DEVILSKIN INTERVIEW
Twinmusix got to speak to Paul Martin from Devilskin about their new album and more.
TM - Thank You for having this interview with me today, How are you?
PM - I am good. It is really weird here at the moment. How are you?
TM - I am good. It is weird here to you walk past people in the street and their like stay away from me
PM - You can't walk out on the streets here anymore, the cops ask you why you like outside.
TM - so you can't go to the grocery store?
PM - You can to get essential but the cops will stop you and ask what you are doing. I think the world just needs to Immerse themselves in some music and feel the love.
TM - yeah I agree with you. Sadly, they cancelled all the concerts.
PM - We have had a bunch of dates cancelled in Europe UK and a bunch of album release parties that we had planned here in New Zealand. We just have to take it on the chin. I don't think anyone is going anywhere for a while, but we are still putting out our new album and hope everyone likes it. It is a great time to have a captive audience.
TM - what can sounds expect phone me on new album Red?
PM - I think it's our most complex and cohesive album. They all seem to represent themselves in a way we were scraping over which songs to leave out and which songs to record. We were on our way to a songwriting retreat in Auckland and came across a big car accident, it was horrific no one died from it luckily. It was really sad story and we ended up putting it in a song. The song is called 'The Victor' that is on the album. I have a song on the album called 'Sweet Release', which is about a young man who took his life he escaped from mental to healthcare Over here, he was meant to be on watch but he escaped then drowned himself in the river. I was sitting at home one night in tears and wrote this song and that's just how It came out. It gives people something to think about well.
TM - yeah definitely, I'm one of those people who sits down and listen to the lyrics.
PM - We also have a song in their called 'Windods' and the working title is 'Bulldog' and we were recording it. I never thought it would be a single, but it ended up being one. Then we wrote the lyrics for it and it was at her stage 4 Endometriosis and she had to have surgery and it was a massive scare for everyone. She wrote it and recorded it and I said "Hey, people are going to listen to this and its going to be pretty confronting. People are going to you and talk about your Endometriosis" and she said "Yep, people need to talk about it" and she stood up for it. She is not a political person but she stood up for it the time in New Zealand. From first having two diagnosis at 17 years, there are all these women in pain and struggling with this horrible condition. It is really hard for them to diagnose it and do stuff about it. We didn't go out there trying to get attention from something but people have gone to us "well it's touched me" and be honest someone who is affected by it. It is cool to bring it to people's attention and people who are affected by it.
TM - I think it's cool that you were bringing attention to it, because some people don't even know what it is.
PM - I think the video for the song it quite compelling, if you have a chance to check it out on YouTube LINK BELOW.
TM - What was your writing and recording process for your new album RED?
PM - We all wrote together and we wrote about the truth. We never have any trouble coming up with ideas for songs. Jenny has this great way to come up with a melody. You will be writing some music and we'll just say hey Jenny can you come lyrics over this and she'll be like sure and come up with this amazing Melody. Then you will be like, what were you singing and she will be like this recipe for bolognese from this woman's magazine I was reading.
TM - How did you come up with your Album cover for Red and what was the meaning behind it?
PM - We had this funny thing on the first album, we decided to call album We Rise it was one of the first songs we wrote, and that was a high energy song that we would play at the end of the set. When we recorded the album and "We Rise" didn't make the first album, we ended up putting it on the second album. Then we wrote "Be Like The River" for the second album but it didn't make it onto our second album, so we put it on our third album. For our last album we wrote about the colour "Red" it's provocative. It is the colour of love and blood. I'm pleased with the artwork and it came out charging on this one and we're really strong looking.
TM - If you could have any band play one of your songs what band would it be, what song would it be and in your style or their style?
PM - Elvis Presley, singing sweet Louise.
TM - have you ever been to Gracelands?
PM - No, that is on my bucketlist, but I did two shows in Hollywood. Our show in America was crazy. Dave mustaine's son was there and we were back stage and about to go on and the guy who was hosting it said, we would like to welcome Jimi Hendrix sister it was cool.
TM - What's your favorite memory of watching someone else peform live?
PM - We toured through Europe with Halestorm last year and we got on well with Arejay the drummer. They are nice guys and every night I got to help play the drum solo which was nice of them.
TM - That is Awesome, what a cool memory!.
TM - Is there anything else you want to say to your fans?
PM - Australia is really important to us and we had a great time playing at the Halestorm show, download festival and the Slash and Myles Kennedy show. We can't wait to come back and play for you guys again and we hope you like our new album.
TM - We cannot wait to have you play in Australia either, hopefully it is sooner rather than later.
Devilskin Album Link Below
https://www.nuclearblast.de/en/products/tontraeger/vinyl/lp/devilskin-red.html