{"id":56406,"date":"2015-08-21T00:00:59","date_gmt":"2015-08-21T00:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=56406"},"modified":"2017-05-30T01:11:42","modified_gmt":"2017-05-30T01:11:42","slug":"feature-act-of-defiance-08-15-pt2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-act-of-defiance-08-15-pt2\/","title":{"rendered":"ACT OF DEFIANCE – Burial And The Birth, Part Two (August 2015) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Act Of Defiance (l-r): Chris Broderick, Shawn Drover, Henry Derek and Matt
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\u2018Birth And The Burial\u2019\u2019s status as title track was the result of Act Of Defiance\u2019s chosen cover artist. \u201cTravis Smith, who was the cover artist for the record, he did several Opeth records, Nevermore,\u201d the lyricist cites. \u201cHe\u2019s a fantastic artist \u2013 he did the new Sanctuary record (The Year The Sun Died<\/em>, October 2014). He was coming up with ideas. He kind of said \u2018Why don\u2019t you guys give me some song titles? Give me the song titles that you have, and I\u2019ll start doing some artwork based on some song titles. If you have any song lyrics, send them over, and I\u2019ll start doing some artwork based on some song titles. Then you if you have any song lyrics, send them my way, and I\u2019ll kind of get an idea for that.\u2019 That\u2019s what we did. We sent several song lyrics, and he started to come back with artwork. <\/p>\n

\u201cOnce we saw what became the artwork for Birth And The Burial<\/em>, we all just freaked out. We said \u2018Man, this is fantastic. This is so weird, and crazy, and dark, and really heavy looking and stuff. What did you base this off of?\u2019 He said \u2018\u2018Birth And The Burial\u2019.\u2019 If you look at it, you can see the skeleton. It has an umbilical cord. You\u2019re being born, and basically descending into hell and dying and stuff. Of course it\u2019s a lot more involved than that, but he said that this idea came from the lyrics and the song title for \u2018Birth And The Burial\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just said \u2018Hey, why don\u2019t we call the record that?,\u2019 and we instantly all agreed to it. It was really spearheaded by Travis, and Henry who wrote most of the lyrics for that song. He came up with the song title, so that\u2019s kind of a Henry thing. He\u2019s the one who came up with the song title, so it was more of a collaboration between him and Travis the artist. Once you\u2019ve got the physical product, there\u2019s all kinds of artwork throughout the inner CD jacket. There\u2019s plenty of really great ideas, but ultimately we all agreed that what you see for Birth And The Burial<\/em> \u2013 the cover artwork \u2013 was the choice that we made, based on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Critiqued against his own, Shawn can identify common traits within Henry\u2019s lyrical content. \u201cHe has a similar kind of writing style to me I think, because the stuff that I write…,\u201d he begins. \u201cAnd again, for the Eidolon stuff, I wrote every lyric to every song for the majority of the records. The last record, it was a record called The Parallel Otherworld<\/em> (June 2006) where Nils K. Rue became our singer \u2013 the singer from Pagan\u2019s Mind. Because he\u2019s a good lyricist, we just said \u2018Here, you write all of the lyrics and all of the melodies. You\u2019re better than I am, so you can have at it.\u2019 All of the previous records though, I wrote all of the lyrics, all of the melodies, and about 90% of the music. So, again, I was well-schooled and kind of had my own style in terms of how I wrote lyrics. <\/p>\n

\u201cOnce Henry expressed interest in writing some lyrics as well, upon looking at his lyrics \u2013 again, if you look at the lyrics \u2013 they\u2019re not even understandable. They\u2019re kind of vague and you have to come up with your own conclusions off of certain things or how they\u2019re phrased, and I\u2019m kind of the same way as a lyricist. Most of the lyrical themes are very dark in nature, though, but again, it\u2019s not something that… With lyrics, I\u2019ve never really tried to explain in graphic detail what they all mean, because I think that kind of spoils it for the people who like to read lyrics and kind of come to their own conclusions of what they\u2019re ultimately about. <\/p>\n

