Interview: Sadus
I want to have the listener feel that tension that I feel when I'm singing those lyrics.
Metal masters Sadus have returned after a long hiatus with their new album The Shadow Inside, their first album in seventeen years. Listening to the record, it is with a doubt worth the long wait as the band, who on this record consists of drummer Jon Allen and Darren Travis who handles everything else, deliver their thrash/death metal hybrid with passion and technical precision. Gavin Brown caught up with Darren to talk about the return of Sadus with The Shadow Inside, the band’s slimmed down but still as effective line-up and what the future holds for Sadus.
E&D: The new Sadus album, The Shadow Inside has just been released, what’s the reaction to the album been like so far?
Darren: I haven’t really been looking, but I think that we’ve gotten a pretty good response. I did a couple posts and asked people what their favourite songs were and people so far are enjoying it.
E&D: This is the first Sadus album in seventeen years. What has taken so long for this album and what led to the band coming back?
Darren: You know, I had to get a job. I’ve been working so hard just paying my bills, and everybody kind of went their separate ways just to try to get by. Time goes by and we just go, whoa, but I’ve been writing the last five years, trying to get the guys together. Me and John got together, and Steve was too busy, so we decided to do it with just the two of us.
E&D: How did that work with just the two of you?
Darren: It was fun man, we had a great time. I think we ate more than we played music! We had good meals, me and John we spared no expense on the food category, and alcohol beverages! Until we had to get some work done!
E&D: Will Steve DiGiorgio be involved with Sadus in the future?
Darren: The doors is open. He needs a band that’s going to pay his bills because he jumped off the cliff and went for it full time. It’s just for fun for me and John. Who knows in the future what things may happen? But right now, we just wanted to put something out, and in order for us to call it Sadus, I told Steve, Well, I’m not going to bring anybody else into the band, just out of respect for him and also to leave that door open for me. I didn’t want to have somebody come in and help us. So I did everything.
E&D: Was that a good experience for you, going everything?
Darren: That’s a lot of frickin’ work, man! As soon as I was done with one thing, it was, okay, now move on to the next! A lot of times were first takes, and we had to move quickly because we didn’t have a big budget or anything for this album, so we just did it as fast as we could.
E&D: How does it feel to have Nuclear Blast on board and doing the record for the label, and how did that come about?
Darren: Well, we recorded six songs, maybe two years ago now, and I just approached a bunch of both friends. I was thinking this sounds great man, maybe I should hit up some of my old friends and see if they know anybody that would be interested in listening to it. So I hit up an old friend that signed Sadus back in the day, Monte Connor, and I asked Monte, is there anybody that you know that maybe might want to hear some of our tunes here? He was like, Yeah, me! He was super pumped about it, he said, just don’t send it out anymore. Just keep it under wraps. He was one of the first people I reached out to and we have a good relationship and he really likes the band, so it helps us out a lot.
E&D: Does it feel like unfinished business with Sadus has been resolved with this album?
Darren: Oh, well, I definitely had a bunch of tunes under my belt. I really wanted to get them out, and I didn’t want to wait any longer. I needed to make some art. I went to Trident studios, and Juan, the producer said, I’ll get a band for you. I said, I’ve never played with other musicians, I just want to do it on my own, and then getting John involved. We really turned it up to another level, and we decided to push forward.
E&D: Were songs on the record like ‘Anarchy’, ‘It’s The Sickness’ and ‘No Peace’ inspired by the chaos around the world currently and over the past few years?
Darren: Definitely. The world, as I was writing this music, I was just watching everything just go crazy everywhere. I always have my feelings inside but I try not to put too much out on the table, but when I’m writing the lyrics, I’m thinking about a third person or a person inside myself that would say things that maybe I wouldn’t say or present certain things that way and there’s a common theme throughout the whole record of those inner feelings. Writing by myself was tough. I usually have bandmates that say about changing this or that and I only did that with John because the drums would change tremendously. There’s a common thread going through the lyrics throughout the whole record and that’s the shadow inside that’s the person that kind of inner feelings of loss purpose we all have. We all need an outlet to get that burning inside of you out so that you don’t go crazy and music was that for me. I would pick up the guitar and just get my aggression out on that guitar instead of taking it out on somebody next to me.
E&D: Does it feel great to have the music while the music of Sadus back again?
