If you ever doubted the amount of noise two determined Canadians can make, you've never seen Death from Above.
Bassist Jesse Keeler and drummer/vocalist Sebastien Grainger released their third studio album, Outrage! Is Now, this past summer. Now, over a decade-and-a-half into their career, the two are beginning to feel their place in the heavy rock canon.
"A lot of those fans, we'll talk to them and then learn that they were children when they discovered our band," Keeler tells Q104.3 New York's "Out of the Box" with Jonathan Clarke.
But Keeler and Grainger can relate. Not too long ago the power duo got to dine with Canadian national treasure and Rush bassist and frontman Geddy Lee.
"We told jokes, we shut down a restaurant together," Keeler says proudly. "We had a very nice time together."
"We've had this experience before," Grainer says. "Not with Geddy Lee, but with other famous musicians. And the second you're at a table with another famous musician, there's no hierarchy...That's how I feel. I mean, we're just having a conversation."
Grainer says they covered all the topics you'd expect: "gear, baseball, whatever else."
It's the unique experience of being a working musician—taking risks, sleeping in uncomfortable places, having an impact, getting better, getting bigger—that binds musicians of all classes as peers. And invariably, it's what inspires a lot of songs.
When it comes to lyrics, Grainer says he doesn't always have a choice.
"I'm aware of the idea that themes are emergent sometimes and your subconscious is playing a different game than you think you're playing. And then you turn around and observe. In writing it happens all the time where you write something and you don't fully know what it means and then you read it objectively and go, 'Oh, this is what I'm talking about.'"
Outrage! Is Now didn't become the album title until after Grainer penned lyrics to the track of the same name. He says it was a song and a lyric that brought the album into focus.
"It became obvious that that was the statement."
Watch the full interview above!
Get more information about the new album and all the Death from Above tour dates here.
1 of 7 2 of 7 3 of 7 4 of 7 5 of 7 6 of 7 7 of 7
Check out the music video for "Freeze Me":