Devil Said Play, Sismik @ Club One, October 4th 2003


review by Psyko

I would’ve lost hope, and given in to the crowd, to stamp all over me and reduce me to a thin sheet of skin. It was so packed in there! I actually considered meeting with the Doobie Brothers again, until black noticed the MMS king and his friend sitting at the seat closest to the stage. George, the drummer of the band, ensured that we had a good spot, or at least he directed us to one… and even brought us a chair! We were ready and it was time to kick!

Club One is known to be rather tiny, having a 200 person capacity, and I was told that Devil Said Play had managed to sell at least 200 pre-sale tickets, initially aiming for 250! There was no place to sit and it did rather get hot in there. The Club One folks seem pretty strict as to the timings, and insisted that Sismik, the opening band, played at 9:30 even if they were ready earlier. Sismik got the crowd really jumping with oldies but goodies, playing an AC/DC song, the Cranberries. Weezer, and their first original along with other tracks. The two guitarists had proven their skills quite quickly and so did the lead singer with her (frighteningly similar) Dolores O’Riordan voice!

Finally, the crowd was ready to welcome Devil Said Play, a band that had been together for 2 years, this being their 2nd show. These guys seemed to be having fun and most importantly, so was the crowd.

Ara’s aggressive and harsh vocals, Peter and Keff’s astonishing GnR style solos (only a couple steps away from Slashin’ it!), George’s structuring and Bedo’s felt bass lines, moulded a style of music that is rather difficult to categorize, but I will safely say that the night was Rock-packed. Aggressive lyrics, first song containing the word “die” a few times, the altering of solos between one guitarist and the next, as well as the energy in the room, combined with good timing and fun, made me only more curious as to what the next songs would be like!

Now, my fave part, sorry, I know from now I’m gonna get carried away writing this, but some people just make me laugh! I have to tell you about it…a ten minute break led to a crowd-pleasing g-string giveaway ‘contest’, hosted by the one and only, Ara!... where each potential winner had to come up to the stage and present a talent, or whatever they considered a talent, in exchange for a g-string! Ara’s humor and mockery really got us laughing, mostly at the “contestants”. One girl decided to sing, for 120 minutes, or so it felt like it. Oh, and how can I forget, this girl came up on stage, wanted a g-string but not in exchange for a talent. Her friend decides to come up and help her out, they have a debate, and decide to sing My Girl, and the first girl who said she didn’t have a talent, ended up holding the mic close to her mouth the whole time, the other one, left unheard. Another decided to show her g-string in exchange for one, and a man felt that his talent was him having reduced his dignity low enough to go on stage! And as Ara claimed, we weren’t here to judge. Oh wait, what was the guy’s joke? It’s lame, but funny. “There are 2 muffins in an oven, one turns to the other and says ‘is it just me or is it hot in here?’ and the other muffin exclaims ‘oh my! A talking muffin!!’”. I was either gonna laugh, or get up and slap em all (and keep the g-strings all to myself of course!). We had a good laugh and the little “game show” theme gave a slight twist to what could have been the typical rock show event. 

I had the pleasure of meeting with George and Ara before and after the show, and they were just awesome guys. They were a little frustrated with Club One’s lack of flexibility before the show but they seemed eager to hit the stage. 

Band Members:
George Drums, Backup Vocals
Ara Lead Vocals
Peter Lead / Rhythm Guitars
Bedo Bass
Keff Lead / Rhythm Guitars

Interview:
Psyko: So you guys have been together for 2 years.. Do you plan on staying together for a long time or is this something you guys have on the side for a little fun?
ARA: It started out being a little something on the side that was fun for us. Then we started writing originals, and it started getting a bit more serious. At this point, it’s safe to say that we’re in it for the long haul.

Psyko: So what has kept Devil Said Play together? What do you think are the important factors in keeping bands together these days?
ARA: The thing is that we were all friends before we were band mates. I think that’s key. Every time we go to practice, it’s like a fuckin’ animal house. Don’t get me wrong, we get a lot of work done, but it’s not like boot camp. It’s a fun atmosphere and I think that’s the main reason everybody in the band enjoys coming to play week in and week out.

Psyko: What have you found to be your career ups and downs?
GEORGE: Ups… the first thing that comes to mind is all the support, the adrenaline… playing our own music and seeing the crowd react positively to it. I also think it’s important to note that as a band, we haven’t really had a chance to experience many downs yet. After all, October 4th was only our second concert. But it feels great to know that they’ve both been successful. I guess you could say we’ve experienced littler stresses or “downs” the week before a concert… but that’s just normal. You have to expect these little unpredictable situations and more importantly, you have to deal with them. Anyways, the feeling after a great concert usually makes you forget any stress you experienced beforehand.

Psyko: Ara, you have a cool particular aggressive and rough singing voice, who would you say has inspired you to sing this way? 
ARA: There’s a handful of singers I look up to, like Scott Weiland and Axl. But those guys are living legends. It’s good to know your limits though. Stylistically, I draw more inspiration from guys like James Hetfield and Mike Ness. They have that dirty rock voice. Especially Mike Ness. I believe that rock singers should have some fucking balls in their voice. Take Dio for example… the guy sings like he’s been kicked in the balls one time too many. That’s not rock to me, it’s ridiculous.

