Hi guys! As a fan of your music I’m happy to be interviewing you. Let’s start with the beginning of the band. How did you all come together?
It all started in 2008 ,in Burlington, Iowa, Nick Biesler (guitar) and D.C.Snipes (guitar ) had been working together in Metal bands for a few years prior, alongside ex-bassist Alex Potter.The vocalist with them at the time was Jared “Skippy” Lee. After having trouble finding a suitable drummer to work with, Jared contacted Clayton McDaniel (drummer) whom he had previously worked with in another project.Clayton at this time was working with his cousin, Eric Sanderson and were also in need of more members for their project. After Clayton and Nick spoke on the phone, we all met and decided to start a new project together. Within a short period of time and with many considerations we named ourselves “The Desolate”. Soon after though, Jared and Eric went their separate ways and Nick and D.C. decided to take over doing vocals for simplicities sake. Within 3-4 months we had written our first record “Trapped in Twilight”! We all realized we had the same goal and were dedicated enough to that goal and ourselves that we went balls first into it as quickly as we could. Four years later, we released our second record ,”Gospel of the Wretched”. It was during that time when conflicts in the band forced us to bring Josh (bass) in to replace Alex. Josh, although trained in bass, had been playing guitar with his friend Ben Robinson in a couple of projects. After a few talks, Josh was in and a whole new dynamic was formed.This is where we began writing our third album “The Great Departure”, and The Desolate became what it is today.
I know you guys moved from Iowa to Washington, how is the metal scene different?
Coming from the Midwest, United States (Iowa), the transition was crazy but amazing. It’s quite different here in the Northwest, but we love it. For example, we played more shows in our first year here than the first six years we were a band in Iowa.We were moving much faster than we were used to, but had all the motivation and ambition to do so, it’s fun as hell!.The venues and cities are so spread out in the Midwest and the metal scene was small within the cities, almost non-existent outside of them. One of the best things about being in a band is playing shows, sadly metal shows were hard to come compared to here in the Northwest.The bands and people were always great to play with and hangout with though, no matter where we were. So it may have been hard to be in a metal band in Iowa, the experiences were all worth it.The Northwest music scene is out of this world compared to the Midwest, and we were welcomed with open arms into it.There are so many great bands and opportunities here and we can’t thank the people and bands enough. We are very happy we moved.Sometimes you just have to do whatever it takes to get where you want to go.
Metal Nexus has proclaimed you as one of the up and coming American bands.This must be a real boost for you. Any thoughts on this?
It was extremely flattering of them to say that and it encourages us to keep improving ourselves as musicians and as a band
I have to say the band has impressed me not only with your musicianship, but also the freshness of your sound. Is this a deliberate attempt to standout and be different, or is it a result of all of your influences meshing together?
That’s really cool that you would say that! We are extremely humbled by your kind words and for anyone to say there is a freshness to our music is an amazing compliment to any artist! Thank you. Its definitely a culmination of many different influences for sure. We all were greatly inspired by 80’s thrash bands with their intensity, speed, power and amazing live shows, but as everything does, our influences changed over time.To deliberately attempt to sound a certain way would close many doors to creativity and we don’t like to put limits on our music. Don’t worry though,The Desolate will always play metal. No matter our musical background or individual tastes, when we create together, it always comes out as heavy metal.
Chaos Force records is releasing your album “The Great Departure”. How huge is this for the band and also, will they release your previous two albums?
This is absolutely great for us! We were very excited to start working with Chaos Force Records .Working with a record label has been a long term goal for us. We cannot thank Chris Birkle (Head of CFR) enough for the chance he has given us to work with him and his label. At the moment there has been no discussions about releasing our first two records with them.We are more excited to find out will happen next! Either way, if you would like to hear any of our albums, you can find them here; www.thedesolatemetal.bandcamp.com – Or on our youtube channel: www.youtube.com/thedesolatemetal
We seem to be in a time where music labeling is very prevalent. When I listened to your music, I hear elements of Thrash, Death and Classic Heavy Metal fused together.How would you define your music?
Well, you are definitely hearing our main musical influences.It’s hard to label your music a certain genre because you are fighting the duality of creator vs listener. From our perspective we would call ourselves Death Thrash Metal, but we’ll leave that to our fans and listeners.They’ll figure it out, Hahaha whatever they hear will be our genre.
I read articles saying metal music is dying.You guys are in the scene. Do you have an opinion on this?
Metal isn’t dying off at all. As musicians and spectators of the music scene, it’s growing with new and more musicians. Don’t forget metal has only been around a short time. It’s popularity may sway up and down throughout the decades, but will probably never die off. It’s a genre of music with no limitations and vast emotional expression, and dont forget, when your interest in things change, that doesn’t mean those things change too.Lol, those who see metal dying off are usually those not paying attention to it.Or…they just stopped liking anything new.
What is on the horizon for the band? Any new albums, tours, or side projects planned?
We are in the studio right now recording our next little E.P titled “Transcendent Abomination”. It will have 3 new tracksand a re-recorded track from our second album entitled “Gospel of the Wretched”. We are working with Corey Parkinson of Five0Three Recording out of Portland and it’s been an awesome experience.This will be the best sounding record we’ve made so far,and we can’t wait for everyone to hear it.We’ve also been writing material for our 4th record. Although we love writing, we hope to get out and start touring more when the new E.P. releases. Playing live shows is what we love to do most!
Is there anything you would like to add to the interview?
Yes,video games…video games, enough said.Hahaha. Actually, we would like to thank our fans and Metalheads Forever Magazine for giving us this opportunity.
I’d like to thank you guys for taking time from recording to answer my questions and to speak with us here at Metalheads Forever Magazine and You guys rockBest of luck with your new E.P.
Carole Bonner / Metalheads Forever Magazine
