DevilDriver’s Dez Fafara Turned Our Interview Into A TED Talk

There are plenty of things you expect to hear from a groove metal frontman. Riffs. Carnage. Maybe a story about a bus breaking down somewhere in Europe?

What you perhaps don’t expect is life advice that sounds halfway between ancient philosophy, surf culture and the kind of thing someone tells you at 2am that accidentally changes your brain chemistry.

DEVILDRIVER – ‘Dead in the Water’

But chatting to DevilDriver’s Dez Fafara ahead of the band’s long-awaited Australian return next month alongside Cradle Of Filth, one thing became clear pretty quickly: this isn’t a guy who spends much time looking backwards.

Even with a new album, Strike and Kill, arriving July 10 – almost four years after its predecessor – Fafara isn’t interested in nostalgia.

“I just don’t have time to look back on eras at this point,” he tells Music Feeds. “Right now, I’m looking forward.”

That mindset seems to run through everything DevilDriver are doing right now.

According to Dez, Strike and Kill wasn’t built to chase trends or recreate old glories, it was born from a simple internal challenge.

“Take a look at the logo. Let’s write for the logo. Let’s come up with something sincere. Give it 110%. Let’s make sure it feels more punk rock than it does metal.”

And maybe that’s part of why DevilDriver have managed to survive two decades in a genre that constantly reinvents itself?

Because according to Dez… he never really came from metal in the first place.

“I’m probably one of the only metal vocalists you’ll interview that doesn’t really have any heavy metal influences.

“I grew up on punk rock and psychobilly and goth.”

That collision of influences, combined with what he describes as every member bringing different musical instincts to the table, is what keeps DevilDriver feeling difficult to categorise.

“It’s hard to put us into a box. And I think that’s a fantastic thing for any art form.”

That philosophy stretches beyond music too.

At one point in our chat, what started as a conversation about album cycles somehow transformed into a full-blown TED Talk on life itself.

Fafara spoke repeatedly about staying present, resisting groupthink and embracing uncertainty.

“My mantra in life is: follow your heart, follow your gut.

“Don’t listen to other people. You can take in conversation – but don’t have it rule you.”

Then came possibly the most Dez Fafara sentence imaginable: “If you’re with a group of people and everybody is going left – go right.”

And if that sounds dramatic, his explanation somehow made even more sense.

“I’ve always been the sort of kid that if we’re standing on a precipice getting ready to jump into a river and four of my friends are talking about how high it is…

“They’ve already heard me. I’ve already jumped.”

That energy – trust yourself, leap first, figure it out later – also feels deeply embedded in DevilDriver’s music.

To Dez, great art shouldn’t sit politely in the background.

“Art is supposed to be volatile, visceral, violent. It’s supposed to collide with you. It has to smack you around a little bit.”

Which… honestly feels like a pretty solid elevator pitch for DevilDriver.

And while he doesn’t spend much time dwelling on the past, there’s one place that clearly still holds a special place in his heart: Australia.

Coming back down under in July alongside Cradle Of Filth – reviving the co-headline run that tore through North America in 2023 – genuinely sounds like something he’s been hanging out for.

“Australia has always been great for me. The fan base there just seems to be really honest with it.

“They take care of you, they take care of each other in the pit… they scream when they want to scream, they get in the pit, they dance and sing the songs.”

He even revealed one of his favourite DevilDriver memories happened right here.

“The last time we came down and released a record while we were down under… we pushed Kanye West down two notches.”

Not a sentence I expected to hear this afternoon either.

And if there was one final takeaway from our chat – beyond the new music, the upcoming tour and a surprise amount of spiritual philosophy – it was this.

Life keeps moving.

Things might hurt.

But keep moving.

As Dez puts it: “We’ve all fallen. But we’ve got to pick ourselves up. Our knees may be skinned, there may be blood on our shins… But oh well.

“Leave a nice blood trail behind you and just get moving.”

DevilDriver and Cradle Of Filth hit Australia this July.

Tickets are on sale now and you can peep all the details down below!