Interview by Ben Worley
“Rhythm is an important part of The Red Devil Incident’s formula, it’s the basis upon which we build, it could be a guitar line or a drum groove, but it’s there, a pulse driving the music along.” Dom Lyne sounds adamant when he says that, and he should know, writing half of the band’s musical output, with the other half being filled by fellow band-mate M**. “My approach to writing is different to M**’s, he comes from a pianist background, my background is the drums. I guess the best way to describe the differences in our style is that he writes music, I write grooves.” He laughs at that admission, it’s an honest statement as well as an insight into the mechanics behind the band.
Despite using live drummers, when in the studio it’s Dom who lays down and writes the drum parts, would he hand over that role someone else? “No, well not at the moment. The drums are my instrument, an outlet which vocals just don’t reach. The drums are the core, the heartbeat of the music, vocals are the emotions. I guess it might come across as arrogant but I want to create that foundation upon which the rest of the band builds on. Think of it as a body, my contribution sonically is the heart, everyone else supplies the flesh and bones. We all work as one, but without a core the body will just die, a brain can’t function without a heart. At the moment the formula works, but who knows what might happen in the future.”
Dom’s grooves are tight and precise, he certainly knows his style and what works for the tracks. “Sometimes you can feel restricted when playing rock, but I love experimenting, in all the bands I’ve drummed for I’ve always used snare and rhythm displacement and RDI is no exception. As long as it grooves with the rest of the music that’s all that matters. I’m not out to impress or show off, when I drum I’m a drummer, the metronome, the flow, the beat. We used to have a joke in the studio, we used to say ‘If you can’t hear jack boots marching in time then it’s not RDI.’ I guess that mentality is still there. We write music with a powerful meaning, some could be classed as our war anthems, so that needs something to march to.”
Page Shot
Salvation and the Rhythm of War Drums appeared in the July edition of OnePage Magazine, a free magazine based in Scotland. The copyright in this interview belongs to the Magazine’s writers/publishers.