Def Defying

The tour in Australia is the last tour on that record,” Frontman Derek Archambault says of Defeater's critically-lauded second album Empty Days & Sleepless Nights, released through Bridge 9 Records in March of last year. Currently on a west coast tour of the USA at the time with Hundredth, Rotting Out and Silver Snakes, a road-weary sounding Archambault is suddenly cut short by “a homeless guy that's giving everyone trouble right now; he's about ready to fight.” There's the sound of some minor scuffles before the phone call gets back on track. Distractions aside, the poetic lyricist doesn't have a huge amount of information on what's to come for Defeater's brooding tunes, overarching concept, and returning characters. “Alright, so nothing's written yet. We're going home to write,” he states.

Within their songs, Defeater have created a fictional working-class family, living in the post-WWII era, and each song deals with the struggles they face in their day-to-day lives, which further builds upon a greater picture. “The whole life of the band is built around this concept, these characters. Different perspectives from everyone. It's gonna be changed up a little bit, but it'll still revolve around the same people. We'll just leave that up for when the record gets released. I've got some ideas, but nothing I want to divulge.”

Despite their successes, which include massive tours with the likes of Every Time I Die, Touche Amore, Trash Talk and more, Defeater maintains a part-time lifestyle, and “definitely don't function like a normal band”. “We don't have band practice and write music, and then get it tight enough to go in and record. We have always done it by the seat of our pants because we're all so far apart. Our bass player lives in LA now, our drummer's in Connecticut, we're all super busy working and with Jay [Maas, guitars] having the studio, he's got a full-time gig with that. It's tough for us to function as a normal band ‑ work all day, practice once or twice a week, write music, then record it. We're fortunate to have Jay who has his own studio, so we can pretty much work at our own pace when he's done doing stuff during the day. We have writing ability and recording ability at night.”

Probed about his hardcore/punk listening habits in 2012, Archambault reveals that he doesn't follow it as closely as he once did, and is more likely to be found listening to country, '60s soul and pop records.  “I wouldn't say it's harder for me to be impressed, it's just like I kind of... it's not like I became disinterested, but I grew up listening to literally everything. My Dad was a DJ and my parents were both very musically inclined and supporting people, so I grew up listening to everything from jazz to country and folk and everything. I still love punk and hardcore. I wouldn't be the same person if it wasn't for that. I don't know. Unless we tour with a band, or someone goes out of their way to show it to me, I don't really check it out anymore. I guess that's the best way to put it. I'll still put on Unbroken, or American Nightmare, or Kid Dynamite, or Trial, the stuff I grew up listening to in the '90s, but it's rare that a new band really gets me.”

So what about the top three all-time hardcore releases? “Unbroken - Love Life Regret. Kid Dynamite - Self-Titled. Ahh... I don't know,” he says, pausing for some time, “the third one will always be changing, I guess. Right now, maybe The Hope Conspiracy - Cold Blue.”