Your Divine Tragedy

With its hard-edged, creative writing, Missoula band Your Divine Tragedy got a big following here. Now they’re taking the show on the road - permanently.
Promotional photo
Your Divine Tragedy will perform its final local show before moving to Seattle on Friday, Dec. 9, 2005 upstairs at the Elks Lodge in Missoula. Black Friday and Omega Sound will also perform; door prizes from ESP music, painless steel, and Pizza on the Fly will be given away throughout the evening. Doors open at 8 p.m., and admission is $5.

Reality has caught up with Tragedy. Hopefully the next chapter has a happy ending.

“We know we're pretty much going to be starting over,” says Todd Archambeault, vocalist with local hard rock band Your Divine Tragedy. “We're hoping we can create the same success story, but just on a bigger scale.”
Archambeult and his bandmates - guitarist Patrick Fouhy, bassist Jeff Heringer, and drummer Aaron Tekulve - have decided to pull up their Missoula roots and move to Seattle, where they hope to become part of a scene that has lately re-emerged as an epicenter of hot new rock acts.

That's bad news for local fans of the band, of whom there are many. In just a short span of two years, Your Divine Tragedy has gone from jam-session lark to scene giant, often drawing hundreds of fans to its local performances. But despite their quick rise in the Missoula scene, the guys of Your Divine Tragedy have come to recognize one of the tragic facts of the music industry: In order to make it big, you have to hang with the big boys.

“We all love it here, but the opportunity is in Seattle right now if we really want to take this to the next level,” says Fouhy. “It sucks, but that's the way it is.”

Leaving home to find success is actually nothing new to the band. Formed in September 2003, Your Divine Tragedy is the culmination of a lifelong musical collaboration between Archambeault and Heringer, who grew up together in the small northeastern Montana town of Glasgow. The two sang in choir together, and eventually formed a band in high school. That's when they met Fouhy, who was then a member of a different band from the area.

“We grew up in small towns where hard rock wasn't good, it was the devil,” says Fouhy. “But every time someone said ‘You're never going to do anything with that,' it just made me feel more sure that I was gonna do it.”

Upon graduating from high school, Archambeult, Heringer and Fouhy all came to Missoula to attend the University of Montana. Having heard each other in their previous bands, the three decided to get together and jam. Things clicked.

“We all saw the personal drama that's so common in other bands, and knew that it's always difficult to make these things work,” says Fouhy. “But we all have the ability to compromise, and our personalities seem to compliment each other really well, even though we're really different. Like any family, there are problems; it's how you handle them that matters.”

The band eventually hooked up with Tekulve, and within two weeks was performing gigs as a quartet. They also began writing music at a feverish pace, with a degree of collaboration that is rare in most bands.

“Whenever we write music, everyone will take everyone else's ideas and work with them, allow constructive criticism, and develop the music as something that we're all comfortable with and have all contributed to,” says Tekulve. “There's not just one person writing the music, and I think that's helped us really create an original sound.”

The members of Your Divine Tragedy cite influences such as Tool, A Perfect Circle, Nine Inch Nails and Metallica; and at various times, snippets of those influences are evident in their music. But one can also hear Archambeault and Heringer's shared love for choral music, and Fouhy's interest in jazz and classical composition.

“Nowadays, for me as a guitar player, it seems like pretty much in the world of rock it's already been done if it's worth doing,” says Fouhy. “So the key to creativity is to take bits and pieces of all those different things, throw them into a melting pot, and put your own seasoning on it. That's one of my main goals is have a sound that's me and people can tell it's me.”

Even as the band's local reputation grew, all four members began to recognize the limits to success in a place like Missoula.

“There's a small fan base for this kind of music here, and those people are really supportive,” says Archambeault. “But when we play in bigger cities like Seattle and Tacoma, it's just so obvious that there are a lot more people who like an aggressive style of music.”

For that reason, the band began discussing the possibility of transplanting to Seattle last spring. They even set several deadlines - which they missed.

“We lied to ourselves a few times,” laughs Heringer. “This time's for real, though.“

After its gig this week - the last before its eminent departure - the band will begin packing up belongings and wrapping up loose ends. After the holidays, all four members, as well as manager Steve Burnett, will move to Seattle.

The members of the band realize the move will likely come with a bit of culture shock. They hearken to their first gig in Tacoma, when they played for a large audience at a multi-band show.

