32 Sept 26th-Oct 2nd, 2024 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | a more engaged and even approachable performer. “When you’re newly sober, you’re on a completely different high,” he says. “You’re clear-headed and you’re not afraid of shit. You think you can take on the world. You feel like Superman. You’ve been in the dark for so long and blanketed that suddenly your eyes are open to life again.” But more than anything, it’s made him decidedly more hungry and curious. “I’ve been doing so much more again with the resurgence of the band, and that’s very heavily embedded within me right now with my writing,” he says. “I think it shows more on this solo record, as opposed to my last three that were very, very singer- songwriter-esque. There’s orchestrations and there’s trumpet parts. It’s all just growth to me.” Along the way, DeVore’s had some help. He first credits his label, Double Helix Records, which “made this such an exciting adventure with this new record.” And, of course, there’s the many collaborators across the record, including co-producer Bob Hoag as well as Tom Lord-Alge and Jason Livermore, who mixed and mastered the album, respectively. “I’ve got a connection with great musi- cians who have been willing and excited to be a part of this record with me because before I would just record everything myself,” DeVore says. “So many people stepped up to the plate that are local friends of mine and different touring bands in their free time. ... It made it so much more exciting in the studio and just for people to hear and be able to talk about them and their projects.” But ultimately, DeVore had to put in the work himself, sometimes amid touring with Authority Zero, to make these songs really happen. “A lot of these songs were written pre- putting the bottle down, and there’s a lot of pain in those songs,” he says. “I remember specifically the time I wrote those songs. I was out in Europe for five weeks on tour. I was in a very, very dark place. Things were rough.” But after what he calls the “transition,” DeVore relied on those feelings and experi- ences to really get in touch with himself and mine these deeper ideas and emotions. “I had a catalog of notes from, like, two years before the pandemic,” he says. “I had some stuff to talk about and I meant it when I said it. I kept it honest in remembering that time and place and those emotions to not veer off path. ... And so from that came my transition of things. You can hear the dynamics in the music of this record.” One of the album’s standouts is “Go For It,” which rings with a profound honesty amid an already deeply resonant record. “It’s another one I wrote in Europe,” DeVore says. “I got up early in the morning and the sun was coming up. I wrote that song with the sunrise, sitting in the van with the door split open, the seatbelts right at my ankles. It starts out so honest. The idea in that song of rejoicing and cele- brating life, but in the darkest times.” But you can’t talk about the record without mentioning his cover of “Hallelujah,” that of-covered seminal ballad by Leonard Cohen (though DeVore identifies with the much-lauded Jeff Buckley version). “People are probably like, ‘What the hell is this guy doing?’” DeVore says. “I heard it in 2000 on tour at the peak of the punk rock mentality. The voice and message and the intensity just felt so captivating. It made me want to try to do things with my voice. And that’s how this whole journey began. I never had the confidence, the playing ability or any of that to cover that song. Because it’s been done really well by a lot of people. I’ve been a fan of this record for a long time and it means so much given the healing power of this record.” Sure, there’s a lot going on on this record in terms of emotions and end goals. But it generally boils down to one over- arching idea. “I always say life is experience,” DeVore says. “Because good or bad, it’s always a life experience. And you learn something from that. Or, you don’t do that again.” It’s about embracing life’s unevenness, and trying to recognize what it really and truly means to be alive. “You’re lucky to feel this pain you’re feeling, as sadistic as it might sound in some ways to some people,” he says. “You have this moment to feel that emotional pain that gives you the opportunity to turn it around and change it and think different things about how you’re going to handle it to not feel that way again.” It’s an especially important lesson nowadays, DeVore notes. Because even if it means he’s out on the road even longer, or he’s balancing a band and a solo career, DeVore just wants to do the best version of what he’s always done: use music as a tool to reach into folks’ hearts and minds, sometimes for celebration but always to remind us that we’re never truly alone. “We’ve been through some shit univer- sally as people,” he says. “It’s about (smashing) those barriers and doing what- ever you want to fucking do. I think people, even if they’re hiding in the room listening (to the record), can find some apprecia- tion in it.” The album cover of “’Til The Voice Goes Out.” (Photo by Double Helix Records) Sober and Solo from p 30
