[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Section” fullwidth=”on” specialty=”off” _builder_version=”3.0.51″ background_color=”#ad9039″ global_module=”34913″][et_pb_fullwidth_menu admin_label=”Menu #25″ global_parent=”34913″ _builder_version=”3.0.51″ menu_id=”103″ background_color=”#ad9039″ submenu_direction=”downwards” fullwidth_menu=”off” background_layout=”dark” text_orientation=”center” dropdown_menu_animation=”fade” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial” dropdown_menu_bg_color=”#ad9039″ mobile_menu_bg_color=”#ad9039″ /][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” background_color=”#000000″ custom_padding=”0px|0px|0px|0px” disabled_on=”on|on|off” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_image=”https://digi.heavymag.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/Hypnotica-Promo.jpeg”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” use_custom_width=”on” custom_padding=”199px|0px|338px|99px” column_padding_mobile=”on” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” background_color=”#232323″ custom_padding=”0px|0px|0px|0px” disabled_on=”off|off|on” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_image=”https://digi.heavymag.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/Hypnotica-Promo.jpeg”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” custom_padding=”199px|0px|63px|99px” column_padding_mobile=”on” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” background_color=”#000000″ custom_padding=”35px|0px|46px|0px” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax=”on”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” custom_padding=”14px|0px|0px|0px” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_code admin_label=”Code” _builder_version=”3.0.47″]<iframe src="https://embed.spotify.com/?uri=spotify%3Aartist%3A3utQcH2w7TpPvkv2mOusjA" width="100%" height="380" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true"></iframe>[/et_pb_code][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” background_color=”#230000″ custom_padding=”2px|0px|1px|0px” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax=”on”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” custom_padding=”44px|0px|25px|0px” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” src=”https://digi.heavymag.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/LogoMain_500.png” animation=”fade_in” align=”center” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ /][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” custom_padding=”5px|0px|0px|0px” column_padding_mobile=”on” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”dark” text_orientation=”justified” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ text_font=”Judson|on|||” text_font_size=”16px” text_text_color=”#ffffff” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”]
“I think we had this chat at band rehearsal recently,” laughed Pierina O’Brien, vocalist for Melbourne’s Devil Electric.
“I definitely think that imitation is definitely not something any of us subscribes to deliberately. For me, I try not to listen to… if we’re writing music I try to listen to things that I’m influenced by that’s not necessarily in the same genre so I’m keeping away from writing melodies and stuff that sound too close to anything else but I feel there’s no harm in taking inspiration and working it through with your music. We’re all influenced by different things that kind of leap out in our creativity and I think that’s important to include as long as it’s not ripping off.”
The reason this subject is even broached is because Devil Electric is and sounds heavily influenced by Black Sabbath, but in saying that, have modernised the sound and feel of the music and stamped their own influence throughout.
“I think that’s something that has always been done,” O’Brien answered of taking classic rock sounds and giving them a modern twist. “If you look at the way music has evolved, it’s always old sounds and trying to make them contemporary and your own interpretation is… I mean, everyone is exposed to different things every day and takes different things into account and has different upbringing so it all comes through in what we do and I think your own take on things will always make it a bit more contemporary. So I think it’s just something that you naturally do when you’re songwriting.”
With their debut self- titled album coming out on August 11, O’Brien says this period of time with having the album finished and just waiting for it to be released is full of excitement and nervous anticipation.
“I actually love this period just before it comes out,” she laughed. “There’s so much unknown and so much that we’ve got that we’re still holding back. It’s a pretty exciting period but it has been hard to wait to release everything.”
So does that excitement translate to a feeling the fans are going to enjoy the album?
“I hope so,” she answered sincerely. “I definitely think… people that have heard the EP will hear that the album is the next evolution of our sound. People are reacting really well to “Hypnotica”, so let’s hope they like the rest of the album, too (laughs).”
“Hypnotica,” the lead single off the album, is an epic six-and-a-half minute song which is a big risk considering people’s reduced attention spans in the modern age, but O’Brien feels the strength of the song will help overcome any doubts people have over its length.
[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”dark” text_orientation=”justified” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ text_font=”Raleway Light|on|||” text_font_size=”16px” text_text_color=”#ffffff” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” /][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”dark” text_orientation=”justified” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ text_font=”Judson|on|||” text_font_size=”16px” text_text_color=”#ffffff” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”]
“It’s a bit of a dark song,” she revealed. “It’s kind of about – for me, anyway – your own personal struggle between good and evil and being helpless to your own bad decisions, which I’m classic for (laughs). It’s kind of an abstract look at your own struggles between what’s right and what’s wrong. We love that song and it shows how we can be melodic when we want to be and have that openness to do one big, epic song. We knew that it was a strong song and we didn’t want it to not be the single just because of the length of it. I think in this day and age, there’s more opportunities to put longer songs like this out. There’s not as much risk because there’s so many platforms out there. In saying that we do have songs coming out that are definitely shorter (laughs).”
With just the one song currently on which to judge the album, O’Brien says that “Hypnotica”, while not summing up what the album is in its entirety, is a good starting point if you are new to their music.
“I think it’s indicative of perhaps the evolution of the band in terms of what we’re leaning towards, but I don’t think it’s necessarily the full sound of the album,” she surmised. “There will be new surprises that come through as the rest of the singles come out. It’s almost like a journey of an album. It starts at one end and goes through a different variety of types of musical influences and it ends on “Hypnotica” which is similar to the big opening song really and that’s more the doomier, darker side of things.”
When it came time to writing the album, O’Brien says that there were no real goals aside from improving on their debut EP, The Gods Below.
“We all have a very eclectic mix of music between us all,” she replied. “I think off the back of the EP, we were all pretty new still. I had joined the band a bit later than the boys and some of the songs on the EP were already written by the time I joined, so I think that this album is more all of us collaborating together and bringing all these influences together and working towards a common goal in that sense. We’ve all settled together as a band now and you can hear that even with some of the music we’re writing now. The album is a lot more what we’re going to sound like in the future. On the EP, we had a lot more of the doomier side of things. We do a lot of hard rock and we have the doom stuff, but I think we leant more towards the hard rock with “Çonfusion of Mind”, which was on the EP, and I think we combined those elements across to the album and we have a nice cross section of things with “Hypnotica” and a few more heavier ones like that. There’s more of the rock side of things on a few of the other singles that will be coming out in the next couple of months.”
Written by Kris Peters
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” background_color=”#000000″ custom_padding=”0px|0px|50px|0px” _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” src=”https://digi.heavymag.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/DE_Heavy_Digimag_595x842.gif” url=”http://www.devilelectric.com/” url_new_window=”on” align=”center” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ /][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” background_color=”#230000″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ /][et_pb_video admin_label=”Video” src=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_h9CSWbeRiY” image_src=”//i.ytimg.com/vi/_h9CSWbeRiY/hqdefault.jpg” play_icon_color=”#893939″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ /][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]
