1.Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?
1. It's an exciting time to be a part of The Devils of Loudun, we have a release coming on August the 8th titled Enduring Creation, and we are touring the Western United States on the 13th for it. When we come back, we have new material in the works, as well as a host of shows across the Puget Sound to look forward to.
2.The band has a new ep coming out, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?
2. The new EP is definitely a darker, faster, and heavier take on the sound we started with when we released Entering Oblivion, our first EP. I would say that the songs are much fuller, both in the sense of notation as well as the actual sound of the mix itself. The overall theme remains the same, we are equal parts spooky and intense, with a solid dose of shred.
3.The lyrics cover fantasy, science fiction, horror and video game themes, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in these topics?
3. Well, we are all big fans of video games, there's talk of a WLAN party in the van for tour. A lot of us own or have used classic systems and we're all giant Castlevania nerds. Several of us enjoy a Stephen King novel or movie, and we have been known to occasionally reference Frank Herbert's Dune every now and then.
4.I know that the bands name comes form a novel written in Aldous Huxley, do the band members have an interest in the history of witch burning and also does this interest also move more into Occultism?
4. I don't think that any of us have any real interest in occultism or witch burning, but we just happened to like the story. Several of us are fans of Huxley in general, I'd definitely recommend The Devils of Loudun and Brave New World to anyone interested. I'm pretty sure they're both available in audiobook form for the audiobookers.
5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
5. Our stage performance places a lot of focus on instrumentation and our frontman, Vance. Most of the other members of the band, while attempting to headbang and move around (where possible!), are generally focused on trying to get the songs right. We eventually hope to get a light rig of our own together, but we're primarily focused on sound at the moment. As for our best shows, a lot of us like to think back to a Metal Awards Night at Hell's Kitchen in Tacoma, WA. That was several years ago, certainly one of the memorable local shows we played. We also really had a badass time at The Caravan Lounge in San Jose during our Entering Oblivion Tour, the bands, the crowd, and the house were all really wonderful to us out there.
6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
6. Yes, we are on tour from the 13th to the 24th of April, we have another tour in the works for late summer / early fall. Lots of Seattle shows, we use the BandsInTown app as well as our Facebook page and its built in Events app to organize what we've got going on. Our homecoming from tour and our local CD release is the 29th at The Kraken Bar in the University District of Seattle, WA. It's gonna be a killer night.
7.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?
7. We have received interest, and we are open to the right agreement if it were to come our way. Currently, we are doing very well independently, and plan to continue to move forward whether we sign to a label or not.
8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of melodic and symphonic death metal?
8. We've been pleasantly surprised to get a lot of positive feedback worldwide. We've been played in Europe, Asia, Oceania, as well as both Americas. Our first torrent was established in Russia, and it was very interesting to read their opinions through Google Translate. We really have a lot of interest in breaking into the European market, we feel we are very compatible for an American band.
9.What is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that some of the band members are a part of?
9. Vance is still working on Six Days of Darkness, but it hasn't been as busy with Devils taking up so much of his time. Still active on Facebook, though! Billy is drumming for Good Men and Thorough, and they are a very interesting jam / cover band. Ben is half-jokingly, half-serious playing around with starting an Undertale OST cover band, as well as occasionally making guest appearances for local groups in the state very rarely. Scott, Drew, and LJ are entirely focused on Devils at this time.
10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
10. In the future, we have a concept album in the works, we are mulling around another EP, we plan to get faster, more brutal, and more technical in the future. Enduring Creation is a solid sample of the direction we are going, we plan to incorporate a lot of aspects of symphonic death metal and technical death metal into our future releases. Of course, we are not getting rid of our more melodic sections, if anything, we are working to make those some of the focal points of our songs, while still heading firmly towards a much heavier sound.
11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
11. We've taken a lot from many different styles. Japanese metal, French metal, Italian metal, Finnish metal, Swedish metal, American metal, even the freaking Canucks have had an influence on us. We're all fans of Fleshgod Apocalypse, Protest the Hero, Behemoth, Gorod, Archspire, we've been getting into the new Cattle Decapitation and the new Obscura as well. We highly recommend Raiju, Xoth, and Rhine recently released a new CD, definitely check it out. It almost feels like it goes without saying, but Ben was very heavily influenced by Children of Bodom.
12.What are some of your non musical interests?
12. We love a good beer, some of us are enjoying the new legal status of marijuana in our home state. Several of us are tech enthusiasts, we all have custom gaming PCs and sometimes we binge way late into a work night on games like Skyrim or DOTA. Drew is really into yoga, Billy has no non musical interests. Seriously, that guy is a machine.
13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
13. We appreciate you doing this interview with us, we hope that everyone who checks out our music enjoys it, and hopefully if our tour isn't stopping where any potential readers can reach us, we'll be coming to their town very soon! Stay brutal!
