Talking Rituals, Drop Bears & Half Living Things With Jeremy DePoyster of The Devil Wears Prada

  • Talking Rituals, Drop Bears & Half Living Things With Jeremy DePoyster of The Devil Wears Prada
    POSTED
    By Brenton Harris

    The Devil Wears Prada photographed standing in a white room. They are all wearing black casual clothing.

    The Devil Wears Prada are gearing up to return to Australia next month as part of Alpha Wolf's monster Half Living Things tour package.  

    The tour, which will see the band support their Australian friends Alpha Wolf alongside fellow US act InventAnimate and Sweden's Thrown, will be their first visit down under since 2018, allowing Aussie audiences to see material from their eighth studio album Color Decay, live for the first time. 

    Renowned as one of the most innovative acts in the metalcore genre, continued to defy expectations on Color Decay, strengthening their already tight grip on dynamics,  juxtaposing melody with chaos, and creating an immersive and impactful listening experience.  

    Led by singles Salt and Broken, it is the natural continuation of the soundscape the band has been developing since 2005. The band continued the exploration on the recent single Ritual, showcasing their intentions to keep pushing boundaries as they head towards their twentieth year in existence. 

    Ahead of their much-anticipated return to Australia, we caught up with guitarist/vocalist Jeremy DePoyster for a chat about the band's storied career, their continued sonic evolution and their dedication to spreading the word about Australia's most ferocious animal, the drop bear.  


     


    Jeremy DePoyster from The Devil Wears Prada, how are you?


    “I’m so good, I feel like I’m gloating with all my sun and my summer weather, while ya’ll are freezing!”


    Whose idea was it to come to Australia during the winter? 

    “I know! I think it might be our fault actually, coz our boys in Alpha Wolf asked us to come out in the summer or the spring or something but we had another tour, so they were kind enough to wait.”

    Well, we’ll have no sympathy for you then when you discover that the southern part of Australia does experience winter then, you made your bed! 
     

    “That’s fair, I think we’ve done it once before though, we did a tour with Parkway Drive or somebody in the winter time, but it was so long ago, I can’t really remember.” 

     

    Well, the tour you’re headed out for is, of course, the Half Living Things tour package with Alpha Wolf, InventAnimate and Thrown. Tickets for this have been FLYING out the door, defying pretty much all industry struggles, what do you think it is about this tour that has people so committed to checking it out?

     

    “I honestly I think it's just a credit to all the bands on the tour. Like they are all putting out the most exciting music right now. And I think all the bands have like been putting in the work on not just playing shows, but kind of like showcasing their shows online. So people are just like, ‘I have to be there. I have to go. So you know, for people who most of their career is playing concerts. I feel like it's really up to us to make it a good time. So maybe that's part of it.”

     

    Having an energetic and enjoyable live show is important in being able to continue to bring that audience back. Do you feel there is something about the energy of a The Devil Wears Prada show or a metalcore show in general, that just hits harder with people than other genres?

    “Maybe it's just the pure rage or something? It's the moshing, probably people just love it,  even if you're not like in the pit, you want to be like in the balcony like, ‘ah, yeah, look at the pit!’, it’s good stuff, it’s fun.”

     

    Your most recent full-length Color Decay dropped in 2022, but like a lot of bands these days, you’re continuing to put our new tracks here and there as well. How are you finding that new approach to the music industry of drip-feeding tracks in between album cycles? Is it enjoyable as musicians creatively? Or do you find it to be a bit odd in comparison to the previous model? 

     

    “I actually like it when we first started, you know, we were cranking out, like an album a year or an album every two years. But, you know, we were kids and we didn't have lives. And, you know, this was all we did, it was all-consuming. So that wasn't a problem to like, live on the road and in the studio. But now, you know, we're I'm in my mid 30s We have lives and stuff. And on rare occasions, we try and go live them. So I like it. Because if we go and write a bunch of songs, and one of them stands out, we can go finish that song, get it mixed and put it out and not have to go through the whole process of like, ‘Where does this fit on the record?’ and all that sort of thing. 

    So we're kind of sitting on a pretty big stack of songs right now and we're kind of just trying to figure out like, when we'll have time to go finish them and what we want to do with them, but it's not very committal, you know when you put a record out that kind of define’s your career forever. That's a real cemented piece that you do, and a song is kind of just a song. If people don't like it, you're like ‘okay, don't worry, that was just a song’. 

