Drum Interview - Kyle Rector of "Devour the Masses"

Recently I had the pleasure of doing an E-Interview with the Sonoma County drummer Kyle Rector. He drums for Devour The Masses which can be described as Death Metal with an eccentric blend of several other genres. They are a new up and comer in the North Bay Death Metal Scene. Hardcore vocals mixed with melodic singing, tie together not only a new style in death metal, but also adds more flavor for the ears than your typical death metal band. They can be heard on myspace http://www.myspace.com/devourthemasses and followed at twitter http://twitter.com/dtmband. Check out the E-Interview below.

Devour the Masses are also playing a show at the Petaluma Phoneix Theatre November 7th, 2009. Tickets can be purchased at the door.

DoublebassDavid: First off what kind of drumkit do you have and what pedals do you use?

Kyle Rector: I use Yamaha Absolute Maple Custom Drums, it's the fusion model 6 piece set w/snare, bass drum, 2 rack toms, 2 floor toms. Cymbals are mixed but I'm aiming for a full Sabian set up right now. I have a DW9000 Double-Bass pedal. I play with the plastic hard side of the beater.


DD: What do you like about your drum pedals?

KR: My 9000's are great, they have a lot of versatility with about every type of set up I can imagine. What I truly love is that they're infinitely adjustable. I can add weight, switch the chains out for a felt strap, etc. They also have a great memory lock system for the beaters which is spectacular. And as a nice bonus, they come with a heavy duty carrying case for free.


DD: What are your goals as a double bassist for Devour the Masses?

KR: Well, I don't really have so much goals for double bass in DTM, but I have goals for my drumming overall in DTM. I generally try to keep my goals separate from my individual practice, and my role as a drummer in DTM. My only true goal that correlates between both is to be able to play anything I hear in my head along with the music when we're writing. So if I hear myself blasting away 220 bpm in my head to a song we're writing, then it's a goal to be able to play that fast with my feet.

DD: When you are creating music with Devour the Masses, how do you come up with such intricate drum parts? What is your process for making a new song?


KR: DTM's writing process is still relatively new. Most of the time it's me laying drums over riffs that Corey(lead guitar) brings in. So far it's more of a mechanical approach to writing music, and I find myself usually just laying drum tracks over the riffs, and then the band as a whole does the constructing.
The intricate drum parts just come from me practicing the song over and over and just letting the ideas flow. I'm usually never really done writing as I always find something new that sounds good. My main focus is trying to write to the song though, and help convey the message that we're sending out... though to be honest, I do feel I can be guilty of overplaying.


DD:What do you attribute your speed too with your feet?

KR: Practice, practice, practice. With a metronome, usually for about 50% of my daily practice. It's also a bit of experimentation, i.e. should I spread out the pedals more, lower their tension, add weight etc. Mostly practice though for about 1-2 hours everyday. Usually it's just selected rudiments that I play and every few days I bump up my metronome 4 bpm.

DD: How do you see double bass in the mainstream media taking hold?


KR: I don't really pay much mind to mainstream media, but I have noticed that double bass playing is definitely more prevalent in modern times. I think this can be attributed to cheaper and better quality double bass pedals. I know a lot of kids who got a double bass pedal when they bought their first kit. It's starting to become the standard for all drummers to be fast with both hands and feet. Fast double bass drum playing also has a "wow" effect on the crowd as well and I feel that this is a goal for performing drummers, especially during a drum solo. Lastly, metal has seem to be on the uprise in popularity in these past few years, granted it never died but it's definitely not as popular as pop, hip-hop, rap, country, etc. but there has seem to be more acceptance in mainstream media. For example, there are less idiots out there attributing heavy aggressive music to worshipping Satan, or being evil in some shape or form. It's naturally grown as a part of the music community and held in high regard for at least the technical value by most individuals. I use double bass but only in correlation as a drummer.

There you have it, from the underbelly of hell known as Sonoma County, CA...Devour the Masses drummer, Kyle Rector!

Until next time!