Lightning Strikes: An Interview with Devour The Day!

Memphis rockers Devour the Day are set to release their sophomore album S.O.A.R. out April 1^st via Razor & Tie. The follow up to 2013’s Time & Pressure has been highly anticipated within the Devour The Day circle of fans. Side Stage Magazine was able to secure a phone interview with bassist Joey Chicago.

Your latest album S.O.A.R. is coming out April 1st, first let me ask what does S.O.A.R. stand for?

Joey Chicago: it stands for Suffer, Overcome, and Recover. So it is an acronym. I think that is the very literal meaning. There are a lot of complex levels as to what it means to me and to Blake as an emotion, as an idea.

How was it working with producer Dan Korneff (Paramore, Lamb of God, My Chemical Romance)?

Dan was actually amazing. I think for Blake and I, throughout our career we have had the opportunity to work with a lot of great producers and a lot of great song writers and stuff. With Dan, this is the first guy that his records and his tones and his engineering have been the sounds of Blake and I’s favorite records. For us, we had the opportunity to search out Dan, solicit him to work on the record, also have him doing the record, a full circle dream for us. This is really, for the first time, not only our song writing is being showcased the way we like it, but tonally the way we hear our music in our head, and the way we hear the music live. This is the best representation of how we hear our music that we have ever had. For us, that make’s it a perfect record, because there are moments that we second guess because it sounds exactly like we wanted it to sound.

Can you tell me a little bit about your writing and recording process?

We started writing this record, I would say, November of 2014 and it was a very very difficult time. Blake’s father had just passed. It was right in the middle of trying to figure out how we were even going to have the time to write with so much going on with family and stuff. When we got to the New Year we ended up signing a record deal with Razor and Tie. That gave us the ability to kind of hone in and schedule our time with Dan. We started writing in April of 2015. It seems crazy because it’s been so long ago because we were constantly working we were so busy throughout 2015 touring and stuff that it made for a very interesting songwriting process. Most of the time I think in the current climate of the music industry you pretty much go in you have four to six weeks and that is it. The record label really believed in what Blake and I were doing, and Blake and I felt like we wanted to write and then step away from it and come back to it over and over again to make sure we felt like we were creating the best material possible. So we did. We spent a month on Long Island with Dan in April and throughout the summer we were going back and forth all the way until I would say November of 2015 when we finished the record. We had been recording songs and writing songs all the way through that time. It sounds like it, but no it wasn’t in any way writers block or any of that. It was definitely just that we could write when we had the most time to write. We were able to not have the pressure of a second record be forced upon us in some kind of time table. The label and both management and ourselves were not going to release a record until we all felt strongly about it. What we have is the best work we’ve done yet because we were able to take so much time on it.

What has been the biggest challenge so far in this band?

Running a business with your best friend. Writing with your best friend. Blake and I have known each other and been playing together since we were seventeen. That’s well over a decade now. For us, you think it’s only gonna be the creative difference or whatever but as people grow, especially with Blake and I taking on the lion’s share of everything, writing, to the decision making process, to how we tour, to using the band, just all of those things. It puts the pressure on two creative people who don’t have the gel to even want to do that stuff. For us, it was a big struggle. Especially when you don’t get along on a particular creative item and then you feel like that puts the pressure on your relationship. It’s just two buddies; you know what I mean? Two friends who watch each other’s children grow up. Those kind of things. So that’s really one of the hardest things because ultimately Blake and I have said if it ever gets to the point where, and I will be completely candid with you, if it ever goes back to a point like it did in Central (Egypt Central) where I felt like everybody hated each other, then it’s not worth doing because in this band we have created an atmosphere of friendship and everyone getting along and the creative force of us all moving in the same direction. Trying to remove ego as much as possible because we were saturated in ego in the other band. For us, that’s the biggest challenge. To kind of maintain the anti-cliché’ mindset of being a bunch of ego filled rock stars and making it more about art and having our friendship stay intact.

Do you have any upcoming tours or festivals planned that you can say today?

