| The
Interview |
Here is an interview that I did with Devon Graves of
"Dead Soul Tribe" back in late 2004 on the heals
of The January Tree. This one never got published and now
it is available for you to enjoy (at least, I hope so) offering
a snapshot in time. Graves is the very first person I ever
interviewed over the phone, and this is my second interview
with him. He is a very interesting person to speak with, and
man, does he have a lot to say. -Tommy "Hashman" Hash***
Devon Graves is a man who plays his brand of dark sub-progressive
metal to it's own technical degree, having fronted the band
Psychotic Waltz (under the name Buddy Lackey), Graves has
found a newfound sonic exploration with his latest band, Dead
Soul Tribe. This interview took place in the fall of 2004,
right off the heals of the release of The January Tree and
at this point only a year had past since the release of A
Murder of Crows, but it was interesting to see how thing s
had changed in such a short period of time, in fact this was
the second conversation I had with Graves, not to mention
that he was the very first person I ever interviewed for a
magazine. I was great to speak to him again; he still had
a very positive outlook on his life, an obvious contrast to
his music, and had a lot to say about what had inspired The
January Tree.***
A year's time is really not that long in Graves' mind,
especially when looking at the events that have unfolded in
the past year, the ongoing war in the middle east as well
as the fragile state that the world seems to be in at this
point. He has taken the new record to a new level on his own
terms, having evolved into more of a grittier sound, making
for more of a down to earth atmosphere.***
"Lyrically, it has a lot to draw from what's going on
in the world nowadays and I think that it is less than subtle,
some of the subjects I am writing about," says Graves, "Basically,
it's taking over kind of where I left off with A Murder of
Crows, because that album was quite a break for me, quite
an upswing for this band and its career, it really turned
things in a good way for me and I had discovered a real sound,
a unique sound, which I could call my own, in some of the
songs on the album, songs like "Deed" and "Some things You
Cannot Return" I think I started to create this approach to
music that I was very comfortable with, and I even have name
for this style, called "Tribal Metal." Since the album was
received so well with both newcomers and fans of Psychotic
Waltz, for which those fans were really divided on the first
DST album, some fans really liked it and just as many weren't
to crazy about the album and so when I made a Murder of Crows,
I was really glad that I created an album where we all seemed
to agree. With The January Tree, I really started to embrace
and explore this new style and avenues down this direction."***
The image of a dead tree that sports the cover of the
new record has profound meaning whether it is setting the
tone for the record, as Graves explains the tree itself, is
without leaves, seemingly dead, but yet alive, sort of in
a dormant state, in relation to how he sees the world. "It's
a symbol for the for the world, which appears dead and hopeless,
and when I say that I mean is, kind of like the hope for paradise.
It seems that paradise was created here for us and we have
spent so much time building it up and creating our own world,
unlike the design of the original earth, the world that we
create only takes from us, doe not give us anything, but it
sells us everything. In the end what is going on, we are kind
of seeing a catastrophe, its all going wrong," explains Graves,
"We are just motivated in the wrong direction. We have good
things in technology, but the motivations behind the technology
are what makes us bad, we are spending all this science and
technology on learning how to blow up each other. If our actions
were motivated by more positive actions, we would be in a
better place. ***
The tree is sleeping, just like the world is not dead,
but we are all sleeping and the way that the tree goes from
sleeping to awake, isn't by one act. Each leaf wakes up one
by one, and that is the answer, just one humble act. If it
is a big tree and has one green leaf, it is not dead, then
another and another and another, and eventually that tree
is filled, completely with life and flourishing. It's the
same, that if we awake one by one, into this life and start
to operate with the motivation of love and start to bring
into the world, as we walk out into our day, if what we brought
with us was love, that would spread really fast, because one
simple act of kindness goes a long way. Our greatest potential
is that we can feel love and that we can feel gratitude, and
if we can direct these feelings in our life and experience
them more then looking at the world and see what there is
to be unhappy about, look at the world and see what there
is to be happy about, because all the things that really matter,
these things have been there free of charge within your reach
have always been there, things like the moon, the mountains,
the sky, the oceans, the things that are really are the true
gift of life and the true miracle of existence are there right
under your feet and right over your head all the time. All
these things that we are hung up on and fighting battles over
and all these terrible that happen are hung over things that
will come and go."***
Now switching gears to the recording process, I then
asked Graves if there were any new techniques used in the
recording process. Graves explains that he rents out a house
and was able to build a studio right on location rather than
having to travel from home to the studio, capturing the ideas
while the were fresh. "I actually used the same G4," says
Graves, "however, I bought this new computer, but was afraid
to change out computers until this new record was over with.
