DEMON HUNTER
Interview with Ryan Clark By Rei Nishimoto
Demon Hunter has been hard at work completing their sixth and latest release called True Defiance. For over a decade, the veteran Christian metal act has built its name around its technical metal sound and a balance of heavy and melodic vocals.
Formed in 2000, the Clark brothers, Ryan (vocals) and Don (former guitarist who left the band in 2009) formed the band and released their first song “Through the Black” on the This Is Solid State, Volume 3 compilation in 2002.
Known for their strong fan base within the Christian metal world, they have still managed to transcend it through the “Not Ready To Die” video play on MTV’s Headbangers Ball and Fuse TV, as well as the “Heart Strings Come Undone” single on the Resident Evil: Apocalypse movie soundtrack.
Despite their string of successes, Demon Hunter has historically done minimal touring and has still reached fans across the United States within their allotted timeframe. They did their debut European tour in 2010, which opened them to new fans.
Vocalist Ryan Clark discusses True Defiance and the making of this album, and being a Christian metal band in today’s world.
Demon Hunter’s been on a regular album cycle releasing an album every year and half or so?
It sounds about right. I’ve been doing this for ten years and this is album number six- a little more frequently than every two years.
Does inspiration for lyrics and songs come up pretty quickly? It seems like albums come together pretty fast.
I write the music and the lyrics for all the initial stuff. It takes more shape especially in the lead guitar territory when we get together and hit the studio. Usually when each album cycle dies down and we’re done touring for the record, all of us start gathering thoughts. I have a monologue of riffs or melodies, and throughout the year I’ll record them on my phone. By the time it’s time to put down some new material down to demo, I usually have a handful of beginnings, whether it’s a riff or a melody or a lyric. It doesn’t always flow. It’s probably the same as it is for anyone, sometimes it happens naturally and sometimes you’re forcing it out. The subject matter to me is important. The songs have to mean something. There has to be an actual theme to it and not a couple words that run into a song. That is the hardest part – coming up with a few themes to talk. I always have a default…as dumb as the world is…I like to have a few specific things, songs that are more specific about a particular issue.
The album title is called True Defiance. Is there a theme behind the title or a concept?
I wouldn’t say it’s a concept record but definitely has a theme that runs throughout the songs. True Defiance is a title I’ve actually had in the back of my head for a couple of years. When I was doing this record that’s the name I kept gravitating back to. Essentially it means the metal scene is supposed to be defiant. It supposed to be against whatever it is – society, religion, politics, or any number of things. When all of those things become the norm in metal, then the defiance loses its steam. The idea we had in ‘True Defiance’ is that, as a Christian band in the metal scene, I feel like we could be moving against the grain, as far as the beliefs and the politics of heavy metal. To me it’s kind of like, if everyone’s being defiant in this one angle, then we’re being defiant in an inversed way most metal bands would be.
You previewed ‘Someone To Hate’ before the release of the record.
It definitely follows in line with the album title. It’s about being comfortable within the person that I am and the worldview that I have and the views that I have. A lot of people don’t agree with Christianity and don’t favor our opinions or our beliefs. The song is basically about being ok with being someone to hate. If those things are going to cause people to hate Christianity or hate the band, it’s almost like a ‘bring it on…’ kind of a statement. You said you built the songs around the ideas of True Defiance. What are some of the other ideas you put behind the songs this time around? There’s a lot of angst for sure. It definitely follows the Demon Hunter blueprint the way that we do things. We’re comfortable with the thing that we do and within the confines of what we do there’s a lot of room to breathe. We’ve always done songs that are really heavy but we add melody to most of them. If we feel like doing songs that are balls out heavy the whole time, then we’ll do it. If we feel like doing a ballad with singing the whole time, we’ll do it. Those are the things we’ve done since the beginning. There’s always room for that kind of stuff and it’s nice because you don’t feel like you’re in this little box where you’re doing the same thing every song. It definitely follows along the same guidelines. Technicality has stepped up pretty big on this record. For people who know the difference, it’s got more of a European metal sound. It’s a lot of dueling melodic guitars that are lightened down for the verses where you would find in In Flames or Amon Amarth songs…a lot more songs along those lines. Thematically it’s Demon Hunter themes. Lots of stuff that’s pretty dark [like] the current state of the world, the nation, people’s mindsets and dealing with mortality and those kinds of things.
Over the past few albums, you’ve had a shake up in the lineup. How do you feel the new members affected the band’s sound?
It’s definitely been a smooth transition. My brother [ex-guitarist Don Clark] was my writing partner for the first four records. That was definitely change we had to go through. He wasn’t only the co-writer but he was also the business guy in the band. So I had to step up when he left and take all the reigns. As far as the musicianship is concerned my brother wasn’t exactly the player that Patrick [Judge, guitarist] is. On that level it’s broadened what we’re able to do as a band. It’s taken some of the boundaries off. I’m able to write whatever I want to write, whether it’s more technical, or faster, or crazier, or have more changes. I don’t have to worry about [whether] we can pull it off with everyone’s playing abilities. Now when I write more so, on the last two records, I just thought I’m going to write whatever I want. I don’t have to think in that mindset any more where I don’t have to limit it so everyone could play the song. Patrick’s such a better guitar player than I am… anything I write he will be able to not only play, but make it even better.
When your brother was in the band with the original lineup, Demon Hunter was limited to how much touring the band could do. In the past few years, you’ve done a lot more touring. Do you feel there are a lot more Demon Hunter fans than you originally thought?
