DEVIL'S ISLAND featuring Survivalist
Welcome to this weeks edition of Devil's Island! Every week we maroon a band or artist on the island and see what they get up to, how they cope with being all alone on a small island in the middle of the ocean. It's not your average desert island and we'll see just how each person copes with the extreme conditions.
This week when we arrived at Devil's Island we find Survivalist sat on the beach. The island is far from their home, so how did they end up here and how did they cope with life on Devil's Island?
Find out now...
Welcome to The Razors'e Edge and our somewhat lovely, warm desert island. Don't worry about it's name I'm sure it's not as bad as that would suggest.
You're marooned here on this island, but before you ended up shipwrecked you chose one album that you couldn't live without. Which album did you each chose and why?
Gav: Taking the logical route as I only get to pick one album. I want something with variety, it is the spice of life after all. As much as having Jamie Jasta shout angry inspirational messages at me for however long the unspecified amount of time we’re on this island is, I’ll need versatility or I’ll be painting coconuts and chatting with em. I’m gonna choose something more recent because new music is good shit and we’ve all heard the Black Album 6000 times. So Gideon – More power, More Pain. Big Melodies, lots of aggression, some cool samples and ambience. 10/10 album for me.
Nick: I would have to go with Waking The Fallen by Avenged Sevenfold. It’s the band that started my spiral into all things metal and is such a classic to me in terms of song writing structure, melodies and riffs. It’s not something I would listen to if it came out now as we developed the ability to sing through our mouth instead of our nasal passage but this album will always have a special place in my heart.
Rhys: As difficult a decision as that would be, I think the one album I would bring is Megadeth’s Rust in peace. Every single track is 10/10 and it still enters my Spotify quite frequently.
Lee: D’Angelo’s ‘Voodoo’ album – lots of smooth grooves with great harmonies in the vocals and instrumentals. The interplay between all the featured musicians on it (Questlove, Chris Dave, Pino Palladino, Charlie Hunter to name a few) is plenty to keep me sane for a long time.
Just behind that palm tree is a shack for each of you to stay in, with enough space for you to put up a poster on the wall of one album cover. What album cover do you each chose?
Gav: Napalm Death – From Enslavement to Obliteration. I love the aesthetic and I feel like there’s always new depths every time I look at it. Might just replace it with a cat poster that says “hang in there” or “Keep calm and carry on listening to one album for 47 years”.
Nick: I think a giant red flag would scream help for us and that would be While She Sleeps’ Brainwashed album cover. The cover is so simple and yet so iconic, it matches the statement they were making with this album perfectly. Loud and Angry. Also a good 2 words to describe me stuck on this god damned island.
Rhys: Probably Sepulturas arise, cause wtf is that boy.
Lee: Probably the cover to ‘Den Helige Anden (Under Vatten)’ by Vildhjarta – it’s got a bear, with wings, holding a tablet, standing on a car with some Lord of the Rings Nazghûl looking necromancer people around, it’s cool as fuck. The license plate also says Thall.
There's also a bar on this here island. But alas each of you only get to choose one drink for the entirety of your stay. What's your tipple of choice?
Gav: It’s got to be Buckfast or Guinness because I’m a cultural stereotype. Warm Guinness is worse than not drinking at all so I’ll go with Buckfast.
Nick: So what you’re really asking is, do you be responsible and stay hydrated or get blackout drunk? I gotta survive this island somehow and that’ll be with a fresh pint of Guinness. Nothing like a bit of the black stuff being from Belfast.
Rhys: if I didn’t use my obvious choice of buckfast, I’d have to stick to the captain Morgan’s and coke. He hasn’t steered me wrong yet.
Lee: Well I’m obviously going for a bottle of the finest – a bottle of Buckfast. Or maybe a bottle of white Bicardi, or Dissarono, or Sailer Jerry’s… tough question.
Your suitcases were lost when your ship sank, but you each managed to salvage one item of band merch. What’s the merch and for what band?
Gav: Cut off sleeves – Ice Cube T-shirt. It’s sick af, cool 90s style vintage print and has no sleeves so I’m streamlined and ready to tackle the day ahead, baby.
Nick: Probably a fresh cut tank top from my suitcase, trust me sleeves are sooo overrated. I like to get a shirt cut with a big design so probably one of my favourites like Ov Sulfur or Wage War. The designs they keep putting out are just *chef’s kiss*.
Rhys: My Humanity’s last breath gym shorts, cause at least if I’m trapped on an island I’ve workout appropriate clothes to help pass the time. Stylish and Practical, know what I’m saying?
