Devildriver to record this year

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By ( Metal Hammer ) published

Frontman Fafara also says band have recruited new guitarist – but won't say who just yet

Dez Fafara says Devildriver have hired a replacement for departed guitarist Jeff Kendrick – but they won’t reveal who just yet.

The band lost Kendrick and drummer John Boecklin last year. They recently unveiled former Chimaira man Austin D’Amond as the new face behind the kit, and Fafara says they are almost ready to announce Kendrick’s replacement.

Fafara also confirmed that recording sessions for the band’s seventh album will begin this year. They were originally due to enter the studio last year but those plans were put on hold by the departures.

He tells Full Metal Jackie: “We’ve also got a new guitar player, but we’re gonna wait on the announcement for that. But it’s nice.”

Fafara adds that he accepts the pair’s reasons for leaving and says he’s excited about playing live with D’Amond.

He says: “You can understand when members leave a band, and Jeff, the guitar player, left because he just didn’t wanna tour anymore, and I totally understood that after the schedule we kept for almost 13 years.

“And John wanted to try and do some stuff on his own, and it was more than okay with me after that length of time. So, when you do replace members, what you wanna do is you wanna get people who are more than capable

“I definitely am looking forward to playing with Austin. He’s a great guy, he’s a great drummer, he’s got an incredible stage presence. And when he came in for the audition, he absolutely just smoked it.

“He’s just an incredible guy. And you get a real good vibe from him, which is another thing. We’re gonna tour a lot, so you’re gonna have to have that.”

Stef Lach

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.