Deafheaven‘s quick ascent up the ranks was certainly aided by the press largely embracing them, but the positive reception has presented some notable obstacles along with all the accolades . While some metalheads have been dismissive of the band and their combination of influences, guitarist Kerry McCoy isn’t too phased by the backlash and apparently hopes to win them over. He shared with Rollingstone.com about it and the bands forthcoming album “New Bermuda“:
“That mixture of influences has kind of always been our thing, much to some peoples’ annoyance. But a lot of this record is us being like, ‘Look, we are a metal band. We do a lot of other stuff, but we can solo; we can have some Slayer riffs in there. There was a lot of, ‘Hey, what if we throw some traditional thrash metal stuff in here, but just make it our own?’ And I think it worked really well.”
Though metal plays a key role in the bands sound, McCoy reveals that he has tried to distance himself from some other genres on the upcoming release:
“I was definitely trying to distance myself from the whole shoegaze thing and go more towards alternative rock, which is why there’s the Oasis homage at the end of ‘Gifts for the Earth,’ and some of the songs have more of a slow-core vibe — like, my take on Low or Red House Painters. There’s even like a Wilco slide guitar-y thing on ‘Come Back.’ Not so much reverb and spacey-ness, which in my opinion is being beaten to death currently, but more of an emphasis on hooks, riffs and real melodies.”
For more on that, head over to Rollingstone.com. Deafheaven‘s “New Bermuda” is slated for an October 02nd release on ANTI-.
