June, 12th MetalZilla Returns to The Haven in Orlando With a delicious buffet of metal to keep your ear’s screaming with excitment! One of the act’s taking the stage will be The Defiant, This St.Petersburg Florida based band brings their soutern metal/punk groove to MetalZilla. So I spoke to the band this past weekend about their influences, band name and what we can expect for their live set:
You said as a band there are a wide range of musical influences/inspirations, Who are some of your current influences?
The Defiant have such a crazy list of influences – first of all we are all massive music fans & not one of us is just a “1 genre” type of fan… With that being stated we are mainly “rock” guys but there are lots of genres of rock. We love the Rock classics like AC/DC, Thin Lizzy & ZZ Top & the traditional Metal bands Sabbath, Priest, Maiden & Motorhead. We are also fans of Thrash & love Metallica, Slayer & Megadeth and any given day my playlist will be full of some Southern Rock like Skynyrd , Charlie Daniels & Marshall Tucker but it will also include some Punk Rock like Black Flag, Circle Jerks & Fear. To round out the influences there are all the great old school Rock bands like The Cars, Journey & Queen along side more modern bands like BLS, Volbeat, Clutch & Skeletonwitch. And you cant forget the legends like Johnny Cash…
.How long have all of you been performing as a part of this band?
The 4 of us are the only version of The Defiant to ever take the stage & Im rather certain that if we lose one of the 4 parts of this machine would come to a screeching halt. Each piece of this puzzle offers a perspective & dynamic which makes this band unique. Craig Corr (Vocals) is the face of the band & is responsible for all the bands lyrics. Doug Sexton (Guitar) handles the riff writing & all the graphic design work. Vince Greco ( Bass) provides all the comic relief that we can handle along with being one amazing bassist! Rick Mazzarese (Drums) is the “timekeeper” as well as making sure that the band makes it to & from gigs safely! The Defiant have been together & performing since 2011.
How would you describe your live shows in two word’s?
FU@#ING INSANE!
“The Defiant”, where did that derive from? Was it a group effort?
For the first 6 months as a band we didnt care about the name of the band as much as we cared about writing some killer music. Once the music was coming along strong we knew it was time to try & figure out a name. We have an erase board at our rehearsal studio (The Compound) that we compiled with 5 potential names. One weekend Doug took it upon himself to design logos for each of the 5 names. Once all 5 were completed he knew which one was the “One” & after sharing the images with the other 3 bandmates the decision was unanimous!
Do you as a band have a “must” Cover song during live performances?
I didnt think that we would ever perform a cover song as it took us about 3 years to all agree upon one! Craig one rehearsal casually mentioned maybe doing a Beastie Boys cover but we couldnt agree on what to do. A week later Doug was catching some VH1 Classic & saw the Beasties video for Gratitude & immediately suggested it to the others & we performed within 2 weeks for the first time. Is it a must – not really as we would rather showcase Defiant music but it makes its way into the setlist quite frequently & is always well received!
Is there anything you would like to tell our ‘MetalZilla’ fans? 
We cant wait to get out to The Haven Lounge on Friday June 12th to bring our unique brand of Metal to Orlando! Looking very much forward to meeting all the great rock fans there & getting to see some amazing bands as well! Make sure to come up & hang with us for a bit – maybe even grab a t-shirt or CD! Feel free to check us out at http://www.wearethedefiant.com or on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/wearethedefiant or on Reverb Nation at http://www.reverbnation.com/wearethedefiant
