Interview By: George Archibald

Photos By: Andrew Bastion

A band on the rise, Ded has been making waves in the metal and rock community. With the release of their first album Misanthrope, Ded has found a home topping many music charts with the singles 'Hate me', 'Remember The Enemy','Anti-Everything', and 'FMFY.' With all the attention on Ded, they are one of the fastest rising groups to watch. Kill The Music got the opportunity to speak with Joe Cotela and David Ludlow after their set while supporting POD and In This Moment.

GA: Ded was formed out of several bands from what I read. Can you tell me more about the beginnings and forming of Ded?

JC: We were all in other bands, and those bands were slowing down at that time. I was close to calling it quits playing music as a career thing. I think when you start a band, you have that idea of building it up and getting huge; it wasn’t happening with the project I was apart of. I think that was close to the same scenario as David at that time.

DL: Not necessarily, but I was over the way I was doing things at that time. I needed a change. We both were doing music because we were chasing a career. We just kind of stopped doing it that way and started doing it more for fun. We began writing songs for the next two years, because we wanted to stay active, and it wasn’t about chasing something. Once we had this group of songs, people were telling us they liked them a lot. That fueled the fire. It was like, ok we are having a lot of fun doing this maybe this should go to the next level.

Kyle Koelsch of Ded House of Blues Cleveland 2/9/18

GA: How would you describe your music, I know some bands are touchy with throwing subgenre tags on their bands?

JC: What I think it is, is a combination of the things that we’ve played in the past. Metalcore, hardcore and mixing it with a very heavy influence of nu metal, but like the best of nu metal. Also throwing anything groovy in there, like Pantera or Korn. I also think there is a huge influence of good writing like Michael Jackson, John Mayer, and Third Eye Blind. We listen to really good songs and are influenced from them. I think it is a combination of those things which makes up the sound of Ded.

GA: For me, I would sum up Ded’s sound as a great mix of newer production/and current metal sound with a bit of a nod to the early 2000’s metal scene? What made you decide that this is the sound for us?

DL: We kind of just found it, we were writing things that we wanted to hear. We started writing songs from the approach of what would we want to hear as fans. We took the approach as music lovers. We wanted to create that moment when you hear it, you go wow, that’s something new or fresh. It took some experimenting; we wrote more bad songs than good, but those are the ones you learn from. We were able to weed out the bad to get to the good stuff.

David Ludlow of Ded House of Blues Cleveland 2/9/18

GA: Since the bands inception, you have had quite a successful run with the music charts, placing very high on many prestigious lists. In what way has the band seen the impact of these placings?

JC: All the fans going nuts. People taking notice of the band and saying we are the next big thing, which is still weird to hear because it hasn’t felt like that to us. It feels good to hear people say, guys you are blowing up, and all these things. This has been happening so quickly that everyone’s eyes shifted to what we were doing, and we(Ded) weren’t expecting it.

DL: I think you can’t expect that when you start, but I think we were prepared for it. I think from all the time we put into things, it made us ready for bigger things to come.

JC: We had to jump through a lot of hoops. When we got into the studio with John Feldmann, He did not fuck around, he made us work our asses off. He even said that to us before making the album, I want to make sure you take this process seriously. He made us do a lot to make this the best album we could make. He really made us work for it, we had to work hard for everything we accomplished.

GA: Let’s talk about Misanthrope, what was the process like writing and recording this album? Who did you work with, and what was the thought process behind the album?

JC: We did most of it originally in David’s studio in Arizona over years.

DL: We had a bunch of people involved on it, John Feldmann and a bunch of different mentors. These people worked with us during the process when fitting things together. We did a lot of home recording, which I suggest a lot of bands do. We were sending it out to LA back and forth for two years. We kind of just keep chipping away, and perfecting the songs, instead of just slapping them together in a quick manner of time.

GA: What would you want a someone new to the band to take from hearing your music/seeing you perform, like what would you want them to know about the Ded?

JC: We give everything we have when we go out and play. We are still kids that want to beat shit up on stage, and it doesn’t feel like a job when we are up there. I hope that translates to those people, that they can go nuts as well and have fun.

GA: What is next for Ded after this tour?

JC: We are going to continue with In This Moment and The Word Alive for a west coast tour with them. We are doing Las Rageous Fest in Vegas, which has Five Finger Death Punch and Judas Priest on the bill which is going to be sick. We are also doing RockFest in Wisconsin, which has Disturbed and Godsmack headlining that festival. We also have plans to go overseas later this year. We haven’t had that opportunity yet to go there, but it will be cool to be apart of that.

GA: Where can people keep up to date with Ded?

JC: Dedofficial on Facebook, Dedofficial on Instagram, and weareded on Twitter. We try to keep in touch with everyone as best as we can.

GA: What gear does the band currently use while on tour? Any endorsements please mention.

DL: I am playing on an Ibanez Prestige model that I love. They hooked me up with it a couple years ago and it feels awesome and is very lightweight. We also use Kemper, Ernie Ball, and Universal Audio.

GA: Anything else the band would like to add?

JC: Come out to a show, pick up the new album, Misanthrope. Our new single ‘Hate Me’ is out now and on sale. Please support that shit, its being played on the radio and can also be seen on YouTube.

Official Website: https://www.dedband.com

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/weareded

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

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/0EJ8q62CX4O52UjTN2bAEx

iTunes : https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/mis-an-thrope/id1238486219?app=itunes&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

Smart URL to all streaming/sales outlets: http://smarturl.it/misanthrope

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/DEDband

Bands in Town: http://www.bandsintown.com/DED