THE STORY BEHIND
CLOUDS OVER CALIFORNIA BY DEVILDRIVER
Written for landmark third album The Last Kind Words, this future setlist staple for the modern metal heavyweights revealed things weren’t as sunny as they seemed
WORDS: DOM LAWSON
NEARLY TWO DECADES
on from their formation in Santa Barbara, California, Devildriver are firmly established as a permanent fixture in the metal world. One of the most legendarily hard-working bands in the business, Dez Fafara and his comrades won people over the old-school way: by touring relentlessly and making new albums at every opportunity. The first two Devildriver albums – 2003’s eponymous debut and 2005’s The Fury Of Our Maker’s Hand – had aggressively established the band’s trademark blend of brutal grooves and dark, melodic hooks, but it was their third – The Last Kind Words – that truly sealed their reputation as modern metal heavyweights. Released in the summer of 2007, it was an incendiary eruption of rage and riffs, replete with several instant classics. From the outside, it looked as though Devildriver were hitting a new level of potency. But according to Dez, things were not running entirely smoothly behind the scenes.
“There was a real craziness behind that record,” he states. “We were putting out a record every two years, we were touring constantly. When we were at home, we were writing and recording. So I think the band unit itself, during that time, was starting to come apart, to be honest. But the music, oddly enough, was really coming together. I’d said to the guys that it had to be a heavier record, with more groove, and we had to put our best foot forward, and the guys really brought it.”