Jeremy DePoyster - The Devil Wears Prada 'Writing Music That Lasts Forever'
Vans Warped Tour was renowned for taking emerging bands that we were building up in their scene and catapaulting them into a new stratosphere. The Devil Wears Prada had been grinding for a number of years and growing steadily on the back of their first 3-4 records, but I remember seeing them on Warped Tour in 2008 and thinking ‘These guys are going to blow the fuck up!’.
Speaking with guitarist/vocalist Jeremy DePoyster, it’s clear that the band knew something was happening at the time.
"It was a cool phenomenon. You had us, Bring Me The Horizon, A Day To Remember, Parkway Drive and a bunch of people from really small scenes that kind of ushered in this new era of stuff. I don’t think we had any idea of just what was going on and the longevity of it. We were just riding the wave. It’s so cool to see not just us, but all of our peers still doing this full time. It’s awesome."
2008 feels like an age ago now. Prada have released a slew of records over the last 16 years and in my humble opinion are very much at the apex of their career these days. Records like Transit Blues, The Act and Color Decay have seen the band experiment with new styles, sounds and dynamics, but it feels like they have finally found their stride and the magic that keeps them humming creatively.
DePoyster notes that their audience have taken to their sonic exploration with open arms.
"We’ve seen it at the shows. The age old thing is, you want to play your new songs, no one wants to hear your new songs, they’re there to hear the old hits. We’ve had the opposite effect and our newer songs get the biggest reaction every night.
I do think the songwriting has a lot to do it. Using our voices where they’re appropriate rather than ‘ok, here’s where you sing as high as you can’. Maybe it’s just 20 years of trying to figure it out and landing on something that has a resonance outside of our niche scene that we grew up in. There’s all kinds of people that like the music now."
So many bands reach their 20 year mark in their career, turn the creativity switch off and just fall into being a legacy band that can churn out an album anniversary tour every few years and cash in on the nostalgia for a quick buck. We’ve seen it time and time again and DePoyster is adamant about ensuring Prada does the exact opposite.
"I don’t want to be thought of as a legacy band. I go to a lot of hardcore festivals and will talk to a lot of people in that community who tell me that they grew up listening to us, and that’s really cool. If that was all I had, I think I would just be bummed out.
When we put out Transit Blues or The Act and things like that, we got a lot of flack for it. It was pushing boundaries for ourselves and it’s hard to stay the course when you’re trying to figure out what you wanna do. I’m proud of my guys for having the guts to not just rack up another version of a record we’ve already made. We started this band in the first place because we wanted to create something new that hadn’t been heard before.’
In 2019, Prada released their seventh full length The Act. That album featured a single called 'Chemical’, a powerful song that spoke to mental health in an incredibly relatable way. I knew immediately from first listen that it was going to be a good song for the band, but I certainly didn’t expect it to quickly become their most streamed song and to be everywhere on rock radio in the US.
DePoyster admits that he knew the song was something special, but it took a little convincing to get it over the line.
"I remember going to Jon (Gering - keyboard player/producer) and he had the bones of that song. He said ‘I also have this, but I think it might be too far.’ I literally said ‘if we don’t use that, I’m just going to buy that song and use it.'
At the beginning of our career, the first five records we put out were slam dunk after slam dunk. Everything was a home run. Then we put a few things that kind of took a backtrack and I’m kinda thankful for that. It made me think ‘oh well, if people don’t like it, then I don’t care. I think it’s good and I’m going to make the things that we want to make and put them out.’
I think we even talked about it and I said ‘if we can’t do a song like this, then I don’t know if I wanna do this anymore. This is what’s resonating with me right now and these are the kinds of stories that I feel like telling.’ It was the opposite effect though. ‘Chemical’ in particular and subsequently songs on Color Decay and after, everyone has this connection to the music. I think it was because we were so honest and authentic.
The more I’m authentic and talk about the things that we go through, the more it resonates with people. I think that’s more important than record sales or anything else. I’m trying to write stuff that lasts forever and when we play ‘Chemical’, you can see it on people's faces. It’s an experience on both sides to be able to have that moment.’
Interview by Nicholas Simonsen @blackechomusic
The Devil Wears Prada are currently touring with Alpha Wolf across Australia.
ALPHA WOLF – HALF LIVING THINGS AUSTRALIAN TOUR 2024
with THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, INVENT ANIMATE + THROWN
FRIDAY 2 AUGUST – CHELSEA HEIGHTS HOTEL, MELB 15+ – SOLD OUT
SATURDAY 3 AUGUST – FORUM, MELBOURNE 18+ – SOLD OUT
SUNDAY 4 AUGUST – HINDLEY ST MUSIC HALL , ADEL LIC AA – SOLD OUT
WEDNESDAY 7 AUGUST – LIBERTY HALL, SYDNEY LIC AA – FINAL TICKETS
THURSDAY 8 AUGUST – LIBERTY HALL, SYDNEY LIC AA – SOLD OUT
FRIDAY 9 AUGUST 2024 – KING ST BANDROOM, NEWCASTLE 18+ – SOLD OUT
SATURDAY 10 AUGUST 2024 – FORTY MUSIC HALL, BRIS 18+ – SOLD OUT
