Stevie Peavey fronts the band Deathsquad Demongods and also hosts a podcast entitled "Heavy Metal War Stories" where he talks with well-known musicians about rock music: the good, the bad and the unknown parts of it. I was able to capture him between gigs (talk and rock) so he could answer a few questions about why he is "Everybody's Favorite Guy."

Rough Edge: Stevie, how are things going out in L.A.? Your EP, "Everybody's Favorite Guy," is available for the world's listening and your podcast is getting some good exposure. Do you ever sleep?

Stevie Peavy: Things are going good! Sleeping is harder to come by, now that my dad made me go live on my own and I have to scramble a bit more. My last band, Van Stone, kind of ... I wanna say imploded, but maybe exploded is a better term. While Randy Van Stone is off fighting his demons, I put together a new band I could take full control of. It took off pretty instantly, songwriting just came together, and right away we got an instrument endorsement. The endorsement was for toy guitars, Paper Jamz, but it's something. It's amusing when friends come over and they see eleven toy guitars in the corner, and they ask me "What's That?" and I say "Oh, my guitar endorsement." I even got named in a lawsuit that Gibson threw on them. They called me a "confused consumer," while I was playing and talking about the toy guitars, as if I thought these tiny plastic guitars were Gibsons. Insulting! I dunno if I'm even supposed to talk about this, but Gibson already won the suit, so who cares.

Rough Edge: Do you think that the music of today will have any staying power or is the music that spawned all the current bands the best on the planet such as Judas Priest, KISS and Ozzy, to name a few.

Stevie Peavy: No, 'cause those bands occupied a specific point in time where people were really focused on rock. All those bands have classic, classic songs, but if one came out today, they'd probably get lost in the glut.

Rough Edge: Your EP is a great introduction to the band's sound. Are you planning on cutting a full length disc? If so, when?

Stevie Peavy: Oh, yeah. We really wanted to get some songs out there as quickly as we could. You have the four song version, but the physical copy is a 7-track EP. I haven't decided if I'll use those songs for a full length, or if the full length will be all new material, but I've been writing and recording my ass off lately. So everyone should go download the 4 songs, which I have, for a limited time, up for free. That way, they'll get a good primer on the band while I finish the new stuff.

Rough Edge: How did you get started with your podcast "Heavy Metal War Stories"? Have you ever written for any publications or taken a journalism class to conduct your interviews?

Stevie Peavy: No, I've always been a pretty good writer and, of course, done a bunch of acting, but I kind of started the metal podcast on a whim. It was really just an idea for me to chat with my friends in metal about bands we like and crazy, obnoxious stuff they've seen out on the road. Some of my favorite guests were Holzfeuer from Arnocorps, and Allen Wrench from Kill Allen Wrench. But I learned something when I had Rudy Sarzo on. Rudy couldn't have been cooler, but it was just a straight interview, me asking him questions. I much prefer chatting with people in rock that I know, just having a back 'n' forth dialogue. Besides, unless you know the person, they probably wont open up about the time that a fellow band mate stuck a lit match into the head of his penis, and asked a girl at the bar to blow it out, as Dizzy from the Rejects did on one episode.

Rough Edge: Does Deathsquad Demongods tour outside of the L.A. area? Do you think that your podcast could help push the band beyond what the local buzz can generate?

Stevie Peavy: We have played some out of town shows, but I'm sticking mostly to California right now. We're starting by playing to all the Van Stoniacs in Bakersfield, Fresno, Modesto, San Luis Obispo, Reno, those places. I think young bands look and see what major bands do, and they see a tour itinerary that consists of LA, Denver, Kansas City, Chicago, New York. Well, let me tell you, I've played all those places, and they are far, far away from each other. Gas prices are a lot these days, so we'll be expanding out from where we are. As for the podcast, I dunno if there's any "synergy" to be had from it, I mostly do it for fun. I've got listeners all over the world, even Africa, the Middle East, & China, even with their firewalls. So that's cool, even if they cant come to a show.

Rough Edge: How do you come up with such witty song content and song titles?

Stevie Peavy: I would say my greatest inspiration in the lyric department would be Turbonegro and Dee Dee Ramone. Especially Turbonegro. You can take a ludicrous topic, but make it really witty with wordplay and innuendo. A lot of my lyrics have to pass the test of if they make me giggle when I write them. Like, how can you slip a line like "Rock n' roll all night and part of every day" into a song and make it work? The title track, "Everybody's Favorite Guy," is basically autobiographical, about me losing all my money, so that wasn't too hard. The song "Deathsquad Demongods" is autobiographical about the band. Shit, maybe I'm just lazily writing about subjects near at hand! Mostly, I write in two genres. Trying to deal with your annoying girlfriend, or trying to lead the armies of hell. Either way, it's a struggle.

Rough Edge:  Last question. Facebook is a great place to find out about new bands and music seems to be heading toward a download only format. Do you find that live shows are on the rise or decline? How do you get people off the laptop and to the show?

Stevie Peavy: Live shows are really on the decline, but the cream rises to the top. In the '80s any 4th tier band could probably sell out the Roxy. Now, only the best can. My goal is to be compelling enough of an act that people simply must brave the great outdoors and come to a show. I will say that live shows in and around L.A. have seen a precipitous decline since, say 2007. I guess everyone's broke. And they can "rock out" on YouTube. But you wont find me lamenting rock's current state. I'd rather just get out there and make it happen.

Rough Edge:  Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to indulge Rough Edge on Deathsquad Demongods and your podcast "Heavy Metal War Stories."

Stevie Peavy: You're welcome, Jeff. We appreciate the support!

For more information, check out http://www.deathsquaddemongods.com or http://deathsquaddemongods.bandcamp.com or http://www.facebook.com/deathsquaddemongods.

Back to Features Home

Back to RoughEdge.com Home

Copyright © 2011 by R. Scott Bolton. All rights reserved.
Revised: 06 Oct 2019 11:48:47 -0400 .