Darren: It’s like it’s never changed. We’re always just trying to do the best we can and it just always tends to sound like Sadus, it’s just us and everything kind of happens to fall in place. That’s kind of how each song wrote itself more or less. At different times, I would have different feelings, different moods. I just want to rip on this one or I’m just feeling kind of groovy, or something a little place of mellowness but I still gotta have it heavy. It gives it a little bit more ups and downs of roller coaster ride for the listener.
E&D: How was the experience of being back in the studio, making the album?
Darren: Oh, that was freaking crazy with the changing technology. So crazy. We made our last record in 2006, and the technology was there, but the engineer and producer, we all produced it together, but this time, I just wanted to do it all myself and make it more believable that way. I think with all the tools that they have, they could do crazy stuff, and that was the reason why I really started writing music again. I got an iPhone and I couldn’t believe that I could actually plug my guitar into my phone and have a full studio on my phone. I just start playing again. and writing music on my phone, I had like 60 songs, and that really inspired me. I want to see other people enjoy this like I enjoy it.
E&D: The music of Sadus,that technical thrash/death sound that you’ve got still sounds as fresh as ever did, you obviously wanted to keep that sound for this record?
Darren: It’s what we’ve always done. I always just try to do the best that I can at that time, and the excitement of the music comes across, because I want to get that aggression out. I want to have the listener feel that tension that I feel when I’m singing those lyrics, I want to have them feel like I feel and hopefully that they can feel that release of tension in the music.
E&D: Have you discussed Sadus playing live again?
Darren: Yeah, we have a few festivals booked in 2024. We’re just getting our feet wet so I’m not really sure how we’re gonna go about everything. I have a lot of friends willing to help me and we have a lot of different avenues to go through. One way or another, it’s going to be off the charts. We’re not going to spare any expense. It’s going to be a good show.
E&D: Over the years, what have been some of the greatest live shows that Sadus have ever played, and who have you loved touring with over the years?
Darren: We’ve toured with Obituary a lot of times. We have played shows with everybody so I really don’t really know what the best one was but we’ve played some huge, huge shows in down in South America, and South America has really been good to us. Europe also, but we haven’t really haven’t played the UK except back in the day in 1991 with Morbid Angel there. That was a great tour, and I’m glad we we did get to Europe and the UK. I’m ready to go to the UK and hang out and meet up with you, man and have a couple of pints. That’s what I’m talking about!
E&D: Have you had any thoughts about which songs from The Shadow Inside you’d love to play live?
Darren: I don’t really know. I like them all! Right now, I don’t know what people would be anticipating but I can picture people just going nuts. When I was writing it, as I felt, this is gonna be a great feeling for everybody to just to feel the intensity of the music live, but we’ll see how it goes. We have a huge amount of material to pull from and I think that we would have one of the funnest sets ever, you know, I just pull from all the goodness.
E&D: How does it feel to be part of those early years of thrash metal and still be going today and seen be seen as such a legendary and influential band?
Darren: It feels good! I can’t believe that I’m still here, and I can’t believe that people are still interested in a little band called Sadus. I don’t understand it at all. All we did was just have fun, and we do it the same way now, it’s just for the metal. It’s just for the fun, it’s so that I don’t go crazy and hurt somebody! I need to make music and get it out that way. You got to get it out, man and people relate to that, I guess and they build that energy of the music and I’m so grateful for that.
E&D: What have been the highlights of being in Sadus since the band started?
Darren: I think right now is my highlight. I worked really, really hard on this record and to have it come out on Nuclear Blast worldwide was just incredible man! To have it instantly be around the world and getting a reaction was amazing for me. We have great videos coming out for almost for every song. I’m so pumped now. I’m already writing the next record. Like I said, I had so many freaking songs on my phone. I was just going crazy.
E&D: So you’re constantly working on new music?
Darren: Yeah, constantly. If I’m playing guitar, I go through a long periods of times where I don’t even touch it, and then I go grab it, and get inspired and write something right there. Hopefully I recorded it, because otherwise I’ll forget it. I have a lot of ideas going on, and it’s already been a year since we were done with this album, so it takes a long time to to have a label do it, I guess because we turned it in a long time ago and it was like, Okay, now you gotta wait.
E&D: It’s not gonna be seventeen years for the next album?!
Darren: It’s not gonna be seventeen years! I’m hoping to have one coming, hopefully, next year or the year after.
