INTERVIEW: Robby Anderson of Despised Virtue

 Buy DV Music! Today, I had the honor of interviewing Robby Anderson, lead vocals for the band Despised Virtue. An amazing 5-piece band out of Knoxille, TN, I decided to get to know Robby better and learn about the band, inspirations, personal feelings, and his guilt pleasures. NT: So you do vocals for Despised Virtue. Do you do both clean and screams?Robby: I sing and scream, but we have recently added a clean vocalist to make it easier for melive.NT: I understand. Doing both can have a extreme toll on your voice and make it hard to performlonger sets.Robby: Yeah.NT: Tell me about life as a musician.Robby: It's hard, not easy at all, people think we make all this money, but we really don'tmake anything XD we make enough to eat for a day but we do it for the fans so thats all thatmatters.NT: That is what making music is about. Making something that people will love for a lifetime.Robby: Indeed it is.NT: So do you have any upcoming projects you would like to tell us about?Robby: I have a small little project called "Tonight The Skies" with my friend Tobias we areworking on more calmer music. Besides that DV is writing the same old heavy style of music.NT: Sounds awesome. One thing I've wondered is where the name Despised Virtue came from. Wasthere a story behind that or was it just random?Robby: Despised Virtue was kind of random but at the same time it was very thought out. Itmeans "hating morals." I chose DV because today's morals are corrupt and wrong and my music isall about correcting those wrongs.NT: So would you say your music might be classified as somewhat politically charged because ofthe purpose?Robby: Not at all. I would say it's more personal with the fans because they all live in thiscorrupt society and can relate to what I'm saying.NT: I agree with that. Society is on a fast track to nowhere. I'm happy to see people wantingto fix it. So, my personal favorite track from you guys is "The Challenger." Is there a storyand meaning behind this track?Robby: The Challenger is about personal conflicts within yourself, whether it be a hardchoice, or a life making choice. It's also about how the government hides many things from usand has more internal conflicts than we can ever know.NT: I can pick up the personal conflict side of it. Especially through the video you guysreleased for it. Who came up with the idea for your video?Robby: Etienne Sin, our producer for the video, wrote the story line according to the song'smeaning.NT: It was a well produced video. Can you explain the story within the video for those whocan't tell?Robby: The video explains that a character (the female) is lost within herself and is deep inthought trying to understand her meaning and what she stands for. She can't hear the opinionsand judgment of others because she is oblivious to the world, hence why I'm screaming in herear and she does not respond.NT: Very powerful. I feel a lot of people can relate to that feeling of being lost and tryingto find their place in this world. On the subject of fans relating, do you have any fanstories you keep near and dear?Robby: I do actually. A while back I had a fan tell me my music gave them substance andpurpose and that it gave them motivation to start a band. It made me feel like I'm reachingpeople just a little.NT: Sounds like this fan made as much an impact on you as your music did them.Robby: Indeed it did.NT: Do you have any inspirations?Robby: Yes I do. My biggest inspiration for screaming comes from Oli Sykes and Danny Worsnop.A lot of people will hate that but they really got me into the "core" genres. For music ingeneral Journey, Aerosmith, and Slipknot are my inspirations.NT: Oli and Danny would be happy to hear that. I feel like the core genres are hated becausepeople just need something to hate and it is different and strange to them. Something I wantto ask just out of curiosity is your opinion on Mitch Lucker. This is a random question, but Isaw you labeled your song The Challenger "deathcore" on the download page. Seeing how SuicideSilence is deathcore, what is your opinion on him and how did you feel when he died lastNovember?Robby: Mitch's death was terrible for me. I loved him a lot but everything happens for areason. The Challenger is not deathcore. I'm not sure why it was labeled as that, it ismetalcore.NT: I wondered that myself. It didn't sound anything like deathcore. So what bands got youinto the metalcore genre other than BMTH and Asking Alexandria?Robby: Well it started with Slipknot and SOAD. Of course they aren't "core" but they opened mymind to more genres. Pretty much BMTH Asking Alexandria were my intro to the "core." I gotinto Escape the Fate, Scary Kids Scaring Kids, Chiodos, Alesana, From First to Last, etc. Moreof the Post-Hardcore, "emocore" stuff. Then i got more into the heavier stuff like SuicideSilence, Suffokate, Devil Driver, etc.NT: Sounds pretty diverse. I hear elements of all those bands come out, but you still haveyour own unique sound that can be built upon in the future. To me, I also hear sounds similarto Killswitch Engage in your music. Are they a band that you listen to a lot or is this merelycoincidence?Robby: Coincidence. I honestly only like there dio cover. I'm not a fan of their sound. Greatband though. I guess the biggest thing that got me into "core" was the fact that it wasdifferent and I've always been the quiet shy kid in school, the different one. I have a lovefor the music so deep that if I ever lose that feeling I might just die.NT: I know that feeling all too well. And I was the same kid in school. Still am even incollege. Music is like a life force to a lot of people, especially the musicians. Now, do youhave any guilty pleasure music you listen to? The kind of music that you would never wantpeople to know about?Robby: Well I guess you could say it's a guilty pleasure, I listen to Adam Lambert. I reallyenjoy his music.NT: No shame there. I like some songs. Back to inspirations for a moment, if you had to pick 3songs each from these bands that you love the most, what songs would they be?Asking Alexandria, Journey, SlipknotRobby: Hmmm. Tough one.Asking Alexandria: Nobody Don't Dance No More, Breathless, Not The American AverageJourney: Wheel In The Sky, Don't Stop Believing, FaithfullySlipknot: Before I Forget, Eyeless, Spit It OutNT: Very nice. All amazing songs. Is there any band out there today that you feel shouldn'thave the fame they have? For example, some people say groups like BOTDF are undeservingbecause they have no meaning. What is your opinion on bands or groups that don't deserve thefame they get?Robby: I think everyone deserves the fame they have, because obviously they have donesomething to get it. Fame and musical success isn't just handed to you. So BOTDF has myrespect. They may make music that I don't appeal to but everyone has an opinion.NT: Major respect there. I talk shit about them a lot, but you have a great point there. Thisis a three part question.A: If there was any band you would love to tour with, who would it be and why?B: What about a specific major tour you would love to be on?C: Any bands you want to collab with?Robby: I would love to tour with The Plot In You. I love the aggressive style with a realmeaning. I would love to be on Warped Tourm. That'd be sick. And I'm collabing with a fewsmall bands right now, but I'd love to collab The Plot In You or Issues.NT: Warped Tour. I'd pay just to see you guys. And some great choices there. You said you arecurrently collabing with some small bands. Can you tell us who they are and what you areworking on with them?Robby: Well, I'm doing some guest vocals for a few bands, one which I will make public is fora band called Welcome to the Gates. It should be fun. We also have Kaleb Carringer from 1000Plane Raid doing some guest vocals with us.NT: Well, glad to know fans of New Transcendence and DV got the news hear first of your guestappearance with WTTG. And I'm sure they are looking forward to new music. One last question Ihave. If you could be signed with any major label, who would it be and why?Robby: Well that's a good question, That's when the business side of music comes in. I havedone much research on major labels and have been on one in the past. I would love to be onEpitaph because they're legendary for having the best of the best. But in reality terms, RiseRecords would be my home. They do a lot for their bands.NT: What major label were you signed to?Robby: My past band was on Fearless Records.NT: Now that is amazing. What was the band?Robby: Set To Fall. We weren't one of those big popular bands, but we were one of the directsupport bands.NT: I've actually heard of Set To Fail. And I see. Well, Robby, this was an amazing time. I'mvery honored to have you be the first person I interview. I hope I can interview you againsoon. Good luck with your music. Anything you wanna say to the fans?Robby: Thanks man! Been a pleasure! Look forward to reading what you post and I just want tosay: No matter what people tell you, you're beautiful, and I love every one of you with thedeepest, most respectful passion.