5 Minute Origins with Degrave

Degrave

For nearly 35 years, the wider world has known about thrash metal. It's a style of metal that even though is an ancestor to other more extreme forms, it never went out of style.

Thrash gave way to Grindcore and Death Metal, but unlike Homo Habilis, it kept on chugging along with thick riffs and reckless abandon.

Degrave is one those bands that's never let it go. Hailing straight out of Middle America's navel, Jefferson City, MO, they continue to let the fur fly. (St. Louis says hi, Jeff City, btw.)

Their latest record, Degrave, was just released without the aid of a record label. You can pick it up on Bandcamp. Don't forget to fistbump them on Facebook.

1. Is there an event you can point to you that made you say, wow, that's the instrument I want to play? Not like guitar or drums, but the reason why you play the model you do?

I mainly play a variety of Dean guitars when I play live. I first wanted a Dean after I discovered Dimebag Darrell. I was in awe of how badass he was and how slick those Dean's seemed to shred. My folks got me a Dean Dime O Flame ML for Xmas one year and I was hooked after that. I have yet to come across a guitar that feels as good as that one. 

2. How do you write a song?

We write songs a few different ways. Most the time we piece the music together and then write the lyrics over it. Sometime's however, it's the other way around. We'll have a poem or scraps of lyrics laying around and once we read em, we'll kinda hear a riff or melody in our heads and go from there.

3. How many concept records do you own? Could you ever write one?

Most of my concept albums are King Diamond records(laughs) My favorite record of his would defiantly be Voodoo. In terms of writing one, it's been brought up before but not in a very serious light. We never rule anything out though, there's no telling what we're gonna do.

4. Who's influence is most evident in your music? The least?

Man, we've got all sorts of influences from all across the board. People tell me a lot that we sound like Megadeth, Death, and Pantera. Those three seem to pop up the most, and I never  disagree(laughs) 

We love all those bands, it's flattering every time! We listen to a lot of music though. Even the slower melodic stuff like Jim Croce or Canned Heat comes through in the music and most certainly the lyrics. 

Maybe not as much as the other stuff, but it's still there. You can't really listen to a song without getting something from it.

5. Which one of your songs is the one your the most proud of?

The most proud of? I don't think I can pick just one!(laughs) I'm proud of this whole damn album!

This is the heaviest album we've released so far, by far. It's our first album with our new drummer Jeff Kearney. 

He puts a whole new level of heavy into Degrave's backbone.

6. Sum up your latest record for us.

Heavy. Fast. Brutal and Powerful. Pure American thrash metal.