You may know of Evile by their hand cramping song “Thrasher” that is available to play in Rock Band. Evile first came on the scene with their first album “Enter the Grave” which was a great success and brought back a classic thrash sound. In September, Evile will be releasing their second album “Infected Nations” which has a richer, and more mature sound. I recently got a chance to interview Ol Drake of Evile to talk games and the new album

When you were growing up, what was the first game, or game system that you remember playing?
Drake: The first one I remember getting (for Christmas) was the original Nintendo (NES). It was a pack with Mario 1, Duckhunt etc. and the first games I had were the original Turtles game, and Ghostbusters 2. I was a geek from then on. I had to have every console, every game, everything,

Being a musician, what were your initial opinions of games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band?
Drake: My initial opinions were negative until I had time to take it in, and actually have a go on it myself. I think it’s great for a few things. For kids who know nothing about instruments or playing, it opens a door for them which they couldn’t open in real life, and it could even make them think “Hey maybe I’ll pick the guitar up.” So I think it’s nothing but a great thing. Even I play on those games, although I do feel guilty, thinking i should be practicing my real instrument. But it’s all in good fun.

What did you first think when you were asked to have “Thrasher” in Rock Band?
Drake: My first thought was “How the hell can you play that on a video game when I struggle to play it live?” haha. After that it was just a huge honor. We couldn’t believe we were getting our song on there. We’d never dream to be part of a videogame when we were younger, playing videogames ourselves.

Would you like to have more songs added into the Rock Band library for fans to download? Which ones?
Drake: A few off our new album would be great I think for Rock Band. There is an 11 minute instrumental called “Hundred Wrathful Deities” which would be a great challenge on the guitars. “Metamorphosis” has some crazy guitar, bass AND drum work. Even the vocals have more of a melody on the second album, so that’d open up a new challenge for our music, as the first album was solely just shouting.

After having a chance to listen to the new album “Infected Nations” it seems like you guys have really grown into your own sound. What would you say has contributed to this?
Drake: It basically stems from not wanting to do a carbon copy of the first album. We kind of wanted to step away from being solely as a “retro thrash” band. We wanted to show people we can do a lot more than just that. When we were writing we would think “Ok, what can we do to this to make it more interesting to the ears?”, so it was just a process of trying every possible idea in songs. A lot of it didn’t work, but what did work, stayed in, and that’s what we’ve got on the album.

What was recording the album like?
Drake: Having worked with Flemming Rasmussen (Metallica Producer) on the first album, we got a great idea of what was expected of us, and what we need to do. With Russ Russell being a mate of ours, we got on really well with him, so it was a lot more relaxed. Russ was basically a 5th member of the band for this album, so there was a lot of creativity flying around. When we were all creatived out, we’d stick the Xbox 360 on, or Russ’ built in arcade machine, and play some old classic arcade games like R type, streets of rage, double dragon etc. Also a lot of GTA 4 on the 360. Actually with the bonus DVD there’s the result of us getting a motorbike on top of a building to just, drive off. Brilliant.

Who would you say are your biggest musical influences?
Drake: My personal musical influences are mainly Sepultura, Metallica and Annihilator. Sepultura really got me IN to Music and Metal, Metallica broadened my horizons and got me onto many other bands, and Annihilator (Jeff Waters) opened up my eyes on the guitar. I spent about 6 years studying and learning Jeff’s song writing, riffs, solos etc. A very very underrated Metal guitarist.

What would you say is the next big game that you’re looking forward to playing?
Drake: Quite a few. I’ve recently been playing a lot of Left 4 Dead, so after seeing the trailer for Left 4 Dead 2, i cant wait to get on that. There’s Modern Warfare 2, after seeing the trailer I can’t wait to waste a lot of hours of my life on that. COD4 took up a lot of my time. Splinter Cell Conviction looks interesting, though I was only ever a fan of the very first SC on Xbox. It’s hard though because when I’m playing games I feel guilty, like i should be practicing, and writing tracks.

Any closing remarks?
Drake: Thank you for having me! hope you don’t fall asleep too early into reading this (although you won’t be reading this if you have), hope you like our new album “Infected Nations” ! Keep rocking and gaming!