Interview with Pete Devine of Pete’s Rock News and Views – South African Heavy Metal Titans Deadline
PD: How would you describe yourself as an artist?
A: I would describe myself more as an entertainer, I leave all the musical skill and knowhow to the rest of the band.
PD: Can you tell us briefly about your background – i.e. where you’re from, how you came to make music, etc.
A: I was born and bred in Pretoria, South Africa and all of the bands I have been in have been from Pretoria. I got into music at an early age. My gateway drug was Queen and Dire Straits and when I looked again I was fully immersed in Slayer, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Sepultura and Obituary. It was a slippery slope. My idea was to become a guitarist as I wanted to emulate my heroes of the time being Slash, James Hetfield and Dave Mustaine however at the time I simply wasn’t dedicating enough hours to the craft. A few years later I was invited to sing in a Metallica tribute act and it took off from there. Being a fiery, passionate Aries I was always going to be a better frontman than guitarist. HAHA!
PD: Who and what inspires you to make music, both in terms of musical and other influences? What do you like to write about in your songs?
A: Musically I’m inspired by the bands that I grew up with. I was fortunate enough to not have been a gatekeeper as the more I got into heavy metal and the underground the more I wanted to experiment so over and above being influenced by heavy metal I have always enjoyed grunge, goth, industrial, EBM etc… so my influences have always been plenty and most probably too many to name but the ones that stand out of course are Metallica, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Testament but also bands and artists like Faith No More, Pearl Jam, VNV Nation and the Sisters of Mercy etc… As far as subject matter is concerned like a typical metal band we do write a fair amount about war, religion, witches, history and conspiracy theories but also a bout modern day books, movies, existentialism and love. Maye we can tie the love and the witches topic up as I do enjoy writing about a dark, gothic temptress.
PD: What are your aspirations as an artist?
A: As our band is a part time project in South Africa we aspire to eventually play overseas, hopefully at one of the big European summer festivals be it Wacken in Germany, Bloodstock in the UK, Hellfest in France or even smaller fests like Metaldays in Slovenia or Vagos in Portugal.
PD: What is the proudest moment in your music career so far?
A: Every time we release an EP or an album or even a single. It means that we still have the fire and the passion to keep doing what we’re doing in the country we’re doing it in at the level we do it at. When we started this band we never expected to release a single, let alone 3 albums and an EP. The other day a mate of mine was in Zanzibar and he saw somebody wearing one of our shirts and he asked him where he got the shirts from and the person replied that he bought it at a metal market at a Belgian festival. Bootleg or not I was overcome with pride just knowing that our merch is getting bootlegged somewhere in Europe. It’s the little things.
PD: Promoting one’s music is such a challenge these days, especially with so many new artists emerging from bedrooms
in the day of the home studio. How is that going?
A: Better this time round since we got Dave Oosthuizen from Devographic on board. Not only is he a fan of the music but he knows the South African landscape so well and he has really managed to get us noticed all over the world. We seem to be getting streamed a lot in Finland. If you’re going to get noticed, why not the country with the most metal bands and metalheads per capita.
PD: And how do you book and promote your live shows and tours? Any performances coming up?
A: We book everything ourselves. In fact I do all of that on behalf of the band. We have a few shows coming up now end February and beginning March to dust the cobwebs. We are currently booking the album launch gigs etc… so by the time end April, beginning May comes around we’ll be gig fit again.
PD: What do you think about downloading music online? What about streaming sites like Spotify?
A: Look, as this isn’t our primary source of income we are all for it. We really jut want to get our product out there. Maybe a download or a stream in the right hands can get us a spot at one of those aforementioned fests or it’ll get us an European tour or whatever. It really just is a blessing for us that people can access us on so many platforms these days.
PD: What song do you wish you’d written and why?
A: Goodness gracious! How long do you have? HA HA! Most probably Master of Puppets by Metallica. From start to end it is perfect and I do love me a good, epic, long song. That main riff I pure perfection and the arrangements are superb. From that middle bit with the interlude, straight through to the bridge, solo and everything around it. Pure perfection and it captures Metallica at their most hungry and you can hear it. I want to be able to write music where the hunger and passion for the craft translates like that.
PD: Is there anything you don’t like about the music industry, which you would change if you could?
A: This may be a conversation for another day. I can only really talk about the industry back home but it would really be 
nice to get paid more for gigs. After the venue, sound engineers and marketing are paid there is hardly an money or the artists, Without the artists you don’t have a show or a scene. Bands to be remunerated better as we are front and centre however that said the reality is the metal scene back home is tiny.
PD: So, what are you working on at the moment?
A: Almost done with our third album which will be titled Vitriol Inc. We have released the first two singles and next up on 10 March is single no 3, My Sweet Apocalypse. So we’ve just been busy recording, shooting music videos etc… We are almost there.
PD: Where can we learn more about you and buy your music/merch online?
We are on Bandcamp and that’s of course first prize. But you an find us on all online streaming sites as well as on our socials. You can buy merch directly from us at shows or via our socials.
Deadline links:
Band/Artist location – Pretoria – South Africa
Website – Facebook – You Tube – Soundcloud – Bandcamp – Merch –
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