A Conversation with The Devil Wears Prada’s Mike Hranica – HuffPost 9.11.13

Mike Ragogna: How are you, Mike?

Mike Hranica: I’m doing all right, how are you?

MR: I’m pretty good. First of all, I want to ask you a couple of questions from Dylan Chenfeld, aka Your Underdog.

MH: Sure.

MR: So it’s your first album without former keyboardist James [Baney], you’ve had Jonathan [Gering] filling in on live keys since he left. If he is contributing to the live music, what separates him from being a full-time member of the band?

MH: It’s complicated to some extent. For years now, Jon has been doing DJ stuff and he’s had a background in heavy music as well, but for the most part, he comes from a DJ background working on remixes and whatnot. Honestly, joining the band just kind of complicates things further. The way I describe it for people is like if you have a girlfriend and neither of you guys are interested in being married but being in a relationship is cool. That’s my analogy for this situation.

MR: Okay, his other question is what was it like working with Matt Goldman for the first time?

MH: It was awesome! Matt has a certain way of going about things that we hadn’t really experienced yet with a producer. Basically, just planting these little ideas in my head would help me come up with something that was different, primarily in the vocals for the album. So that had a cool effect on the album, and he’s a world-renowned producer who’s deserving of such a title.

MR: All right, here’s a mutual question. We believe Dead Throne was a concept album, so is8:18 also one from your perspective?

MH: I wouldn’t call Dead Throne a concept album and I wouldn’t call 8:18 a concept album either. Really, the similarity there or the parallel is that I’m trying to build songs mostly from the same base or foundation. With that being said, there are just these very encompassing ideas that I built off of for both albums, but I wouldn’t really call either of them too conceptual.

MR: So Dead Throne jumped into the #10 position on Billboard and it’s apparently “…by far the best album the Ohio outfit have produced,” said Kerrang! What do you think the main difference was creatively between the last album and this one?

MH: We had a new, better, more efficient method of coming up with songs and revising songs and basically, just entering the studio as well-prepared as possible. It even worked with Adam [Dutkiewicz], whose fruitful advice and criticism for our songs really taught us something through Dead Throne. I know when I was writing for this album and doing the vocals, a lot of the time in the back of my mind, I would say, “Okay, what would Adam think of this? What would Adam criticize about this?” It’s basically, going from Dead Throne and using all of those same tactics and methods coming into 8:18 to help refine and come up with the best song possible. We take those rough demos that we come up with–basically scratch vocals and that rough foundation laid out–and take that and form it into a song that means a lot to us and says what we want the song to say and something that the listener will be pleased with, and the listener is going to want to come back to or even buy in the first place, which is obviously difficult enough with the industry and the over-populated state of metalcore bands. So yeah, there’s a lot of factors there and we learned a lot doing Dead Throne and taking that and just getting better at it with the transition coming into8:18.

MR: Yeah. Now, with you, Chris [Rubey], Jeremy [DePoyster], Andy [Trick], Daniel [Williams], did you notice an evolution as musicians when you attacked this album?

MH: Yeah, absolutely. I’ve been watching that for eight years now, since I joined the band and since we started. We were children. Chris and I were both sixteen, so obviously, it’s been a huge transition and notable change coming from that to now being twenty-four to twenty-six-year-olds living in major cities. Chris just got married, he has a baby; Jerry’s married. There’s been a massive maturation of the people in this band. I would be a fool not to notice that and I think it does reflect in the music and the musicianship as far as us being adults looking at these songs. While in some things, it might seem a bit more sterile because it’s almost more like a science or paperwork, if you will–looking at what makes the song and looking at timing and progression and chord movements and such. But at the same time, I think that is a part of being more of an adult and I think that’s our age starting to catch up with us as we made songs for 8:18.

MR: Talking about where you all are at this point in life, are you looking at your albums as being steps toward your future? Do you have a plan based on everything that’s come to this point?

MH: My response is going to make it seem as if we are aimless, but no, I feel like it’s a distinct mistake to set goals and any kind of measure of success within music or at least within our part of music. A lot of bands just drop off really fast but some bands make it for a really long time and I know that it’s not up to me to really guide and see where I am in however many years or see what the next step is with the next record. For me, it’s just that I’m going to be as honest as possible, and I’m going to work as much as I can to come up with the best songs and, in turn, come up with a better record than the last one. But at the same time, because it felt like such a great evolutionary step, I feel the same way about 8:18. When we came out of Dead Throne, I was like, “Damn, I don’t know what we’re going to do for 8:18.” I felt like that really hit it. But now I’m at 8:18 and we made thirteen more songs and I’m like, “Damn, I don’t know what we’re going to do next time around.” I feel like I’ve been totally exhausted or emptied, and drained myself into all this again, but as long as there is more to say and a creative means or something to explore that I can do with The Devil Wears Prada. Next time we have to write a new record, I know I will be there and I will be doing the same thing again. Which is all to say, again, I feel a little bit aimless and without direction as compared to what the question was.

MR: No, I got it. Hey, “Martyrs,” your video in Rolling Stone premiered recently. That was handled mainly by Jeremy and Andy, right?

MH: Yes.

MR: So the band is creative beyond the music, and I’m imagining that this and more could tie-in to where the band is heading. Last year, you were with Slipknot, Slayer, Anthrax and Motörhead. This year, for 8:18, you’re headlining a tour with The Ghost Inside and Volumes in Texas. Your potential seems to be pretty boundless at this point.

MH: Over the years, we have grown more and taken control and realized that we have a vision and a direction to everything we do outside of the band whether it’s videos, album artwork, tour artwork, tour production as far as lighting and staging. We’ve realized that we can handle all of those things on our own. We can look over and guide and have total creative direction of all of those things because we know what we want and we know what we want to express and we know what our intentions are for the person that buys the vinyl or buys the CD or watches the music video or comes out to the tour. We’ve realized that we can handle that stuff, so we do it. We’re proud to say that and I think it creates more of a product of our band, which might sound monetary and sort of materialistic, but this is our career, this is what we do. So why not do that? Why not pour everything we have into what a person sees when they come to the show or when they type inhttp://www.TDWPband.com? We want to exercise all of that intention and direction over all of these areas and aspects.

MR: It seems that’s the way everybody needs to be going these days, to be in control and overseeing all aspects or as many aspects as possible of their musical career.

MH: I don’t know if I can say it with total certainty that every band needs to do that, I understand the importance of having a good label and management team to put together the right brand that is your band. But at the same time, I think that what I attribute our sense of control to is the fact that it has been eight years and at this point, not to sound entirely arrogant, but people have still wanted to see our band and they do want to buy our new album and they do want to hear the new songs. I think a lot of that comes in from the relationship that we offhandedly build in that fans and listeners of our band know that we’re not in some distant utopia or on some pedestal somewhere; we are working and we are all in this together.

MR: What is your advice for new artists?

MH: To care, which I don’t know how much people do anymore. For young artists, they need to know what they’re trying to do, and if what they’re trying to do is make money or look cool on a website or obtain Instagram followers, then I say you’re part of the problem.

MR: After the band hung out with the likes of Slipknot and Anthrax, it’s like you’re in the same circle now.

MH: I hope…maybe with time. We’re nothing with regards to Slayer. I love Slayer. I’ve been listening to them since I was a kid. To be able to be on that tour last year was really awesome and inspiring. I feel like it would be entirely egotistical to be like, “Yeah, we’re in that ring of bands now.” For me, if there is a guideline or somewhere to be, it’s just to be around and to earn that respect that those bands have. I don’t think we’ve earned that respect yet and I don’t think we should have earned that respect yet because we’re only eight years in. But if this band makes it fifteen years in, then yeah, that’s when you’re starting to get to that point. I’m very grateful to have the opportunity to be around those bands and to play shows with those bands because that is the distant goal, if there was one.

MR: Nice, and that also kind of hits the question I asked earlier about the future. Mike, once again, I appreciate your time. Thank you so much.

MH: Yeah, thank you for having me.

Transcribed by Galen Hawthorne