Interview with Jeremy DePoyster of and The Devil Wears Prada Discuss Their New Albums Backstage at the Killthrax Tour

Interviews with Frank Bello conducted on April 30, 2017 by Michele Mussatto

The 2017 Killswitch Tour – April 30, 2017 (Arvest Midland Theatre in Kansas City, MO)

Interviews by Michele Mussatto

Unrated also met up backstage with Jeremy DePoyster, singer and guitar player for veteran metalcore rockers The Devil Wears Prada, who also expressed excitement for the tour’s success, and to be playing songs from their latest album “Transit Blues.” He has enjoyed opening for Anthrax and Killswitch Engage, and is happy to be back on the road touring.

“We had been home for three or four months which I guess is a long time for us, so we’re just pumped to get back out and be playing again,” said DePoyster. “The crowds have been awesome, you come out and they are like ‘okay what is this going to be,’ and by the second song they’re already pumped and feeling it, which is our job out here to get them warmed up and ready to go, so it’s awesome. They’re just great, great metal crowds.”

DePoyster admits that he is very proud of Prada’s latest album Transit Blues, which was released just last fall. Inspired by being a touring rock band on the road away from family, Transit Blues has received very high reviews, and is considered Prada’s best album yet, being the best manifestation of their metalcore musical and lyrical roots.

“It’s very proud for me, just because it was a big community effort,” explained DePoyster regarding Transit Blues. “Everybody contributed massive amounts toward the song writing and playing, and everything on it was just much more a communal effort than our last few releases,” he continued. “I think that is the vibe and direction that we’re going towards, more communal. It creates a more diverse sound, instead of just the same sound we’ve done a million times before. Kyle (Sipress), our guitar player, thinks very differently than I do, and Mike (Hranica) thinks very differently and Jon (Gering) our keyboard player thinks very differently so when you start blending all those ideas together it creates this kind of weird soup that’s a lot different than just the one-minded thing, so I think we’ll keep that spirit alive.”

DePoyster said that Prada took a different approach to writing Transit Blues this time, in that instead of Hranica writing lyrics to fully realized musical compositions, Hranica brought lyrics to Sipress’s

barebones compositions first, then DePoyster, Gering and bass player Andy Trick added melodies and textures in response to those lyrics, allowing the feel of the music to better match the emotions Hranica’s lyrics were meant to convey.

“Kyle had a bunch of bare bones skeletons of songs, just kind of rhythm guitar parts and stuff, and we chopped that up some of the other demos I had and Jon our keyboard player had, and what we tried to do this time is have Mike write the lyrics to it and tell us what the meaning of the song was and what it was going to be and let that influence our lead parts and our texture and stuff,” DePoyster explained. “There’s a song called Lock and Load on it, it’s about gun violence and we tried to do some sireny stuff, and there’s a song called Daughter, about a mother not loving her daughter, and we tried to get real mopey with that, and with Worldwide we tried to capture some of the feeling of traveling to Tokyo and things like that so that was very different for us. Normally we would just write the whole song out and give it to Mike to write his lyrics to it.”

Prada spent several months living in a barn on a farm in Wisconsin to write Transit Blues, and credits their hosts for encouraging their creative process, which also culminated with a special 18 g vinyl edition of the album just released this February, which includes a 13” by 13” 60-plus page hard-back book with full page photos that chronicle the band’s writing, rehearsing and recording sessions for the album at various locations across the country.

“We rented two different AirBnB’s. One was a really nice family, and he happened to be a beer brewer, so in his big barn he had a bunch of taps with homemade beer and it was really, really good,” explains DePoyster. “We did this special edition photo book which just came out with the special vinyl, and they just sent us an email saying ‘oh guys we love the book’ and they loved seeing their property in the photos, so I think we’re going to do that next time we write, kind of seclude ourselves. The guys in the band… we’re just really, really good friends, and Ben our tour manager is like family, and I’ve been friends with Mike and Andy for twelve years now and living in that environment is fun. We watch sports, we drink, we cook meals together, it’s really fun, and then a lot of weird songs come out of that stuff.”

View the entire interview on Unrated Magazine’s YouTube Channel.


Killthrax Tour Overview

Killswitch Engage

The Killthrax line up for the Kansas City stop began with Code Orange, the nu metal hardcore punk band from Pittsburgh. The Devil Wears Prada played next, then Anthrax, then Killswitch Engage. Anthrax and Killswitch Engage have been swapping closing band honors throughout the tour, and Killthrax took the honor in Kansas City.