“There were all these kids there, and they were all just standing there silent,” recalls Fouhy. “I was thinking, we must have totally bombed.”

But after the show, numerous audience members approached the band with enthusiastic praise.

“There's a reason why bands who come through town think that Missoula fans are the greatest,” says Fouhy. “People here don't hesitate to show their appreciation of what they're hearing. That'll be an adjustment when we're playing over there, I think.”

But Fouhy and his bandmates are confident in their ability to break into the Seattle scene.

“My view is: Bring it on,” says Fouhy. “Challenges feed our fire to work harder and succeed. ... People are telling me this'll be a challenge, but watch us. We can do it.”
- Missoulian - Joe Nickell

Shakespeare created numerous complex characters, but The Tempest’s Caliban sparks debate because his nature is so indefinable. Embodying the crude elements of a monster, he simultaneously demonstrates human desires for beauty and freedom.
The richness of such ambiguity is not lost on Your Divine Tragedy, a Missoula rock band whose name itself is a nod to Shakespearian paradox.
The first song on their new album, This Island Caught Fire, is titled “Caliban” and it’s an empathetic tribute to the contradictory creature. While singer/guitarist Todd Archambeault screams the lyrics, “Disfiguration! It runs deep in his blood / calm and collected he waits / cuz every dog has his day...” bassist Jeff Heringer and lead guitarist Patrick Fouhy belt out “Cali! Ban!” across a wave of metallic guitar riffs. Lyrics aside, the instrumentation is threaded with both darkness and fragile luminescence. It’s a balance of emo and metal—a categorization Your Divine Tragedy distrusts.
“It’s hard because people like to split hairs with genres,” says Archambeault. “It’s easy to dismiss a band if you’re not really paying attention to what they’re doing.”
And what Your Divine Tragedy is doing, they’ll admit, is rock. But considering that drummer Aaron Tekulve comes from a jazz background, Fouhy from classical and that Heringer and Archambeault sang in a Glasgow school choir, it’s easy to understand their desire to preserve diversity over genre.
Beyond themes of hope and tragedy, beyond the title metaphor about the island that catches fire and forces a person to face consequences (“Unless you’re a good swimmer,” Heringer laughs), there is a comedic side to the band. In 2004 they toured in a truck furnished with a couch and barbeque. Their onstage collisions cause Heringer to keep a wary eye on Archambeault. And they enjoy a good joke.
“One of these days we’ll play some country or hip hop,” says Archambeault. And though their plan to eventually move to Seattle correlates with Caliban’s dreams of better things, they appear content.
Says Tekulve, “This is exactly what I want to be doing for the rest of my life.”
- Independent - by Erick Fredrickson

[The band] takes the stage to a chorus of whoops and whistles that never lets up, clearly audible even when the two-guitar attack reaches a deafening crescendo. They must rate pretty highly in the crowd response category. Stage presence, too: The singer/guitarist’s manhandling of his instrument causes a number of people within earshot of me to comment on it between songs.” - Independent - Andy Smetanka

Getting to know Seattle’s YOUR DIVINE TRAGEDY
A Q&A with lead vocalist/Rhythm Guitarist Todd

Let’s start out with the basics, for music fans who are being introduced to you and your music for the first time right now, what would you like them to know?

The most important thing is that we try to provoke a positive change in the world around us. We do this by musically showing the dark side of life and how to rise above it, as well as the actions we all need to take to make this neighborhood/town/country/world a better place. That being said, we try to write music that is dynamic sonically and meaningful emotionally. The offshoot is that we are all pretty goofy fellas on and off stage, and while that may not come out in our music so much, our live performances are full of the ironic goofiness that is YDT.

You’ve prided yourself on not really being stuck in the category of “rock” and breaking out into many other genres, can you give us the breakdown of how you personally describe your sound?

If Billy Idol, nachos, Rush, The Used, PBR, and Avenged Sevenfold all hopped in the sack together, Your Divine Tragedy would be the bastard child. We have influences (aside from the aforementioned) including Neil Young and Diamond, Dream Theater, Finch, Alice in Chains, 30 Seconds to Mars, and a large amount of local bands and friends. We call ourselves a hard rock band. We are heavy, but not only heavy; we have soft songs and soft areas; it’s hard to emphasize one without the other. It really goes on a song by song basis for us. Whatever comes out is what we sound like.

Everyone in the band comes from different backgrounds musically, can you tell us how it all “fits” to become “Your Divine Tragedy”?

