“We Will Always Remember Those Who Were Different” Interview with Jean-Daniel Villeneuve of Deviant Process

 September 20th, 2021

Metalchondria:  I first wanted to say, thank you for your time, Jean-Daniel!  Before getting to the main questions, I hope all the band members, yourself, family and friends, are safe and healthy through these burning times.  How has everyone been dealing with the pandemic currently in Canada, any major life changes occur, etc?

Jean-Daniel Villeneuve:  It's my pleasure! Things have sure been crazy since the beginning of this pandemic, but everything here slowly comes to life once again. The guys in the band and I, have been really busy with the planning of the release lately, so no worries with the pandemic for that part. There are also a couple of shows going on in Quebec, it's awesome! Nonetheless, we are still being really careful. We can see that this isn't finished yet.

  I heard Deviant Process for the first time a few months ago, so for a novice towards the band, tell me about how the band started, and how you met/knew guitarist Stephane Simard?

I started this project as a one-man band that I called "Psychic Pain" while I was still in college. At that time, I wanted to start a band that would be brutal, progressive, and symphonic. I made a 2-track demo that I had put on MySpace and I quickly found great musicians that would take part in the band. At the beginning, I didn't want another guitar player but when I met Stephane online, on a blog where I posted my demo, he insisted that he could do better than a keyboardist would...I gave him a chance and, fortunately, he was right! His abilities to harmonize and to twist some of my ideas floored me instantly. We slowly began to have a great chemistry and we started to rethink the project towards something that would push the guitar work further and further. The symphonic element quickly got out of the way as we started to find a direction that fitted us better. As the sound quickly changed, we decided to rename the band as “Deviant Process”, with the original four pieces of Stephane, Olivier, Pierre-Luc and me.  

Before the first album, Paroxysm, Deviant Process released a two-song EP, Narcissistic Rage.  Comparing the two songs on there, “Narcissistic Rage”, and “Persecution”, the production has a more demo-based sound than the later material, as well as the tempo speeds and changes not quite as dynamic as the versions on Paroxysm.  I noticed the difference in song length, structures, and riffs between both “Persecution” versions, too.  Writing wise, and what vision you initially had for Deviant Process, talk to me what it was like starting off with the EP?

The "Narcissistic Rage" EP was our first studio effort as a real band. We were quite immature and not well prepared, and I think it shows a bit. The structures of the two songs are quite similar to the "Paroxysm" version, but during the recording of the EP, we were still arguing about some structures and arrangements. It ended as a rough version of the basic ideas I had, before I met Stephane, with a couple of new things here and there. Nothing compared to the re-recorded version of the 2 songs where I had more help from Stephane and the rest of the band. After we released the EP, it opened some doors to play live that weren't there before. It helped us to be a more grounded new band. We figured that we could have done the EP better, and we all agreed to re-record the songs featured on the EP, when the time would come to make our first full-length. 

          I could tell from the EP to Paroxysm the difference in the drumming, as well as the intensity within the counterpoints and transitions.  In some parts, it feels like a different band.  Nearly 5 years removed from the EP, what were the writing ideas, guitar techniques and a more mature level of musicianship like during the making of Paroxysm?  Also, was most of this album written well after the EP?

After the release of the EP, we were constantly writing new ideas and it made us evolve a lot as musicians. We quickly wrote a couple of new songs that were way beyond what we were about as musicians before the EP. We were always challenging ourselves to do something truly original, without changing the sound of the band drastically. Soon after the composition of the album, Antoine Baril (Augury) joined the band as the new drummer and producer. His musical knowledge and experience made us feel more comfortable about the way the music took form in the studio. We are still really proud of how the production turned out.

     Upon hearing the intro to “As the End Begun”, the progressive moments and beautiful clean guitar beginning, it reminds me how vast and talented the Extreme Progressive Metal scene is in Canada.  From Augury, Gorguts, Beyond Creation, Neuraxis, Unexpect, Quo Vadis, Cryptopsy, I personally would call Progressive with the material they’ve made, and many others, it’s an aspect of Metal in Canada I feel doesn’t get the shine it deserves.  Perhaps being around those bands and others over the years, what can you say are the general influences in Extreme Canadian Progressive Metal?  Is it the band Rush’s influence, and something more?

Of course, there are a lot of metal bands that were influenced by Rush here! I think that the progressive rock wave was really influential here in Quebec during the 60s and the 70s. A lot of us were raised by parents who listened to those bands, and it just stuck with them. I think that it is when Voivod came in with their really progressive and bizarre approach to metal, that the sound we’re known for, truly took form. A lot of newer bands were clearly influenced by this bold way to create a more intricate and original kind of heavy music. I'm sure that all the bands you mentioned were huge Voivod fans, and their influence kept on defining more and more the distinct sound that we are proud of here in Quebec. 