Psyko: And, I’m guessing you write all the songs? I found the lyrics quite dark and aggressive… what are your stories behind them? 
ARA: When I write my songs, I try to use a personal experience or feeling. Some of the themes are things that I’ve lived through, like Days Gone By which is a song about someone I know who’s washing his life trying to be something he’s not. Then there are other songs that are about things that I may have not personally experienced but have an opinion about. Like Black for instance, which deals with having someone close to you with an addiction - not necessarily drugs, just any addiction. It’s a hard spot to be in and I don’t know if I would be able to handle it. These songs are dark, but there are a lot of lighter songs in our catalogue, like Easier Said Than Done which is a song about keeping your confidence high and living life for yourself. And Good To Be Alive which is a song that is basically about good old fashioned drinking, fucking around and all that good stuff. Whether dark or lighthearted, I prefer to write songs about things that people in the audience can relate to, everyday life experiences. I wouldn’t be comfortable singing about dragons, Satan and all that mythical shit. That’s not for me.

Psyko: Why in your opinion do bands struggle so hard to be the best? What do you find is the motivator? And is that what motivates you, as Devil Said Play, to try hard?
GEORGE: I think the problem with most bands today is that they try too hard. Everybody wants to be the best, there’s no question about it, but 95% of the acts out there have a long way to go before they even begin to compare to people like Zakk Wylde. What we’ve learned in the past two years is that all you have to do is give it your best and make sure you’re enjoying yourself, having a good time. The rest will just place itself. We’re having fun and I think that translates into the crowd when we’re playing live. All in all, it’s obvious that different things motivate different people. For DSP, I have to say that our two motivations are:
1) having fun;
2) making sure the fans are having fun.
We’re not trying to be the best; we just like doing our own thing. If people take to it, that’s great, but we recognize the fact that not everybody is into our type of music… so we’re not trying to force everybody into liking it, and we’re sure as hell not gonna try to change our sound in order to sound more “mainstream” or “likeable”.


Psyko: The place was packed, almost no room to stand or sit. How did you guys manage to attract so many people? 
GEORGE: I guess most of it was word of mouth. After we got the tickets printed, Ara got the flyer ready and we mass printed that. We didn’t post those up in too many public places… we mostly handed them out to people. I also posted up the flyer on some local music forums like MMS and Montreal Shows.

Psyko: I’ve noticed that your two guitarists altered between solos, and both are very talented in my opinion. You don’t hear too many songs with a lotta solos in them these days. Is this a way for you to remain original?
GEORGE: I think the whole band agrees that today’s music has a general lack of solos. A solo, placed at the right spot in a song, can add that extra feeling, the emotion that helps people relate to what the singer’s talking about. It doesn’t need to be super-complicated either. Sometimes, a simple lick, a couple of notes will take a melody to the next level, and turn it into a song. The great thing about Peter and Keff is that, like you mentioned, they are both talented. They’re both good enough to back each other up, which is why they’ve both earned the “Lead / Rhythm Guitarist” title in the band. I think the key is that they are both humble enough to share that spotlight.

Psyko: Any input on the MontrealMusicScene website? Or the music scene in Montreal, in general? 
GEORGE: The MMS site is great. I never realized how big and varied the music scene was in this city. I would have never thought that there were that many bands out there. Through MMS, TZ Magazine and Montreal Shows, I’ve discovered events like Mosh Core… Although hardcore isn’t my cup of tea, I’m happy to support local bands, trying to help them succeed, and I’m proud when I see it happen. Acts that come to mind are Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Sam Roberts and Heaven’s Cry. Shiverdown’s been making waves lately and the boys from 3 Mile Scream are pretty cool too. Concerning success… I don’t think we’ve achieved it just yet. Or maybe we just haven’t defined what success is for us yet. Being an English band in Montreal… or just being a band in Montreal… I don’t see that as an obstacle. The music industry is tough, that’s all there is to it. I think the key is to just keep making music that is true to you. If you work hard and play your cards right, the rest will just fall into place.

Psyko: So what do you all do outside the band? Check out other bands? Drink your asses off?
GEORGE: We’re pretty much normal people. We’re all working… Peter and I are still in University. We all enjoy a good concert, football, hockey, video games… beer.
Speaking for myself, I love listening to music. When I’m around, you’ve always got a CD playing… be it morning, noon or night.

Psyko: Any future plans/goals for Devil Said Play?
GEORGE: We really try to take it one day at a time. Of course, one of our goals is to keep writing originals and evolving as a band. Short term, it’d be amazing if, in the next year or so, we could build a steady local fan base. We definitely wanna get into the studio and cut a demo real soon. Long term, we’ll see what happens. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves…
And it should be, as promised, updated real soon! J 
Devil Said Play also told me that they are planning an unplugged show sometime early next year and will be glad to have radios play their songs. They will keep us all posted (don’t worry) as to the demo recording and future progress. Good luck with recording and if anyone is interested in knowing more about the band, you can check out their website, www.websamba.com/devilsaidplay And it should be, as promised, updated real soon! J

~psyko~

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Devil Said Play

Devil Said Play

Sismik