     

    Do you feel that you're on the top of your game? As a a performer at this point in your career, like do you do you feel this is the best The Devil Wears Prada has ever been?


    “Genuinely, I do I feel like, like in the studio, and on the stage, I just feel like this iteration is the tightest it's ever been the chemistry is there. I feel like for myself, and and Mike our other vocalists I feel like our chemistry is the best it's ever been. And we just feel confident. And I feel like it's easier to work from a place of confidence rather than just kind of like, desperation kind of and so yeah, I truly do. I'm a pretty humble guy, but I'm a pretty cocky guy at the same time, if that makes sense, I guess.”

     

    Yes, the quintessential humble, cocky guy…

     

    “Hahaha, I’m just a douche I guess?”

     

    You do sing on a stage for a living man, you’re probably required to have a certain degree of confidence. When The Devil Wears Prada first emerged you were part of a scene that had a lot of similar acts, but since then you’ve remained steadfast in your commitment to expanding your sound with every release.  Do you feel like the recent single you dropped Ritual, is an indication of where you’re going next?

    “I really like ‘Ritual’, and ‘Color Decay’ was probably the best-received album we’ve made since we started the band. We knew it was special when we made it, but just like seeing the reaction from it was like, ‘Okay, we really did that. That's cool!’ And so the pressure is on to not just go and try and remake that and make a sequel to it or something like that. It needs to sit in its own space.” 

    “So I think that record, while it was depressing, and I don't think that part will change for some reason. That's just the kind of songs that we end up writing, I think we want to inject a little bit of energy into it. There's a lot of downtempo stuff on that album. And so I want to kind of hype it back up just so that by the time you get to the show, there's still a lot of energy in there, even if the material is super depressing.”


    Look, we all know sad songs, connect with people better than happy songs. Anyway, human psychology for some reason, seems to enjoy, art about suffering. I think that if you're continuing on the path of sonically that you're on with Color Decay, I think you'll find a very happy fan base.

    “Yeah, it's a nice thing when that aligns with what you want. It's like a rare combination. But yeah, it seems to have happened!”. 


    Now what I want is a definitive answer from you. On who's going to go the hardest in the pit? Out of The Devil Wears Prada, InventAnimate Thrown, and Alpha Wolf, who do you reckon is going to have the most insane pit?

    “Well, I would never want to down-talk my peers because I think everyone will have an amazing show. But I'm going to work my ass off on making sure that we have the hardest pit Yeah, undoubtedly. I'm going to scream at them until they go the hardest.”

     

    That’s brilliant, just what you want as an opener if you’re Alpha Wolf, someone who is going to make it as hard as possible to follow their show! That takes some confidence on their behalf! 

     

    “Well, music is beautiful because it's not a competition. It's a game everyone can win as long as they show up and are on their A game so I always try and bring out bands that I think are going to like freak me out like before me because it like pumps me up I'm like oh shit they just brought the house down. What are we about to go do? It's fun!”.

     

    That's awesome and I got a feeling everyone on the tour is gonna get their ass handed to them by Thrown anyway!

    “Yes! Yeah, those guys are awesome and they're frickin awesome!”

     

    It’s their first time over to Australia as well, so you can play tour guide, tell them how to avoid the drop bears… 
     

    “Oh yeah! The drop bears! Hahaha!  I'll make them do a shoey on the first show as well for sure! I'll get the whole crowd chanting for it.”

    If you could do as Alpha Wolf have done with Ice T and have a rapper guest on a TDWP song, who would you choose and why?

     

    "Post Malone, I’d love to have Posty on there man, he’s sick and I’ve seen him in some OG Prada merch. We just played with Sheck Wes and that was sick, he brought the house down in Alabama, so maybe him, bring a little bit of that ‘Mo Bamba’ energy." 


    Half Living Things tour poster

    Alpha Wolf
    Half Living Things Tour 
    with The Devil Wears Prada, InventAnimate & Thrown 

    Thursday 1 August 2024 - Metropolis, Perth 18+ 

    Friday 2 August 2024 - Chelsea Heights Hotel, Melbourne 18+ 

    Saturday 3 August 2024 - Forum, Melbourne 18+

    Sunday 4 August 2024 - Hindley St Music Hall, Adelaide LIC AA

    Wednesday 7 August 2024 - Liberty Hall, Sydney LIC AA

    Thursday 8 August 2024 - Liberty Hall, Sydney LIC AA 

    Friday 9 August 2024 - King St Band Room, Newcastle 18+ 
    Saturday 10 August 2024 - Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane 18+

    Tickets are available now at Destroy All Lines. 
     

