Night Demon Heavy Metal Podcast

For part 3 of the Early Years, we resume the narrative in early 2012.  Pat Bailey had left Night Demon to return to school. At that time, Night Demon welcomed drummer John Crerar from The Fucking Wrath into the fold. Crerar brought extreme enthusiasm and energy to the band, despite being from a punk background more than a metal background. Meanwhile in 2012, Night Demon was very much a side projec...

We resume the story of Night Demon's early days in late 2011. After an extended period of focusing on other projects, Jarvis, Brent and Pat were back together in Ventura.  Their first order of business was to finalize the mix on the 4-song EP at Armand's Satellite Studios.  That task completed, the boys began rehearsing new ideas, working out the bones of what became "Livin' Da...

This week’s episode covers part 1 of ‘The Early Years’.  We pick up the story in mid-2011. Night Demon had just formed, written and recorded the self-titled EP, and had played their debut gig.  For the remainder of 2011, Night Demon was on the back burner as all members were focused on other projects.  Drummer Pat Bailey moved 11 hours away to go back to school.  For his part, Jarvis was in Jeff H...

This episode chronicles the good, the bad, and the ugly from Night Demon’s first-ever live performance on May 20, 2011 at the Bombay Bar & Grill in Ventura, California.  You will hear how the band solved the conundrum of filling a setlist despite having only four original songs.  Armand and Dusty give their impressions from the show, which they both attended.  The bulk of the episode consists...

After an amazingly fruitful two-month period in which Night Demon wrote and recorded all four songs for their debut EP, it was time to entertain offers for gigs.  You will hear how Night Demon were offered and turned down the opportunity to open for Accept and Sabaton in May 2011, and how Armand and Dusty’s band New Liberty took the slot in their stead.  The irony is twofold, in that Armand and Du...

This week we conclude our deep dive into the self-titled EP with an in-depth analysis of “Ritual.”  Jarvis explains why it is his favorite song on the EP, walks you through the lyrics, and talks about the construction of the song, section by section.  You’ll hear how the intro arrangement was subconsciously inspired by “Welcome to the Jungle.”  The guys describe the massive middle part, the loosen...

This week’s episode focuses on “Ancient Evil,” an underrated classic on the four-song Night Demon  EP. Jarvis goes into detail about how the writings of American horror author H. P. Lovecraft influenced heavy metal, Night Demon, and this song specifically. The lyrics’ numerous references to Lovecraftian characters and concepts are explained.  You will hear how this song was written, why it is Arma...

In this episode, we bring you “The Chalice,” part 2, focusing on the live presentation of the song.  The guys explain why the live version is so much faster and more aggressive than the studio recordings. Dusty breaks down his take on the drum parts originally recorded by Pat Bailey. You will also learn the origins of the haunting intro sample. But much of the episode is devoted to Night Demon’s d...

This week we continue our track-by-track deep dive into the Night Demon EP by investigating “The Chalice.” You will hear how Jarvis was influenced by the Scorpions in writing the riffs and why it was important for this song to have a different feel than the other EP songs. Using isolated guitar, bass and vocal tracks, the guys break down the bass intro, guitar solo, drum patterns, lyrical content,...

This episode is part 2 of our in-depth scrutiny of the anthem “Night Demon.”  The guys discuss in detail the origins of the vocal harmonies in the chorus. Jarvis walks you through the lyrical content on a line-by-line basis. You’ll hear how the descending ending riff came to be, and how it was perfected over time.  The band also describe how the song has evolved from the EP recording to the presen...

This week we continue exhuming the early days of Night Demon by bringing you part 1 of “Night Demon,” the title track from the debut EP. The story picks up on April 22, 2011, when the band (then still known as Ancient Evil) entered the studio with producer/engineer Armand John Anthony to record their 4-song EP.  Jarvis and Armand describe the session in detail, including gear, recording goals and...

This week we resume the story of the Birth of the Demon, picking up after the band’s first official rehearsal yielded their first original song, “Night Demons”.  You’ll hear about their decision to write and record an EP’s worth of material, with a minimalistic look and packaging.  The band members speak candidly on the record about their stage names, including the sources of those names and their...

