{"id":56387,"date":"2015-08-21T00:00:21","date_gmt":"2015-08-21T00:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=56387"},"modified":"2017-05-28T15:35:21","modified_gmt":"2017-05-28T15:35:21","slug":"feature-act-of-defiance-08-15-pt1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-act-of-defiance-08-15-pt1\/","title":{"rendered":"ACT OF DEFIANCE – Burial And The Birth, Part One (August 2015) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

ACT OF DEFIANCE – Burial And The Birth<\/strong><\/span>
\nAnthony Morgan<\/span>
\nAugust 2015<\/span><\/p>\n

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Act Of Defiance (l-r): Henry Derek, Chris Broderick, Matt Bachand and Shawn Drover<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n


\nOn November 25th, 2014, it was announced that drummer Shawn Drover had opted to part ways with Los Angeles, California-based thrash metal outfit Megadeth<\/a> following a ten-year tenure in order to pursue his own musical interests. One day later on the 26th, guitarist Chris Broderick announced his departure from the Megadeth ranks, also wishing to pursue his own musical interests.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter ten-plus years of being in Megadeth, I just started to come to the decision that at some point I wanted to do something on my own, and have my own musical ideas and stuff \u2013 like I did before I joined that band,\u201d Shawn reasons. \u201cI was in a band called Eidolon; we had five records on Metal Blade, and most of that music I wrote. I wrote probably about 90% of those records, so there was a lot of creative input on my part with Eidolon. <\/p>\n

\u201cI started to get to the point where I kind of wanted to be able to express myself how I wanted to again. The band had a really huge break, taking more than a year off with this new management company coming in, saying they wanted the band to take a year off. I just thought if there was ever a time to make a move, that would be the proper time so not to put the band in a kind of situation where they couldn\u2019t find a replacement in due time. Of course, having a year off, they had plenty of time to get new guys. <\/p>\n

\u201cOddly enough, Chris was kind of having the same thoughts. Once I expressed to him what my plan was and what I was thinking about doing, Chris was thinking kind of the same thing. We started to talk about it, that maybe we should team up and put our efforts together and see where that takes us. That\u2019s exactly what we did, once we left that band. Then of course work begins on writing a record, finding musicians, finding a producer, finding a manager, finding a record company, and finding a booking agent. All of those things Chris and I had to do on our own, but here we are. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis all started in November, and we were able to do all of those things I just said and much more in the space of six months. The result is Birth And The Burial<\/em> (August 2015). I think we set out exactly what we planned to do, which was to have a record released by December. At this point, we\u2019re completely on par with what we set out to do initially.\u201d<\/p>\n

Existing from 1993 until 2007, Canadian thrash metal ensemble Eidolon very much included the rhythmist\u2019s songwriting contributions. Perhaps there was less creative freedom within the Megadeth camp. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t that I couldn\u2019t,\u201d he clarifies. \u201cIt\u2019s just that Dave (Mustaine, Megadeth mainman) was always the chief songwriter. If you look at their catalogue throughout history, most of the songs were written by him, and that\u2019s fine \u2013 there\u2019s nothing wrong with that. I knew that going into the situation, but as someone who creates music, I just started to feel like I needed that outlet again. I wanted to write heavier music without compromise. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t write any songs to try to make a hit or any of that stuff. The music was purely written for the love of heavy metal without paying any regard to what\u2019s popular today or what may be popular tomorrow, or how we can write a hit single \u2013 all of that stuff. We didn\u2019t care about any of that shit. It was all about expressing ourselves in the purest form by writing heavy metal songs. I had no interest whatsoever in… Just so you know, there are ten songs on Birth And The Burial<\/em>. I wrote five and Chris wrote five, and that was the initial plan as well. <\/p>\n

