Five years ago, The Devil Himself got its start while playing cards. “We got formed around a poker table,” recalls guitarist/singer Dave Christensen. “We all used to play and it kept coming up in conversation that we all played different instruments. We kept saying we should jam, but our lives wouldn’t allow it. Finally it came together and we haven’t stopped playing since.” Flash forward to today, and the Santa Cruz-based alternative metal band—also featuring guitarist Dan Burnham, drummer Jason Goldberg, and bass guitarist Austin Wilhoit—has just released its fifth album and third full-length, Speak No Evil, on Oct. 8. The record is the final segment in a three-part series, also featuring See No Evil and Hear No Evil, that sounds like a thundering bastard child of Tool, with electric surges and hauntingly heavy vocals that mirror a grittier Chevelle. Frequently packing local venues with head-banging moshers, the band hopes to become the voice of a generation looking for answers to hypocrisy and freedom from despair.
“I think people just really enjoy our sound,” Christensen says. “All the bands we listen to come out in our music, but we definitely do our own thing. I think our fans respond to that.” With plans to begin recording their sixth album in the next year, and start touring the area with their new arsenal of songs, these hell raisers show no signs of slowing down or going soft. “We don’t really have much interest in signing to a major label,” Christensen says of their plans for the future. “What we really want is a tour, though. We have such great fans and I think that’s what we love most. So, doing a tour and spreading our music to more people is the goal. Playing shows and making music that both us and the fans enjoy—that’s what it’s all about.”
INFO: For upcoming shows visit, reverbnation.com/thedevilhimself, or follow the band on Facebook.
