CHRIS BRODERICK On ACT OF DEFIANCE: 'We Wanted The Freedom To Be Able To Write What We Felt Passionate About'

Heavy New York recently conducted an interview with former MEGADETH and current ACT OF DEFIANCE guitarist Chris Broderick. You can now watch the chat below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On whether he would consider ACT OF DEFIANCE's sophomore album, "Old Scars, New Wounds", to be a "new start" for the band:

Chris: "Well, I don't call it a new start. It was the culmination of us coming together. So it does feel like it's finally like we're hitting the ground running, to use another cliché, but it really just comes down to the idea that the first CD [2015's 'Birth And The Burial'] was Shawn [Drover, drums] and I going, 'Okay, we're writing these songs. We need to shop for a label, we need to figure out what our band is gonna be called, we need to get a bass player, we need to get a vocalist, we need to copyright the name' — you know, all of this stuff — and all of that was happening while we were getting it ready to go. And so on this CD, it was just, like, 'Oh, we are a band.' And we're very democratic in the way that we work together. And I think it shows on this new CD."

On whether ACT OF DEFIANCE is a combination of the individual bandmembers' experiences with previous bands:

Chris: "I think you are your experiences, in a way. So I've taken everything from every past band that I've ever been in and applied it to ACT OF DEFIANCE — whether it's from MEGADETH or NEVERMORE or JAG PANZER or my local bands or my college experience; all of that impacts what I do. But the one criteria I think we all had was that we wanted the freedom to be able to write what we felt passionate about. And as long as it was metal, we were, like, 'Let's go with it.'"

On whether he and his bandmates had a preconceived idea of what they wanted "Old Scars, New Wounds" to sound like:

Chris: "No real preconceived ideas. The only thing I can really tell is how the songwriting process kind of occurred. And it was a pretty traditional way, where all of us had kind of demoed out songs on our own. And for me, personally, when I write, I like diversity, so I tend to like to write a song that doesn't always maintain a consistent tempo all the way through — I like tempo changes. And I love key changes and all of that stuff that kind of makes a song take a little left turn or a right turn. And I think you can also hear that in Shawn's writing as well. And so you get that starting diversity, and then you get the input from Henry [Derek Bonner, vocals] on his lyrics, or Matt [Bachand, bass] with his lyrics or his bass lines, and then it starts to make the songs even more unique. There are characteristics that Henry, Matt and Shawn bring to a song that I would never bring, just because that's part of their background and their influence. So, to me, that's what makes it so different and unique."

On ACT OF DEFIANCE's musical diversity:

Chris: "My thinking is, again, it comes back to being able to express ourselves the way we want. And I think a lot of times, when a band gets called out for changing directions too much or something, and this is personal to me, I think a lot of times it's because they have an exterior agenda that kind of guides that movement. And in my mind, I think as long as you're writing what you love and you're not really chasing anything, I think the fans will know it, and I think they'll accept the music as, 'Hey, well, this is exactly what I would expect from ACT OF DEFIANCE.'"

"Old Scars, New Wounds" was released last September via Metal Blade Records. The disc was mixed by Dave Otero, who has previously worked with CEPHALIC CARNAGE and CATTLE DECAPITATION, among others. The cover artwork was created by Travis Smith (KING DIAMOND, OPETH, AVENGED SEVENFOLD, STRAPPING YOUNG LAD).