Rei Haycraft got a chance to catch up with rising nu-metal act, Ded, after their set at Louder Than Life in Louisville, KY about their new album, Mis•An•Thrope, fan reactions, touring with their heroes, and how to best deal with internet trolls!
Rei: Rei Haycraft here with Fuel the Scene Magazine. Here with Ded at Louder Than Life…
David: What up?
Joe: How you doin’?
David: Hi.
Joe: Yes.
Rei: You all got off stage just a little while ago and it was killer. Last time we caught up with you guys was at Carolina Rebellion and that was the beginning of an insane summer and fall for you all. Can you give us the recap for everyone who caught our interview at Carolina Rebellion and wanna see what you’ve been up to?
David: We were out with Korn for a month. Korn, Stone Sour, Skillet, Yelawolf. We did a bunch of festivals. I can’t remember the names. I’m sure you got ’em. You’re better with names.
Joe: We did Rock on the Range. We did PointFest with the Breaking Benjamin guys and we did … What else did we do, man?
Kyle: Chicago Open Air.
David: High Elevation.
Joe: Sonic Boom tomorrow.
Rei: So you pretty much did everything.
David: We’re trying to.
Joe: Yeah. By the end of the year we’re gonna do Knotfest.
David: That’s the plan.
Rei: You got Shiprocked.
Joe: We’re doing Rock Allegiance, Shiprocked coming up.
David: I’ve never been on a cruise before, so we’ll see. Maybe I’ll throw up during the set. Who knows?
Rei: That’ll just be an intimate moment with the fans.
David: We got plenty of time to do it.
Rei: At Rebellion, we were gearing up for you all to release Misanthrope and then, in July, it dropped to great acclaim, I would say.
David: Thank you.
Joe: Yes. Yeah. It was cool.
Rei: That’s probably the most highly anticipated album in our circles, for sure. We got to review it and it’s still in rotation.
David: How was your review? Was the album okay?
Rei: It was absolutely fantastic. There is not a single track on there that we don’t listen to and love— there are no skippable tracks.
Joe: We tried really hard to make it that way. Thank you. That’s awesome.
Rei: How has the reception been for you all? How have you been reacting to the fans reacting to the album?
David: It’s an incredible feeling to see people loving it the way they do. I don’t think we’ve ever … any of us have ever put out a CD in any band we’ve ever been in that received this much praise. It’s crazy.
Joe: Absolutely. Yeah. I haven’t seen a bad review, I don’t think. There’s usually … maybe some mixed reviews.
David: We look for them!
Joe: Yeah. We looked … We tried because we’re hard on ourselves. We’re like, where’s the guy that hates us? We’re not seeing it. I’m sure he’s there, though.
David: Yeah, I’m sure he’s there. I’ve seen him in comments, just never a full review.
Joe: Exactly, yeah.
Kyle: Right, right.
Joe: We love the comments, too.
Kyle: Yeah. The comments are the best. They’re hilarious.
David: If you’re writing a shitty comment, just know that we’re laughing our ass off about it. It’s fun.
Joe: We don’t care if you don’t like us. It’s totally fine.
David: We’ve seen “Anti-Everything, more like Anti-Talented”, which was one of my favorites.
Joe: That’s a good one. Yeah, I saw that.
David: I think that was my favorite so far. It was just clever. Hats off to that guy.
Rei: Yeah. Don’t feed the trolls.
David: No, it’s fine. It’s funny.
Joe: It’s just an opinion. It’s totally … It’s just funny. It’s great.
David: A lot of people just make good jokes, too. If we can’t laugh at ourselves … well, if you can’t laugh at yourself, you’re taking yourself too seriously, I guess.
Kyle: Haven’t we been told that online, that we were good at laughing at ourselves?
Joe: Yeah. Yeah, because I’ve commented back to a couple people and they’d be like, “Well, that’s pretty cool that they …” They’ll make fun of us and I’ll be like, “Oh, you know, whatever.” And then they’ll be like …”Oh, that’s cool. You guys are pretty cool, actually.”
Rei: They’re like “Oh, you talked to me.”
Joe: Yeah, yeah. Then they straighten up, yeah.
David: Shitty comments, the most clever ones, I’ll like them from the fan page ’cause they’re funny. They’re good! Whoever’s doin’ it, keep it up whether you like the band or not. It’s awesome.