    Listen to The Devil Wears Prada

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The Devil Wears Prada photographed standing in a white room. They are all wearing black casual clothing.

The Devil Wears Prada are gearing up to return to Australia next month as part of Alpha Wolf's monster Half Living Things tour package.  

The tour, which will see the band support their Australian friends Alpha Wolf alongside fellow US act InventAnimate and Sweden's Thrown, will be their first visit down under since 2018, allowing Aussie audiences to see material from their eighth studio album Color Decay, live for the first time. 

Renowned as one of the most innovative acts in the metalcore genre, continued to defy expectations on Color Decay, strengthening their already tight grip on dynamics,  juxtaposing melody with chaos, and creating an immersive and impactful listening experience.  

Led by singles Salt and Broken, it is the natural continuation of the soundscape the band has been developing since 2005. The band continued the exploration on the recent single Ritual, showcasing their intentions to keep pushing boundaries as they head towards their twentieth year in existence. 

Ahead of their much-anticipated return to Australia, we caught up with guitarist/vocalist Jeremy DePoyster for a chat about the band's storied career, their continued sonic evolution and their dedication to spreading the word about Australia's most ferocious animal, the drop bear.  


 


Jeremy DePoyster from The Devil Wears Prada, how are you?


“I’m so good, I feel like I’m gloating with all my sun and my summer weather, while ya’ll are freezing!”


Whose idea was it to come to Australia during the winter? 

“I know! I think it might be our fault actually, coz our boys in Alpha Wolf asked us to come out in the summer or the spring or something but we had another tour, so they were kind enough to wait.”

Well, we’ll have no sympathy for you then when you discover that the southern part of Australia does experience winter then, you made your bed! 
 

“That’s fair, I think we’ve done it once before though, we did a tour with Parkway Drive or somebody in the winter time, but it was so long ago, I can’t really remember.” 

 

Well, the tour you’re headed out for is, of course, the Half Living Things tour package with Alpha Wolf, InventAnimate and Thrown. Tickets for this have been FLYING out the door, defying pretty much all industry struggles, what do you think it is about this tour that has people so committed to checking it out?

 

“I honestly I think it's just a credit to all the bands on the tour. Like they are all putting out the most exciting music right now. And I think all the bands have like been putting in the work on not just playing shows, but kind of like showcasing their shows online. So people are just like, ‘I have to be there. I have to go. So you know, for people who most of their career is playing concerts. I feel like it's really up to us to make it a good time. So maybe that's part of it.”

 

Having an energetic and enjoyable live show is important in being able to continue to bring that audience back. Do you feel there is something about the energy of a The Devil Wears Prada show or a metalcore show in general, that just hits harder with people than other genres?

“Maybe it's just the pure rage or something? It's the moshing, probably people just love it,  even if you're not like in the pit, you want to be like in the balcony like, ‘ah, yeah, look at the pit!’, it’s good stuff, it’s fun.”

 

Your most recent full-length Color Decay dropped in 2022, but like a lot of bands these days, you’re continuing to put our new tracks here and there as well. How are you finding that new approach to the music industry of drip-feeding tracks in between album cycles? Is it enjoyable as musicians creatively? Or do you find it to be a bit odd in comparison to the previous model? 

 

“I actually like it when we first started, you know, we were cranking out, like an album a year or an album every two years. But, you know, we were kids and we didn't have lives. And, you know, this was all we did, it was all-consuming. So that wasn't a problem to like, live on the road and in the studio. But now, you know, we're I'm in my mid 30s We have lives and stuff. And on rare occasions, we try and go live them. So I like it. Because if we go and write a bunch of songs, and one of them stands out, we can go finish that song, get it mixed and put it out and not have to go through the whole process of like, ‘Where does this fit on the record?’ and all that sort of thing. 

So we're kind of sitting on a pretty big stack of songs right now and we're kind of just trying to figure out like, when we'll have time to go finish them and what we want to do with them, but it's not very committal, you know when you put a record out that kind of define’s your career forever. That's a real cemented piece that you do, and a song is kind of just a song. If people don't like it, you're like ‘okay, don't worry, that was just a song’. 

 

Do you feel that you're on the top of your game? As a a performer at this point in your career, like do you do you feel this is the best The Devil Wears Prada has ever been?


