Interview

Interview with Ryan Clark of Demon Hunter

Demon Hunter has helped to pave the way for younger Christian metal bands in the new decade. Having four albums released in the last six years, Demon Hunter continues to rock the metal scene throwing out inspirational messages to their fans. Their latest album, “Storm The Gates Of Hell”, was released in stores Nov 6th. I was able to speak with Ryan Clark, lead vocals and co-founder of Demon Hunter, on the phone.

Scottydawg: I’m on the phone with Ryan Clark of Demon Hunter. You’re the lead vocalist and actually you and your brother, Don Clark, founded the band early in 2000.

Ryan Clark: Yeah I believe it was probably 2001.

Scottydawg: Now Demon Hunter is a Christian metal band. Have you personally always been religious or was there a point in your life when things might have been going bad and you turned to God?

Ryan: Well we grew up in the church, our dad was a pastor. Through our childhood and growing up; that definitely helped lay the foundation for the whole belief system that we have and our world views. There were peaks and valleys within that whole life style that we chose to take more seriously. Even into our late teens and early twenties it kinda fluctuated a little bit.

Scottydawg: Congratulations on your album that was just released Nov 6th “Storm The Gates Of Hell”. Lyrically, is this album any different than the last three albums that Demon Hunter has released?

Ryan: Well in essence, I deal with different topics of different subjects. I try not to cover kinda the same areas pretty much through the songs and the records. So in that respect it is different. But in terms of how I approach lyric writing and the kind of things that I usually write about, it is pretty similar to what I’ve done in the past. Usually it’s just life issues, whether it’s personal stuff or stuff that I see around or hear about or anything that kinda sets with me; and stuff that maybe speaks to me or bothers me or anything like that. I try to deal with some different things; keeping it fresh and pretty new. Maybe things that have happened or that I haven’t talked about in prior records.

Scottydawg: What inspires you the most when writing and getting the message across to your fans?

Ryan: You know a lot of our fan’s emails have been the biggest part of our inspiration; people telling us about their stories, trials, or issues they’re having. With this record, that helped fuel a lot of the lyrics for this album. “Follow The Wolves” specifically was kinda set in motion by emails that we got about a kid that was like an outcast in his church and didn’t know what to do. He had no friends. We heard that story from him and we answered him in an email. Later when I was writing for the record, as I was writing that song, I took inspiration from that email and story. So that’s always been a big inspiration for me.

Scottydawg: What are your concerts like? You know, with the majority of metal bands, they have that mosh pit going on.

Ryan: Well we definitely have pretty exciting shows. The more the crowd gets into it; obviously the easier it is for us to get into it. On the shows where everyone is real pumped up, you can tell that there are some really die hard fans out there. Those are the ones I think that really shine. Because getting that fuel from the crowd while you’re on stage is like real important. You try to put on your best possible show. The shows are real energetic; you know we’re a little bit older guys but we try to sustain some energy throughout the show. We’re not the kind of guys that jump up and around and do flips (laughs). We’re not that young bunch of guys like that. That’s not really our bag. But we do try to keep it energetic and do our best not to stand around. It’s our goal that every time we go out to be bigger and better; for there to be more to look at and be excited about.

Scottydawg: Do you guys tour with just other Christian metal bands or all metal bands in general?

Ryan: For us it’s been Christian metal bands for the most part. We like to take out our label mates for the most part; some of the newer, younger, or maybe less noticed bands; just kinda something that we do. We have a lot invested in our label. I actually work for the label. It’s something that’s close to us and we have a lot of friends on the label.

Scottydawg: I think that’s a noble quality for any band. Demon Hunter is on Solid State Records. As a Christian metal band, did you ever find it difficult to make it big or break into the music industry?