This week we bring you the Birth of the Demon. When Night Demon was spawned at a jam session in a warehouse in Ventura, California on March 5, 2011, it was not conceived as a serious thing, or even as a side project. The members all had other musical priorities, including Jarvis who was completing the first full-length Heartbeats album. The band (then called The Chalice) was intended only as an ou...

In this episode, we reach the culmination of our six-week exploration into the Roots of the Demon. The narrative resumes in 2010, when Jarvis saw the revamped four-piece lineup of The Fucking Wrath, featuring new lead guitarist Brent Woodward. The two met that night and immediately bonded over their shared love of the NWOBHM. Eventually, The Fucking Wrath began rehearsing at a warehouse adjacent t...

This week we continue our in-depth exploration of the individual musical and life journeys that culminated in the creation of Night Demon.  We pick up the story in Ocean City, Maryland, where a chance meeting resulted in Dusty meeting Shane Mac. Together, the two of them formed New Liberty, an ass kicking riff rock band hellbent on living the '80s rock star dream.  After another chance meetin...

In this episode, we bring you part 4 of "The Roots of the Demon," tracing the lineage and musical pedigree of each member through various precursor bands predating Night Demon. As the story resumes, Jarvis found an outlet for his love of horror-punk by joining Hybrid Moments, essentially a Misfits cover band with original songs, and gigging locally during downtime from No Motiv.  Meanwhi...

In this episode, we continue exploring the Night Demon members' musical history and precursor bands. We resume the story after the demise of Black Opal. Jarvis hooked up with a band called No Motiv as tour manager while exploring a career with Guitar Center, before abandoning corporate life and going all in by joining No Motiv as bass player.  Meanwhile, Armand joined a band called From Satel...

This week's episode is "Roots of the Demon, Part 2." We continue our exploration of the formative years of Night Demon's current members by telling the story of Jarvis's first band, Black Opal. You will hear in detail from Jarvis and other surviving members how Black Opal came into being, their obsession with Metallica, how they dedicated themselves to constant practicing,...

Welcome to part 1 of "Roots of the Demon," in which we transport you way back in time to explore the band members' pre-Night Demon musical histories. For this episode, each of the three current Night Demon members walks you through his childhood, his introduction to the world of music, his gateway musical discoveries, and his formative years of learning to play an instrument. The na...

On May 2, 2021, Night Demon hosted a Zoom conference call for 14 lucky podcast subscribers, under the premise of "Ask the Demon Live."  This episode covers the second half of that momentous congregation.  Tune in to hear breaking news about the status of Night Demon festival appearances, writing and recording plans, tour itineraries, and a potential live concert DVD.  The guys spill the...

On May 2, 2021, Night Demon hosted a Zoom conference call for 14 lucky podcast subscribers, under the premise of "Ask the Demon Live."  This episode airs part one of that Zoom chat, including a fistful of exclusive, breaking news items relating to the contents and release date of the new album, rescheduled tour dates, the forthcoming ultimate edition of the Night Demon EP, the High Rolle...

This week concludes our six-part investigation of the Heavy Metal Mixtape, a limited-edition cassette released on Night Demon Records in October 2015. Find out about a planned volume 2 of the Mixtape that - at least, thus far - has not come to fruition, and the improbable Bryan Adams dimension of that project. Discover how Iron Grip Records is keeping the cassette compilation alive in the form of...

This week we bring you part 5 of our exploration of the Heavy Metal Mixtape, a limited edition cassette released on Night Demon Records in October 2015. The band explains why there was no pre-order or pre-release hype for the Mixtape, and how that meshes with Night Demon's marketing philosophy.  They also talk about the importance of featuring bands on the Mixtape with whom Night Demon has a...

Join us for part 4 of our ongoing deep dive into the time capsule known as the Heavy Metal Mixtape, a limited-edition cassette released on Night Demon Records in October 2015. You'll learn about the challenges of getting a cassette manufactured in 2015 and how the stick-to-your-guns philosophy paid dividends for National Audio Company. The focal point of this episode is the Mixtape contributi...

This week we bring you part 3 of our ongoing exploration of the Heavy Metal Mixtape limited edition cassette released on Night Demon Records in October 2015. The guys reflect on the lost art of making mixtapes and taking the listener on a journey through painstaking song selection, sequencing, flow and sound clips, in a way that today's streaming playlists simply cannot replicate. You'll...