DevilInside Interview

Interview
Tony Byron & Dan Johnson
DevilInside

Lineup:
Joe Talbot - vocals
Tony "Tubes" Byron - guitar
Mikey Van Heel - bass
Dan Johnson - drums
Josh Nelson - guitar

Tony Byron and Dan Johnson of DevilInside (Photo: Erika Krosten Watt)

Suffocation
Behemoth
Cattle Decapitation
Black Dahlia Murder
DevilInside
HOB
2/13/05
Interviewer: Karma E. Omowale
Photos: Erika Kristen Watt

"I want to be in a band that's around for a long time!! Bands that I like have either stuck together or they have been around for a really long time. You can't really make a mark in music unless you've have the time to do it."

Karma: So how are things working out with your new lead singer, Joe [Talbot]?

Tony: There working out pretty good, I mean he's rocking the tour with us. I don’t know... it's going great! [Smiles]

Karma: So what happened with Joel [Andersen, drums] & Jamie [Gonzales, vocals]?

Tony Byron guitarist of DevilInside (Photo: Erika Kristen Watt)

Tony: Basically Joel is older, 32-33, and decided he wanted to do something else besides music with his life and then Jaime decided that he was going to leave because Joel was leaving. To me, it was good because obviously they weren't into it and were in it for the wrong reasons. Then we had to replace the members on such short notice, trying to find the right chemistry is the hardest thing.

Karma: That leads me to the next question; do you think that with the lineup changes the unit is tighter now?

Tony: Oh yeah! I think the next record will have a lot of different stuff, more than the one last did. There will be way more! We have plans to do different types of music; we don’t really want to be pegged as a metal band with grooves or a metal band that just does grind. We kind of want to be all over the place.

Tony: I don’t want people to be able to predict what the next record’s gonna sound like at all!

Tony: Definitely a lot of Sepultura influence with a LOT of groove, metal but with a lot of groove! At the same time, it’s really, really heavy and it’s not nü metal at all! I don’t know if there are a lot of other bands that sound like us, there probably are a few where you can say, “Oh, they took a little bit from them…” but I don’t hear a lot of bands doing what we are doing. I like that; I want to be the next melodic hardcore band! [We all laugh]

Karma: What made you choose the name DevilInside and spelling it the way you do?

Tony: DevilInside being one word… It was our old singer’s idea and it kinda really means nothing now. I guess it’s just a name that people can remember. The old singer thought that everybody had evil inside of them and all this weird stuff! He was kind of a spacey dude and was into some weird stuff that was pretty deep! [Laughs] I’m just kinda like, “Yeah, OK!” It’s a name that people can associate with our music because it’s really about the music than the image for us. We only go on tour with a couple pairs of jeans and enough t-shirts, and that how it goes! We don’t do anything with our hair or anything like… [He mimics the hair fussing motion, which is funny considering he has relatively clean-shaven head. We all laugh]

Karma: Speaking of touring, what’s the single most interesting thing that has happened so far?

Dan: I cracked a joke one day but it was in a serious manner, you know being sarcastic and I said, “Oh, I'm related to Knute Rockne!” as in the ex-football coach for Notre Dame. Mikey was like, “Are you fucking serious? I am too!” [Laughter ensues] I was like, “Are you shitting me?” He was like, “No!” [A grin replaces his rather austere countenance] I was like, “That’s CRAZY!” Come to find out we’re cousins of a cousin of another cousin of a cousin… We’ll figure it all out once this tour’s over!

Karma: Now that is one interesting tour tale! More tour talk, you’ve been doing a lot of it as you're heading out again with Cryptopsy. How will this current tour differ from the next one?

Tony: It’s more of a west cost tour and me, I am jonesing to do a west coast tour! We haven’t done one yet and I just want to play everywhere, we haven’t played there yet and I just want to see how it goes. California kids, Arizona, just the west coast in general, they have a way of supporting a lot of bands.

Tony: And are never like, “Oh I have to check these guys out first to see I they are cool first!” I mean they go to shows to have, FUN!

Tony: And then on these tours, we are playing a lot of stops that we did before so there have been more people coming to the shows to check things out. Things have been better for us even though I thought they would have been worse. I thought, “Hey, you know we are like a crossover band and we will try our best to tour or whatever!” but it has been a lot better for us. Because I set my expectations really low, and then when they beat them…I am really happy! [Laughs]

Karma: Your album, Volume One, is quite the eclectic mix of instrumentals and short songs, what was the inspiration behind that?

