Interviews: DVL

This is a new interview with the Heavy Metal/Rock band DVL from the UK. Check out the interview and follow the artist on his FACEBOOK PAGE.

1. Where did you get the idea for the band name, you plan it or come out just like that?

The band's name has evolved over time. We started out as D3VILMAYCRY and we also went by D3MC. We were never fully happy with that for a lot of reasons and we changed it to DVL (pronounced Devil) for simplicity and because we knew that with a cool logo to go with it, it would be able to stand out.

2.Why did you want to play this genre?

We've always been huge metal fans. From a really young age my dad was introducing me to bands like Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen etc. So the seed was always there. When I met Alan (our lead guitarist) in high school we really bonded over bands like Trivium and Avenged Sevenfold and we would practice their songs on guitar literally every single day. Metal music tends to be really technical and complicated, which has always drawn me in. Some of the best musicians in the world are in metal. Just look at what Dream Theater has been doing for so long. No genre gets us going quite the same way that metal does.

3. Did you know each other before the band was formed?

Alan and I have known each other since High school! We met in 3rd year and started playing music together. We met Mark and Kev in college and then Lewis came into the band in 2020 just before we recorded our new album.

4. Each band member's favourite band?

Ryan: Avenged Sevenfold

Alan: Avenged Sevenfold

Mark: Animals As Leaders

Kevin: Children of Bodom

Lewis: Blink 182

5. Who or what inspires you to write songs?

When it comes to songwriting, we just kinda love the process in general. We love sitting down at the computer with a guitar and just hitting the record and seeing where it goes. We tend to start off with a riff or a melody and we build around it. We don't like to stick to any sort of formula and we tend to throw a lot of curveballs in our songs to keep things interesting. We're a sucker for a chorus, we do like to circle back to our choruses a few times in a song but for everything around the chorus, we aim for to be controlled chaos. We don't want our songs to be obvious.

6. Where was your last gig?

Seems a while ago now, definitely before covid. I think it was at the Cathouse in Glasgow!

7. Where would you like to play?

I mean we'd love to start playing the big festivals. We've never done that before so that would be a dream. Bloodstock, Download, Warped Tour. Any of those would be awesome!

8. Whom would you like to feature with?

I'd love to do something with Jinjer or Spiritbox. Those are some of my favorite bands right now and I love what they're doing so either of them.

9. Whom not?

I don't think we'd turn our nose up at anybody as long as the project was interesting enough!

10. Any of you has ever suffered from stage fright? Any tips for beginners on how to beat that?

Kevin: I guess focusing on playing rather than the crowd. Confidence will come from experience. Ryan: I'm always unbelievably nervous before a gig but I tend to find that once you're actually on stage and the first song starts you kind of just go into autopilot performance-wise anyway and it becomes less about your actual playing and more about just putting on a good show. Also, a wee beer just before you go up can make a world of difference hahaha. For real, liquid confidence is a phenomenon.

11. What bands have inspired you the most?

As far as bands go that directly inspire our music, it's bands like Avenged, Trivium, Metallica, and Pantera. Those are the bands that we learned everything from as guitarists and singers. We're all in our late 20s now and we started learning songs by those bands when we were 13 years old, ya know? We will always owe those bands for teaching us so much.

12. What's the weirdest thing a fan has ever asked you for?

We honestly don't get weird fan requests haha! We have been asked for CDs and merch. Nothing out of the ordinary!

13. What do you think of your fans?

We love our fans! Having people support your music is amazing and that's what it's all about.

14. What do you think of our site?

It's really cool! I love that you're promoting new music and helping people discover new bands. A very cool thing you're doing and we're happy to be a part of it!

15. Something to add?

Our new album, Hush, comes out on May 27th so please check that out! We have two singles out right now, Eternity and Among Us so please hit them up on Spotify and YouTube! Thanks for having us! For more info visit: https://www.dvlband.com/