\u201cAgain though, we didn\u2019t get together and say \u2018Okay, let\u2019s write this kind of song,\u2019 or \u2018You write two of those kinds of songs,\u2019 or \u2018You write a hit single.\u2019 It was \u2018You write five songs, and I\u2019ll write five songs.\u2019 There was no plan. We just knew that we were going to write really heavy music, and that was our only kind of goal \u2013 again, to make music without compromise, like pure heavy metal \u2013 and that\u2019s exactly what we did. Going back to what you said, I never had an issue with the fact that I couldn\u2019t write as much material as I wanted because I knew of that situation going in. I did get a song on the Endgame<\/em> record (September 2009) that was nominated for a Grammy; it was the first video and the first single. It was a song called \u2018Head Crusher\u2019, so obviously I was able to express myself. That\u2019s case and point with that song, but I don\u2019t know. I just felt like I wanted to branch out on my own. That\u2019s pretty much the long and short of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Shawn Drover<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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Shawn and Chris\u2019 swansong effort with Megadeth, June 2013\u2019s Super Collider<\/em>, and the band\u2019s overall direction at that time could perhaps have been the source of discontent. \u201cI don\u2019t think someone should quit a band just because a record doesn\u2019t do well,\u201d Shawn states. \u201cI mean, Jesus… It\u2019s certainly not the most well-received record in their catalogue though, is it? Again though, it\u2019s just a matter of performing on somebody else\u2019s tunes. I was a drummer who played drums on those songs. Regardless of whether I like them or I hate them, that didn\u2019t play a part in the reason behind why I decided to leave that band at all, no. Of course, that\u2019s just internet chit chatter, which at the end of the day means nothing, does it? Nobody knows the real reason, which is why I am telling you the real reason right now. I just purely wanted to express myself, and do it my way, and that\u2019s exactly what I did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Super Collider<\/em> generally received a negative reception. \u201cIt\u2019s not my favourite record, certainly,\u201d the sticksman admits. \u201cI would rather listening to Killing Is My Business<\/em> (June 1985), certainly. It\u2019s no secret \u2013 I\u2019ve always expressed as much in the press. I\u2019ve always been an advocate for the heavier stuff. If you\u2019re in a metal band, it should be heavy. That\u2019s why you call it heavy metal. Look, it\u2019s okay to explore and do different things. I understand that, but I don\u2019t always necessarily agree with it. When you\u2019re in a situation where there\u2019s no democracy though, there\u2019s not a whole much you can do about it, so you just kind of roll over with it. I don\u2019t think anybody in the band loved that record. Sometimes you do things that are a little bit left of centre, and sometimes they work, and sometimes they don\u2019t. That\u2019s all subjective, though. <\/p>\n

\u201cAgain, like I said… Is it my favourite record? No, it\u2019s not. I would rather listen to Peace Sells<\/em> (September 1986) or Killing Is My Business<\/em>; if I was to listen to that band, I would put on those two records before I put on Super Collider<\/em>, certainly \u2013 as would most heavy metal fans. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s a big secret, is it? Again though, what someone can construe as being a crappy record, other people can say \u2018Wow, I really love that record. I think it\u2019s great,\u2019 and that goes for any band. You can listen to Judas Priest, and some guy will say \u2018Turbo<\/em> (April 1986) is my favourite record,\u2019 but then the guy by the side of him will say \u2018What? Are you crazy? There\u2019s no way. Screaming For Vengeance<\/em> (July 1982) is the best record, or Defenders Of The Faith<\/em> (January 1984), or whatever.\u2019 It\u2019s all subjective, isn\u2019t it? To me, as long as you support the scene, that\u2019s what matters. <\/p>\n

\u201cTo bicker about something negative all the time I think is a waste of energy and a waste of time. I would rather focus on promoting something that I love instead of going on some stupid ass message board and promoting something… Not promoting, but talking shit about something that I hate. Why would I do that? To me, that is… If you don\u2019t like something, don\u2019t listen to it. I would rather focus on, listen to and talk about \u2013 to you or whomever \u2013 about something that I like to listen to. To talk shit about something… Again, someone can read this and say \u2018Shit, I really love that album. I think that album\u2019s fantastic, and now I think the drummer\u2019s a dickhead\u2019 because I am talking shit about something. It\u2019s not really an intelligent thing to do, because by talking negative about something, or somebody, or whatever, you\u2019re potentially pissing off somebody who really likes that band, or likes that person, or likes that song. <\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people have done that over the years, and… I don\u2019t know. I would rather just focus on talking about things that I like. There\u2019s enough out there as it is in heavy metal with declining record sales. My thing is, I think we should all try to support the scene as much as possible and be positive, and not dwell on the negative. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s good for the scene at all, so I\u2019d rather just focus on positive stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of the full-lengths Shawn cut as part of Megadeth\u2019s line-up, May 2007\u2019s United Abominations<\/em> is this interviewer\u2019s personal favourite. \u201cThat definitely had some more aggressive stuff, something fast,\u201d Shawn critiques. \u201cThat\u2019s the kind of stuff I like; that\u2019s the kind of stuff that I really gravitate towards and that\u2019s the heavier, more uptempo kind of stuff, but not everybody thinks that way. I do. Like I said, when I hear heavy stuff, I want it to be pretty heavy, but everybody\u2019s different.\u201d<\/p>\n

