Interview with Pete Devine of Pete’s Rock News and Views (https://petesrocknewsandviews.com)
PD: How would you describe yourself or your band as an artist?
lk – I am essentially a self taught rhythm guitarist who grew up trying to play along to my favorite bands (Slayer, Metallica, Cannibal Corpse, Malevolent Creation and the like). My music project (l0rd kha0s) is my original work that I have created/written. Once the songs are done guitar wise, I solicit the help from session musicians to fill in the band for the recordings.
PD: Can you tell us briefly about your background – i.e. where you’re from, how you came to make music, etc.
lk – Sure! I am from Tampa, FL (the Death Metal capital of the world!!!). I’ve been into metal music since the early 90’s and honestly at the time had no idea I was at the epicenter of the Death Metal movement. I was just a kid who happened to have a great local radio station that played Extreme Music on Saturday nights (shout out to Brian Medlin and the Pit!!!!). At the same time, a friend of mine’s brother was a drummer and we used to always get to watch their rehearsals. I thought it was the coolest thing to see the music actually being written and recorded by the band! Around highschool I became friends with a dude who played drums and we decided hey, lets try and create a band! I “sang” at the time as I didn’t know how to play guitar yet, but soon into the band the guitarist loaned me one of his old guitars. I played the thing for hours on end! Once I was able to play, we would do the typical “recordings” by placing an old tape recorder in the middle of the room. I loved the idea of recording my own songs and soon bought a 4-track recorder (I am dating myself here lol) and started messing with that. This was probably like 1997. By the early 2000’s digital recording using PC’s was a lot more accessible so I moved on to that, which I continue to do to this day.
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?
lk – I am inspired heavily by Florida Death Metal (Malevolent Creation is my favorite band), thrash metal, and even a little Black Metal. Blackened Thrash has been my jam lately! I’ve really been into the band MGLA as well! As far as writing, I am not much of a lyricist, but when I do pen lyrics it’s usually about humanity and stuff like that. Even though my EP is entitled “One Nation, Over Satan”, I don’t fancy myself a fan necessarily of the overly occult Satanic type of stuff. I understand it comes with the territory, but lyrically that stuff is a bit tired.
PD: What are your aspirations as an artist?
lk – I have to be honest with myself here and state that I understand in this genre of music, it is already tough to “make it”. Take into account that I am pretty much a solo artist, my aspirations at this point are really just to get the music out there for people to hear and enjoy. I am not in this for the money. I’d love to see some reviews of the content and see what people think, really just to see how I, this one man band from his living room, stack up against some of the more common names in the genres. I think this latest EP is well crafted and has a great mix, so I am 100% looking forward to hearing the feedback!
PD: What is the proudest moment in your music career so far?
lk – Being able to collaborate with so many great musicians. On the MLC: XL album, Karl Sanders of Nile performed 3 of the solos! I mean, are you fucking kidding me!!! I was also super stoked to have Kyle Symons of Kill Division (formerly of Malevolent Creation and Hateplow) perform vocals on MLC: XL. The icing on the cake was that essentially, he created a “Part 3” in a “Stalker” series of songs that he and the mighty Bret Hoffmann (RIP) were going back and forth on. To not only have Kyle on the record, but to also have even just a little piece of additional Malevolent Creation lore also included was a literal dream come true.
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?
lk – Well, I AM one of those bedroom artists haha. Yes, promotion has been tough, especially with the budget of an unsigned one man band! I stream on twitch (you can find me as “malev0lent1) as part of the Rocksmith community, so I’ve hit the ground hard visiting many different metal streamers to have them play my content inside of the game Rocksmith. Outside of that, I’ve been working with Metal Devastation PR primarily, but have also worked with some additional folks on fiverr to help build some awareness and spread the word. Otherwise, it’s going to be mostly word of mouth. It’s about as grass roots as it gets!
PD: And how do you book and promote your live shows and tours? Any performances coming up?
lk – Honestly, as a one man band, this is 99% a studio type of thing. While I do not have any touring or performances scheduled, I was at a show recently that featured a one man band. He had his amp and guitar, as well as his laptop where he played the backing tracks etc. 5 years ago, I would have laughed at such a thing, but seeing it recently opened my eyes to the possibility. So that being said, I do have the itch to maybe get out there and so a show or two, just have to find the right time or reason.
PD: What do you think about downloading music online? What about streaming sites like Spotify?
lk – That is quite a touchy subject! I am still a fan of physical media and pick some up of the bands I am really really into. For my latest EP, I initially avoided Spotify and the like because at my level, I’ll make like $3 in an entire year from the streaming revenue. While I am not about the money, it would be nice to try and recoup a little of the cost of creating the content. Just one sale from my Bandcamp page doubles that revenue so for me, at least initially it doesn’t make sense to be on the platform. So for the first 3 months it was available exclusively on Bandcamp. Now that some time has passed, I have dropped it on all music platforms including Spotify mainly just to try and get it out there to hear the feedback.
PD: What song do you wish you’d written and why?
lk – Hmmm, not sure I can answer this one! I am a big fan of music in general and just love hearing new stuff. So even if I had written it instead of someone else, I’d still be interested in hearing their other stuff too! I may not like everything, every style etc.. but i do truly love hearing anything new!
PD: Is there anything you don’t like about the music industry, which you would change if you could?
lk – As a one man project, I don’t think I have many worries about “the industry” as I am not necessarily participating in it, at least in the traditional sense. One thing I do read about that I do not like is how venues are now starting to take a cut of the merchandise sold inside the building (especially if they aren’t splitting the bar profits with the bands).
PD: So, what are you working on at the moment?
lk – Musically, I am just kind of relaxing at the moment. As I write, record and produce the music myself, it’s a lengthy process that has lasted a while. For now I am just kind of taking a break. I noodle here and there and do have a few ideas popping up, but I am enjoying not “working” on music at the moment. I think my next project though is going to be some collaboration type of work with some fellow Rocksmith streamers. There are a ton of talented folks in that space that I need to help get off their butts and show them how it’s not crazy difficult to do this digital recording thing!
PD: Where can we learn more about you and buy your music/merch online?
lk – For album stuff, you can always go to my bandcamp page (https://l0rdkha0s.bandcamp.com). I do have some merchandising setup through my streaming tool that can be found here – https://store.streamelements.com/malev0lent1. Speaking of streaming, I do stream myself playing guitar to the game Rocksmith on Twitch. There you can hangout, chat and even request songs for me to play. We have a lot of fun there! The link is here (https://www.twitch.tv/malev0lent1). Finally, I do have a Discord that folks can join as well (https://discord.gg/RCPAZwVB)
L0rd Kha0s links:
Band/Artist location – Tampa Florida
Facebook – You Tube – Bandcamp –
Apple – Spotify – Amazon – Deezer –
Check our page for L0rd Kha0s