\u201cNeil Peart (Rush drummer) never let on what \u20182112\u2019 (from the February 1976 album of the same name) meant when he wrote it back in \u201976, and I kind of like that because you can kind of come to your own conclusions of what you think it\u2019s about. I purposely try to keep my lyrics a little bit vague that way, and I think Henry does too. It\u2019s not black and white where you read the lyrics and instantly know what it\u2019s about. It\u2019s a little more thought-provoking than that, and I think Henry did a really good job of expressing himself that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The performer, Chris, and Henry are all responsible for Birth And The Burial<\/em>\u2019s lyrical fare. \u201cChris wrote \u2018Throwback\u2019, Henry and I wrote \u2018Legion Of Lies\u2019, Henry and I wrote \u2018Thy Lord Belial\u2019, Henry wrote \u2018Refrain And Re-Fracture\u2019 by himself,\u201d he credits. \u201c\u2018Dead Stare\u2019 I think was Henry and Chris, \u2018Disastrophe (A New Reality)\u2019 was me and Henry, \u2018Poison Dream\u2019 I think Chris wrote, \u2018Obey The Fallen\u2019 is me and Henry. \u2018Crimson Psalm\u2019, Chris wrote that one, and \u2018Birth And The Burial\u2019 was all Henry I think. Chris wrote lyrics on the record as well, but if you add them all up, Henry wrote most of them. I co-wrote three songs with Henry, and Chris co-wrote some with Henry. Henry wrote some on his own, and Chris wrote some on his own.\u201d<\/p>\n

Returning to the topic of musical style, Act Of Defiance boasts several metal subgenre ingredients besides thrash. \u201cOf course, I\u2019ve been asked this question in every interview,\u201d Shawn tells. \u201cTo me, it\u2019s heavy metal. I\u2019m in my 40s. When I was growing up, heavy metal wasn\u2019t relegated into a hundred different categories like it is now. Everybody wants to put music into this tiny little subcategory of heavy metal, and a lot of times someone will say \u2018What does that band sound like?\u2019 \u2018Oh, they\u2019re black metal\u2019 or \u2018They\u2019re this kind of metal.\u2019 Instantly, some people will go \u2018Oh, I don\u2019t like black metal, so they suck,\u2019 and they haven\u2019t even listened to them. They haven\u2019t even given the band a chance, because somebody has said \u2018They sound like this\u2019 or \u2018They\u2019re this kind of metal.\u2019 To me, that\u2019s quite a daft thing. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you listen to Mercyful Fate or King Diamond… I keep going back to those guys, but if you listen to King Diamond \u2013 like Abigail<\/em> (February 1987), or something \u2013 the record\u2019s all over the place. There\u2019s some stuff with acoustic intros, there\u2019s some really heavy stuff, there\u2019s some more atmospheric stuff. It tells a story, but at the end of the day it\u2019s all heavy metal. That\u2019s kind of how I think about this record. Like I said, this record has elements of thrash metal, elements of progressive thrash, more progressive stuff. It has a classical intro on one song, and it has an intro with a piano and a cello in it, but then it kicks in and it\u2019s all metal. I don\u2019t want to subcategorise it. I just prefer to call it all heavy metal, because what would we even call it?<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou can\u2019t call it thrash metal, because two songs are thrash and then a couple of parts of some other songs are thrash, but then the rest of it is not. Calling it thrash metal isn\u2019t right, to call it old school metal isn\u2019t right, and to call it progressive metal isn\u2019t right. There\u2019s elements of five or six different categories of heavy metal in there, so to put a label on that to me is quite stupid. I just prefer to call it heavy metal. The people who listen to it and dig it, that\u2019s ultimately all I care about. If you dig it, you can call it whatever you want \u2013 it doesn\u2019t make any difference to me. As long as you like, and even if you don\u2019t like it, that\u2019s fine as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having authored several compositions, a band name was inevitably required. \u201cIt\u2019s funny,\u201d the rhythmist muses. \u201cAt this point of the game, heavy metal bands have been going on now since Black Sabbath<\/a> \u2013 since 1968, 1969 \u2013 and a lot of the great names are taken. It became a situation with Chris and I, and this is just Chris and myself. At the time when we came up with the name, we didn\u2019t have any bandmates. We had a list of 10, 12 or 15 names, so we looked up the names, like Dark Vengeance. \u2018Okay, let\u2019s look up Dark Vengeance… Oh, there\u2019s four bands called that, and one of them has the trademark to the name, so that name\u2019s out.\u2019 \u2018What about Dark Defiance?\u2019 \u2018Okay, let\u2019s check that out… No, somebody\u2019s got that name.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u201cIt became a situation where we literally had to think \u2018Well, maybe we should put three words in there.\u2019 We both liked the word \u2018Defiance\u2019. We thought the name Dark Defiance would be cool, but that was taken. Chris said \u2018What about Act Of Defiance?\u2019 We both liked it. We both looked it up, and nobody had it. No-one had that name, and no-one had trademarked the name. Of all the names that we came up with, that was the one that was available, and that was a name that we both really liked a lot. First we had to both like the name to take it a step further, because if one of us didn\u2019t like the name, it\u2019s kind of worthless looking into something if the other one doesn\u2019t like it. We based our search off of names we both liked, and ultimately that name… Chris really liked that name a lot, actually, but I wanted to look at other names and make sure that we were ultimately picking the right name (laughs). <\/p>\n

