DevilDriver is an American heavy metal band from Santa Barbara, California, formed in 2002, consisting of vocalist Dez Fafara, bassist Jon Miller, rhythm guitarist Alex Lee and drummer Davier Pérez.
Fafara hosted several barbecues after moving from Orange County to Santa Barbara and would jam with musicians he met, which led to the formation of the band.
Fafara's wife had a book by Italian witchcraft author Raven Grimassi on Stregheria, and came across the term "devil driver".
"[7] The band's self-titled debut DevilDriver, was released on October 28, 2003, under Roadrunner Records, and entered the Top Heatseekers chart at number 17.
The band members wanted to be isolated while recording the album so they could focus solely on the music, as friends, family, managers and girlfriends were constantly interrupting them.
Cox's career began when he created Coal Chamber's music video "Loco", so he re-paid a favor to Fafara and the band.
In March 2010, DevilDriver participated in 2010's Getaway Rock festival, which was held in Gävle, Sweden and began on July 8 and ended on the 10th.
[22][needs update] DevilDriver's fifth album Beast was recorded at Sonic Ranch studios in Tornillo, Texas with producer Mark Lewis, and released February 22, 2011.
[23] John Boecklin confirmed that the new album was mixed by Andy Sneap at his Backstage studio in Derbyshire, England in July.
[24] DevilDriver went on a tour in Australia with bands such as Iron Maiden, Slayer, All That Remains and Nonpoint for the Soundwave Festival in February and March 2011.
On February 9, 2012, guitarist Jeff Kendrick announced via his Twitter account that himself, John Boecklin (drums) and Mike Spreitzer (guitars) had "begun to compose and demo songs for DevilDriver's 6th album.
[26] In March 2012, during an interview with Nick Azinas from Peek from the Pit, vocalist Dez Fafara announced that the band was looking for a new record label.
On February 18, 2013, Dez announced on his Twitter account that Chris Towning who has been filling in on bass for the past year has been made the band's official bassist.
Devildriver has always and will forever be about thinking outside the box and delivering on something different from record to record, we cannot be assimilated into any scene or even genre of Metal and we will continue to do things our own way with a massive middle finger in the air to the status quo!On October 28, 2014, Dez Fafara announced that drummer John Boecklin and guitarist Jeff Kendrick left the band, the former going on to form the band, Bad Wolves.
Tiemann started his career with Midwest Kings and has spent time playing with Caroline's Spine, Burn Halo and Uncle Kracker among others.
In March, DevilDriver announced that former Static-X guitarist, Diego "Ashes" Ibarra, would replace the recently departed Chris Towning on bass on a permanent basis for upcoming shows in the US, European and UK dates in support of the new album.
[35] On February 28, 2017, DevilDriver announced via their Instagram account that they are to release an outlaw country covers record, with 13 tracks currently in production, with over 15 "high caliber" guests contributing.
[36] On July 15, Fafara announced that the number of guests had risen to 20-25, and that these included artists such as Lamb of God's Randy Blythe and Mark Morton, Lee Ving from FEAR, Glenn Danzig, Testament's Chuck Billy, and John 5.
[37] On April 9, 2018, it was reported that DevilDriver had 48 songs written for a new concept double album, with Fafara stating "this will be the record of our career".
[40] In later 2019, DevilDriver canceled a run of shows in support of Static-X and an appearance on the inaugural MegaCruise (a festival on a cruise ship organized by Megadeth), this was due to Fafara's wife being diagnosed, treated and subsequently cured for skin cancer.
[41] Three days later, the band announced the return of bassist Jon Miller, and the arrival of guitarist Alex Lee (formerly of Holy Grail).
Miller's songwriting influences include Acid Bath, Morbid Angel, Mercyful Fate and Blind Guardian; Miller states that other bands that influenced his songwriting are the same bands that he has now had the opportunity to tour with Slayer, In Flames, Opeth, Fear Factory and Metallica.