I would have liked to have it, because I would not have had
to compromise, where I was mixing and overloading the computer,
but that is a problem of the past now. The biggest change
is the room. I recorded the previous albums in a little tiny
room, which was our practice room in Vienna and I lived in
an apartment and would travel back and forth. We now rent
this house from relatives, and so now we have a big house
where we have this garden and upstairs there is this big room
with a high ceiling where I spent a lot of money with acoustic
paneling and putting up reflective material as well. So now
have been recording at home, and that is nice not to have
to get on the subway to go to work, especially when you get
inspired, you either have to ride your bike for an hour and
a half or ride the subway for an hour and only hope that you
still have the idea by the time you get there. Now I just
run upstairs, turn on the stuff and then I go."***
With the new technology of high definition audio and
multi-channel surround having hit the underground music market
with bands such as Porcupine Tree and RPWL either releasing
or impending releases on the SACD or DVD-Audio format, Graves
explains that the music should be the key element, not the
audio, "I think I would have to wait to see if that becomes
a standard," explains Graves, "I just don't know if anyone
is listening to music that way, because most people listen
in stereo, and if I mix it in 5.1, how is it going to sound
in Stereo. If it does become a standards, I will start working
I that direction."***
Even when Quadraphonic sound was invented in the sixties,
it really didn't take off, and now with more channels it can
be more complicated, Graves now speaks how that format really
was neat, but with all the technology now getting cheaper,
who knows how we will be listening to music in the future.
"Quad was a good system, but never got used, four tracks of
music, you didn't have to decode all this music to hear it
in the back speaker, it was just there."***
Not everybody has a stereo system that can decode the
24bit/96kHz format, and not all speaker systems are created
equal, and sometimes, there is really no difference when it
boils down to that if the right techniques are used, a good
sound can easily be present. "Having the right microphones
and getting a good performance, the all these bits and numbers,
its just a way for people to keep chasing their tail. To me
we have it as an art to capture the sound by using the right
mic, preamps, and the right room, and it has been the art
whether it was on magnetic tape or on digital, and all these
numbers are changing. I'm not hearing the music sound better,
the speakers are going to be the weakest link, and most people's
stereos aren't that great and when they do finally put out
these high definition systems, its all going to be made out
of plastic and the speakers are going to be made of the same
Mylar or cardboard."***
While we speak about how most modern stereo systems are
sold due to their hyped up looks and small size, go into a
Best Buy and you will see what I mean, Graves says that there
is nothing like an old tube or analog sound system. "Nothing
sounds like an old McIntosh tube amp with 20% total harmonic
distortion, nothing. Some years ago I was at a friends house
and listened to an old radio he has, literally an old tube
mono radio. With the analog tuner, turning the dial, you could
tune anything, with a digital tuner; it's either on or off.
Even though it was mono, with only one speaker, the fidelity
of this thing made me understand why there is a craze for
tube audio. They don't really make anything better at this
point, just cheaper, king of like this "emperors new clothes"
syndrome," elaborates Graves, who now explains his opinions
on analog versus digital, "doing it with digital audio came
out. Like CDs, they said look, there is no scratchy sound
with these things and sure enough, it sounds cleaner, but
this is because you are comparing it to an old record, and
old tape; if anyone ever took a new CD and took a brand new
quality vinyl, and put in on a nice turntable, which most
of us have never owned, the record will win hands down, there
will be more dynamics, the record will be louder at the louder
points and it will have much more musical life, there really
is no comparison. Musicians have been dealing with the same
thing, I remember when the first Psychotic Waltz album was
recorded, we mixed it down to a reel-to-reel and to a DAT,
and we agreed that the DAT sounded better because of the noise
level being low, but if you listen to the drums, the cymbals,
the sibilance on the vocals, the sound is by far more dynamic.
I remember listening to "We Are the Champions" on the mono
car radio and I didn't have any complaints then, it is a good
damn song."***
Having played the character of Agony on the latest Ayreon
record, The Human Equation, Graves explains that he had the
time of his life working with Arjen Anthony Lucassen. "Well
you know, it hurt me sometimes when he would yell," laughs
Graves, "No, it was really fun, it was just great. We did
it over a three-day period of time and I had never had so
much fun in my life. I have never done a project where somebody
was telling me what to sing, so it is kind of neat in a way
to look for what he wants and to please his ears and in the
end, we are all really happy and we were recording and joking.
At night we would watch comedy movies and the next day we
would constantly make these running jokes, it was just wonderful."***
It might be a little early to tell what might be on the
horizon for Graves and Dead Soul Tribe, but Graves gives insight
to what is to come from his band. "I actually have begun the
new writing process on the next record, kind of put some riffs
down, breaking ground on it. It pretty important for me to
constantly be writing; it's like I finish one album, its not
like I can stop for a year and start again. I really have
to just, almost every day go up to the studio and do something.
Because there is going to be a lot of things keeping me busy
this year, concerts included, so I don't have a whole heck
of a lot of time to play around in the studio, so I try to
take advantage of every opportunity I get."***
So, again, like I said the last time, maybe we all could
learn from Devon Graves, by having a more positive attitude
towards life, maybe that's why he continues to make music
that continues to have a positive place in our lives, until
next time…***
Tommy Hash
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