Three of us were involved with music at the collegiate level (for a time), so there is a lot of music theory behind the scenes. Patrick, for instance, goes nuts over theory and loves writing music in a compositional manner. As for myself, although I know a bit of theory, I write mostly by feel and sound. I am more of a minimalist, and Patrick is the exact opposite, and that shows both in the rehearsal space and in the music we listen to. This actually is why it works out really well. We keep each other in check. Jeff and ATK are the glue that pulls us together because our styles, without a tight rhythm section, will often sound like they clash. At the end of the day, we all know what kind of songs we like to write and we work together so well because of our differences.

Can you tell us how each of you first became involved in music?

I started singing in school (like we all had to) and in church. I always liked the traditional Latin chants and more somber hymns. I started playing piano and keyboard, which helped my vocals, and eventually learned the guitar. I was also in choirs all through school including college.

ATK started with drums at an early age and in his first band class. From then he was immersed in music and percussion instruments playing in school bands, percussion ensembles and bands of his own until I found the rest of us.

Jeff got his start in music growing up in his dad’s music store. He’d just grab a guitar off the shelf and jam on it. He remembers getting yelled at for breaking a drum head back then. He stuck with the guitars after that.

Patrick started playing around with percussion when he was three. His mother was a concert percussionist in a local symphony and he’d hit pots and pans with her drum sticks. When he was four he started taking formal percussion lessons. Turns out his step mom ended up being a music teacher so he learned a lot ABOUT music from her at a young age as well.

What do you think is the biggest thing that’s missing from today’s music?

Meaning and the desire to be different. That is not to say that all the music out there doesn’t mean anything, just that the majority of music inside pop culture tends to tip -toe around things that really affect people. Instead they talk about getting drunk in the club, or money, or birthday sex. What? Come on! Other than meaning, I think being different seems to come as a challenge to a lot of musicians. Whether it’s steering clear of odd time signatures or trying to dress in whatever is fashionable, that stuff just seems silly. Why not expand, experiment, be ridiculous and different? At least that’s how we feel. By the way, ATK needs more shirts with Mickey Mouse on them, so if you know anyone….other than Walt….

You and Jeff have been playing together since you were in high school, how did you find the rest of the band and how did things fall into place?

First there was Patrick. Our band actually played with Pat’s band a year or so prior in a small town in eastern Montana. We all ended up at the same college together and that was that. We had to persuade him to quite his other band using a hammer, some tooth picks, and a fifth of Absolut Vodka, but he eventually caved. He was the one who knew some kid in the music department who hit stuff pretty good, and might have been interested in hitting stuff in a band. He came over for a practice, learned our songs, and just never left. We four have been together since then.

Your live performance has been described as “not your typical show” can you give us a little insight into what that means?

Come see a show and you’ll have some insight. But I’ll give you some clues: karate kid, fire, gorillas, spinning woodstuffs, head butting, hyjinx. That’s all you get.

As a band that’s based out of Seattle, WA what can you tell us about the music scene there? We’re all familiar with the scene that existed there in the nineties, is it still thriving?

Unfortunately the scene you are familiar with has long since burned out. The reason, from what I hear, that there was a scene at all back then is because there was band community. Bands helping each other out (something we strongly believe in) and backing each other. Now it’s too cutthroat. Bands are only looking out for themselves trying to “make it”, that they forget that we are supposed to be a community, and that can only make us stronger. Oh, and speaking of band community: Temperedcast, Wren Drive, Future Fossils, Lucid, City in the Sea, Urban Collapse.

You have several songs up on your MySpace page for music fans to check out, do you have a cd or a demo available for fans to purchase?

We do have a six song EP entitled “Awaken the Rise and Fall”. It’s available on our MySpace page, iTunes, Amazon, Napster, and Audiolife. There may also be a full length coming in the near future.

Which one of your songs do you feel really defines your band best?

In terms of how we sound it’s difficult to tell because, as I mentioned before, our sound goes on a song by song basis. However, in terms of what we are about as a band it’s probably a song called One More Hero. Side one, track one on the EP. It talks about not being afraid to stand up for the things in which you believe. You, yes you, can make a difference in the world, all it takes is a little initiative.

What’s this about the “YDT Gorillas” – do they really exist and how can we catch a glimpse?

