Interview With Vocalist Devin Reiche of Anubis







By Mick Michaels




COSMICK VIEW: Hello! Welcome to The Cosmick View. Thank you for taking some time out of your day to chat with me, it's greatly appreciated.

CV: Please introduce yourself, the band and give us a brief background on the group.

Devin Reiche: We are ANUBIS, Power/Thrash Metal from Los Angeles, CA. We have 4 self-produced EPs and one upcoming album, and we’re only just getting started! 

 

CV: Given so many major changes over the last decade, do you believe the music industry is a practicable and stable enough environment for new artists to even consider making it a valid career choice? Can a level of sustainable success really be achieved in your opinion?

DR: I don't think anything has fundamentally changed in this particular regard. In the '80s, only a tiny sliver of the luckiest musicians were able to make music a career, and today only a tiny sliver of the luckiest musicians are able to make it a career. Today some of the best metal bands are breaking up or scaling back for financial reasons (Thy Art is Murder, Allegeon, etc.) and in the '80s some of the best metal bands broke up or scaled back for financial reasons (Death Angel, Vio-lence, etc.).

When I hear people say that "you can't earn a living off music anymore," I wonder what period these people think that music was ever a viable career choice in? Music has always been an unrealistic, one-in-a-million longshot as a career aspiration. The only difference now is that it’s much easier to maintain as a fulfilling long-term hobby in the event that you don’t become the next Megan Thee Stallion, Ghostemane, or Post Malone.

 

CV: What do you see as the biggest change in the music industry since you first started out?

DR: The biggest change by far is that streaming has completely democratized the music landscape. A person's financial situation used to be an insurmountable barrier to how much music a person could consume. Now you can get every album in human history for 10 dollars a month. Make no mistake: this is a life-changing difference. Anyone who’s ever wanted to check out that Iron Maiden band, and randomly picked The X Factor as the album to spend their once-every-three-weeks CD budget on will affirm this. Having absolutely everything at your fingertips means that you can curate your entire music diet based on nothing but what you genuinely enjoy the most.

Furthermore, literally anyone can make album-quality music and even succeed with it given the right circumstances. Before streaming people used to talk about record labels as this arbiter of who succeeds and who doesn’t. That’s not the case anymore. Your music is just as available and easy to get as Metallica’s. Take advantage of this!

 

CV: How do you see your music separating itself from your peers and avoiding just being another cog in the wheel? 

DR: I think that whether or not our music actually does separate itself from our peers is ultimately to be decided by the listeners and not by me. But I'd like to think that our music clicks with people who want the ultra-melodic approach of the most well-known power metal bands (Stratovarius, Beast in Black, etc.) with the musculature and athleticism of extreme thrash and death metal. As a fan of virtually every metal subgenre, this is a particular approach that I haven't really seen attempted yet. It typically seems to be either one extreme or the other.  

 

CV: Has the industry’s many changes affected how you write music? Has it influenced your songwriting style in any drastic form?

DR: The biggest change is that I once emphasized longer songs in my own songwriting, but now because of how the streaming landscape works and what 'YouTube culture' has done to people's attention spans, I emphasize shorter songs.

But honestly this is probably a change I would have ended up making anyways. I sort of don’t want to give the audience enough time to get bored. To me, musical meandering is inherently limited as a tool for communicating with the audience. What gives a song its personality is the part that can be fully developed in around 3 minutes.

 

CV: Has digital technology led the way for almost anyone to be a musical artist in your opinion?

DR: Absolutely…unquestionably yes. Ten years ago if you lived in a small town with three guitar players, two bass players, two singers, and zero drummers, nobody got to play anything. If you had the best band on earth but no one in your town liked metal, nobody got to play anything. If you had an awesome band, were part of an awesome scene, but the biggest promoter in town hated you for no reason, guess what… you weren’t playing. Now the only things holding you back are a small handful of minor financial investments and your own creativity.

 

CV: Has music in general been broken into too many sub-genres? Why do think there are so many classifications of music types? Can this be confusing for an artist who is looking to build a brand? As well, can it be confusing for the fans?
DR: I thought this was the case as far back as the '90s. I remember seeing metal gradually split into black metal that was more and more abrasive, power metal that was becoming lighter, friendlier, and less edgy, alt metal that was courting the mainstream more, etc. And I remember just thinking that this couldn’t be healthy for the genre. I love variety in metal, but I also think it’s important that the fanbase not split into irreconcilable factions.