\u201cAnother thing too that I like about it is that it\u2019s not instantly recognised as a really brutal heavy metal name. Act Of Defiance, if you look at it, that could\u2019ve been a jazz band or something. Of course, once you see the artwork and stuff, it doesn\u2019t take long to figure out that we\u2019re completely a metal band. Judas Priest, you pretty much know right off the bat that that\u2019s a total metal name, whereas if you look at a band called Gojira, it doesn\u2019t necessarily… You\u2019re not gonna look at that, and go \u2018They\u2019re a total, brutal metal band.\u2019 You don\u2019t see that right away, so I kind of like that. I like the fact that Act Of Defiance wasn\u2019t immediately recognisable as a band that plays really heavy stuff. I kind of like that. It\u2019s something a bit different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taken from December 1967\u2019s John Wesley Harding<\/em>, Bob Dylan number \u2018The Ballad Of Frankie Lee And Judas Priest\u2019 lent its name to Judas Priest, so perhaps Judas Priest\u2019s name wasn\u2019t instantly indentifiable as heavy metal-oriented at the time of the band\u2019s inception in 1970. \u201cYou know what?,\u201d Shawn asks. \u201cMaybe because you\u2019ve heard the name Judas Priest for so many years now… I\u2019ll put it this way; when I first heard it as a teenager, I knew that they were a metal band. The first records I saw were Stained Class<\/em> (February 1978) and Killing Machine<\/em> (October 1978), and if you look at the way the font of the logo is presented, it took me maybe a second and a half to go \u2018I bet you those guys are a metal band.\u2019 Of course they were, but you know what I\u2019m getting at. Some metal bands\u2019 names are instantly recognisable, like Cannibal Corpse of course. You know that they\u2019re a brutal band, a brutal metal band, whereas something like Gojira isn\u2019t necessarily construed as such, and I kind of like that. <\/p>\n

\u201cI kind of like the fact that Act Of Defiance isn\u2019t instantly recognisable as a band that plays really heavy music. I kind of like that, because then you\u2019re not getting pigeonholed right away. If we called ourselves Dissect A Mutant or something really brutal like that, people would say \u2018They\u2019re a brutal death \/ thrash metal band.\u2019 Our music has all kinds of different things within the category of heavy metal, so I just thought it was pretty smart on our part to do something a little outside the box with the name.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drum parts were recorded with Chris \u2018Zeuss\u2019 Harris at Dexter\u2019s Lab in Milford, Connecticut. \u201cAt the time when I did drums for the record \u2013 I started tracking drums at the end of January \u2013 we still did not have a bass player,\u201d the sticksman recalls. \u201cHenry was in the band at this time, and we made the decision that Henry and Chris would go and record at Chris\u2019 studio in LA (Ill-Fated Studio), which is what they did. We didn\u2019t have a bass player, so the search was on for sure. Like I said, once I was tracking the record \u2013 doing the drums \u2013 that was when I came up with that thought of contacting Matt, which, like I said, our producer \u2018Zeuss\u2019 had the same thoughts about as well. That was just a happy coincidence that that happened, but I recorded the drums in Connecticut, and Chris and Henry recorded their parts in Chris\u2019 studio. <\/p>\n