Tony: We had the idea before we went into the studio and really most of the interludes weren’t even written yet. I had a couple of riffs on a 4-track… [Pauses as he shifts gears] It’s really weird doing a record, we had time and instead of going into the studio and being like, “We need to get this done today! Hurry Up! We gotta get done by this time!” We'd go in and it was more of a, “So what do you feel like doing today?” When we did the songs, they were all written and to me they sound more mechanical and little less loose. We recorded those in one session and then we turned around and recorded the interludes, most of them were recorded live. There were a couple of nights where we would just party in the studio, lay down the tracks, and having fun.

It was just fun recording the record! We had the idea to do the interludes before but we didn’t know exactly what we were going to do like I wrote some of the stuff on my girlfriend’s guitar and playing around with [ideas] while we were in the studio. Somebody would say, “I want to put this on a record”… I thought it turned out great. It is the first thing I have ever done that I was completely happy with. I don’t usually turn around and say, “Oh I could have done this or that different” There’s just not a lot to complain about! I'm happy with it! [Smiles]

Tony: He’s already experienced it even though he’s only been in the band for what about a month?

Dan: Yeah, for like a month and we already have a lot of material actually for just jamming for a month.

Tony: We were getting everybody tight for the tour; breaking all of the new members in and have everybody fit their role we're kind of getting used to it and getting in the groove. We probably have 2 ½ songs almost 4 songs. Basically, I’ll play a riff, or I’ll have an idea for a riff. It was the same way I worked with Joel, if he was there, we would just let it happen. Then when we are done with a song, everybody can say, “Oh, that was my idea!” When you’re in a band and it’s like 1 or 2 people who write the music it’s mechanical. It’s like ok; I’m being a robot, playing my part…

Tony Byron and Dan Johnson of DevilInside (Photo: Erika Kristen Watt)

Dan: Yeah! It’s completely inclusive it’s awesome! [Face brightens as a big smile sweeps across his face]

Tony: We could go to practice and not write anything and just play a couple of songs but I don’t really like playing with the new guy [Joe] not to be mean or anything! [This would explain why Shaun Scott replaced Joe Talbot shortly after the conclusion of this tour]

Tony: But other than that [our style of songwriting] is pretty laid back. You can’t have musical ideas for lyrics or music itself. And be like, [voice drops] “I’m only gonna do death metal or listen to Entombed. I’m only gonna do melodic hardcore!” “Oh, we’re only going to do black and breakdown!” You have to be like, “Whatever!” You have to do what and wherever it takes you. You can’t have any preconceptions about it because if you do, you’ll write the same thing over and over again.

Karma: Speaking of Entombed, they are one of the bands cited as a major influence…

Tony: Oh, I am! I’ve gotten to play with a couple of my favorite bands. Entombed is NUMBER ONE by far! I got to play with Sepultura and we got to play with Machine Head but they were jerks! [Laughter ensues] But their music was really cool for their first couple of records… As far as Entombed, Wolverine Blues! I mean I even like Left Hand Path and Clandestine. They had a couple of weird albums but Wolverine Blues, To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth, Uprising, Morning Star… All those records ROCK so hard! It’s like death metal but they are really not. They are like rock n’ roll death metal!

Karma: We will be interviewing them in a couple of days so do you have any questions for them?

Tony: How do they get that sick, sick, sick guitar sound? And you’ve gotta say sick… [We all laugh] I don’t know, I mean it depends on which member you get but hopefully they will understand you. Maybe you’ll have to explain to them that sick is really good! [Smiles] I would to know! I'm sure it’s like weird plug ins that make the songs sound trashy or something. Do you like those guys?

Karma: Switching gears a bit, what do you think needs to change in the Industry?

Tony: I don’t know! I don’t know that’s a tough one. I’ve seen it from both sides! I've been in a band before where we booked our own tours and we went out with bands…we played with a lot of crappy guys. It was usually a good turn out though, as long as you work with people you trust. Now in order to get on a tour to do that you have to drive on or you're on a huge package. There's not a lot of middle ground anymore. I don't know if that's necessarily a bad thing or a good thing but we want to tour with bands and hopefully make it work.

Now it's like your agent calls you and says, "Dude you're going on the road with Suffocation and Cryptopsy" which is a good and bad thing. It's good because you don’t have to spend $600 – $700 dollars on a phone bill and hurt yourself by trying to book shows. That…but I don't know if I can really complain about it, you know. People are helping us out they don't even need to. All we can do is be grateful; in which we are, play shows, and do what we do really! I guess I can't complain. I mean Abacus [Recordings] has been really good to us. They rule!! Have you talked to anyone over there?