Oh you wanna know about the YDT gorillas do ya? Well I’d love to tell you, but the truth is that we aren’t really 100% sure. What we do know is that there are two YDT “fans” that are gorillas. We’d ask them their names if they could, but we’ve unofficially been named Kevin and Arnold. They usually wear shirts with YDT painted on them. They sometimes show up to our shows, cause a ruckus, and sometimes even jump on stage. It’s weird, but fun! I got one to play the cowbell once. Crazy animals.

Describe each member of the band in three words or less…

Pat – karate fingers

ATK – twirly McPrettyface

Jeff – diabetic doom

Todd – The Goods

Where would you like to see the band in five years from now?

Making a living playing music. Don’t need fame or fortune or glory. Being able to sustain a living doing the thing we love is all we can ask for. Those other things would be sweet too though. What?

Your MySpace page says you’re currently on tour, can you tell us where people can check you out live?

Primarily the west coast right now. But in the next few months we should be dipping into the south and Midwest regions, which we’ve never been to, so that should be exciting. Our MySpace page is the best place to check up on the band. There are all sorts of things including music (live and recorded), videos, merch sales and the usual “MySpace-pimp-yourself-out” tools. - TheyWillRockYou.com

Interview with Your Divine Tragedy Guitarist Pat Fouhy

By: Dr. Matt Warnock

Your Divine Tragedy PatBeing a rock band from Seattle is the musical equivalent of being a soccer player from Brazil. There is a long history of success, high expectations and an audience that knows their stuff, is discerning and can make or break a band even before they finish their first gig. Though many Seattle based bands falter even before they start, those that stick it out, win over the hometown fans, and get out on the national scene tend to release some of the best rock music around. One of the newest bands to establish itself on the Seattle scene, and that is starting to get their name out nationwide, is Your Divine Tragedy.

Though the band is often categorized as “rock,” their music draws from a wide range of influences including progressive bands like Rush and Dream Theater, heavy bands like Thrice, Finch and Avenged Sevenfold, with just enough jazz, classical and blues mixed in to fully personify their sound. With such a diverse background, and unique approach to modern rock, it’s no wonder that the band is growing their fan base online and with every new tour they embark on. With such a successful start the future looks bright for YDT, especially after making a name for themselves on one of America’s most famous, and toughest, rock scenes.

Your Divine Tragedy lead guitarist Pat Fouhy recently sat down with Guitar International Magazine to discuss the Seattle rock scene, his blending of rock, classical and jazz techniques and how working as a guitar teacher has helped him as a performer.

***

Matt Warnock: What’s it like being a modern rock band based out of Seattle, with all of the famous rock musicians that have grown out of that scene over the years?

Pat Fouhy: It’s pretty fun for the most part. You learn pretty quickly that there are certain stigmas when playing in Seattle clubs. But it’s great to play in venues that have such a storied history.

One of our first gigs in Seattle was at a club called The Central, and when we walked in there were pictures of Alice in Chains and other famous bands on the wall. So the venues are cool and the fans are great, and very honest. If they like you they’ll let you know. If they don’t like you they’ll let you know even louder. Laughs

Pat Fouhy GuitarMatt: When you go on the road do those stigmas follow you around? When you get to a new town do you find people have a pre-conceived notion of what a band from Seattle should sound like?

Pat: Yeah, that happens quite a bit actually. I think everybody categorizes things, because it’s easier to relate to things that way. People don’t really think of progressive hard-rock bands coming from Seattle, they think more of the grunge and alternative rock bands from the ’90s.

So, we’ll go do a show and people who aren’t into the grunge, alternative-rock scene will dig our show, and others will come up and ask, “If you’re from Seattle how come you didn’t play any Pearl Jam?” Laughs We don’t play Pearl Jam, we love them, they’re a great band, but we don’t play them.

Matt: Listening to your playing there are a ton of different influences that creep to the surface. Who were some of your early influences on the guitar?

Pat: Metallica has probably played the biggest role in my musical upbringing. I was a drummer first, from the age of about four to sixteen when I switched to the guitar, so Lars had a big influence on me early on.

After getting into Metallica I started checking out their influences, so there’s that whole, hard-rock, metal vibe that’s worked it’s way into my guitar playing. In recent years I’ve gotten more into prog-rock, like Rush and Dream Theater. But now I’m really into jazz-fusion, guys like Scott Henderson, Allan Holdsworth and Al Di Meola.

Matt: How much of the jazz-fusion stuff ends up working its way into the bands material? Is it something that you draw upon for inspiration, or do you consciously work that vibe into your writing and performing?