Ryan: I think that in these days it’s becoming more and more acceptable; people are kinda less likely to turn away from it and not give it a chance. Like in the mid 90’s it was more apparent with the animosity and that kind of attitude towards Christian bands. That was something that we dealt with for sure. We saw that more at that point and I think with just the popularity of some of these Christian bands that have come out in the last few years like Under Oath and As I Lay Dying, which are really good friends of ours that have paved some crazy ground for Christian artists and heavy music; and even P.O.D. you could say they kinda helped set that in motion as well. These days I just think it’s less of a concern. You know, we got more respect and gratitude from non-Christian bands than we had in any past bands that we were in. The bands that we were in previously were much less outspoken. But with Demon Hunter, we’ve got nothing but respect from non-Christian bands. That’s a really common question.

Scottydawg: With “Storm The Gates Of Hell” that was just released Nov 6th, do you have any plans on a tour to kick it off and promote the album?

Ryan: Yeah, we’re actually setting something up as we speak. When we set up tours, there’s quite a bit of preparation just to get everything lined up. Like I said, we try to outdo ourselves every time. So we like to make it big, special, and kinda like an event. So we are lining something up right now for next year. Nothing final at this point but it’s gonna be really cool.

Scottydawg: Any insight about the future tour? I gotta pry and pull teeth, that’s my job (laughs).

Ryan: (laughs). I can’t at this point but I can say that if it all works out, it’s gonna be kinda unexpected.

Scottydawg: Well I’ll be watching for the tour. On a personal level, you also owned a company called Asterik Studio. Can you tell us a little about that project?

Ryan: Actually my brother and I were print designers for this studio. About a year ago we split off from the other guys who were mainly web guys. Then we kinda started two different companies. My brother and I now own a company called Invisible Creature which is just the two of us; and we’re still great friends with the other guys. We just had different visions for our companies so that’s what we do now; it’s definitely what takes up most of our time throughout the day. We do print design for the music industry. That’s our bread and butter.

Scottydawg: So you do the designing for Demon Hunter?

Ryan: Yeah, we usually at least do the layout and design. Since we design all day, it’s nice to be able to hire out. When we can, we like to outsource for the cover just so that we can kinda play. We did the newest cover ourselves. “Summer of Darkness” was done by Kris McCaddon and the first record was done by ourselves too. If we have an idea that we feel like we can just pull off then we just do it ourselves; but in the case of the last record, none of us are fine artists especially of that caliber as Dan Seagrave. We hired him out. I think that stuff turned out amazing.

Scottydawg: I love the artwork on your myspace. Do you ever find it a conflict of interest in designing artwork for other bands?

Ryan: Not really. I think it gives me a little bit more perspective about what works and what doesn’t. With Demon Hunter, as most people know, our visual we love it and everything that goes along with the music; it’s real important to us as well. I think it’s helped in our success to a certain degree. So I think it gives us a leg up on people that can’t associate directly with bands. I think we’re able to understand the fan base; we’re able to understand the different genres of bands. I think a lot of bands that come to us are for that reason; and they liked what we’ve done for our own band and they respect that.

Scottydawg: With your album that just came out, there’s a DVD as well. What kind of footage is included?

Ryan: It has the video which is for “Fading Away”. It has fan interviews that we did which are kind of about the new record like favorite songs of ours. Also has a photo gallery.

Scottydawg: You actually have three versions of the album. I read somewhere that the deluxe edition was sold out.

Ryan: Yeah, the online sales of the deluxe edition, I think they’re all gone. But I guess stores do have a few like Best Buy; there are some of the deluxe editions out there. If they’re not sold out by this point, they’re probably getting close.

Scottydawg: Ryan, what is your personal life like when you’re not playing?

Ryan: Well, we’re real busy with design stuff so that occupies a lot of our time. It’s about preparing and getting a lot of work done ahead of time which means a lot of extra hours. We all have family. My brother has a couple kids so he’s definitely a family man. All of us, but the drummer, are married so that occupies a lot of our time.

Scottydawg: What is your ultimate goal for Demon Hunter for the future?

Ryan: Our goal is to do this for as long as we can and our main goal in doing that is to touch as many people as we can with our message. We, as a band, feel that’s important.

Scottydawg: Once again, “Storm The Gates Of Hell”, just released Nov 6th in stores now and online; Ryan Clark of Demon Hunter, thanks for taking the time out to give me a call. Look forward to seeing you guys on tour next year.

Ryan: Thank you very much.