It’s a hard thing to quantify. Even though we have a brave amount of fanfare and our fans have been devoted throughout the years, the last few years touring has been rough across the board for everyone, unless you’re some hot new band or some new band with a lot of buzz behind them. Everyone’s been tried and true. Touring for the last couple years has been pretty difficult. It’s hard to say. We went out in the fall of 2010 the crowds have been a little bit smaller. It doesn’t seem to equal the amount of fanfare that we still have for the band and the people interested to hear stuff. Being a band that’s ten years old, a lot of the fans we had who were in their late teens to early 20s when the band came out, now have families and careers. That plays a big part in it. The financial state of the nation – a lot of people don’t have jobs. A lot of people can’t trek across couple of states to come see us play. That’s what’s hit the music industry and touring big time over the past couple of years. We went to Europe for the first time for a couple of weeks. We’re going back there in a couple of months. In 2010 on that last record cycle, we stepped up the touring some more. It was fun. We like to do things where it’s comfortable for us and when it makes sense for us to do them. There’s no real pressure with this band or has been. When we do tour, it doesn’t feel like a job. Some bands I think they get worn out being on the road all the time. With this band, it’s never been the case and it’s a nice place to be.
Who did the cover art on True Defiance?
Every couple of covers we try to hire someone new. I like to hire out for Demon Hunter because I do so much design myself. I like the art director doing it than doing it myself. It gives me a chance to hire guys I’ve looked up to. This one was done by Justin Kamerer who has a company called Angry Blue (www.angryblue.com). He’s done a lot of illustrative work for the hardcore and metal scene for the last couple of years. He’s someone I’ve been acquainted with. For a few years I’ve really dug his stuff. It’s the look and feel that I was going for on this record. Every cover has the same icon on it. We try to do the same thing in a different way each time. On the last record it was Dan Seagrave. He did a couple covers for the Triptych as well, which is our third record. I did the cover for Storm the Gates of Hell. Our previous guitarist Kris McCaddon did the cover art for Summer of Darkness. We like to switch it up.
I see you’re doing this brief European tour with Deadlock, Nightrage, and Insense. Is there also a US tour in the works?
We’ll probably put something together for the summer. Right now we’re working on the initial phases of that. We’re definitely planning on getting out there to support the record. This European thing came up a while back. It’s been in talks for a while and it happened to be the right time. We’re playing one show in Seattle before we leave for Europe. We’re doing a local CD release thing and then going to Europe for a week.
On your previous record [2010’s The World Is A Thorn], you had Bjorn “Speed” Strid from Soilwork guesting on “Collapsing.” What was it like having someone like him singing on your record?
It was killer. He is to me, probably my favorite singer from a band that’s still performing these days. Honestly I didn’t think he would do it, not because he wouldn’t like the band, but he would be busy and doing his own thing. I didn’t have any expectations when I asked him. He was interested in doing it. It was incredible having someone you look up to that much on your record. Also on that record is a guy named Christian Alvestam (Miseration/ex-Scar Symmetry). He’s another guy I really look up to on a vocal aspect. We’ve had guys in the past. Dave Peters from Throwdown also sings on that record. On Summer of Darkness, Howard [Jones] from Killswitch Engage sings on one song [“Our Faces Fall Apart”] and Mike [Williams] from The Agony Scene sings on one song [“Beheaded”]. We’ve done that here and there. On ‘Storm the Gates of Hell’, Bruce [Fitzhugh] from Living Sacrifice sings on a song [“Sixteen”]. This record doesn’t have any guest vocals, but it’s something we like to do here and there, whether it’s friends or people we look up to.
Have you performed any of those songs live?
Mike from the Agony Scene did. We were able to tour with them after that record and he did a couple of those. Dave from Throwdown has actually sung with us on stage on other songs just for fun. He hasn’t sung with us since he did that one.
In the past few years Christian metal has drawn so much attention and Demon Hunter has been tied into that scene. How do you feel about being tied into such a movement and its connection to it?
There are positives and negatives that come with it. I think that it gets attention is cool. A lot of friends in bands have been doing that, working in that world for the past 15 years. It’s cool to see a lot of bands that I see 15 years ago would have never got the same amount of attention. Bands like Underoath and As I Lay Dying are getting a lot of attention for being good bands. I think that’s great. There are so many facets of all things. There’s the eternal question of ‘what is Christian music?’ ‘Can music itself be Christian or is it the music itself be Christian?’ ‘Or is the guys in the band that are Christian?’ ‘They’re writing the music they feel like writing?’ There are all these avenues you can take when you’re breaking it down. We’re fine with it. We’ve never shied away from the term Christian band. I understand that’s how people will categorize you. It is a little bit silly. I sometimes talk about how in a record store it’s the only genre that you’ll find that’s based on a belief system of other people is gospel or Christian music. Everything else is categorized by how the music sounds. It’s kind of a weird thing you’re put in this little section because of what you’re talking about and not because of how the music sounds. There’s definitely been a crossover in the past few years for bands like As I Lay Dying. Most people know where they stand but they made that crossover where a lot of people don’t care or don’t know. That’s the one of the positives for sure – a bigger market where people are more open to the idea of it as long as it’s good music. It takes precedence with most conversations. I’ve been doing it for 16 or so years. I’m obviously used to it. A lot of people in Christian bands get jaded about constantly having to talk about it and justify it. They get really burned by it. I understand what people want to know about it and hear about it. I haven’t gotten bitter about it yet.
