The album artwork by Dmitry Ligay for Time and Pressure is very powerful. Can you tell us a little bit about how it ties into the lyrical themes present on the record?
Blake: Sure. When we were talking about the record, we saw this one picture of a man that was in a beaten down or broken position…and it seemed like he was getting dissolved or evaporated into something else. Transcending into something higher. So we knew that with that being the theme of the record, especially “Good Man” being about the human condition. It seemed like we couldn’t exactly find the right picture, so we just asked an artist to kind of put that idea together for us. That was Dmitry. And he sent back the artwork, and it was like a change of pace. We saw the record, and we saw everything in its entirety once we saw that picture. And I think it says a lot about our band and who we are as people. He’s an amazing artist that took an idea and turned it into a great piece of art.
Joey: We were also just super ecstatic with the fact that we had found this artist in Uzbekistan all the way across the world. With our theme of our music, it felt like to connect with someone so far away was kind of the purpose. And to do that in a visual artistic way was very cool for us as well.
One of my favorite tracks on the album is “Crossroads.” Musically, it’s very different from the rest of the album and has a very real message. Can you tell us a little bit more about the idea behind the track?
Joey: Yeah! I think for us, on this first record, we were casting as wide of a net as we could. I think not only to kind of define what our sound might be because we just didn’t know. But also to kind of show the world all the different kinds of music that Blake and I had been writing for a long, long time. It never worked with Egypt Central. I mean, it was pretty much straight…a certain kind of rock that the label and the rest of the guys in the band wanted. So for Blake and I, it was a real opportunity to write the kind of music that we’ve always written, always loved. We have a much more diverse musical palette than we had been able to show. And I think “Crossroads” is a really great example of not only what we can do musically, but also, ironically, about that business that forces us to write one kind of song. So the song had this like two-edged blade to it, and we thought that was really clever and cool.
Awesome! That’s actually perfect because it ties into my next question. You both filled so many different roles in the studio for this album which I’m sure gave you the creative freedom you wanted, while also putting a great deal of pressure on you. Do you think you’ll ever bring other musicians into the writing process? Or is the stress worth the freedom?
Blake: I think the stress was definitely worth the freedom.
Joey: I don’t know if we want to do that to anybody else. [Laughs] I mean, we’ve been friends for so long and we really cultivate the peaks and valleys of not only our friendship…but when you’re in a business together or you write songs together or bare your heart out together, it doesn’t mean you’re always in a great place either, you know?
Blake: It becomes more of brotherhood than friendship. Because you live together, you work together, and I mean, obviously we’re talking about each other here…
Joey: But then somebody comes in that doesn’t grow up with you and doesn’t write, and he tells you his opinion. Meaning the label or the manager, whatever. And that adds stress, too. So for right now, we’re just happy holding onto the back of this train. I don’t know if we want to try to hold onto somebody else, too… [Laughs]
Blake: I think being in the studio though and you know, the pressure of tracking all the instruments and all that…I think that at the end of the day when it all gets mixed down and the record is completed, it’s just nice to know that it is our original conception of the music. And this is how we would play it if we don’t have so many cooks in the kitchen pulling the music in different ways. Not that that’s necessarily a good or a bad thing, it’s just a little bit less stressful having to deal with personalities.
That makes sense.
Joey: We forget to mention sometimes that for a decade we wrote with a bunch of outside opinions…which, no offense, have proven to be irrelevant because we kept going and they didn’t. So it kind of for me is like…not “I told you so” but more of, “Why would we go back to that?”
Absolutely. And a lot of those ideas come through in your lyrics…
Joey: [Laughs] What? That we were frustrated? Where do I even begin? [All laugh]
Obviously fans of Devour the Day know who your original influences are, but is there any new artist or album that’s inspiring you guys at the moment? What’s currently on your playlist?
Blake: What inspires us the most is when we hear an artist that is taking chances and risks and makes music without fear. We are inspired by that 120%.
Joey: Totally. I agree.
Blake: We love the music out there that, even if it’s not 100% truly fearless, it bares that feeling and that’s the way that we take it either way. There’s a lot of good music out there that does that for us. Twenty One Pilots is a great example of a band that does exactly what they want to do. Not that their music has influenced us to sound like them…it’s the way that they carry themselves and what they talk about, how they talk about it, and how they present themselves. We admire that and are very inspired by it.
Joey: Yeah, I would say everything from A$AP Rocky that we like because he makes his own beats and does his own thing. Bring Me The Horizon their new album is just a very nice “f- you” to the lambgoaters. Which is cool. And our label mates Red Sun Rising cause we like some of the songs on their record quite a bit. So it’s pretty diverse I would say.
If you were to cover any album in its entirety, what would it be and why?
Blake: I would like to cover Rage Against the Machine – Rage Against the Machine. That’s the best band record on the planet. I’ve studied the guitar parts since I was eleven years old, and the drums and everything and the way it’s done. That record still stands up to everything in my music library. Sonically, trend-wise, whatever. It’s still an amazing record.
Joey: Umm…Aw man. Now I feel cliche, but I just have to say it. Just for the sake of knowing all the songs…I don’t know how we’d pull off all the vocals, but I would do Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon. And when I say pull off the vocals, I’m not thinking about the main one. I’m just thinking about the woman… [Laughs]
Blake: Our guitar player, David, could probably emulate a woman. We’ll just get some kind of clamping device…a bull clamp!
Joey: So, yeah…I would do Dark Side of the Moon with David, our guitar player, with a bull clamp on his testicles.
Blake: Wow. That’s a very educated and very respectable answer. [All laugh]
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