Dez Fafara says Devildriver have hired a replacement for departed guitarist Jeff Kendrick – but they won’t reveal who just yet.
The band lost Kendrick and drummer John Boecklin last year. They recently unveiled former Chimaira man Austin D’Amond as the new face behind the kit, and Fafara says they are almost ready to announce Kendrick’s replacement.
Fafara also confirmed that recording sessions for the band’s seventh album will begin this year. They were originally due to enter the studio last year but those plans were put on hold by the departures.
He tells Full Metal Jackie: “We’ve also got a new guitar player, but we’re gonna wait on the announcement for that. But it’s nice.”
Fafara adds that he accepts the pair’s reasons for leaving and says he’s excited about playing live with D’Amond.
He says: “You can understand when members leave a band, and Jeff, the guitar player, left because he just didn’t wanna tour anymore, and I totally understood that after the schedule we kept for almost 13 years.
“And John wanted to try and do some stuff on his own, and it was more than okay with me after that length of time. So, when you do replace members, what you wanna do is you wanna get people who are more than capable
“I definitely am looking forward to playing with Austin. He’s a great guy, he’s a great drummer, he’s got an incredible stage presence. And when he came in for the audition, he absolutely just smoked it.
“He’s just an incredible guy. And you get a real good vibe from him, which is another thing. We’re gonna tour a lot, so you’re gonna have to have that.”
