Members:
Danny Greenwood, guitars
Jack Willitts, guitars
Chris Kemp, vocals
Ivan Coulburn, bass

What’s the story behind Where Deprivation Lies?
Where Deprivation Lies started as kind of a whim honestly. I started writing heavier material around 2015, but there was no specific agenda in the very beginning other than just writing cool music. The name itself actually derives from the Meshuggah song “Obzen.” I write the main instrumentals of the songs, Jack Willitts writes the lyrics as well as helps with guitar duties, Chris Kemp does the vocals and we very recently just added Ivan Coulburn to the fold on bass. As far as influences go, I’d say key bands include: the Zenith Passage, the Black Dahlia Murder, Necrophagist, Obscura, The Faceless, Between the Buried and Me and Strapping Young Lad.

What’s the ultimate goal for the band?
If there’s any kind of ultimate goal, I’d love to be able to create tech death that’s maybe more accessible to the average listener. I think it’s such a fantastic artform, but the complexity and the sheer intensity of it all can make it hard to digest, so I try to weave the intricacy of it all into song structures and WRIFFS that are hopefully a bit more palatable.

You used Superior Drummer and The Metal Foundry SDX on this song. Tell us more about the production!
The production for this record was done in collaboration with German producer Jan Trtschka of Xenotype Mixing. I wrote the tunes and engineered the project, and he helped put the final tones and mix together. The drum sound is 90% The Metal Foundry, with the The Progressive Foundry SDX snare sample, I believe. I can’t remember what we used for amp tones exactly, however I can tell you we used a PRS SE Custom 24 for all the guitar tracking, and a Warwick FNA Jazzman for bass guitar.

You’re currently recording your debut full length album. How’s that coming along?
We’ve got eight tracks in the works for our debut album, and we’re currently in the process of tracking, which obviously amid Covid madness has slightly hindered progress, but certainly hasn’t halted it!

What’s your Toontrack story? How did you first learn about the brand?
I first heard about Toontrack back in 2013 I think, and I bought the first version of EZdrummer with the Metal Machine EZX pack to record my first demos with, and I’ve used Toontrack products probably 95% of the time ever since, really. For extreme metal drum sampling, I genuinely don’t think you can beat it, and I just recently got hold of Superior Drummer 3, so I’ve been spending a lot of time dialing in drum tones for future projects. I also use EZmix 2 a lot too! Like I have a bunch of the guitar packs, and I also use the Mastering II pack a lot for final limiting on the mix-bus.

What does your writing spot look like in terms of gear and how do songs normally come together?
My gear setup has always been extremely simple, it’s just a MacBook with Logic Pro X into a Focusrite Saffire Pro 14 and a pair of KRK Rokit 5 monitors. When it comes to writing, I try to keep it minimal because it can be very easy to get preoccupied with pickups or plugins or whatever, and it distracts from what’s really important. As far as my writing process goes, it typically starts with Guitar Pro. I’ll noodle around for a while until something good happens, then I dial it straight into that, and that slightly clunky MIDI sound acts as a kind of “quality assurance” as it were. If my song sounds good in that, then it’ll sound great when it’s recorded for real.

You’re based in the UK. How’s the tech death metal scene there?
There are a couple great bands from HMS England that I’m really into. I’m a huge fan of Cognizance and The Haarp Machine. Another couple great names I wanna throw into the mix are Slugdge, Hellbore and Man Must Die. So if you’re looking for British death metal, I’d say start there!

What’s next on the band agenda?
The next step (in world domination) is getting our full length out and reaching a much wider audience. And from there, who knows really? You can never fully predict what happens to you in life, so probably best not to plan too far ahead.

LISTEN TO “SAVAGES” BY WHERE DEPRIVATION LIES.