DevilDriver is like no other with their unrelenting groove metal sound and headed by vocalist Dez Fafara. Winter Kills is the band’s sixth album and as Dez says in the interview it’s their best album.

Winter Kills tell us about the concept of the album and the name.

The name of the album comes from my love of winter and how it comes along and destroys everything and in the spring and summer time rebirths things. It’s like how I didn’t have a problem leaving Coal Chamber and starting DevilDriver. Things grow and there is a lot more to the title than that. The album is a groovy hook filled, signature DevilDriver album. I think we pushed to go the edge, there was magic surrounding the album and there was lightning in the bottle around the writing the album and the touring process. A lot of things that attributed to the album are things that I think now is DevilDriver’s best record. If you look at any interview I have done over the first five records with DevilDriver you will never see me say it is the best one. You will see me say it’s different and has this direction. If you are not a DevilDriver fan, it will win you over and if you are a fan it will be your favourite. If you have never heard DevilDriver you could start with Winter Kills and work yourself backwards and find yourself a killer groove band.

Winter Kills as you said has that strong groove metal sound which was more prominent in the first three albums. Was it something that happened organically or was it something you focused on?

Every record that DevilDriver makes has a signature sound and is a bit different and I think it is very important in art. Was it something we discussed about? No, it was organic. We know what we do and we really honed in on what we do. Which is big riffs, great arrangement, a very groove filled record and something that is relevant. Not only that but we don’t stick in someone else’s scene and we do our own thing. If you listen to the record in its entirety you will find something that stands alone and that is very important for us to do that.

Having spoken about what Winter Kills means is this the band’s way of starting fresh and moving to Napalm Records?

Yeah, I’m a tourist and I like change and sometimes its good. Changing to Napalm has been amazing, we have stayed with RoadRunner/Warner in Australia which gave us a top 10 record there. I want to work with people with passion; I don’t want to work with people who think of it as a commodity. We want to work with people who are as passionate as we are of what we do. Moving to Napalm was a great thing and great passion all round. Of course RoadRunner gave me my start, so all dues to them. But I don’t feel that they didn’t have the passion for it with the last two records. And those two records the fans picked up on. In Europe and the UK it did amazing, it would have done a bit better in the states if there was that passion. But we seem to be going in a good direction. And all we are doing is doing art for art’s sake.

Ruthless is the first single off the album and it’s an amazing track. Did it scream out to you as the first track when the song was created?

You never know what the first single is going to be, but it was the song that I gravitated to. It is the first song I tracked. I tracked it in 12 minutes. Most of the vocals on the record are first takes; I refuse to slaving over a song in the studio. I wanted the song to be live and to have a certain feeling about it. Ruthless does have a certain magic about; which we knew we had to keep the rest the songs up with it. It is one of my favourite tracks. Let’s face it no matter who you do business with. You need to be ruthless to protect yourself, your family and what matters to you. I do have that in myself that’s what the song expresses.

DevilDriver is metal but the songs speak to the listener which many metal bands don’t do, it is something which makes DevilDriver different from the pack.

Look I am humble to be in this game, but what I will say; is the lyrics will be around longer than me and gives something a bit deeper to people. I might have a different depth to other front men, I like to tap into that. Give them something personal, I like to give personal lyrics and something people latch on to. So I am not going to stop. It is a good release for me.

Touring with Coal Chamber over the last two years, how was the experience? I spoke to you when it was first announced Coal Chamber was back to play shows.

It was good. Travelled to Australia, South America, USA, UK and Europe, went around the world with it. It was good to revisit it, revisit it on a positive note. You need to think, most of the bands that started out with us are the biggest bands on the planet. Coal Chamber took out Slipknot on their first tour ever of the States and it was a two month tour drawing out a lot of people. System Of A Down opened for Coal Chamber for four to 5 years before they had a record deal and I can keep on going down the line. It was time to revisit it, they got off hard drug, and they had more clarity, so they can enjoy the music too. Are we going to tour again? I don’t know. Do I have the need to write a new Coal Chamber record? No, not right now and there is nothing on the books for the future. We will have to see what happens.

How was it to juggle touring with Coal Chamber and DevilDriver with writing the new album?

It was pretty easy for me and I enjoyed the work, and doing different musical forms. That’s why I have a project Born of the Storm with Mark Morton of Lamb of God. Why I recorded an album called High Desert Noon which has different instrumentation to it, it’s spoken word. And I enjoy the differences.

Speaking of Born of the Storm which got a big reaction at first, are they are plans for more?

I don’t know, we had eight or nine songs done and released a few on YouTube. That’s the way it is at the moment. We will wait till Mark is ready to do some work for it. Fortunately in my career I’ve worked and met with so many great people like Ozzy and Nikki Sixx. I am stoked on who’ve I’ve met and say “Wow, yesterday I met Alice Cooper” and be excited for it. I think more musicians do it now, instead of having the stage persona taking over and getting a cocaine problem. You should take yourself out and remember who you were before you had a record deal. Keep looking inside and it will make you appreciate what you have done.

You have embraced social media especially Twitter and Instagram. Have you found it a positive outlet for yourself?

The thing with me I am a loner, an escapist, a hermit, I am socially awkward, you won’t find me backstage hanging out, you will find me in the back of the tour bus with a few friends. So it gives me an outlet to talk to people without being in a room full of them. I was recently at an awards show in the UK, I was literally in there for three minutes after we played and got in my bus. There will be many people who are able to relate to me. Put a microphone in front of me on stage, other than that I stick with a specific group of friends and my wife and that’s about it.

Are there any plans to tour Australia soon? Unfortunately you had to cancel last year’s headline tour due to illness.

That was the first tour I had to cancel and it had to be Australia right? It sucked. I feel sorry for the people who bought tickets, but when the doctor tells you that you have pneumonia and if you get on a plane you might die you need to cancel. I would love to come to Australia but I don’t make a move without AJ Maddah. He is like family, he flew my family down there, I love his wife and him. Personally I would like to get down there for Soundwave and a headline tour next year. I think it is overdue for DevilDriver but let’s see how it pans out.

Winter Kills comes out August 23^rd