Limited to a hand-numbered run of 69
copies, Action Figure is the debut
single for local veteran supergroup
The Devil Rides Out. Frontman Joe
Kapiteyn spills the beans.
“Andrew [Ewing, guitar] and I had
been talking about doing something
for a while. Nothing serious, just
talking over a beer. We never really
thought something would come out of
it. Then we heard that Royce [Uyen,
drums] was back in town and wanting
to do something, so we followed that
up. Royce is another survivor of
that same era of bands we are, so we
had a jam, and it went well, and we
took it from there.”
Having no plan, as such, The
Devil Rides Out as a band
was free to shape itself as
it went along, as was The
Devil Rides Out – the
concept.
“This is just a lot of fun
for us,” Kapiteyn says
proudly, “and all of us have
been in serious bands in the
past, so it’s nice to have a
band that’s about having a
good time. We try to let
everything be fun, and I
think we’re writing some of
the best stuff any of us
have ever done because of
that. They come a lot more
naturally. In the past, with
bands that were more
serious, the songs were a
lot more forced. Whereas
these ones just kind of
grow.”
Kapiteyn is wisely adamant
that there are no
limitations placed on The
Devil Rides Out. While the
band was formed, and is
upheld, on the notion of
having fun, there’s no
clause in the manifesto that
says anything more is
verboten.
“If something more came of
the band, then we’d be up
for it,” he says, “but we’re
not aiming for that. A lot
of bands used to succeed
because they were focused on
the music, but these days
there seems to be a lot more
marketing techniques coming
in to play. We’re happy if
something comes of this
band, but we won’t be
unhappy if it doesn’t.”
Organic growth, such as
this, tends to be an
integral part of the success
story of any great band.
While Kapiteyn’s
observations of the
marketing machine being more
deified than it perhaps used
to be are correct, its
effectiveness is limited at
best. People can smell a
rat, for the most part.
The Devil Rides Out’s
talisman, then, is the fact
their concern is for fun.
Translating well into their
musical output (such as
debut single Action Figure),
this penchant for personal
satisfaction gives the
band’s songs a higher bar to
reach for, and a greater
spirit from which to be
forged.
Such sincerity twigs with
people sooner or later. “We
all wanted to get back to
our roots a bit and do a bit
more of a metal / rock
outfit, but we didn’t want
it to be really serious.
People seem to be responding
to it really well, so we’ll
see where it goes from
here.”