Interview with Scott Knowles of Devils and Icons

24th December 2024 0 By DJ Pixie

It’s Christmas and it’s time to deck your balls with loads of holly, or whatever the lyrics are meant to be.

I managed to grab a non-festive chat with Scott Knowles of Devils and Icons

So your new single ‘Godlike’ for Devils and Icons comes out on the 24th January, tell us a little bit about this single. What was the theme behind this and how would you describe this single to someone about to hear it for the first time?

“Godlike” is a song that I am very proud of. I wrote this completely off the back of the debut single, it didn’t even exist before September 2024. I wanted to create something off the vibe that releasing the debut gave me. The theme continues the theme of mental health struggles that the debut single explored, and the general theme of Godlike is powerful, dark, intrusive thoughts that can often infiltrate our minds without warning, and can leave us feeling vulnerable, helpless, terrified, and completely powerless. It’s almost like the feeling is completely overpowering, huge, and Godlike – never ending, and taking an enormous amount of strength to overcome when they are at their worst. I would describe this track to someone as an honest, upbeat hard rock track with a 90’s vibe and a lifetime of influences!

Where do you usually gather your songwriting inspiration from? What is your usual songwriting process? Do all band members input into the songs?

Everything about Devils and Icons is my own vision. I created this project as an outlet to connect with music again. Music was a massive, major part of my life for many many years, defining me to a large extent actually with my old band I.C.O.N. Then, it all stopped. This is an outlet for me to write and create again. I’m alone in this for the first time, so I’ve had to learn how to write lyrics, themes, vocal arrangements, and all the other things I’ve never done before! It’s very much trial and error! Inspiration at the moment seems to be coming from my work as a psychotherapist and my own mental health struggles over the past few years. It’s very cathartic. The process usually is a riff or an idea played into my phone, then I create a ‘sketchpad’ in my home studio, laying down basic ideas and patterns, and then it grows from there. It’s a new process for me, and I am finding my way, but it’s very exciting, and frustrating at times, as sometimes the ideas don’t sound as good as in my head! Hahahaha!

How did the production go for this single? Any interesting stories from behind the scenes you can tell us about?

What was interesting about this next single ‘Godlike’ was the strings and synths. My friend Graham is awesome at this stuff and I played him the single, and he offered to write something to go with it, as he said it had a great chord progression that may benefit from some strings. I know he’s good, but I was terrified a little! I didn’t want the vibe to change. He threw the kitchen sink at it, in his own words, but when it came back it sounded HUGE! Incredible! But, I didn’t want it to overshadow the track, so, I stripped it back and used the string arrangement to add some drama and warmth to the final track, lower in the mix. I’m thrilled with how it’s turned out now, and it’s definitely a step forward for me.

Since everyone was a startup once, can you give some tips to any smaller or local bands looking to get gigs and airplay?

Oh, God! The way that it used to happen for me years ago has completely changed! I’m old! All I would offer is to make the songs the best you can from the beginning, absolutely the best you can. Don’t hide behind production techniques, plugins, AI, whatever. Write from the heart and be genuine. Strong songs – That’s what people remember. You have to be an all-rounder these days as a musician, it’s hard, so learn what you need to know. What don’t you know? Find out! YouTube is great for that. Watch different videos and content creators, and get a wide variety of ideas. Connect with genre-specific radio stations, and get in touch. Be kind, friendly, and professional, and find out where the scene is locally and see where you may fit in. People like to help too but offer something too. I try to help other artists get airplay with my radio show for example. My connections from my old band have been incredibly supportive and helpful and that made a bit of a difference to be fair. But, in my old band, we grafted and sacrificed so much to get there. So, be prepared to stick your neck out for your music.

Anything you would like to share, from new merch to upcoming shows?

I’ve been announced for the Hard Rock Hell 18 festival next November, and I plan a series of warm-up shows beforehand. The debut album will be in late summer 2025, more singles first, and my live band is almost there, just need a bassist! I do everything myself with this project – writing, playing, singing, drum production, video production, and editing. I love it, but it takes time when it’s just you. I hope to do more live work too. No merch yet! Hahaha!

We see you’re a very busy guy, between Devils and Icons, you are also touring with Damnations Hammer, and recording your radio show for Hard Rock Hell Radio.

Do you actually have any downtime? If you do what do you get up to on your days off?

I have a family and a five-year-old daughter, so my downtime is spent with them nowadays. I don’t get to too many gigs anymore. I’m lucky that I have a wonderful, supportive family who are supportive of me to pursue all this stuff. I’m absolutely obsessed with music. You’re only here once, so make it happen now. I’m extremely grateful for my friends and family. I run my own private practice as a psychotherapist, so the music is a way of finding myself after the intense workload.

Finally, if you could interview anyone musically who would it be and why?

I would have loved to have sat down with Frank Zappa. He was such a visionary and a big influence on me. I’d also love to interview Rick Beato. He’s incredibly talented and an all-rounder too – musician, producer, content creator, and extremely knowledgeable.

Thanks to DJ Pixie at All About The Rock for chatting with me and taking an interest in my music and project. Its really a thrill to be out here doing this again. 🙂