Interview: Daniel J Finch (The Devils Music)

Hey there GBHBL fans, we have a treat for you. We’ve done something rather unusual and bagged ourselves an interview! Please welcome Daniel J Finch, formally of extreme metal band ‘Devilment’, currently of unpigeonholeable ‘Daniel J Finch’. With the release of his brand new album ‘ The Devils Music’ , let’s get to know a little more about this macabre musicians inner workings.

If you had to pigeonhole yourself into a subgenre, what would it be?

I never wanted to be pigeonholed , I just consider what I do, to be metal. The whole genre things is kind of confusing to me. How can you say a band is this or that ? I just see music and bands , artists or whatever as good or bad. On my iPod I everything from extreme music to folk music, to pop . People would be shocked by the kind of things that I listen too. But it makes for good influences. Too many bands come out and try and sound like the current big band. I just do what I do. I’ve always had this kind of groove to my playing and something that I’ve stuck with for the last ten years. You can tell for example the songs I wrote on the devilment record. Compared to the ones Colin (Parks – Devilment guitarist) did

What are the main themes of the ‘The Devils Music’?

I think don’t think it has any themes. I gave all the vocalist free range to do what they wanted. I think it would have been unfair to say to them , it has to be this or that. It’s not a collaboration if I do that. I also want the listener to make up there own interpretations of what this record is. But if I had to give it one thing, it would be a dark record. And I think musically it came from the head space I was in at the time. I was in a very dark place in my life.

What is your writing process?

For The Devils Music, most of it came from warming up at rehearsals. I was having some issues with my right hand. So I was heading down to the rehearsal studio an hour before everyone else to warm up and run over some parts. I ended up coming up with all the riffs for this album. These were the rehearsals for the tour. But I wanted to start getting ideas down for the next Devilment album. I didn’t want to be a position of having to be under pressure to write an album. I think in the end I came with like 27 ideas for songs. Ten of which ended up on The Devils Music album.

Do you intend to keep using guest vocalists, or are there plans to have a set line-up?

I have another whole two albums worth of ideas. I came up with more stuff when I was putting this together. So yeah, I’d like to do another record with a whole set of different vocalist and guests. But I don’t see it ever being a band or one line up.

Are there any plans for an upcoming tour?

No tour plans. It would be a very expensive thing to do. We have guys on the record from all over the UK, and Germany, Russia and Canada. However it would be cool to do a show or two.

So, what happened with Devilment?

The whole Devilment thing leaves a pretty bitter taste in my mouth. I formed that band, I put all the money in. And other people took over and I pretty much I got pushed out. It just didn’t work out the way I had planned it to. It was a shame, but you learn from that. I got burned big time. But onwards and upwards. I’m pretty happy not to be in that band anymore. It took me a while to find my way again after that. I didn’t want to pick up a guitar for a while and I had to force myself to write again. My confidence was pretty much at zero. But I’m glad I went through that, and kept playing, I was pretty hurt and angry. I wanted to leave on good terms, but I was pretty much attacked from their camp and a lot of shit got written about me and talked about, and I got mad and went back at them , which I regret now. Because I ended up looking like the bad guy, and in all honesty , that’s not me or the place I’m in now.

What have been your best live experiences, both playing and as a fan?

I think the best playing live was the on the Devilment tour when we played The Forum in London. It was pretty much sold out. I’ve been to see several shows there, and the upstairs bit was always closed off. But when we played with Lacuna Coil the upstairs was packed .

As for watching shows or going to gigs, there are so many great shows. Maybe seeing Cannibal Corpse back in 1995 or Meshuggah back in 1996 remain special moments .

 What bands changed your life?

Early on as kid I remember finding the first Black Sabbath album, in my mums collection. And it scared the shit out of me. Later on when I was like 13 my dad gave me three of his albums which were Def Leopard, ZZ Top and Bon Jovi . I was kind of hooked on music from there. Iron Maiden , Metallica and Megadeth were massive when I was growing up. Soon it was all about Wasp, Halloween and Kiss. I guess all of those changed my life, and set me on this path to discover more music. So yeah metal changed my life. But if I had never got into it or started playing guitar. I’d be a very rich man right now. Ha ha.

Let’s get controversial, which iconic band would you consider to be overated?

Metallica and Iron maiden should stop trying to write new albums. I love both those bands and everything they put out in the 80s is amazing. I still go see them live, but you can’t beat those old songs.

Tell us about the last game you played.

I bought an Xbox last year, so been playing the Batman games. Just started working my through the Assassin’s Creed games. I don’t play much as I’m too busy with my music.

 What horror film would you say had the most impact on you?

The original Dawn of the Dead. I remember when I was a kid, me and my brother watched it like seven days back to back in one day. Such a classic film. I also liked the old Hammer horrors and Universal monster films.

(We here at GBHBL would like to thank Daniel Finch for his time & Coffee Jingle Records for sorting this interview out as well as giving us a review copy of the album).