KILL DEVIL HILL – “THE BAND DIDN’T HAVE ANYTHING…IT WAS JUST US”

KILL DEVIL HILL – “THE BAND DIDN’T HAVE ANYTHING…IT WAS JUST US”




To say a lot has happened since the release of the second Kill Devil Hill album, Revolution Rise, in 2013 is a massive understatement! Ten years have passed, and in that decade, half the band has changed. Drummer Johnny Kelly (Type O Negative, Quiet Riot) replaced Vinny Appice (Black Sabbath, Dio), and bassist Matt Snell (Five Finger Death Punch) replaced Rex Brown (Pantera, Down) – that’s a whole new rhythm section. Still leading the charge are vocalist Dewey Bragg (Pissing Razors), and guitarist Mark Zavon.

This revamped, and completely invigorated version of Kill Devil Hill releases their new album, Seas Of Oblivion, on September 20, 2023 via Legend Recordings. “To me, Kill Devil Hill is very identifiable by Dewey, and Mark’s riffs. So, to me, the identifying characters are still there,” begins Johnny Kelly. “Even though the band had a lot of star power with Vinny Appice and Rex Brown – those two together are incredible. But to me, Kill Devil Hill is Dewey. He’s such a great singer! That, to me, is what really stands out with Kill Devil Hill. Obviously, it’s going to be different when you change the entire rhythm section. Our approaches are going to be different. I don’t want to say better or worse, but it’s different. And that’s going to come across in any music.”

“We had recorded a couple of songs when Rex was still in the band, and that sounded different from the two records they did. You change one ingredient… it’s going to be different. You put me in place of Vinny Appice – that’s going to be completely different. Even though I was very influenced by Vinny when I was younger, when I first started playing; it’s still going to be different. Then when Matt came in, a totally different approach as well. I still think that it does sound like Kill Devil Hill though. To me, the identifying markers of the band are Mark and Dewey. And obviously, when you’re talking about ten years between records – everybody’s different. Put ten years between you, me, your Mom, your kids. So, there is going to be a difference. Hopefully, people who were fans of the band previously will dig what the band is bringing out. But that was the cool thing about it too, when we got together and started working on the record… we didn’t have an agenda. The band didn’t have anything – no label, no management, no booking agent; it was just us. We were just getting together, writing songs and seeing where it went.”