Exclusive Interview with Dave Silver From Savage Messiah

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Last week we posted a brand new song from Savage Messiah "Minority Of One". It will be on their forth studio album 'The Fateful Dark', which is due to come out on March 18th by Century Media / Earache Records. This week we had the opportunity to send some questions to the creator, vocalist and guitarist for the band, Dave Silver.

How did the band Savage Messiah start and come together?

I started the band in 2007 after my old band had split up. Basically, I grew up in Birmingham but decided it was time to head down to London to pursue the band full time. It took me about 3 years to find a solid, cohesive line-up, which is the core of the band today. Musically, I knew that I wanted to play thrash-infused traditional heavy metal, and in fact I've never played anything else, so the focus and dedication to finding our sound has been there from day 1.

What are some bands that have influenced you/and your members?

We're mostly influenced by NWOBHM, thrash and then stuff from the 70's, like classic rock and punk. Mostly bands like Iron Maiden, Metallica, Testament, Mercyful Fate, etc., but when we were writing the new album, we were listening to loads of Motorhead, Diamond Head, Misfits...That sort of thing.

What music/band have you been currently jamming?

I've been listening to a lot of NWOBHM really. Bands like Angel Witch, Gaskin, Jaguar and of course Iron Maiden.

The band has been currently touring around your home town of the United Kingdom, is there any plans this year to tour other countries?

Oh absolutely! We've just finished a European tour with Havok where we took in 16 countries, and we've played in most European states. We've just got a big deal in Japan, so hopefully that should see us get some shows in Asia. I'm currently here in LA hanging out, and we're doing as much as possible to bring the band to the USA.

What is your favorite song(s) to play live?

My 2 favorite songs to play live are "Minority of One" from the new album and "Insurrection Rising" from our first album. “Minority" is a lot of fun because it's built for fronting the band, there's loads of crowd interaction. "Insurrection" tends to just level the venue, people really get into that track.

If you could do a show with any band, who would it be?

Iron Maiden! Just from the point of view of how many people you'd play for, the exposure would be incredible. Musically though, I'd love to play with Mercyful Fate. Their songs are timeless, and King Diamond is well...The King!!

Your new album, ‘The Fateful Dark’, comes out on March 18th via Century Media/Earache Records. Tell us a little about the album:

Well, we started writing the album last year, and we were just very focused on what type of album we wanted to make. We set some goals as to what we wanted the vibe of the record to be, which was to come across as very "live" with lots of energy. We wanted big choruses, and strong riffs, but we also wanted it to be solid, cohesive and have bags of attitude. All in all, I'm really pleased with the outcome because it was a strong collective effort on behalf of the other guys, and we knocked it out in an old school manner (i.e., in the rehearsal room, until it sounded solid).

What was the inspiration behind it?

There's quite a mixed bag of stuff lyrically, from Japanese proverbs to Mahatma Gandhi! Which is something a bit unusual I suppose for heavy metal. There are also tracks on the new album, like "The Cursed Earth" and "Hellblazer", that are inspired by some of the classic comics, like Judge Dredd and Hellblazer. With this album, I wanted to move away a bit from the Illuminati-themed stuff we did on ‘Plague of Conscience’ because I didn't really want to repeat myself.

How did you come up with the name ‘The Fateful Dark’?

It sort of just popped into my head when I was thinking about song titles, and I thought it was cool because it's fairly ambiguous, and therefore open to the listener’s interpretation. We chose it to be the album title for this reason as well because ‘Plague of Conscience’ ended up being a bit of a mouthful for some people, so we wanted something a bit more instant and universal.

What is the creative process?

It always starts with riffs and titles. With this album, we made a big effort to go into writing with all the song titles in the bag. This meant we were able to build the hooks and choruses from the start of the process instead of relying on lazy names like "new thrash 3" and things like that. When that happens, the choruses can get lost, and I think it's a crucial part of song-writing to give the listener something memorable. Other than that, we just get the four of us in a room and bash through stuff, working on the material that we think has the most "vibe".

What is next on the Savage Messiah agenda?

As always with a new album, we're currently very busy working on press and lining up tour. So far the reaction has been really cool, way better than we could have hoped for, so that's very encouraging. Our intention is to really work this album on the road and take it to the people, so we will hopefully see as many shows as humanly possible.

What is some advice that you would give up-and-coming musicians trying to make it?

Drink plenty of water and be chivalrous to women!


We would like to thank Dave again for taking this time out of his busy schedule or touring and getting ready to release their new album.  You can pre-order 'The Fateful Dead' album via Earache Records, iTunes and Amazon.

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Writer and Developer for Metal CallOut.  Favorite sub genre of heavy metal includes Melodic Death, Thrash and Traditional. Sparks can be found at @SparksFury or at Google+.

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