\u201cOnce Matt joined the band, he said \u2018I have a whole ProTools set-up in my house,\u2019 which he did a lot of work with the Shadows Fall guys on, so we said \u2018Why don\u2019t you just do the bass tracks at your studio?\u2019 It was a matter of convenience. Instead of flying somebody to LA and doing all of this kind of stuff, Matt had the affordability of time and convenience. He could stay at his house and work on the tracks all day long at his house, and not have to be cooped up at a hotel, and all of that stuff. It actually worked out quite well. I was actually the only guy who left town to go and record the record. I flew to Hartford, Connecticut to go there and do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Act Of Defiance (l-r): Henry Derek, Chris Broderick, Matt Bachand and Shawn
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Drumming wise, Shawn possesses an innate feeling nowadays. \u201cAgain, because I wrote half of the record, and we all had demos…,\u201d he ponders. \u201cFor all of the songs that I wrote, I made demos for, and Chris did the same thing. Chris gave me kind of like a blueprint for his songs. He said \u2018This is kind of the beat that I\u2019m thinking about here.\u2019 He programmed a drum machine and all of that stuff, just to kind of give the blueprint of what he was thinking, like what kind of beat he wanted and stuff. Of course, I added my own flair to it and made it my own and stuff, but with my songs, I pretty much already knew what I was gonna do. The demos that I did had a drum machine, just basic drum machine beats and stuff, to kind of give Chris a reference point of where I was headed musically with my songs. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a good thing, so going into the studio, I already knew that I had the demos for all ten songs. I banged the record out in four-and-a-half days. I did ten songs in four-and-a-half days, because I knew what was going on \u2013 I was prepared. I felt very inspired and energetic about the record \u2013 just a lot of positive creativity on the record \u2013 and Zeuss was a great, great guy to work with. He had some fantastic ideas as well, and just was a great guy to work with and collaborate with, and bounce ideas off of. He\u2019d say \u2018Oh, that part doesn\u2019t work there \u2013 it doesn\u2019t sound good.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u201cI can easily take constructive criticism. As long as you have a better idea than I do, then I\u2019m all for it. If it makes the song better, then I\u2019m all for it, and I\u2019ve always been that way. But yeah, Zeuss recommended a studio up in Connecticut. He had worked there many times. It\u2019s called Dexter\u2019s Lab in Milford, Connecticut; it\u2019s actually owned by the drummer of Toxic Holocaust, which I\u2019m a big fan of. I only found this out at the last minute, right before I got there, so I was like \u2018Shit, I love Toxic Holocaust.\u2019 It turned out to be a really great experience, doing drum tracks for the record.\u201d<\/p>\n

On February 26th, 2015, it was revealed that Act Of Defiance had inked an album contract with Metal Blade Records. \u201cThat was cool,\u201d the percussionist endorses. \u201cAgain, once Chris and I started recording demos, we had maybe three or four songs. Now, this was just music. There were no vocals or anything at that point, and of course I was with Metal Blade for many years when I was with Eidolon. I did all of the Eidolon records on Metal Blade, so I\u2019ve known Brian Slagel for a long time. Chris lives in LA, so he\u2019s known Brian Slagel for a long time as well, and Tracy Vera (Chief Financial Officer \/ General Manager) \u2013 all of those people. So yeah, it was just a matter of Chris and I contacting Metal Blade. We contacted Metal Blade and many different heavy metal labels in the US and stuff \u2013 Nuclear Blast and all that kind of stuff, and Century Media \u2013 but Metal Blade were the first to come back with an offer. I would say within less than a week, we had an offer \u2013 a solid offer \u2013 from Metal Blade. <\/p>\n