Pat: I think probably both. The six songs on our E.P. came from a catalogue of about forty songs, and they just happened to be some of the more heavy stuff we do. We have songs that range from way heavier to much lighter, so I’ve been able to work the jazz and classical influences into our songs. So, even though the E.P. has a hard-rock vibe to it, I was still improvising my solos, drawing from my jazz fusion background that way, instead of in the arrangements or in my note choices.

Matt: How much of the soloing did you work out before hand and how much of it was improvised in the studio?

Pat: It depends on the song. For Johnny Blackout I had the whole solo down before we went into the studio, but for a song like One More Hero, I came up with the solo right then and there. My creative process differs from song to song.

If we’ve done a solid demo of a song, or played it live a bunch of times, I might have a solo worked out that I know will work well on the song and that I like to use. But, if the song is still kind of fresh when we get to the studio, or onstage, I’m more likely to just wing it and see where the music will lead me.

YDT Guitarist Pat FouhyMatt: You also have an all-acoustic side project with the lead singer from YDT Todd Archambeault. Can you talk about what those shows entail as compared to your work with the full group.

Pat: It’s more of an extension of the group than a side project. We do YDT tunes with acoustic arrangements, which is where my jazz playing comes in handy. To me it’s kind of a cop out when a band plays an acoustic version of one of their songs but its’ the same arrangement just on acoustic guitar. I like to change things up completely with the acoustic versions. The lyrics and melody are all there, but we’ll throw in more blues and jazz type chords to give the acoustic versions their own feel and sound.

We started doing the acoustic sets during the day at Hot Topic, which was featuring an acoustic concert series, and it’s grown from there. The other day we were playing in Northern California and Todd’s amp actually fried right before the band went on stage. So, we played what we could without his guitar parts, and then did the second half of the set acoustic. Which turned out great for us and for the fans, who got to see a different side of the band that night. Planned or not. Laughs

Matt: Since it worked out so well do you plan to feature the acoustic stuff more with YDT in the future, or was that kind of a one time thing because of the amp blowing up?

Pat: I think we’ll just play it by ear, from show to show. We’ve done mini acoustic sets in shows before, and it turned out great. It also depends on the audience and how much time we have. In a forty-five minute set we tend to stick to the heavier stuff, but if we have ninety minutes or more we like to break things up with the acoustic material.

Matt: You talked about your jazz background but you’ve also spent time studying classical music. How does that side of your musical education come out in your rock playing and songwriting?

Pat: It’s the basis for pretty much everything I do. I went to college to study music so I could write better songs, and studying classical theory and guitar really helps me write better, in any genre. It adds something unique to our music. We can change keys or time signatures in the course of a song, which not a lot of other rock bands do.

Just knowing how things work can really make things easier and make writing songs quicker. Ultimately it has to sound good, that’s the ultimate test of a song, but when I get stuck on something it’s great to know different ways to get out of those ruts because of my theory and composition background. Studying classical music is not for everyone, but it’s helped me out in a lot of ways and I’m glad I did it.

Matt: As well as playing in YDT you keep very busy as a guitar teacher in the Seattle area. Do you find that working with students has an influence on your playing, especially if they are working on a genre of music or a concept that you haven’t necessarily spent a lot of time checking out in your own playing?

Pat: Yeah, definitely. I’m constantly working on the basics with new students, and after ten years of playing I don’t really spend much time in my own practice working on those things anymore. So, having students around to force me to revisit the fundamentals on an almost daily basis really helps.

With the more advanced students, they’ll bring in more difficult songs and techniques and I’ll have to break them down, analyze them, and explain them in plain English for the students. It’s a great way to keep those concepts and ideas fresh in my head, even if I’m not working on them in my own practicing.

Matt: Your E.P. is out in stores and online, and doing well, are you guys working on releasing a full-length album in the near future?

Pat: Yeah, we’re in the preliminary part of that, no set studio dates yet. We’ve been in conversation with John Plum, the producer from the E.P., about the direction of a full-length album. We’re talking about possibly doing an acoustic record, but we’ll see how it all works out.

It could go as far as putting together a small box set of the E.P., a new full-length album and an all-acoustic album, but this is all in the very early stages so we’ll have to see how it develops. No matter how it turns out we’ll definitely have a new recording out for the fans much sooner than latter. - Modern Guitarist