Ben Velozo
Keyboardist
The Devils of Loudun
1. It's an exciting time to be a part of The Devils of Loudun, we have a release coming on August the 8th titled Enduring Creation, and we are touring the Western United States on the 13th for it. When we come back, we have new material in the works, as well as a host of shows across the Puget Sound to look forward to.
2.The band has a new ep coming out, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?
2. The new EP is definitely a darker, faster, and heavier take on the sound we started with when we released Entering Oblivion, our first EP. I would say that the songs are much fuller, both in the sense of notation as well as the actual sound of the mix itself. The overall theme remains the same, we are equal parts spooky and intense, with a solid dose of shred.
3.The lyrics cover fantasy, science fiction, horror and video game themes, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in these topics?
3. Well, we are all big fans of video games, there's talk of a WLAN party in the van for tour. A lot of us own or have used classic systems and we're all giant Castlevania nerds. Several of us enjoy a Stephen King novel or movie, and we have been known to occasionally reference Frank Herbert's Dune every now and then.
4.I know that the bands name comes form a novel written in Aldous Huxley, do the band members have an interest in the history of witch burning and also does this interest also move more into Occultism?
4. I don't think that any of us have any real interest in occultism or witch burning, but we just happened to like the story. Several of us are fans of Huxley in general, I'd definitely recommend The Devils of Loudun and Brave New World to anyone interested. I'm pretty sure they're both available in audiobook form for the audiobookers.
5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
5. Our stage performance places a lot of focus on instrumentation and our frontman, Vance. Most of the other members of the band, while attempting to headbang and move around (where possible!), are generally focused on trying to get the songs right. We eventually hope to get a light rig of our own together, but we're primarily focused on sound at the moment. As for our best shows, a lot of us like to think back to a Metal Awards Night at Hell's Kitchen in Tacoma, WA. That was several years ago, certainly one of the memorable local shows we played. We also really had a badass time at The Caravan Lounge in San Jose during our Entering Oblivion Tour, the bands, the crowd, and the house were all really wonderful to us out there.
6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
6. Yes, we are on tour from the 13th to the 24th of April, we have another tour in the works for late summer / early fall. Lots of Seattle shows, we use the BandsInTown app as well as our Facebook page and its built in Events app to organize what we've got going on. Our homecoming from tour and our local CD release is the 29th at The Kraken Bar in the University District of Seattle, WA. It's gonna be a killer night.
7.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?
7. We have received interest, and we are open to the right agreement if it were to come our way. Currently, we are doing very well independently, and plan to continue to move forward whether we sign to a label or not.
8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of melodic and symphonic death metal?
8. We've been pleasantly surprised to get a lot of positive feedback worldwide. We've been played in Europe, Asia, Oceania, as well as both Americas. Our first torrent was established in Russia, and it was very interesting to read their opinions through Google Translate. We really have a lot of interest in breaking into the European market, we feel we are very compatible for an American band.
9.What is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that some of the band members are a part of?
9. Vance is still working on Six Days of Darkness, but it hasn't been as busy with Devils taking up so much of his time. Still active on Facebook, though! Billy is drumming for Good Men and Thorough, and they are a very interesting jam / cover band. Ben is half-jokingly, half-serious playing around with starting an Undertale OST cover band, as well as occasionally making guest appearances for local groups in the state very rarely. Scott, Drew, and LJ are entirely focused on Devils at this time.
10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
10. In the future, we have a concept album in the works, we are mulling around another EP, we plan to get faster, more brutal, and more technical in the future. Enduring Creation is a solid sample of the direction we are going, we plan to incorporate a lot of aspects of symphonic death metal and technical death metal into our future releases. Of course, we are not getting rid of our more melodic sections, if anything, we are working to make those some of the focal points of our songs, while still heading firmly towards a much heavier sound.
11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
11. We've taken a lot from many different styles. Japanese metal, French metal, Italian metal, Finnish metal, Swedish metal, American metal, even the freaking Canucks have had an influence on us. We're all fans of Fleshgod Apocalypse, Protest the Hero, Behemoth, Gorod, Archspire, we've been getting into the new Cattle Decapitation and the new Obscura as well. We highly recommend Raiju, Xoth, and Rhine recently released a new CD, definitely check it out. It almost feels like it goes without saying, but Ben was very heavily influenced by Children of Bodom.
12.What are some of your non musical interests?
12. We love a good beer, some of us are enjoying the new legal status of marijuana in our home state. Several of us are tech enthusiasts, we all have custom gaming PCs and sometimes we binge way late into a work night on games like Skyrim or DOTA. Drew is really into yoga, Billy has no non musical interests. Seriously, that guy is a machine.
13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
13. We appreciate you doing this interview with us, we hope that everyone who checks out our music enjoys it, and hopefully if our tour isn't stopping where any potential readers can reach us, we'll be coming to their town very soon! Stay brutal!
Ben Velozo
Keyboardist
The Devils of Loudun
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