Lee: My Party Cannon tee, got it from the lads in Dublin at the end of the tour we were supporting them on, top quality (shout out Pins and Knuckles for the quality), plus it's quite colourful, so I’ll be hard to miss if people are out searching for me (I really hope people will be searching for me).
You’re sat on the island thinking “I’m stuck here on this island with my bandmates for eternity”… who would you rather have been shipwrecked with?
Gav: Bear Grylls or someone who does whatever the fuck he does other than necking piss legitimately and not out of their back garden to increase my chances of Survival(ist).
Nick: I’ve seen enough Wild Boys episodes to know Chris Pontius or Steve-O would know how to really survive on an island. I think we could start by finding out how many coconuts you could hang from our coconuts… y’know for survival? I don’t know, maybe I’m losing my mind.
Rhys: David Goggins, cause he would either help me ride out the stay or break my sanity...probably the latter. He can also carry boats.
Lee: Definitely that guy from the YouTube channel Outdoor Boys, mans a survival expert and can survive anything, just wonder if he can deal with my uselessness and the amount of crap I talk.
There's a walkman in your pocket, on the tape inside is the recording of the one live show that stands out for you. It could be any show, from any band, anywhere in the world. What show is on that walkman?
Gav: I’m a massive fan of Sunny Singh and his Work at Hate5six. For me it has to be Malevolence and their set Sunny filmed in Aus back in 2020. The mix on this is so clean.
Nick: I’d have to be a bit vain and see a recording of one of our own shows, the time we opened for Chelsea Grin. Seeing how we won over a wave of new fans in our hometown with one of my favorite bands, really showed me I was doing something right. That and the fact I got in the pit after my own set and pushed around said people, love you.
Rhys: Honestly..any live show by Meshuggah, been to three myself now and they’re amazing every time.
Lee: 100% it’s the Red Hot Chili Peppers live at Slane concert from back in 2003. Played a lot of their hits and fan favourites with a vast amount of improvising as they usually do. Some of the jams before songs are nearly better than the songs themselves, it’s a beyond perfect concert which I think I’ve watched 100 times at least.
You're getting desperate, you decide the only course of action is to put a message in a bottle and hope someone finds it. Your message could be to any member of any band, but should be the most suitable for a rescue attempt. Who is it?
Gav: James Pligge From Harms Way. Man could just run across the ocean and carry us home on his back.
Nick: My message would read, “Lee if you are reading this, put the baked beans down and pass this to Gavin. Gavin, what the fuck? The captain of that party boat was NOT a real captain. Please send help and I’ll buy you a burrito”
Rhys: Probably Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden, does he not have an airplane or something?
Lee: Sting from the Police, I reckon if he found a message in a bottle in real life it’d freak him out a bit, and he’d be too curious to ignore it and come save me. Surely he’s got the cash to fund a search party for me?
You've been stuck here a while and food supplies are running low. There's only one thing for it... which fellow band member gets sacrificed to help the others survive?
Gav: It’s gotta be me. 6’5” and stacked like an all you can eat pancake house. There’s a lot of eatin’ there.
Nick: Rhys has that lean body mass from years of eating pizza 3 times a day, 7 days a week so I’ll say not him. Lee puts beans on his Christmas dinner so I’m not going anywhere near that maniac. I think based on size alone, Gav has the height to provide a valid meal if I can get past wrestling him like a bear.
Rhys: Lee Shaw, his DNA is 98% Heinz beans so It’ll feed the rest of the squad before we turn on each other.
Lee: Nick makes a good burger so maybe he tastes like burgers? Rhys also loves a pizza more than any man I know, does he taste like pizza? Only one way to find out.
Finally, when the ship sank you each managed to save one person from the wreckage. That person is the one musician that has influenced your career the most, shaped your way of thinking and your outlook on life. Who did you save?
Gav: Dimebag Darrel. Dime is the entire reason I got into metal. It started with guitar which somehow led to me doing vocals. His attitude and outlook resonated with me. Balls, giving a middle finger when it’s needed and living life to the fullest.
Nick: If I could be in an alternative universe where I’m on a shipwreck, I’d have Dimebag Darell come back from the afterlife and land with me. The man was so far ahead of his time, I would love to see what he would think of today’s state of music and how his own writing style could change. I definitely take huge inspiration from the groove elements of his riffs and how he lived life to the fullest. Never know when things can end so we gotta live life hard!
Rhys: It would have to be Chris Adler. I find that his signature style of playing still shows it’s influence in my Drumming, even to this day. LoG was never the same without him.
Lee: Victor Wooten, he’s one of the greatest to ever play a bass, the lessons he gives in rhythm, technique, harmony, and life are incredible, every single musician and human would benefit from studying him