Moving forward to the newest album releasing on October 15th, Nurture, the two singles “The Hammer of Dogma”, and “Asynchronous”, the music isn’t quite the insane speed and number of riffs as Paroxysm, but the atmosphere, rich and clear sounding production, as well as the captivating progressive moments, show Deviant Process in a unique light.  It’s been 5 years in-between albums, was it just the natural progression the band wanted to make, or was this something you and especially Stephane wanted to do beforehand? 

I think that we needed to go that way. The "tech-death" scene being more and more homogeneous, it became less important to us to fit in that spectrum. We didn't want to change the style too much, but we needed a more refined and progressive approach without losing the catchiness we had at some parts on our first album.  It may seem that we slowed down the tempos, but they are quite the same as on “Paroxysm”. The biggest difference in the sound you may feel about the last single is that when we started to work on the new songs, we switched roles and Stephane became the main composer. I followed him in the process and gave him my ideas, riffs, structure, and hooks, but he is the guy that put it together. He made us evolve. His compositions are wild and crazy, but still intelligent and catchy. We are confident that the result is quite different, and that it suits our sound really well. The new lineup with Philippe on bass and Michel on drums shows a great difference too, on the rhythm sections.

In terms of the band’s material, it’s safe to say that Stephane and yourself, write much of the music, yes?  What is the process as a guitar player, vocalist, and musician, writing with Stephane?  Are there certain “rules” you two follow in terms of the riffs, song arrangements?  What do each of you do and bring to the writing table together that makes Deviant Process, who they are?

Every song has been composed by me or Stephane. Nonetheless, we have always been challenging each other to keep an aesthetic that we wanted to preserve or a certain range of dynamics that we wanted to keep, to make sure the song was interesting.  We argue on every aspect of the songs. Once we figure out the structure of a song, we present the result to the rest of the band, and everybody figures out a way to serve the song the way they want. For me, as a singer and a guitar player, the tricky part is to find the right playing to fit my vocal patterns. They are obviously intertwined, and it is important to me to not go too crazy on these two simultaneously. Sometimes it is easy to go too far while composing without thinking of a humanly possible way to play it live. It is important to be realistic when it's time to bring the lyrics to the music.

Although the two album covers are quite different in colour, contrast and overall design, the scaling of the artwork feels like a similar concept and enriched in such detail and mood.  How did you get involved with Sien Sebastien Bouchard?  Did you give him complete freedom to create the album artworks as he desired, or was there a specific concept for Deviant Process, he needed to follow?

I found Sien Sebastien on Facebook while we were starting to search for an artist for the "Paroxysm" album's artwork. I wanted a guy from Quebec to encourage a local talent, and I wanted something that was kind of abstract and out of this world. When I reached out to him, I was really surprised that the guy was really into metal music and this kind of aesthetic. He asked us which of his paintings we prefer, and which colours we wanted for the first album. From there, he did an amazing job, a really talented artist. We liked it so much that we decided that he would do the album cover for "Nurture" as well, with the same idea but with different colours.

With the pandemic still looming globally, what would Deviant Process like to do, in the mind of touring, waiting until Nurture is released, and moving forward?  Has there been an active discussion and mindset of what you would like to do?

For now, we are focusing on the promotion of "Nuture". There is not much going on about playing live in Canada right now, so we don't put so much time on practicing as a live act. There are new songs that are being composed as we speak for a third album, and we are confident that it will be something really interesting. Maybe when everything goes back to normal, we will start practicing again as a band to promote our music.

Deviant Process - “Asynchronous” (Guitar Play-Through):

https://youtu.be/FF9GUt7RERo

My last question, and I again thank you very much for your time, is a personal one related to music.  You can call it a ‘project’ of mine, but around the 2000s, there were certain bands that were playing a different style of Extreme Metal, music that I was quoted as “Off the beaten path.”  Not following choruses, verses, bridges in the traditional songwriting sense, maybe no guitar solos, attempting to make the sound of colours, wild ideas and dread all through musical instruments, and I’ve undoubtedly been fascinated with learning more about that type of Metal.  I’ll name some bands here, and I can safely assume you might know at least a few of them:

Augury, Anata, Beyond Creation, Lykathea Aflame, maudlin of the Well, Deathspell Omega, Vitriol, Gorod, Ulcerate, Ad Nauseum (Italy), Artificial Brain, Ingurgitating Oblivion, Dodheimsgard, Sculptured.

If you do know some of these bands, as someone as dynamic of a guitar player and songwriter as you are, what can you personally tell me about the way they create music, in such a unique and profound matter?

Wow, this one isn't easy haha! I can tell you that I know and love all of these bands. I cannot tell you what exactly made them so unique in their way of composing their music, but I can tell you that they most certainly didn't follow any standard or any rule. They genuinely wanted to sound different. This is why, we will still continue to talk about these bands even when the "tech death" world will be topped by the craziest playing a man's hand can endure. We will always remember those who were different.

Any last words you would like to say to the Metal community, your fans, and what to expect from Deviant Process for the rest of 2021, and looking into 2022?