Code Orange

Code Orange opened the night with all of their current members on stage, including Eric Balderose on vocals, guitar and synthesizer; Reba Meyers on vocals and guitar; Joe Goldman on bass; and Jami Morgan on drums and vocals. They opened with their hit Forever, and played many songs from their newest album of the same name, which was released on January 13, 2017 by Roadrunner Records. Code performed the following songs:

Forever (off their latest album Forever)

Kill the Creator (off their latest album Forever)

My World

Bleeding in the Blur (off their latest album Forever)

The New Reality (off their latest album Forever)

I Am King

Spy (off their latest album Forever)

The Devil Wears Prada

The Devil Wears Prada performed with all of their current members, including Jeremy DePoyster (rhythm guitar, clean vocals), Mike Hranica (rough vocals, backing guitar), Andy Trick (bass guitar) and Kyle Sipress (lead guitar and backing vocals). Keyboard player Jonathan Gering who helped write Transit Blues also played throughout the tour, as did drummer Guiseppe Capolupo, who just joined Prada recently to record their latest album Transit Blues. They gave a super tight performance to a very appreciative crowd, that erupted quickly into thrashing and moshing. Prada performed the following songs:

Daughter (off their latest album Transit Blues)

Sailor's Prayer

Planet A

Outnumbered

Worldwide (off their latest album Transit Blues)

Assistant to the Regional Manager

Dead Throne

To the Key of Evergreen (off their latest album Transit Blues)

Mammoth

Anthrax

Anthrax performed with all of their current musicians, except for Drummer Charlie Benante, who typically can play only three shows per week due to carpal tunnel problems he has battled for the last few years. Drummer Jon Dette sat in for Charlie. Joey Belladonna led the band with his famous bellowing tenor vocals, founder Scott Ian anchored the performance with his well-loved rhythm guitar work and backing vocals, Frank Bello killed it with his animated performance, heart pounding bass riffs and backing vocals, and lead guitar player Jonathan Donais, previously with Shadows Fall, melted our faces with his tasty leads. Mosh pits erupted for most of the songs, with the biggest ones developing during Caught in a Mosh, Antisocial and Indians. Anthrax performed the following songs:

Among the Living

Caught in a Mosh

Madhouse

Fight 'Em 'Til You Can't

I Am the Law

Breathing Lightning (their catchy new hit off their new album For All Kings)

Efilnikufesin (N.F.L.)

Medusa

March of the S.O.D. (Stormtroopers of Death cover)

Blood Eagle Wings (their epic centerpiece from their new album For All Kings)

Antisocial

Indians

Killswitch Engage capped the night, with all their current members on stage, including front man and lead vocalist Jesse Leach, lead guitar player and vocalist Adam Dutkiewicz, bass player Mike D’Antonio, rhythm guitar player and vocalist Joel Stroetzel, and drummer Justin Foley. They played several songs

from their latest album Incarnate, released on March 11, 2016 by Roadrunner Records. Mosh pits and body surfing occurred through the entire set. At one point Dutkiewicz went remote and ran throughout the entire theatre, even visiting the mosh pit for a few minutes, while playing guitar the whole time. Killswitch ended the evening with their cover of Dio’s Holy Diver where they were joined by Joey Belladonna of Anthrax to provide the main vocals. Killswitch performed the following songs:

My Last Serenade

A Bid Farewell

This Fire Burns

Take This Oath

Alone I Stand (off their latest album Incarnate)

The End of Heartache

Embrace the Journey...Upraised (off their latest album Incarnate)

Rose of Sharon

This Is Absolution

Beyond the Flames

Strength of the Mind (off their latest album Incarnate)

Hate by Design (off their latest album Incarnate)

Fixation on the Darkness

My Curse

In Due Time

Holy Diver

UnRated Magazine’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxKalxZRuDw Anthrax Official Website: http://anthrax.com/
Frank Bello and Dave Ellison’s Altitudes and Attitude: http://www.altitudesandattitude.com
The Devil Wears Prada Official Website: http://www.tdwpband.com/ 

Killswitch Engage Official Website: http://www.killswitchengage.com/
Incarnate Album: https://www.amazon.com/Incarnate-Killswitch-Engage/dp/B01B682AVG 
Roadrunner Records Official Website: http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/
Code Orange Official Website: http://codeorangetoth.com/ 
Michele Mussatto’s Official Website: http://mussattomichele.wixsite.com/mysite
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