running in the UK so far, any luck breaking into the the North American market?
We Just played in Texas at SXSW. It was really cool, definitely want to go back there. We have loads of plans in the pipe line, watch this space…
I was checking out the photos from your Brixton Academy Jager gig, where did the idea of stage performers come from and what do they add to the show? I think I saw them in your music video "Black Death" as well.
The people in the video are myself and Stitch. We are musicians but we are definitely also entertainers and pushing that aspect of our band is very important to us, there are people that have seen us countless times live so we try and keep it new and exiting for them. No one wants to see the same five guys on stage just playing the same old songs every time.
How was the Jager tour by the way? Skindred and the other bands must have been great energy to tour with.
We only played the London date for this Jager tour, we did the full tour last year with Sylosis. Jager are always so good to us and take care of their bands so well it's always a pleasure to play any of there events. We are starting to bump in to the Skindred guys more and more these days, really cool guys!
Also it was nice to meet the Therapy? boys, I have been a fan since I was a young boy so that was definitely a highlight.
Favourite city/venue you played in thus far and why?
London is our hometown and it's always amazing to play shows here. It feels like such an accomplishment to sell out venues that we used to watch are heroes in!
Download 2012 will see you guys sharing the Pepsi stage with the likes of Devin Townsend, Soil, and fellow UK bands While She Sleeps & Silent Descent. Looking forward to the event? Will you be playing tunes mostly from "Grave Times"?
Oh my god, one of our main goals when we started this band was to play Donnington so to say we are excited is an understatement and yes, we will definitely be playing tunes off Grave Times!
Personal question. What band are you most excited to see at Download when you guys are performing?
I have to say I was a big Metallica fan growing up, so seeing the black album in it's entirety is going to rock! I saw them do puppets in it's entirety a few years ago that was amazing!
Any pregame rituals before a show? A shot? Special tunes to listen to? Workout?
Whenever we have speakers backstage we always listen to "Losing It" by Bury Your Dead. It's a minute and a half long and really gets us in the mood.
Killer track! Love it every time they bust it out on tour!
"Call To Arms" was a monster of a track and a great music video. Can you give us some insight into the making of it. Where was it done? How long did the process take? Did you use your own instruments in the video? Who produced the video?
It was shot in two days! The first day was at an abandoned estate in elephant and castle, we burned my piano cause it was taking up too much space in my house. Playing a burning piano is very, very painful. The second day we did the live performance portion in an industrial complex which our director Tiernan Hadby had found.
What's the next move for TD?
We are recording our next album with Jason Suecof in Florida this summer. We are also doing a pledge campaign to do a live album of Grave Times in its entirety.
There is a site (pledgemusic.com/projects/thedefiled) you can go there, sign up and buy all sorts of one off things like hand written lyrics by me, guitars used by Stitch live, drum lessons with Needles, even masks made by Curse. There is an option of us coming to your house to play! We thought that would be amazing, turning up and playing in someones living room!
Haha, that would be quite a treat for big fan of yours to have you jammin out in their pad.
Do you guys do much as a band in your spare time, or does everyone just get back to their personal lives in between recording and touring?
Our band is generally our life so we are in each others faces quite a lot of the time.
Where did the inspiration come for lyrics in "Grave Times". Do they come from personal experiences? World issues? Politics?
Yea, all of the above. They generally come from little sayings I carry around with me or ideas and concepts that I turn into. They can be born out of anything, really personal issues like "Land of Fools" or "Final Sleep", or just something I read that had an intact on me like "Blood Sells".
What kind of mics are you using while recording versus on tour? Any specific reason why?
Well, for vocals on Grave Times we use the only mic I own which is a Rodes NT2. We did all the recording in my house so there wasn't much choice. Live, we use Sure SM58's they are robust and are a kind of industry standard.
(Photo taken by Scott Chalmers)
And now for some fun, random questions that every musician likes to answer:
If you had one band who you would be honored to share the stage with, who and why?
There are too many to mention!!!
Covers are always fun to do when your jammin out in the studio, any songs in particular you guys like to play and have fun with or is it all original material?
We are actually working on a cover right now, it's coming out next month but we are not allowed to reveal what it is till then.
Favourite band/album of 2012 so far?
Meshuggah - Koloss
Great interview!!!!!
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