Nothing that I can release as of now. We are in the middle of transitioning booking wise. The only thing that I can guarantee is that as soon as this record comes out we will be touring our butts off all over the place like we do.

I was surprised to see your band not listed on any of the big festivals so far.

It’s all the way the timing has worked out, they may add us to some of the stuff as we go along but the way the booking was being done its obviously some of the stress of someone telling you that you have a group of people, and I am not blaming this on anyone specifically, but when you hear it in the back of your head, or you’re hearing messages that you guys should hurry up and finish the record or you’re going to miss all the booking for all the festivals. The most important thing is the music. So, if we are going to miss this stuff, then it’s not going to happen until next year or whatever. That can’t be the motivation. The motivation has to be the real honest artwork. I think that is why we haven’t necessary decided what we are going to do be doing touring. I know we will be touring, but with the festivals that were another hard time, the people put the pressure on you. You don’t want to miss those, they are so fun. You see so many people. I think it’s another, people who know behind the scenes, know it’s a testimony actually of how hard we have worked on this music. We were choosing once again the art work over the ego. Which your ego doesn’t hurt when there are ten thousand people screaming for your band, you know what I mean?

If you were to put together a tour are there specific bands you would like to tour with?

Yeah, I have my favorite bands. I have bands I think we would do well with. Blake and I are going to focus a lot of trying to broaden our touring brushstroke. We would like the opportunity to tour with some of the other kind of bands. Stoner rock types like Clutch and the punk world like Rise Against or 30 Seconds to Mars. Continuing to broaden our rock and roll palate, but still loving harder shows. We just came off tour with All That Remains, and metal shows we enjoy those as well. I think for us it’s just about pigeonholing the band touring and just being able to play with all of the influence that we have.

That is the way I feel like music should be presented to people. I feel like some of this forced genreing is kind of what is hurting everyone’s wallet. You are forcing us to be over saturated in a particular style. I think that for me, and the generations even younger than me, the idea that you only like one genre of music is ridiculous. You have so much music at your fingertips these days. I don’t know anyone who listens to all rap or all rock over and over again. I am sure there fans like that, but for me, and at least my culture, it goes to old school 90’s rock to current hip hop to all over the spectrum. I would love to have more shows like that.

Is there a question that you have never been asked and always wanted to answer?

I have never been really asked, “If you know about the music business and have been in it for a while why do you do it?” I say that because it’s such a fucked up place. It’s an evil quicksand, tar pit of people just like trying to befriend you so they can slit your throat. It’s so strange. It’s all circled around artist’s blood, sweat and tears that they have put into their work, or at least the good ones. You have everyone trying to figure out how you can use it to their advantage. It seems like there aren’t that many people that care about it the right way. The reason I would want to be asked that is that because I would say, after all that stuff is done, someone will come up to you at 11:55 five minutes before you are getting on the bus. They are leaving the show and you just happened to go across the street to get a late night burrito and you are coming back across and you make eye contact and that person comes up to you and they say you know when I was seventeen years old I thought I was going to kill myself. Then the song you wrote came on my radio or I found it from a friend and I didn’t do it. For whatever reason when I was seventeen years old or twenty two or thirty years old that song helped me get through it. In those moments, all the bullshit washes away and you realize why you do this. I just think the most important thing to focus on not that you are saving people’s lives it’s not always that dramatic, but at the same time that connection happens between human beings that is the most important thing here. If musicians started getting paid the same as high school teachers, I don’t care, as long as that human relation is still happening that is the most important thing. Ultimately that is what makes me want to do this; it’s because of that connection. So I would like to talk about it if someone would ask me about it.

Is there anything you want to pass along to your fans?

Thank you! I can’t believe that Blake and I are still doing this but it’s because of you guys so thank you!

My focus is on how proud I am of the new music. I think there are a million subject matters that I could get into. We just want everyone to give it a listen. Check it out, cause its damn good. Hopefully they like it, like we like it. Hopefully there is something in there that they can relate to and it’s a positive addition to their life and motivation as it is to us. That is what our band is about. That is why we are named Devour the Day.

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