DevilDriver has carved out a place for themselves in the metal world by churning out groove-oriented, riff-heavy music that serves the artistic vision of the band, rather than the whimsical trends of mainstream music. This approach is ever apparent on Winter Kills, the band's recent release on Napalm Records. Live concerts give ticket holders their money's worth and feature the band's founder and frontman Dez Fafara engaging with audiences in a one-on-one style exchange that uses the band's best to bring out the crowd's best. The legendary circle-pit concerts deliver a seamless sonic blast of DevilDriver's hit songs. Their sixth album was released in the summer of 2013 and features the band's signature California Groove and seethes with raw, biting tones, thunderous drums and outside-the-box lyrics that completely defy the status quo.
The band was formed in Santa Barbara, CA, when Farfara was then singing in nu metal outfit Coal Chamber. His desire to push the envelope and create music that presented a greater challenge to himself and listeners led him to seek out new collaborators. He eventually attracted the right musicians, and after weeding through a list of over 200 band names, the handle DevilDriver was settled upon. Their first self-titled album was released in 2003 on Roadrunner Records. The band soon hit the road and began touring to support the record. The band released four more records with Roadrunner, including The Fury of Our Maker's Hand in 2005, The Last Kind Words in 2007, Pray for Villains in 2009 and Beast in 2011. The band will be reaching out to their European fan base in 2014, with an impressive list of tour dates for March and April. DevilDriver proves that trends can be set by the artists themselves through genuine, head-on engagement with fans.?