\u201cChris and I ultimately hoped that we were gonna sign with them anyway, because for me it\u2019s a homecoming. Like I said, I was with them for many years. They\u2019re all good people, and they just like metal bands. They\u2019re not trying to dictate, like \u2018You guys should write two songs that are potential hits.\u2019 There was none of that. They heard some songs that were demos, and they signed us based off of that. We turned the record in when it was done. There was no \u2018We have to listen to the record\u2019 or \u2018We have to hear these new songs every two days.\u2019 There was none of that. They had complete faith in us I think based on our history \u2013 Chris of course with Jag Panzer as well, and stuff like that. They were the first to come to the table and they were pretty aggressive about it, so we\u2019re really happy that we signed with them. To me, it\u2019s like a homecoming, so I\u2019m definitely glad to be back with those guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such comments suggest Shawn has experienced past situations with record labels where they wished to hear tracks every two days. \u201cNo, I never experienced it, because I was always with Metal Blade,\u201d he elaborates. \u201cWhen we did the Eidolon stuff, it was the same thing. When I initially got signed to Metal Blade when I was with Eidolon, it was actually Metal Blade Europe at first. I sent my stuff over to Michael Trengert over at Metal Blade Europe \u2013 this was like 1998, 1999 \u2013 and they ultimately signed us and talked to Brian Slagel at corporate in LA. Then we got a worldwide deal with them, and they never told us one time… <\/p>\n

\u201cThey never said \u2018The next record, you guys should put in this kind of song\u2019 or \u2018… that kind of song.\u2019 It was never like that. We said \u2018Okay, we\u2019re gonna record a new record,\u2019 and they said \u2018Cool.\u2019 \u2018This record\u2019s called Nightmare World<\/em> (July 2000).\u2019 \u2018Okay, cool.\u2019 We sent them the finished product, and that was it. We had 100% artistic control in Eidolon, which was a great thing. It\u2019s great to have that kind of freedom, where you can do exactly what you want and have complete faith in your record company supporting you. It\u2019s a great thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such comments could perhaps be a veiled reference to Megadeth. \u201cNo, not at all,\u201d the songwriter stresses. \u201cI was never part of any of that. I just went in and did my stuff. I was not a part of the negotiation or any of that \u2013 that was all strictly between those guys. No though, it wasn\u2019t like that with that band either as far as I know, because I never knew of any stuff like that. I\u2019m making reference probably to pop music or something, where the company really has a say in it. The company then has a say in how to mould the artist, and ultimately make the artist as marketable as possible. Really, I wasn\u2019t making a reference to anything when I said that. Metal Blade has just always been extremely supportive; they were never demanding to hear music every three days, or anything. That wasn\u2019t a reference to anything. It\u2019s just great that they don\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Act Of Defiance inevitably has touring commitments in the pipeline. \u201cI wanna do it the old school way, going on tour and just working,\u201d Shawn discloses. \u201cWe\u2019re gonna have to earn this; we\u2019re not gonna be headlining stadiums, and we\u2019re not stupid enough to even think that. We\u2019re gonna have to do it grass roots, man. Start from the bottom and work our way up, to try to prove ourselves out there, which of course we will. We\u2019ll get on some bigger and better tours over the course of time, hit as many festivals next summer as we can, and be exposed to as many people as we can. That\u2019s ultimately the way to do it, and the more people you can be exposed to, hopefully the more people that will ultimately latch onto you. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re gonna have to go out there and earn it, though. It\u2019s something we\u2019re gonna have to go out there and work on, and work our asses off. Chris and I have that. We\u2019ve always had that work ethic. We want to work; we want to go out there and prove ourselves, so we\u2019re looking forward to doing it. This is what you need to do; you need to get out and play to the people, the ones who support the music. That\u2019s who you need to cater to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Birth And The Burial<\/em> was released on August 21st, 2015 via Metal Blade Records.<\/p>\n

Interview published in August 2015. All Act Of Defiance promotional photographs by Stephanie Cabral.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Act Of Defiance (l-r): Chris Broderick, Shawn Drover, Henry Derek and Matt Bachand \u2018Birth And The Burial\u2019\u2019s status as title track was the result of Act Of Defiance\u2019s chosen cover artist. \u201cTravis Smith, who was the cover artist for the record, he did several Opeth records, Nevermore,\u201d the lyricist cites. \u201cHe\u2019s a fantastic artist \u2013 […]<\/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-56406","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\/56406","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=56406"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56406\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56459,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56406\/revisions\/56459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}