Of course back then things were way, way more cohesive than they are now. Now every subgenre is split into several of its own sub-subgenres. Which again, is fine… variety and evolution are key to the long-term stability of a music genre. I just hope that fans are open minded enough to see that it’s all metal, and it’s all fucking awesome – ALL of it.

I think of metal and it’s subgenres as a flower – in the middle (or the “receptacle”) you have just regular old METAL, and with each individual petal you have black metal, death metal, power metal, prog metal, etc. I love exploring each of the petals, but people need to remember that if the receptacle isn’t healthy, the entire flower is in danger of dying off.

 

CV: How would you define “iconic” when it comes to being an artist or musician? What do you think makes an artist iconic?

DR: “Iconic” is a combination of innovation – being the one doing stuff that seemed weird and crazy at the time, but that ended up being what everyone else wanted to imitate – instantly recognizable visuals and sound, and deep resonance in the culture in some way.

Slash playing the November Rain solo in the middle of the desert is iconic. King Diamond singing “GRANDMA, WELCOME HOME” is iconic. Sabaton’s military camo is iconic.

 

CV: Who would you consider to be a modern day “rock star?” And is being a “rock star” something to aspire to?

DR: This is not going to be a popular answer...but Machine Gun Kelly. Whatever you think of the man's music, he understands that **he himself** is the product better than almost anyone in rock.

He got a lot of shit for starting a beef with Corey Taylor, but you have to understand that he originated in the most popular musical genre on the planet (hip hop), and in that genre, “beefing” is just a way of generating media attention. He doesn’t understand that that sort of thing is considered poor form in the rock world. But then again, maybe that’s something rock could actually learn from hip hop..that knowing how to generate controversy and media is an important factor in achieving success.

But aside from him, there’s a guy named Yungblud who’s becoming immensely popular, and is kind of exactly what the rock world needs right now. You asked about what makes someone “iconic”… Yungblud is absolutely iconic. And unlike Machine Gun Kelley, I think a lot of his music is actually really phenomenal! He has a song called “Strawberry Lipstick” that harkens back to The Clash’s debut album and the whole ‘70s UK punk rock scene, and is one of the best punk songs I’ve heard in probably more than a decade. In his video “The Funeral”, Ozzy Osbourne runs him over with a hearse and calls him “some fuckin’ poser”. Pretty awesome.

 

CV: Does music need to have a message to convey to the world for it to be worth listening to in your opinion?
DR: No. If we’re talking about a political message, most of the best music doesn't. Helloween doesn’t have a message, Arch Enemy doesn’t have a message, Brain Drill doesn’t have a message, Exodus doesn’t have a message, etc., etc. Fewer bands have one than don’t.

If a band chooses to have a message and is able to incorporate it into their music in a way that feels natural and compelling, all the better for them. The problem is that not everybody has the natural inclination toward observational witticism that a truly political act like Dead Kennedys have. If you’re going to attempt it, you need to be careful not to come off as pompous and under informed, which is a trap that a lot of bands that attempt political lyrics can fall into.

 

CV: What's next for the band? What can fans expect to see coming?

DR: We’ve just begun the mixing and mastering process for our debut full-length, so more details about that should start coming out before long. Unfortunately, I have to stay tight-lipped about it for now. Until then the plan is to keep playing live and expanding the sphere of influence.

 

CV: Thank you again for spending some time talking and sharing with our readers. It was a pleasure. I wish you all the best and continued success.

DR: Thank you very much, likewise!! These were great questions!

 

Check out Anubis at:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AnubisBandOfficial

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anubismetalofficial/

LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/AnubisMetalOfficial

 

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My name is Mick Michaels...I'm an artist, music fan, songwriter, producer, show host, dreamer and guitarist for the traditional Heavy Metal band Corners of Sanctuary. Writing has always been a creative outlet for me; what I couldn't say in speech, I was able to do with the written word.  Writing has given me a voice and a way for me to create on a multitude of platforms including music and song, articles, independent screenplays, books and now, artist interviews. The Cosmick View is an opportunity to raise the bar and showcase artists in a positive and inspirational light. For me, it's another out-of-this-world adventure.




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