Tony: Yeah, I think we're going to do just fine! I think they signed some good bands. They'll probably sign more good bands.

Tony: Okay but these guys are going to have to jump in on this one. [Speaking to his other bandmates that recently walked into the room]

Joe Talbot: A lot of the bands I listen to currently are all bands that I listen to from becoming friends with these guys. I like Joy Division a lot, which really makes it weird for me to be a metal singer.

Karma: Not at all, believe it or not Johnny Pettibone of HIMSA is into that kind of music.

Joe Talbot vocalist of DevilInside (Photo: Erika Kristen Watt)

Joe: Really, but at the same time I'm into Converge, I like The Esoteric [stands up to reveal his t-shirt] I can listen to anything from BB King to Anal Cunt and things like that.

This tour has been really cool because Josh has exposed me to a lot of new music. Everyone has been so cool too, the lead singer of Suffocation [Frank Mullen] came up to me a couple of days ago and we started talking about vocals. I mean it's so weird to have someone like Frank Mullen teaching you vocal techniques. [Smiles] What to do, what not to do…it's all been a very good learning experience.

Karma: That's awesome. Has it been rough on you having to get acclimated to a new band right before a major tour?

Joe: It was, I just realized that I had to do it. Tony helped me, he said, "Every single night you get to be a frontman, you get to do what you want to do, you get to play on a stage! All the problems that happen along the way don't worry about it, because for those 30 minutes you are on the stage, it's all water under the bridge!"

Tony: [Laughs] He literally listens to anything. I'll go over to his place and I'll be like, "What is this?" and it will be some band that I never heard of…some of the time I'll be like, "Cool! Rock On!!"

Josh: I have all these CD's and I don't know what I've been listening to lately. [Laughs] Acid Bath… I first got into this kind of music because of Carcass. Megadeth Rust In Peace is a great album. Those two were huge influences on me; they are why I started to play music! [Smiles]

Tony: I don’t know, me personally I want to be in a band that's around for a long time!! Bands that I like have either stuck together or they have been around for a really long time. You can't really make a mark in music unless you've have the time to do it. That's the way I look at it; I just want to put out a lot of records and put out a lot a music that we like to play. We are getting our own recording studio just so we can record anything that we want. We can do whatever we want, whatever we want; we don't want anybody being like, "You can't do that with that type of microphone…" Whatever! Instead we can be like, "Hey dude, you wanna try this? You think it's gonna work?" "Probably not!" "Oh, okay!" [We all laugh] So that's what I want to do!

Joe: I've been doing this professionally for about the last 3 years of my life and I look forward to working with these guys because of how they work. I mean no one ever told Jimi Hendrix how to play the guitar; he was wasted half the time and wrote some of the greatest rock songs… I mean it's just amazing that someone was able to come up with riffs like that! He was able to sell platinum records; the Doors did the same thing. So many bands from my parents' generation were successful without selling out. I want that ultimately, if I can be doing this until I'm 45 and retire then I think I would have done a job well done! [Folds arms and nods head, we all laugh]

Music is in my blood and from every shitty 9-5 job that I've ever had, I am always bound to the RADIO! NO!! [We laugh] No matter what I am always drawn to a bar to hear people play good music! I mean I now understand what it means to play good music.

Josh: A mark on the fans… Huuhmmmm… [Pauses] Well I'd like for the fans to walk away saying, "Oh those guys were cool!" I mean I have a great time every night; I don't want to be anywhere else ever! It's so fun! In have a passion for this; I just don't want to be anywhere else! [Laughs]

Dan: Kind of what Josh said like pretty much when we're playing, when kids see us for the first time or whatever, if people are having fun at one of our shows, or if they are having fun during our set, that is probably one of the greatest things ever. [Smiles] Like we've have kids come up to us after a show and they'll be like, "Oh we're sorry we don't have any money for merch…" I personally don’t care, it's that they came to the show and that they showed up, you know what I mean! [Smile creeps across his countenance] That's like the greatest thing ever to me! Another mark that I would like to leave a little down the line is…for someone to say, "That band had passion throughout their entire career". In my opinion there are a lot of bands out there today that I can't feel the sincerity, you know what I mean.

Dan: I think we are a sincere band, we're sincere dudes for sure! That's the whole thing; I want people to know that we are sincere. I don't ever want people to say, "Oh, I didn't get anything out of that!"