Kyle: If it’s funny, it’s good.
Joe: It’s all good, man.
David: We share them with each other. If there’s something classic, we say, “You gotta read this thing.”
Joe: We send it into the group text, absolutely.
David: Here’s a screen shot of what I just saw last night.
Rei: I think the fans, and even the people who aren’t fans, appreciate that. That, one, the humor, and two, that you all are that engaged with your fans.
Joe: Yeah.
Rei: That’s something that we continuously hear when we’re seeing reviews and we’re following what you all are doing.
David: Yeah.
Rei: Seeing the way you treat your fans, the live show experience is something that people really respond to, as well as the album. All of the facets are there with you guys. That’s something we’ve been just continually impressed by.
Joe: Yeah. Thank you.
Rei: As far as live, when we caught up with you at Carolina Rebellion, you were playing some of the material for the first couple of times.
Joe: Yeah.
David: Yeah.
Rei: That was the first couple of shows. Now that you’ve had all of these festivals under your belt, what songs are the fans reacting to the best or the most poignant for them live?
Joe: I think Anti-Everything is always there.
David: Yeah.
Joe: I think FMFY, Architect, Disassociate …
David: Yeah.
Kyle: [inaudible 00:04:54]
Joe: … Hate Me, yeah.
David: Hate Me has been getting a lot of stuff, too.
Joe: You saw the set today?
Rei: Hmm?
Joe: You saw the set today?
Rei: [shakes head – affirmative]
Joe: Did you notice a pretty big difference?
Rei: I only got to catch a couple of songs of Rebellion.
Joe: Okay.
Rei: It still was amazing.
David: Yeah.
Joe: It’s growing fast to us, for sure.
David: The crowd interaction, it seems like they jump when we jump, they head bang when we head bang.
Rei: They all know the songs.
Joe: They have the album now.
David: Yeah.
Joe: Yeah.
David: It’s really crazy just to see so many people looking to catch your eye contact and they’re singing the words to you like they wanna … They want you to see them singing the words, which is so rad. That’s the coolest part. As opposed to ..
Rei: [inaudible 00:05:30] finger guns.
Kyle: Exactly.
David: Try to just hit them in the forehead with a guitar pick.
Rei: I would be pretty stoked about that. Oh, I got punched in the face, but it’s fine.
David: Oh.
Joe: [Laughing]
David: During the show?
Rei: Anything.
David: [inaudible 00:05:42]
Joe: I’ve gotten my nose ring ripped out at shows before. It hurts.
Rei: In a pit?
Joe: At an Every Time I Die show, I got kicked in the face and it got hooked and it ripped out.
Rei: Oooh.
Joe: I love Every Time I Die.
David: Crowd surfing once.
Rei: That does happen. That does happen. During all these festivals, I’m sure there’s a lot of memories that stick out as being some really great beacons. What are some things, either funny or memorable things, that have happened this summer?
Joe: Man, I never saw Metallica before. That was very special for me.
Kyle: Ozzy at Chicago Open Air, as well.
Joe: Yeah, watching legends play.
David: Yeah.
Joe: Never seen either of them play. It was really cool. There was a dude in a unicorn floatie at Rock on the Range.
David: That was amazing.
Joe: That was hilarious.
Kyle: [inaudible 00:06:27] He was lovin’ it.
Rei: [Laughing]
David: I got a perfect video of this guy crowd surfing in a unicorn blow-up floatie. It’s probably one of my favorite videos I’ve ever gotten.
Joe: Yeah.
David: It was completely sporadic, too.
Kyle: I think Matt saw somebody crowd surf on top of another person. He was holding his hands and the guy …
David: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Kyle: … had his arms straight up and there’s a guy on top of him like this, just going towards the front.
David: We had a 70-year-old … a 71-year-old woman crowd surf For Dead today.
Joe: Yeah.
David: That’s one of my favorite memories, for sure.
Kyle: And she lived.
David: I’ll never forget that.
Joe: Yeah. The mosh pitting and just the energy, we love that. We love the pitting and the crowd surfing, man. We love it.
Rei: It feels like you all are really in tune with the energy that is coming off of the crowd.
Joe: Yeah.
Rei: It really seems to fuel you. The more hyped they get, you can see you all getting more and more hyped.