The percussionist\u2019s musical concern post-Megadeth happens to be Act Of Defiance (including Chris, of course), with Shadows Fall rhythm guitarist Matt Bachand occupying bass. \u201cThat was a happy coincidence,\u201d he enthuses. \u201cI\u2019m not sure if you know, but the Shadows Fall guys, after 15 years… I\u2019ve known those guys since 2000; I\u2019ve known Matt and all of those guys for 15 years. When I found out that Shadows Fall was breaking up, I read about it on social media or something \u2013 that he was looking for a new situation, a new kind of new band. It was like \u2018You know what, man?\u2019 Matt of course is a good guitar player, but Matt\u2019s also a bass player, so I thought that I should maybe give him a ring. Oddly enough, this was right when I was doing drum tracks for Birth And The Burial<\/em>. At that point, we still didn\u2019t have a bass player. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur producer who did the record \u2013 Chris \u201cZeuss\u201d Harris… We did this up in Connecticut, which isn\u2019t far from Massachusetts at all. Actually, he was good friends with all of those guys and produced most of their records, so he said \u2018Hey man, I thought of an idea for a new bass player. What do you think about Matt?\u2019 I said \u2018Man, I was just thinking about that last night,\u2019 so it was just a weird kind of happy coincidence that myself and the producer thought of the same guy at pretty much the same time. We gave him a ring; we called him at the house, and he said \u2018I\u2019m absolutely interested.\u2019 We sent him a couple of tracks that we were working on, and so it was pretty much that easy. Again, it just fell into our lap at the perfect time.<\/p>\n

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<\/td>\n\n

Megadeth 2013 (l-r): Shawn Drover, David Ellefson, Dave Mustaine and Chris
Broderick<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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\u201cHenry (Derek, ex-Scar The Martyr) was a little bit different; with Henry, we did a big YouTube search and all of that stuff. Guys lived too far away, and stuff. We kind of had him on a list, and narrowed it down from 30 initial people that we looked at to maybe four or five serious contenders that we were really considering. Once I heard that Henry could do different things with his voice, he instantly became the frontrunner. He left the band that he was in, so again, it was just a matter of him being available at the right time. We snagged him up quick. He jumped right into the record, wrote half of the lyrics for the record, and dove right into the situation. It kind of worked out well for us. We didn\u2019t have to look too hard thankfully to find these guys, so we\u2019re pretty happy about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of the 30 initial candidates, not all were considered in the flesh as it were. \u201cSomeone would send you a link, like \u2018Hey, check out this guy,\u2019 or \u2019… check out that guy.,\u2019\u201d Shawn augments. \u201cThen you\u2019d find out that he was in a band, or that he wasn\u2019t doing it any more. Initially we had probably 20 or 30 guys we just looked at, putting in the link and watching the video, like a performance that they did or something like that. Like I said, we quickly narrowed it down by process of availability and stuff to maybe five or six serious contenders we were considering.\u201d<\/p>\n

Musically speaking, Act Of Defiance\u2019s members have much in common with their frontman. \u201cOf course there are obvious questions that you need to ask a guy who you want to be your bandmate, like if they like the same kind of music that we like, and what are their influences,\u201d the composer explains. \u201cOf course, we came to find out that he\u2019s a big King Diamond and Mercyful Fate fan, and that he likes Death and all kinds of different stuff that I love as well. Right off the bat, we had a lot of common interests in terms of who our influences were and what metal bands we loved. <\/p>\n

