Ex-MEGADETH Guitarist CHRIS BRODERICK Says ACT OF DEFIANCE Gives Him Freedom To Write What He Wants

Anthony Morgan of Metal Forces recently conducted an interview with former MEGADETH and current ACT OF DEFIANCE guitarist Chris Broderick. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

On ACT OF DEFIANCE‘s sophomore album, “Old Scars, New Wounds”:

Chris: “I think we were really happy with how this one came out, because it wasn’t such a shotgun-wedding type of affair. When ‘Birth And The Burial’ [August 2015 debut] came out, Shawn [Drover, drums] and I were not only trying to write the music, but we were also trying to form the band, come up with the band name, search for a label, get support in those areas, trademark things, come up with graphics and merch, and all of that stuff at the same time. We just felt such a huge pressure. We just wanted to try to get it out as soon as possible. This time around, not only did we do it collectively but we had the other voices of Henry [Derek, vocals] and Matt [Bachand, bass]. Also, we kind of took a bit more time to make sure that we crafted the songs structurally, made them more sound, and just really listened to the end product before we recorded it.”

On whether ACT OF DEFIANCE shares any musical similarities with MEGADETH:

Chris: “I had a couple of ideas that I had submitted prior to ‘Birth And The Burial’, but none of it was necessarily planned on being used in MEGADETH, or anything like that. They were submissions, but very little ultimately ended up making it. I would say my part probably maybe 10 percent of the riffs made on to ‘Birth And The Burial’, and then with ‘Old Scars, New Wounds’, all of the material is brand new. When ‘Birth And The Burial’ came out, we were just pushing hard to try to get material out that we had. I think ‘Old Scars, New Wounds’ is really the embodiment of what ACT OF DEFIANCE is, which is the freedom to write what you want.”

On how much freedom there was in writing songs for MEGADETH:

Chris: “When you’re in a band like MEGADETH, you have to realize that MEGADETH has been around. It’s been a band that’s been around longer than you’ve been in it, therefore you end up having to conform to that band. As opposed to you joining that band and becoming a part of what that band is about, it’s more like you’re coming in to play a role of what MEGADETH actually is. Therefore, I think your freedom is really confined to that space, and that’s ultimately what led me to leave MEGADETH.”

On his guitar work on “Old Scars, New Wounds”:

Chris: “As far as my guitar work goes, I originally had the idea to lay off of some of the fast playing a little bit, just to be able to go up and enjoy myself when I go up onstage in terms of not having to worry about this terrifying passage, or that particular sequence of notes or whatever. I initially had that idea, but then I had all of these new techniques that I wanted to incorporate into the album, and that ended up negating that idea. Now, I have all of these techniques and ideas that I incorporated on this album that have definitely made it at least as difficult as the last album. [Laughs] So, that’s my guitar work in a nutshell.”

On what heavy metal means to him:

Chris: “To me, basically it means that you’re not writing with any other stipulations or conceptions. I think some people get the idea that if they write a song this way or that way, then it will sell more, or that they’ll be in this particular genre or something like that. I’ve always loved metal, because it’s been kind of anti-populist in a way. It exists because it isn’t so fabricated and contrived, and stuff like that. In my mind, metal gives me the kind of freedom to write something extremely heavy in one moment, and then go into a cello concerto the next if you wanted to. That to me is what metal is; it allows all forms of music to exist inside of it, but at the same time, it doesn’t expect any sort of conformity.”

Read the entire interview at Metal Forces.