Roll of the Dice: 9 Questions with Hematite

---

Roll of the Dice is a short interview format with a variable amount of questions. A Pair of dice is rolled and the total, between 2 and 12, is the amount of questions we can ask. All questions are given to the interviewee(s) at once, and no follow-ups are allowed. The interview may be lightly edited for content and clarity.

Whether you want to call Hematite dark-country or western-gothic or whatever other reductive genre you want, one thing is for sure… It’s not what you’d have expected from members of Vanna or He Is Legend. Davey Muise and Andrew Gaultier however have outgrown their past efforts on the upcoming Speak of the Devil EP, out 31 March. TGEFM was able to discuss the duo’s past and future and quite a few things in between when Davey joined us for a Roll of the Dice.

Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview. What can you tell us about Hematite, where might we know you from and what can we expect from you guys?
Pleasure to be here, cheers for having us. So yeah, Hematite is the almost post pandemic brain
child of myself (Davey) and Andrew Gaultier, a good buddy of mine from older, heavier days of
music so to speak. Andrew has played guitar with He is Legend and To Speak of Wolves and
myself, I was in a band called Vanna for a decade and also toured in a band called Trove. So
being from the heavier side of things, Hematite is a little out of pocket from those projects but
exactly what both of us have been looking for. It’s a pretty honest blend of some old school
western style tunes with a little dark/metal influence burned throughout it, greeting a very erie
almost spooky vibe that so far people seem to dig.

You guys have been at this in different incarnations for quite a bit now, what about the chemistry of Hematite separates this project from your previous ones? What stood out most to you with this recording
compared to your previous trips to the studio?
I think for both of us coming from a democracy of 5 dudes working towards a common goal that
in the end might not be what everyone’s vision exactly was so you end up with a few
compromises and throw away tracks. With this being just us at the start we were able to talk
about goals and direction before one file was sent. Andrew had come out west for a visit and we
chatted about this almost cinematic modern western project and the way we were speaking, it’s
like we both wanted the exact same thing. From the moment he sent over what became “Run
Devil”, we were locked in to each other’s vibe. We recorded coast to coast, truly never being in
the same room, yet the energy was matched track by track. I’ve personally never created music
faster than this ep, it just burned out of each of us like a necessary purging.

For those of our readers who know your previous work from Vanna or He is Legend, the sound of Hematite is pretty different. What brought about the shift and what has the reaction been like from
your fans in the scene?
At the end of the day it’s not about what you’ve done. Right, like it’s fulfilling in many ways to
look back and be proud but more important for me, is forward movement. Every project, every
band, has left a little part of itself on me. I used to be in a band called Seeker Destroyer that I
think sounded closer to Hematite then it was to Vanna but this has always been there. You can
hear it in my voice. Almost like I was training for this the whole time. If you’ve ever seen Andrew
play with He is Legend or listen to a To Speak of Wolves song you understand where this dude
honed his shredding skills. Everything we’ve done will impact everything we will do, but again
it’s ever moving and evolving. Also im approaching my 40’s and Im not full of anger or rage, I
don’t have much to scream about these days and playing the same music I did when I was 19
doesnt suit my happiness much anymore. I love heavy music don’t get me wrong, but i’m not a
one sided human. It’s been important to me to discover my range as an artist.

The term supergroup gets thrown about quite a bit, and Hematite is certainly a band whose pedigree has earned the title, but how, if at all, does the pressure of the moniker play into the songwriting? How do
you cope with the high bar you’ve set for yourselves in the eyes of the audience?
First of all, I appreciate you saying, it’s very cool to get compliments like that. Secondly yeah
man, it’s a strange endeavor to branch off down whatever rabbit hole you’re getting into
musically now and see who follows, ya know? I don’t expect anyone that says they love Vanna
to love Hematite. You can be happy for me that I’m happy but, the difference between the two is
large. That being said, I do have a cool fan base that seems to grow and move with me and it’s
always my hope that something I’ve written down and then belted out might help someone else.
Even if it’s a, “yeah damn, me too man” kind of vibe. These songs are FOR me, but I hope
they’re for you too.

The scene, and the music industry in general, has changed dramatically over the last 5-10 years or so. What has been the most difficult to adapt to and where do you see things heading over the coming years within the industry and scene?
I think the hardest thing now in the creative world is whatever you are, singer, dancer, painter,
whatever, you also have to be a social media team, cinematographer, make tik toks, reels,
videos, making posts, I mean, be a damn slave to the thing that’s supposed to be a passion and
bring you joy. The bummer is we’ve done that to ourselves, it’s the standard now, to be
exhausted just to be the thing you wanna be. I see less and less independent artists being able
to rise even though we have more tools and outlets now then we ever did. We are an
over-saturated industry to an audience that’s underwhelmed and unimpressed by most. Which
is the reason you have to make music for yourself without the notion it might go anywhere but a
few ears and to be happy with that.

What effect, if any, have the cultural and political landscapes of the last few years had on your music?
I’m not sure exactly when it happened but we stopped being able to agree to disagree. We as a
people and country stopped being able to have different opinions than our peers, our friends,
our co-workers and realizing that those differences of opinions are great and what makes us as
a people so great. The variety, the choice. The underlying notion that though we may not see
eye to eye on everything that we have a respect for one another simply as humans. In the last
few years we have divided ourselves down the line, stuffed ourselves into our echo chambers
where we’ve been screaming in our own faces over different color hats and whose lives do and
do not matter. We’ve let politicians who we will never meet, decide our fates while we worship
celebrities that will never care about us over loving our neighbor because we don’t like the flag
in their lawn. At the same time we’ve decided what is and isn’t correct in today’s society and
want to punish those who are slow to learn about the new world we live in or cancel people like
they’re a subscription we no longer want to pay for because they don’t suit our new found ideals.
We have the most and do the least with it and personally that’s why I escape with music. That’s
why I write, because this is a very hard place to live sometimes.

One of our obligatory questions in these interviews also tends to be the one I have found most important on a personal level. Who are some bands on your radar that TGEFM readers may not know about, but you think they
should know about?
Love this question! Okay ill give you a top ten of right now. check out: NVM, Seer Believer,
Yellow Trashcan, Blanket, Void of Vision, No Devotion, 1990nowhere, Keep, Horse Jumper of
Love, Wayside.

What’s next for the members of Hematite?
We both have other endeavors with music aside for Hematite as well, so right now we are
releasing this record, Andrew is playing in two other country acts Maddie & Tae and Big50 and
he is very busy touring and being amazing. I have another project with Joel from Vanna as well
as solo stuff brewing. I’m also working more on visual projects as well as writing a book. So
yeah, we be doing stuff.

Was there anything I missed that you’d like to share or dive deeper into with our readers?
Please go stream Speak Of The Devil, use the songs to make movies and titoks and whatever
else it inspires you do to. We feel honored to share some time with anyone who reads this, be
well and keep on keeping on.