When guitarist Dino Cazares departed industrial death
metal act Fear Factory in 2002 following the disappointing reaction
to their fourth album 'Digimortal' (which was released in 2001), many
assumed that he would quickly return with a whole new outfit to rival
his former group.
But apart from a leading hand in Roadrunner Records' twenty-fifth
anniversary release (Roadrunner United's 'The All Star Sessions', where
Cazares was one of the four captains) and last year's long overdue sophomore
effort from his death/grindcore act Asesino ('Cristo Satánico'),
Cazares has been notably absent from the metal scene.
Unbeknownst to many, Cazares has spent the better part
of the last twelve months putting together an entirely new outfit, and
with former Vext vocalist Tommy Cummings and ex-Decrepit Birth/Hate
Eternal drummer Tim Yeung (and ex-Nile/ Domination Through Impurity
bassist Joe Payne in recent times), Cazares has finally returned with
Divine Heresy.
Whilst on a promotional visit to the UK, I caught up with
vocalist Tommy Cummings in his Kensington Close hotel room to discuss
the demise of his former group Vext, the circumstances that led Cazares
to have him front his new musical vehicle, the process of song writing
within the group and the reactions to Divine Heresy's debut album 'Bleed
The Fifth!'.
"Even though we're only on a promo tour at the moment,
it's been going really great. Everyone we've spoken to who's heard 'Bleed
The Fifth!' has been overwhelmingly positive. Over the last couple of
weeks, we've been doing a lot of international interviews, and just
before we arrived here in the UK, we stopped off in France and Germany
for some promotional things there, and everyone really seems to be getting
into the album. So that's good. It's been very positive."
Prior to getting into a discussion about Divine Heresy's
debut, I asked Cummings about the reason why his former outfit Vexed
decided to disband in 2005, especially given the critical acclaim that
followed after the release of their 'Cast The First Stone' in 2004.
"Vext were signed to Lakeshore Records (a musical
division of film production company Lakeshore Entertainment) in the
US and it was kind of a one-off independent deal. Both the deal and
the album didn't really go anywhere for us, and after I pushed the other
guys (guitarist Michael Kontaras, bassist Steve Perlmutter and drummer
Jim Donovan) to write a new album, everyone kind of wanted to take different
career paths. So I had around a year in between projects where I was
just working, and taking lessons with Melissa Cross (who's worked with
the likes of Underoath, Arch Enemy, Thursday, All That Remains, Arch
Enemy, A Life Once Lost, God Forbid, Sick Of It All, Cradle Of Filth
and Shadows Fall) to try and perfect my craft. All the while, I kept
searching for a new project. There were a number of projects that I'd
looked into, but they weren't really worth doing. I wanted to do something
that was more on a professional level than what I'd already done, and
just something that I could really sink my teeth into. So when I found
out that Cazares was looking for a vocalist, I immediately emailed him,
and sent them this very arrogant email about how great I was! (Laughs)
It was pretty funny. I think his first impression was, 'Who is this
kid? Who does he think he is?' But when he asked around about me, he
found a lot of people that were willing to go in to bat for me. People
like Robert Kampf (the co-owner of Century Media Records), Melissa Cross
and a bunch of others that I've met over the years through networking
and things. So after getting a prop from everyone he came in contact
with, he decided to give me a shot. He sent me over two tracks that
he had recorded already, so I just went into Ken Schalk's (Candiria
drummer and keyboardist, and who co-engineered Vext's debut) New York
studio, recorded the vocal tracks and sent them back to Cazares. He
obviously liked what he heard, because he called me and said that I
was being given a shot at fronting his new band."
But while Cazares was convinced of Cummings' ability in
the studio, Cummings still felt he needed to prove himself to Cazares,
and at Roadrunner Records' Roadrunner United bash at the Nokia Theater
in Times Square in December 2005, the timing couldn't have been any
more perfect.
"The actual moment I was accepted into the band was
at Roadrunner Records' big show at the Nokia Theatre. It was the day
before the show, and I found out through some work colleagues (Cummings
was a former bouncer at the Hammerstein Ballroom in N.Y.C.) that they
had some rehearsals arranged, and where they planned to hold them. So
I showed up, and basically none of the vocalists there wanted to sing.
Cazares and Robb Flynn (Machine Head vocalist/guitarist) were like,
'Hey, do you want to sing?' I had known the Machine Head guys since
I was a kid, just from going to shows and waiting outside to get autographs.
I actually sang with them at C.B.G.B's in 1996/97, so it was pretty
cool to do it all again. We did a shit load of songs together, like
Slipknot, Fear Factory, Machine Head and Sepultura. It was cool. I was
jamming with all these people who I'd grown up listening to, and I just
killed it. I guess that was the point where Cazares knew I was the guy
for the job."
From that point, things moved quickly for Cummings and
Divine Heresy, including the recording process for 'Bleed The Fifth!'
"In February 2006, I moved to Los Angeles to be a
full time part of this band. The moment I hit Los Angeles, we went into
the studio and then started writing songs for the album. We recorded
our own demos for around a month, and then in March, we went into Logan
Mader's (former Machine Head/Soulfly/Medication guitarist) studio and
officially started recording the album's demo tracks. I think we recorded
four songs the first time around and then five songs in the second session.
