Iron Mathew caught up with Chris Broderick for an email based interview:

 

Hello, I’m Iron Mathew, pleased to meet you. Tell me, how young were you when you first listened to Heavy Metal?

The first time I heard a metal song was probably when I was 7 years old. The song was ‘Barracuda’ by Heart and I thought it was the coolest thing ever.

And which bands/artists were your inspiration to become a musician?

The first thing that inspired me to become a musician was actually a friend of mine who had a guitar. I always loved to come over and play it and never wanted to put it down. From there, it was people like Eddie Van Halen and Yngwie Malmsteen that inspired me to play.

You have all been in successful bands prior to forming Act Of Defiance, what do you see as challenges for new bands starting nowadays compared to when you first started?

Competition! And there’s tons of it. Everybody is trying to be recognised, get promotion and play tours. There are even more bands out there now, with even less resources than there used to be.

How do you continually come up with new ideas for the lyrical theme of songs?

There’s no end to ideas, concepts, views, etc… So I capitalise on these and write about what’s pertinent to me at the time, and when you have four people in your band that can write good lyrics, there’s no shortage of them.

Is there anything you do outside of music that contributes/inspires you, to write new songs?

The only thing I can think of, would be the idea that sometimes when I’m writing the song, tells this sort of visual story that I have in my head, whether it’s lyrical or even just musical. So, for example, there’s a solo that I wrote that reminds me of a very turbulent ocean, if that makes any sense, ha ha ha . . .

And what drives you to keep going, playing and performing?

That’s a very good question, and one I ask myself sometimes. For me, it starts with the love of playing music, writing and enjoying what I do on the guitar. Sometimes you can get caught up in the difficulties, such as travel, lack of sleep, no food, etc… but at the end of the day it’s all worth it to be able to play music.

With so much talent and experience within the band, how was the writing process for the new album?

The process for ‘Old Scars, New Wounds’ was very similar in the beginning to ‘Birth And The Burial’. It started with each of us writing our own individual demos and submitting them together. From there we started to collaboratively look at the melodic lines of the vocals, how they should be sung, whether we should have a chorus transposed or whether we should alternate a verse, things of that nature. So, by the end of this record it was very much a team effort in how it was going to sound and be presented.

What was the latest album/albums you purchased?

Black Dahlia Murder ‘Nightbringers’, I am a fan of their new guitarist Brandon Ellis and he does some really cool stuff on the CD.

And, who are you listening to right now?

In addition to Black Dahlia Murder, I’m also listening to bands like Revocation and Gojira, my usual staples Pantera and Meshuggah and shredders like Jason Becker and Paul Gilbert.

When fans attend an Act Of Defiance gig, what will they experience?

First off I would hope that they would experience a show that has music that they thoroughly thought was kick-ass, and that the show itself was very much inclusive of them, and what they bring to the show as a whole. In a lot of tours in the past, we’ve done cover songs, where we’ve had audience members come up and play with us. It’s always a kick-ass time, and we try and have as much fun as possible with our audience.

During a live performance, should any of you make any kind of mistake, how do you handle it?

Ha ha ha, there are plenty of mistakes to be had in every show, and all we do is laugh it off and have a good time and move on to the next song.

Moving forward, what’s next for Act Of Defiance?

We are working on getting out and touring ‘Old Scars, New Wounds’, extensively in both North America and Europe, as well as South America and Asia. That is at the forefront of our goal set at the moment.

And finally, where can fans keep up to date with Act Of Defiance news and also purchase a copy of the new album?

You can keep up with us on all of our social media sites, Act Of Defiance on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, as well as picking up our CD at metalblade.com/actofdefiance.

Thank you for your support and we will see you guys out on the road.

 

---