Joe: Oh, yeah. I think that’s every band. If you come out and see your favorite band and you let them know that the music makes you feel a certain way, they’re gonna feed off of that and they’re gonna give you more of that energy that you’re looking for. It’s a show. It’s a communal thing, absolutely.
David: Yeah.
Rei: How does that differ than working on music videos? You all just put out Remember the Enemy.
David: Music videos are hard because you’re rocking out for nobody. There’s no applause. You just go super-hard and then just hear the person be like, “Cut.”
Joe: Yeah.
Kyle: Right. Yeah. Cue the playback.
David: Then everybody just jumps in their job. So you have to really be mentally aware that you’re doing a video, but you have to be in the space of … We can all dream what it’s like to be at a show …
Joe: Yeah.
David: …and have a crowd going nuts. You have to have that in your head because, if you just feel like, I just worked my ass off and nobody’s clapping anymore…
Rei: Pat myself on my back.
David: You’re gonna feel like shit after a minute, when you just really go, all right. Cool. I know what I’m doing. I’ve done this before … I think the first music video I ever did was probably one of the most awkward experiences, ’cause you have to go so hard and the director’s there and everybody just tells you, “Let’s hit it again.” They’re just sitting there holding something. You’re like, feeling your back and your neck and stuff.
Joe: Yeah.
Rei: Was it good?
David: Yeah.
Joe: Should I do more?
Kyle: [inaudible 00:08:29]
David: Yeah, yeah.
Kyle: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s great.
David: Yeah. And you ask them, “What should I do? Do you have any notes?” And they’re like, “No, man. It’s great.”
Joe: Yeah. Keep doin’ that.
David: The camera wasn’t even pointed towards me.
Joe: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
David: I don’t think he even saw anything I did.
Joe: We all ask each other, How’d you do?
David: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Joe: I think I did okay.
David: Yeah.
Joe: I have no idea.
David: I think the show is … you see the immediate response. In the video, you have to wait for the playback for the response to be all right. That does look good. This doesn’t look good.
Joe: Like we did our videos with Fred Durst.
David: Yeah.
Joe: He’s pretty good at saying, “Yo, that was sick. Do more of that.”
David: Yeah.
Joe: He’s pretty good at coaching you, honestly. Yeah.
David: He’s really good at placement, too.
Joe: Yeah.
David: On stage, you’re running around all over the place. In a video, you have to find your mark and make sure … ‘Cause we also wanna make sure that everybody’s filmed equally, especially a lot of our videos. You wanna see all four of the people. You don’t want so-and-so blocking this and whatever the other stuff. You have to be aware, but also lose your mind in the moment, too, so that’s a little weird.
Rei: How was the whole being in a cage thing?
David: That’s on him. He broke his toe.
Joe: I smashed my toe. I think it’s broken, but you’re just supposed to live with it, I hear.
Rei: Yeah. You can’t really do anything.
Joe: It hurts terribly.
Rei: Still?
Joe: It’s two months later, yes.
Rei: Oh, no.
David: He told Fred, “I think I broke my toe.” And Fred said, “How many times do you think you can do this again, then?”
Joe: Yeah.
David: Instead of being, “All right. Cool. We got what we needed.”
Joe: He’s like a football coach. He’s like, “All right. Cool.”
David: Oh, that’s cool.
Rei: Walk it off. Walk it off.
Joe: Crawl back in that space.
David: How much more do you think you have in you, then?
Joe: How metal are you? Yeah.
David: Your other toe’s not broken, lead with that one.
Joe: Yeah, yeah.
Rei: Just lean this way.
Joe: Yeah.
David: Yeah.
Joe: It turned out sick, so I’ll live with it until it goes away.
Rei: Do you all have any more music videos in the works? I know you’ve got a lot of shows and tours coming up.
David: Plans for two more.
Joe: Yeah. Remember the Enemy is the new single, though, either way. We saw that it’s 24 on Billboard right now.
David: Yeah, yeah.
Joe: It’s right next to the Foo Fighters.
David: Absolutely. We’re not rushing to a new single, though.
Joe: Yeah. We’re stoked. Remember the Enemy’s an awesome song and we’re stoked that it’s out there.
David: Response from the video has been amazing.
Joe: Yeah.
Rei: Oh, it’s fantastic. It’s a nice change from Anti-Everything, which was also awesome, but it was more mysterious.