So by the time we'd gone in to record the album, we'd already recorded
demo tracks to all the songs on the album, and we already knew what
we wanted to do with them. We knew the changes that we wanted to make,
and I think it was just an issue of wanting to get the tones correct.
We wanted the drums, the guitars and just everything else on the album
to sound perfect. We wanted 'Bleed The Fifth!' to be an album of real
quality, and not just a good sounding demo. Mader and (Lucas) Banker
(who are collectively known as the production team Dirty Icon Productions)
really gave us a great sound. Mader is amazing as a producer and an
editor. He knows the sound that we we're going for, so it made it work
all the better. I think Mader is really on a roll at the moment. He
just finished working with Still Remains (the group's recently released
sophomore effort 'The Serpent'), and I think he's working on a new project
with Marc Rizzo, Max and Igor Cavalera next. So he's pretty much in
demand these days. Overall, it all ran rather smoothly, and we're all
happy with 'Bleed The Fifth!'"
While the recording of 'Bleed The Fifth!' was a relatively
quick process, and Cummings was the newest addition to the group only
months beforehand, he's quick to point out that the song writing was
a group effort.
"Basically I wrote all the lyrics on the album, but
there was around thirty percent of the album where Cazares and I discussed
over in order to get our feelings and inspirations together on. To give
you an example, 'Failed Creation' was like a collaborative idea. We
were watching a documentary on the History Channel about 'The Book Of
Revelation', the Antichrist and the end of the world, and then basically
switching to CNN and taking notice of the obvious comparisons. We thought
it would be cool to suggest that it might be the end of the world now
with basically the war, all the terrorist activity and the natural disasters
like tsunamis and hurricanes that have been going on in recent times.
We were just kind of playing on the tragedies of the world and comparing
them to 'The Book Of Revelation' in the Bible. We used a lot of religious
metaphors elsewhere on the album as well. There are a lot of other lyrical
influences as well. There are songs like 'Savior Self' and 'Impossible
Is Nothing', which are kind of like positive reinforcement statements.
They're songs where you can take the negative aspects of life out of
the equation, and you persevere and you push through and come out the
other side a better person. The lyrics are kind of like life lessons,
and they apply to everyone in the band differently. Obviously, I think
Cazares would say that he could take some of those positive messages
and apply them to making the transition from not being in Fear Factory
anymore to doing this new project now and coming out stronger. It's
the same with Yeung and me as well. We feel the same way about having
dropped everything, leaving behind our past lives and moving to Los
Angeles to make things better with our lives. Those songs are written
in a way that's vague enough so that anyone listening can apply it to
their own life. We all go through struggle, and we all go through hardship,
and that's the tone of those songs. You know, there are also some personal
things on the album too. The last song at the end of the record is called
'Closure', and it's basically about dealing with my abandonment issues
from being adopted, the things that I've gone through in my life and
living with the question of never knowing my origins. It's very therapeutic,
as well as cathartic for me."
Although Divine Heresy is a brand new chapter for Cazares
after five years away from the scene, there's no mistaking the band's
strong sound connection to Fear Factory. But as Cummings explains, the
comparison will always be there, especially given Cazares' influence
on his former band's sound.
"Oh yeah, of course there's going to be a comparison
between the two bands. I mean, Cazares has a signature sound. I think
that sound is always going to be a part of Divine Heresy's sound, but
there's also a difference between the two bands as well. I think Cazares
took his playing to another level on 'Bleed The Fifth!' The riffs are
constantly changing, and I think the playing has become more technical
sounding. I think that's because both him and Yeung are very locked
in. Yeung in particular is a big part of that technical aspect of Divine
Heresy too. I think he's far more technical and a faster drummer than
Raymond (Herrera from Fear Factory) is, and I think that shines through."
With 'Bleed The Fifth!' officially just released, Divine
Heresy are preparing to hit the road for as long as they can.
"We played our very first show together back in September
2006, but we haven't played much since then because we wanted to finish
off the album. But now that 'Bleed The Fifth!' is done, were currently
trying to hook up a couple of tours which will hopefully begin sometime
in August. We're just combing through all the red tape and what not
at the moment. We'll be touring in the US for August and September,
and then we're trying to get back to Europe by November for an official
tour. That is of course the album does really well. We're all hoping
it does anyway! (Laughs) I'm really excited and very proud of everything
that we've put into this, and I think that people will respond to that.
With 'Bleed The Fifth!' we basically wanted to contribute to the legacy
of that inspired all of us all those years ago. For us, it was like
going back to your adolescence and approaching it as you were back there.
We thought about what we would want right now, especially compared to
what's out there now, if we kids. We thought about what we thought was
needed, and basically tried to make the songs great ones, and have 'Bleed
The Fifth!' stand the test of time. At this stage of the game, I'm just
going with the flow and am preparing myself for the best and the worst.
But I think we're quietly confident that 'Bleed The Fifth!' will do
well."
I would like to thank Tommy Cummings for his generous
time, and Janine Morcos at Roadrunner Records for making the interview
possible.
For more information on Divine Heresy, check out - http://www.myspace.com/divineheresyband
© Justin Donnelly - justindonnelly@ozemail.com.au