“Genuinely, I do I feel like, like in the studio, and on the stage, I just feel like this iteration is the tightest it's ever been the chemistry is there. I feel like for myself, and and Mike our other vocalists I feel like our chemistry is the best it's ever been. And we just feel confident. And I feel like it's easier to work from a place of confidence rather than just kind of like, desperation kind of and so yeah, I truly do. I'm a pretty humble guy, but I'm a pretty cocky guy at the same time, if that makes sense, I guess.”

 

Yes, the quintessential humble, cocky guy…

 

“Hahaha, I’m just a douche I guess?”

 

You do sing on a stage for a living man, you’re probably required to have a certain degree of confidence. When The Devil Wears Prada first emerged you were part of a scene that had a lot of similar acts, but since then you’ve remained steadfast in your commitment to expanding your sound with every release.  Do you feel like the recent single you dropped Ritual, is an indication of where you’re going next?

“I really like ‘Ritual’, and ‘Color Decay’ was probably the best-received album we’ve made since we started the band. We knew it was special when we made it, but just like seeing the reaction from it was like, ‘Okay, we really did that. That's cool!’ And so the pressure is on to not just go and try and remake that and make a sequel to it or something like that. It needs to sit in its own space.” 

“So I think that record, while it was depressing, and I don't think that part will change for some reason. That's just the kind of songs that we end up writing, I think we want to inject a little bit of energy into it. There's a lot of downtempo stuff on that album. And so I want to kind of hype it back up just so that by the time you get to the show, there's still a lot of energy in there, even if the material is super depressing.”


Look, we all know sad songs, connect with people better than happy songs. Anyway, human psychology for some reason, seems to enjoy, art about suffering. I think that if you're continuing on the path of sonically that you're on with Color Decay, I think you'll find a very happy fan base.

“Yeah, it's a nice thing when that aligns with what you want. It's like a rare combination. But yeah, it seems to have happened!”. 


Now what I want is a definitive answer from you. On who's going to go the hardest in the pit? Out of The Devil Wears Prada, InventAnimate Thrown, and Alpha Wolf, who do you reckon is going to have the most insane pit?

“Well, I would never want to down-talk my peers because I think everyone will have an amazing show. But I'm going to work my ass off on making sure that we have the hardest pit Yeah, undoubtedly. I'm going to scream at them until they go the hardest.”

 

That’s brilliant, just what you want as an opener if you’re Alpha Wolf, someone who is going to make it as hard as possible to follow their show! That takes some confidence on their behalf! 

 

“Well, music is beautiful because it's not a competition. It's a game everyone can win as long as they show up and are on their A game so I always try and bring out bands that I think are going to like freak me out like before me because it like pumps me up I'm like oh shit they just brought the house down. What are we about to go do? It's fun!”.

 

That's awesome and I got a feeling everyone on the tour is gonna get their ass handed to them by Thrown anyway!

“Yes! Yeah, those guys are awesome and they're frickin awesome!”

 

It’s their first time over to Australia as well, so you can play tour guide, tell them how to avoid the drop bears… 
 

“Oh yeah! The drop bears! Hahaha!  I'll make them do a shoey on the first show as well for sure! I'll get the whole crowd chanting for it.”

If you could do as Alpha Wolf have done with Ice T and have a rapper guest on a TDWP song, who would you choose and why?

 

"Post Malone, I’d love to have Posty on there man, he’s sick and I’ve seen him in some OG Prada merch. We just played with Sheck Wes and that was sick, he brought the house down in Alabama, so maybe him, bring a little bit of that ‘Mo Bamba’ energy." 


Half Living Things tour poster

Alpha Wolf
Half Living Things Tour 
with The Devil Wears Prada, InventAnimate & Thrown 

Thursday 1 August 2024 - Metropolis, Perth 18+ 

Friday 2 August 2024 - Chelsea Heights Hotel, Melbourne 18+ 

Saturday 3 August 2024 - Forum, Melbourne 18+

Sunday 4 August 2024 - Hindley St Music Hall, Adelaide LIC AA

Wednesday 7 August 2024 - Liberty Hall, Sydney LIC AA

Thursday 8 August 2024 - Liberty Hall, Sydney LIC AA 

Friday 9 August 2024 - King St Band Room, Newcastle 18+ 
Saturday 10 August 2024 - Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane 18+

Tickets are available now at Destroy All Lines. 
 

Listen to The Devil Wears Prada


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