David: Yeah, we did that on purpose. One of them was very clear and then one of them wasn’t. The next one will be something else, too.
Rei: Secrets.
Joe: Yeah.
Rei: We need more secrets.
Joe: Always trying to mix it up, yep.
Rei: You all are also nominated for a kick-ass award. Want to tell us a little bit about that?
Kyle: Best new artist, yeah. Livewire.
Joe: We’ll be at … We’re playing the kickoff show with Beartooth, Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes and Avatar. Then we’re gonna be at the awards show in LA. It’s really cool. That’s a website I’ve been going to for years to get my news. I go to that and a slew of others, but that’s one of the main ones I go to.
Rei: Speaking of bucket list items, you all have crossed dozens of them off just in the last couple of months.The people that you’re touring with, the shows you’re playing, the reception you’re getting. What’s next on your bucket list?
Joe: I guess just more cool tours, just playing with more bands. Really, seeing … Today, seeing the way the crowd was and the growth from the first festival we played and in some of the shows, to the way that it was today, like having three simultaneous mosh pits. That made me smile real quick. I was stoked on that.
David: My bucket list would just be even bigger mosh pits. I always want a bigger one.
Joe: More mosh pits.
Kyle: I’m waiting for our first circle pit.
David: Oh. We had one!
Joe: I got two simultaneous circle pits going.
David: I think everything’s a bucket list, honestly. Europe’s a bucket list. International’s a bucket list. Everywhere you go, there’s always something new to … Oh, what if we did that, though. I’ve seen that band do this. You want to do it all. I think even just playing all of these summer festivals was a bucket list. We used to watch all these … just the flyers and bands that never play these. Now even just to be here, and then not just do one or two, to be like we’re doing every single one. Yeah.
Joe: Gojira’s playing right now.
David: I feel like we’ve been on tour with Gojira, which is the best feeling in the world.
Joe: We love them so much.
David: Yeah.
Kyle: I want to go on tour with Gojira, though, for sure.
Rei: We have one fan question from the website.
Joe: Sure.
Rei: For you, do you have any kind of pre-show ritual for your vocals like tea or vocal rest?
Joe: Oh, yeah. I do some brief scales, I guess, real quick. I do a little bit of jogging, some stretching. We do Insanity sometimes, just some of the stretches from Insanity. Sometimes a couple drinks just to get warmed up. That’s about it. Nothing crazy.
Rei: I think they want to know your vocal secrets.
Joe: My vocal secret is years of training my vocals and practicing a lot. That’s what my secret is.
David: As a person who records him singing a lot, he doesn’t need a lot of warm-ups. It’s crazy. I’ll wake him up at 10 in the morning and be like, “Come in the studio, we gotta sing something today.” He’ll be there at 10:30 and it sounds awesome. Whatever he does, I like it.
Rei: Is there anything else that you want fans to know, other than all the great stuff we’ve covered already?
Joe: Just to stay in touch with us. We try to watch all of our social media. It’s D-e-d, Ded Official on Facebook, Ded Official on Instagram. We are Ded on Twitter.
David: Yeah. Just reach out. Talk to us. Say whatever you’re thinking.
Joe: Yeah. Let us know if you wanna to come to your place or your state or wherever you are. Thank you guys for reacting the way you have been.
David: It’s been crazy. The reception of everyone is insane.
Kyle: Yeah. Seriously, just catch us online, hit us up, tell us where you want us to be and we’ll be there.
Matt: Hi.
All: [Laughter]
Joe: I was looking for the shitty one, yeah.
David: “I wasn’t expecting this!”
Joe: That’s an inside joke. Anyway, go on. All right.
Rei: I feel blessed to be on the inside.
David: Thank you for having us back, by the way.
Rei: Yes. Absolutely. No. Whenever I see you all on something, I’m gonna try to catch up to be there.
David: Yeah.
Kyle: Thank you.
Joe: Thank you.
David: If not, I’m gonna start photo bombing all of your interviews until we get back on.
Rei: I think you can do that anyway, I won’t mind.
David: All right. We’ll do that.
Rei: Thank you so much for taking time with us.
Joe: Thank you.
David: Thank you.
Rei: Have a great rest of your festival.
Joe: Thank you.
fuelthescene.com 