Metal Monday: Revocation Q&A

posted in: Exclusive Interviews • Rock

One of the more anticipated albums in the metal community at large this summer has to be Revocation‘s upcoming album Chaos of Forms, set for release on August 16th (Relapse Records), a follow-up to 2009’s excellent Existence Is Futile. Technically, Chaos is the band’s fourth album, but third under the Revocation moniker and second release on Relapse. Having been named the Number 1 modern metal guitarist by MetalSucks earlier this year, David Davidson shouldered some pretty high expectations alongside his Revocation bandmates but, boy, did they ever deliver. Chaos of Forms is certainly one of the strongest metal albums of 2011 so far. David was nice enough to answer some of our questions regarding the new album and Revocation in general amidst their busy summer touring schedule.

OS: You guys play a lot of hometown shows in Boston, how do these gigs usually compare with gigs in other cities?

DD: It’s always great to play in your hometown since all your friends come out and it feels like one big party. Plus, if we’re doing a local one off show, we know that we don’t have to do an eight+ hour long drive the next day so we can hang out and rage all night after the gig!

OS: Have you ever thought about having guest spots on your albums? If you could have anyone guest on a Revocation song, who would you choose?

DD: We’ve had guest spots on our records before. On Empire of the Obscene we had our buddies Pat Henry (Swashbuckle) and James Delahanty (Random Acts of Violence) do guest vocals on the title track. It would be rad if we could get someone like Phil Anselmo or Mike Patton to do some guest vocals on a song. I really admire both their styles a lot.

OS: The shred and technicality of Chaos of Forms is probably at an all-time best for the band. Just how much more technical and shred-tastic do you think you could (or would want to) go?

DD: We’re at the stage now where we’re not really concerned with being technical or whatever. We just wanna write kick ass songs and if they happened to be technical that’s fine, but it’s not our goal when we set out to write a song that it needs to be technical. Tasty, is probably a better word, we want all our songs to be tasty.

OS: It’s pretty widely known that you guys used to be a three-piece, and then Dan was brought on as a touring member. How/when did he become a full time member of Revocation?

DD: He first did the Metal as Art tour with us back in January 2010. That was Dan’s trial run and he worked out great. He came back out with us when we toured the US again in the summer and that’s when we made the decision to bring him on board full time. He’s been a great addition to the band and is truly a great guy overall.

OS: With such a diverse sound, you guys could tour with just about any extreme metal band. What’s been some of your favorite bills/tours you’ve played on so far?

DD: We’ve done so many killer tours over the last year and they were all great for different reasons. Although I will say that it was a dream come true to tour with bands like Atheist and Forbidden since they helped define what metal is today.

OS: So David Davidson, aka Number 1 Modern Metal Guitarist as named by MetalSucks, do you have any plans for a solo shred record in the works? If so, is it called the David Davidson Project?

DD: No plans for a solo project yet. Still just really focused on Revocation, but maybe at some point in the future it would be cool to do something like that. If it ever happens I have no idea what I’d call it so yeah the David Davidson Project is first in the running for potential names at this point [haha].

OS: You’ve said in interviews that you studied at Berklee School Of Music. How much of a challenge is it to fight off some of your tendencies you learned in school? How about avoiding the famed Berklee Sound?

DD: It’s not really a challenge. I studied with a lot of amazing players and learned a ton of theory and stuff but, ultimately, I try not to think about any of that when I’m writing riffs. It either rocks or it doesn’t and no amount of theoretical knowledge can save a riff if it there’s no vibe to it. As far as avoiding the Berklee Sound goes, I went in with an open mind and studied with as many diverse guitarists that I could so hopefully my solos sound diverse and unique. I hope that my style is recognizable as my own, but at the same time is not easily classifiable or pigeonholed as just one kind of sound. I think every guitarist strives to find their own voice as a musician; the theory is just a tool to help you understand and analyze your playing.

If there’s one metal album that you need to make sure to hear in 2011, Chaos of Forms is it. Revocation swiftly silence all naysayers by delivering a fresh sounding thrash/death metal album unlike anything out there. They’re finishing their tour with Forbidden, but haven’t yet announced a fall tour. Our fingers are crossed on them announcing something in the near future. Go buy Revocation’s new album the second you can…we promise you won’t be disappointed. You can check out one of the songs, “No Funeral” from Chaos of Forms below: