An Interview With the Arizona Rockers DED On Their Latest Album and More!

Phoenix Rockers Ded have released an apocalyptic vision of the world with the new video for “FMFY”.  The band will be kicking off their 2017 touring schedule with a KUPD sponsored show TODAY @ Pub Rock in Scottsdale, AZ!

The driving rocker is visually intense, with scenes of riots, violence and war interspersed with a powerful live performance against a stark backdrop of a run-down house.

Vocalist Joe Cotela says,” “FMFY” is a song that’s loosely inspired by Matthew McConaughey’s character Rust from the show True Detective. Although pretty extreme at times, a lot of his thoughts and ethos resonated with me and made me think about the human race and our programming. We’re programmed to be selfish and hopeful; and yet how hypocritical we are in the process of judging others and standing on our soapbox’s screaming our ‘important’ point of view.”

Cotela goes on to say “I wanted to include myself in this by saying ‘Fuck me’ as well because I wanted to take a stance of true honesty without the self-righteousness of separating myself from whom I’m condemning. I am a part of all of these flaws and I contribute to the problem in my way. The important thing here is that I am attempting to be conscious of who and what I am while a lot of other people have no problem being complacent… They are on auto-pilot inside their little self-made narratives of ‘Who I am.’ We want to wake people up a bit with ‘FMFY.  We hope these intense images in the video get that point across and make people think”.

DED was born in the music scene of Phoenix, Arizona and has been together for 2 years.  Band members Joe Cotela (Vocals), David Ludlow (Guitar), Kyle Koelsch (Bass), and Matt Reinhard (Drums) developed a friendship and ultimately a musical partnership that mixes horror and dark imagery to develop a familiar, yet unique sound that sets them apart from other bands.

The band’s work ethic, drive, and dedication led them to record an EP that quickly made the rounds of the music industry, and started a buzz that opened doors.  Using that as a springboard, the band hit the road and toured with Beartooth, Asking Alexandria, Atreyu, Every Time I Die, Upon a Burning Body, The Acacia Strain, John 5, Powerman 5000, and Insane Clown Posse among others.

Their touring helped grow awareness in the business and brought them to the attention of producer John Feldmann (Disturbed, Blink-182, Beartooth). Their collaboration with Feldmann culminated in the band signing with Jordan Schur @ Suretone Records – who discovered and grew the careers of platinum rock acts Staind and Limp Bizkit, among others. Suretone will be releasing their debut album in May of 2017.

Learn more about Ded in the following All Access interview:

So, now that 2016 is over, what are some words you would use to describe the year for you? What were some of the highlights for the band?

Hard to sum up 2016, for the band it was great, we really started gearing up to unleash our music on the world. We had been doing so much behind the scenes, it’s great to start sharing it finally. Highlights off the top of my head, the Insane Clown Posse Tour, meeting a lot of musical idols and spending so much time on Ded.

What are you most excited about for 2017? Did you any of you make New Year’s Resolutions?

No resolutions, but we’re stoked to tour and release our album. We are on some killer festivals like Rock on the Range, Carolina Rebellion, Rocklahoma, Chicago Open Air Festival – playing with Metallica, Korn, Lamb of God, Gojira, Ozzy, etc. – it’s all sick!

Growing up, did you all always want to be musicians? Can you recall some of your earliest musical memories?

Speaking for myself (Joe), my parents always had music on like Dire Straits, Springsteen, Sabbath, The Beatles, Zeppelin, Billy Joel, etc… I was singing Springsteen when I was like 3 or some shit. Then I found my own music a little later like Nirvana, Rage Against the Machine, Korn, Pantera, Green Day, Alice in Chains, Faith No More, etc. That was when I wanted to learn guitar and then ultimately started a band when I got into punk like Blink 182, MXPX, Rancid, etc.

Can you talk about how this band first came together? How did you come up with your band name? Was it difficult to settle on one name that described your music?

We just thought the name sounded cool. It’s an abbreviation for “Dedicated”, as well as something being overwhelming in modern slang.

In the 2 years that Ded has been around, how do you think you all have grown as a band?

We started out super heavy across the board, we’ve added in a lot of different influences which have organically given our sound more dynamics. John Feldmann was very influential as a producer and brought that out in us.

Let’s talk about your recently released video for your song, “FMFY”. How creatively involved were you with the apocalyptic vision of it? What was it like making it? What was the inspiration for the song itself?

We shot the video with Director Adam Rothlein, who’s done videos for people like Maynard J. Keenan (A Perfect Circle/Puscifer) all the way to Blake Shelton. It was a collaborative effort that worked well. We all killed ourselves head-banging and rocking out for like 10 hours, bouncing around in this old crappy storage room. It made sense to the theme of the song to have the video vibe that way.

The song was written about the character Rust from the show True Detective. His ethos and insight on life really connected with me and made think about a lot of things. This song is about the earth being better off, without the human race. There’s just no denying that.

Your new single “Anti-Everything” is @ Active Rock Radio and is off to a fast start with SiriusXM “Octane” – How did that track come together? Do you find that the process of putting together a song changes for every song?

We recorded the song with our producer John Feldmann in LA; the process is always different. We had written a few things that weren’t exciting enough over the music and so I went for a walk, wrote the chorus, John gave me some coffee and we rocked it. It’s a concept I’ve been interested in writing about, especially with the way the world is right now.

When are you planning on releasing more music and a full-length album? Do you find that you are in a period of inspiration so the songwriting is coming along faster?

We’ve been constantly writing for 2 years leading up to now. We have a full-length done and it will be out in late May 2017.

This week, you will begin your 2017 Tour in Scottsdale, Arizona. Where are you excited to head to on this tour? What do you think is the best and most challenging part about being out on the road?

We kick everything off on Thursday, 2/9 (TODAY) with a show sponsored by a legendary station in our home town that’s already playing “Anti-Everything”, KUPD – 98 Rocks!  Then we head to Vegas for the RadioContraband convention, playing with All That Remains, Radkey and Righteous Vendetta, which will be killer.

We have a lot lined up that we haven’t announced yet but the fests like Rock on Range, Carolina Rebellion, Rocklahoma and Chicago Open Air are all going to be amazing and we’re routing additional tour dates around those. The best part is getting to share all this new music with everyone, we’re really excited to get out and tear it up live!  The most challenging part is being away from our comfort zone, but that is the only place that growth can happen sometimes as a person and as a band.

What musicians continue to inspire your music? Is there anyone that you would all love to work with one day?

We all love Run the Jewels. We talk about wanting to do a collaboration with El P. Some bands I’m into recently are Angel Du$t, Gojira, Knocked Loose, Cane Hill, Power Trip, Culture Abuse, Code Orange and then there’s the mainstays like Slipknot, Alice In Chains, Deftones, Korn, and Glassjaw. But we listen to everything – artists like John Mayer, Empire of the Sun, The 1975, and A$AP Rocky.

What do you hope is the message of your music? What do you hope people continue to take away from your songs?

One word: “Individuality”.  We hope it makes people feel inspired to be whatever the fuck it is that they want to be! And to break shit…

Is there anything else that you would like to share with our readers about your music or the band?

Listen to Ded and stay in touch with us on Social Media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dedofficial
Twitter: https://twitter.com/weareded
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ded/

Bands In Town: http://www.bandsintown.com/DED