\u201cOf course everybody in the band loves King Diamond and Mercyful Fate, so we just had common ground right off the bat. Again, like I said, we wanted a singer who wasn\u2019t one-dimensional. We didn\u2019t want a guy who was just gonna scream his head off all the time, but we didn\u2019t want a guy who was just going to sing melodically as well. We wanted someone who could kind of do both and could kind of mould his voice into different ways, and he was able to do all that. I think that was ultimately what sealed the deal, was again, we had those common interests musically and influence-wise, and the fact that he could do so many things with his voice was kind of what sealed the deal. It turns out he lived ten minutes away from where Chris does in LA. That was very convenient, where he can just come to Chris\u2019 studio and cut demos. All those things played a factor, so yeah, we\u2019re really happy with his performance on the record. I think he did a great job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such comments suggest the aforementioned are musical influences on Act Of Defiance. \u201cWhen I say influences \u2013 ultimately, who you love listening to and all of that stuff \u2013 I don\u2019t think it really played a part, any of those bands,\u201d Shawn submits. \u201cWe didn\u2019t really try to sound like King Diamond. We didn\u2019t try to sound like Death or Testament, or whatever. Like I said, when Chris and I wrote the music, he wrote five songs at his house and I wrote five songs at my house. Again, I didn\u2019t sit down and say \u2018Okay, I wanna write a song that sounds like Death off of the Leprosy<\/em> album (August 1988). It was nothing like that. It was just writing some tunes, writing stuff that I wanted to write, and Chris the same way. If you listen to some of Chris\u2019 songs on the record \u2013 like \u2018Poison Dream\u2019 or stuff like that \u2013 they have these classically influenced intros and stuff. \u2018Refrain And Re-Fracture\u2019 has this big, prolonged acoustic intro, for example. I couldn\u2019t write anything like that. I\u2019m a guitar player, but I\u2019m not that advanced as a guitar player. <\/p>\n

\u201cChris is; Chris comes from a different kind of musical perspective, where he likes to throw some of those influences in \u2013 like how he play with the classical, and things like that. Then he\u2019ll write a song that\u2019s pure thrash metal, though, like a song like \u2018Throwback\u2019 which is progressive thrash metal. It\u2019s a complete departure. All of his songs sound different from one another, and so do mine. I just think it\u2019s a really cool, multi-faceted heavy metal record. It doesn\u2019t sound all like one thing. Every song sounds completely different from each other, and yet it\u2019s all still heavy metal in the end. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m pretty happy about that, but to answer your question, I don\u2019t really… We didn\u2019t go in and say \u2018Okay, you love that band. Let\u2019s try to sound like that band.\u2019 It wasn\u2019t like that at all. I\u2019ve been writing metal tunes for 30 years now, so at this point I don\u2019t… I haven\u2019t tried to sound like anybody since I was probably in my friggin\u2019 late teens. It kind of comes out how it comes out. There\u2019s no pre-meditation or attempt to emulate a band, or sound like a band. If it does, I don\u2019t apologise for that. It wasn\u2019t intentional, but listening to that record, I don\u2019t hear any blatant rip-offs of anybody. It\u2019s just heavy metal music.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Act Of Defiance (l-r): Matt Bachand, Chris Brodericdk, Shawn Drover and Henry
Derek<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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While Chris happens to be \u2018from a different kind of musical perspective\u2019, Shawn\u2019s writing approach hasn\u2019t changed through the years. \u201cFor me, writing songs has always been the same since I was a teenager,\u201d he reckons. \u201cSince I started writing, I go in my room, and I plug in my guitar. It\u2019s always a guitar riff first. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever written a song on drums, like \u2018I\u2019m gonna do this beat, and put a guitar part to it.\u2019 It\u2019s never been like that. It\u2019s always been… Because I play both, I\u2019ll come up with a guitar part, but \u2013 once I kind of manufacture it \u2013 I\u2019ll instantly know what kind of drum beat I\u2019ll wanna put behind it, like whether it\u2019s a double-bass drum fast thing, or a slow thing, or a more weird thing, or whatever it is. Putting the guitar parts together, I always have the drum parts in the back of my mind. It\u2019s never really too difficult to create drum passages for the guitar stuff that I write, because the guitar stuff that I write is already pretty much in mind and pretty close to what I wanna do. <\/p>\n

