Demon Hunter Singled Out Week: My Destiny

This song went through a few titles before I settled on "My Destiny." Some working titles were "Stab," "Blinded," and "They Carried Us Away." In the end, "My Destiny" just made the most sense.

Sometimes I'll toil away, trying to find the perfect word for a particular line. This was very true in regard to the first line of this chorus. For some reason I was having the hardest time filling in "We were blinded by the ______ light." When I finally stumbled upon "sacred," it was perfect. It's essentially the word I was looking for the whole time and I feel like it really brings life to that section.

I'm especially proud of the guitar melodies in the chorus. I really like the way that part moves- the way the lead repeats while the rhythm changes. It's little details like this that I get really stoked on.

The raspier, higher-pitched screaming vocals that you hear in the verses are something that I started playing with on "This Is The Line" from The World Is A Thorn. There are certain parts (usually to do with time signature, tempo and guitar melody) that to me, just beg for a more villainous sounding vocal. You'll notice the second half of the verses on "This Is The Line" have a similar feel to these verses. I don't think this vocal style is necessarily pre-determined, but it just feels right for certain parts.

This song wasn't an immediate choice for the first single/video from this record... but the more we discussed it, the more we were all really drawn to it. I think it's a unanimous favorite among the guys in the band- or at least in everyone's top three.

This is one of the only Demon Hunter songs that is heavy and aggressive pretty much all the way through, but tells a really uplifting story. I call it a "heritage" piece, because it's about growing up in the suburbs, spending most of my time skateboarding with friends, getting into trouble, not knowing what I wanted to do with my life... and the moment that I found music, and everything changed. I remember going to my first live show and just being enthralled by it all. That's what the song refers to when it says "but the fear, the blood, the sweat and sound." It was the passion and the honesty of it that drew me in. Ever since I was 15, I knew that I'd be doing music for the rest of my life. This is kind of a common thread between the guys in the band, though it happened long before we knew each other. It's awesome to see it bonding us so many years later.

I wanted the music video to tell this story. The idea of kids in the 'burbs... just skating and hanging out... getting psyched on killer music. There are five kids- which is supposed to give the vague idea that it might be the teenage versions of us. For the performance footage I wanted us to be playing in a small, junky old rehearsal space, to really convey that old punk work ethic that guys our age grew up with. There are a few inspirational posters on the wall, dirty carpets, bad fluorescent lighting, and a lot of sweat. I think the video really speaks to the concept of the song.