Night Demon is making their way to Cincy on April 3rd at The Mad Frog for a night of old school classic thrash metal. Before the party starts, I was able to talk with frontman Jarvis Leatherby a little bit about the band and their awesome charity, Metal Cares.
How did Night Demon come to be and how long have you been together?
Night Demon started as a fun project in 2011, where we just really wanted to make a really cool NWOBHM style sounding EP and that's it. We grew up loving classic British metal and just wanted to do it for ourselves. We didn't play live for the full first year because there was really no point to it all, then much to our surprise we started to discover that our demo had leaked out on the internet and people were really digging it. At that point, we just decided to go for it, and have never looked back. We had no clue anyone would even care about what we were doing.
Your sound and style is incredible. Seeing you guys live feels like being a part of Bay Area Thrash scene of the early 80s. What lead to your distinctive style and sound?
Thank you! I think growing up in the punk scene, and also living through the thrash era helped adda little extra toughness and speed to compliment the classic rock in us. It definitely plays a big role in the live environment and helps us connect better with our audience. Also, volume is a big thing for us. It must be louder than loud!
Night Demon is a touring machine! Where has been your favorite place to play?
YES! Actually on the road as we speak. There are so many great places in this world, it's really hard to pick a favorite, but as far as where the most dedicated fans are, we would have to pick Cleveland, Tulsa, and most parts of Germany. Although there are many other beautiful places in the states and Canada, as well as Mexico and South America that we like going back to perform.
With all that touring, when do you have time to record? And when can we expect to hear some new material?
It's very difficult to write and record on the road, so that is a very good question. I usually keep the voice recorder on my phone open and often jot down little melodies here and there when they pop in my head. Also there have been tines at soundcheck where we start jamming on an idea and record that as well. You just have to take on the inspiration when it comes. The follow up album to Curse of the Damned is finished. Darkness Remains is the title. Will be released worldwide on April 21, 2017.
Tell me about Metal Cares. I think this is an amazing cause and it’s great to see a Metal band helping out the community.
Metal Cares is a no- profit brand founded by the band about four years ago. We travel an awful lot, so we've seen some things that really just make your head turn. There's a lot of poverty and under education in this world. Many times on our travels we get completely burnt out, and start complaining about our comfort zones and such, then you see someone on the street who would beg for the chance to be where we are from and do what we do, so it ll gets put into perspective. Our current campaign is running now and ends in early March, so we encourage all readers and listeners to at least go check it out and donate of it's something they feel they want to support. All info can be found at www.nightdemon.net under “Metal Cares”
Night Demon will be headlining a show here at The Mad Frog on April 3rd. What can fans expect?
Well first of all the fans can expect a few new songs! We have our first single being released this week, and since this is an off day from the Anvil support tour we are on, we will have some time to play a few extras that normally would not be heard on this tour. And of course, you can expect the normal ND stuff... Loud rock and roll with a take no prisoners attitude. We're coming to party!