\u201cI write when I\u2019m inspired. I\u2019ll be driving in the car and come up with some weird riff in my head, and I\u2019ll just run upstairs when I get home and record it. I\u2019ll plug in and record it, just like I did when I was younger. Over the course of time, you just assemble these riffs. Next thing you know, you have 40 or 50 different riffs. You pick out all the best ones that you want and you start formulating it into songs, like putting the pieces of a puzzle together. Like \u2018That riff goes with that riff\u2019 or \u2018Oh… That\u2019s pretty cool,\u2019 or \u2018I\u2019ve just gotta write one more riff.\u2019 It\u2019s like putting together the pieces of a musical puzzle. It\u2019s been done the same way for almost 30 years now. That\u2019s never really changed, so it\u2019s old school that way. I don\u2019t record on ProTools; I just got my little tape recorder gear and stuff, and record it like that. That\u2019s how I initially write songs, and it\u2019s been the same way for almost 30 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The songwriter for each respective track featured on Birth And The Burial<\/em> can be identified, should the given listener be familiar with each respective songwriter\u2019s motifs. \u201cI think some songs, for people who know Chris\u2019 playing, and know what I did previously in Eidolon and stuff \u2013 like the song \u2018Headcrusher\u2019 I did with Megadeth \u2013 it\u2019s really not too difficult to decipher some of the songs,\u201d the musician views. \u201cLike \u2018Throwback\u2019. I could\u2019ve written that song; that\u2019s a song that I certainly could\u2019ve written, because the thrash stuff is really a part of how I like to express myself. There\u2019s a song on the record that I wrote called \u2018Thy Lord Belial\u2019 and that\u2019s a full-on thrash metal song as well, but if somebody listened to \u2018Throwback\u2019 which was our first single, our first video and all of that stuff, I think most people would have to look at the credits to see who wrote it \u2013 like \u2018Did Shawn write it?,\u2019 \u2019Was it a collaboration between Chris and Shawn?\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u201cOn the other hand, there are other songs like \u2018Poison Dream\u2019, which is certainly something people would know who wrote, or \u2018Refrain And Re-Fracture\u2019 because of the big acoustic intro. Most people would right away go \u2018Okay, I\u2019m pretty sure Chris wrote that one,\u2019 because he\u2019s highly schooled in classical guitar and all of that stuff. That\u2019s not something that I could write. I\u2019m not qualified to write something that good on guitar. I\u2019m a heavy metal guitar player. Chris can play any kind of guitar; flamenco, classical, rock, jazz. He can do it all, whereas I\u2019m strictly relegated to rock music and heavy metal. That\u2019s kind of where it starts and ends with me, in terms of being creative. I couldn\u2019t jump onstage with a jazz band and play guitar. I couldn\u2019t \u2013 there\u2019s no way. Chris could do it in a heartbeat.\u201d<\/p>\n

For those unfamiliar with each respective songwriter\u2019s motifs, Shawn supplies the musical credits for Birth And The Burial<\/em>\u2019s compositions. \u201c\u2018Throwback\u2019 was Chris, \u2018Legion Of Lies\u2019 I wrote, \u2018Thy Lord Belial\u2019 I wrote, \u2018Refrain And Re-Fracture\u2019 was Chris, \u2018Dead Stare\u2019 was Chris, \u2018Disastrophe (A New Reality)\u2019 I wrote,\u201d he lists. \u201c\u2018Poison Dream\u2019, Chris wrote that, \u2018Obey The Fallen\u2019 I wrote, \u2018Crimson Psalm\u2019, Chris wrote, and \u2018Birth And The Burial\u2019 I wrote.\u201d<\/p>\n

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ACT OF DEFIANCE – Burial And The Birth Anthony Morgan August 2015 Act Of Defiance (l-r): Henry Derek, Chris Broderick, Matt Bachand and Shawn Drover On November 25th, 2014, it was announced that drummer Shawn Drover had opted to part ways with Los Angeles, California-based thrash metal outfit Megadeth following a ten-year tenure in order […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3462,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-act-of-defiance","category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56387"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56418,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56387\/revisions\/56418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}