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Hailing from Ontario, Canada is Deathpoint, a young band with a passion for metal and creating their own unique sound that I love. They have recently released their album “SINISTER” through Spread The Metal Records and it is one album you have to add to your metal collection. It has everything from heavy metal guitars with some killer riffs, catchy hooks, combination of clean and harsh vocals, and a melodic groove that will literally draw you in further and take a hold of you.

“SINISTER” is available now and you can pick up your copy here or their merch store page here. We had the opportunity to interview drummer, Mike Labate before their album release and you can check it out here:

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Music Junkie Press: HI Mike, We are very excited about your album SINISTER which (was released) in October. I know that you have a couple other albums out but this is the first one with Spread the Metal Records, right?

Mike Labate: Yes it is, We just signed on with them about six or seven months ago. Just after the addition of Tom Emmans.

Music Junkie Press: First, I wanted to ask you about the accident you were involved in recently when out on tour. Is everyone doing okay?

Mike Labate: Ya, everyone is alright, we have recovered. Scary moments for sure but came out fairly unscathed. There is a little damage to the vehicle and the trailer but we will recover, we will be alright.

Music Junkie Press: Another tour story for the road I am sure! I have had the chance to listen to a couple of the tracks so far on Sinister and it is amazing work. You guys have really developed your own sound. You have brought a refreshing take on metal by incorporating this great vibe and instrumental highlights. What was your biggest inspiration behind this album?

Mike Labate: It is hard to say what exactly was the biggest inspiration as far as directly linking it to a band. But I think we love listening to music with a lot of groove, a lot of catchy vibes, a lot of mixture between the clean vocals and the screaming and the heaviness and what not. Yet, with staying true to what we wanted to do. I think the biggest inspiration is wanting to put out a record that people will want to listen to over and over again. Now I gave a friend of mine that I haven’t seen in a couple years, a copy last weekend and he shot me a Facebook message and he said, “Dude this record is incredible. I just listened to it front to back three times in a row and I absolutely love it. I am gonna work on getting the word out to all my friends.” That is the kind of thing that really encourages us to keep doing exactly what we are doing. That was our big inspiration; to really get in to people’s heads and stay there and I really feel that we have a record here that is going to accomplish that.

Music Junkie Press: It is! It is a full album to enjoy that is not where you pick and choose your songs. It has the quality of work to where you will want to enjoy the whole album. The kind of album where you play from start to finish.

Mike Labate: Ya, that was a huge goal. We don’t have any filler. Every part, every riff, every melody, everything on the record; if the whole band isn’t happy with exactly how it sounds, then it doesn’t stay on the record. We change it, we tweak it, we make it be exactly how we want it to be before we are ready to release it.

Music Junkie Press: Thirty Stitches is a KICK ASS SONG! Can you tell me more about that song?

Mike Labate: Thirty Stitches is Henry, our lead guitar player’s baby. Actually he had been working on that song for about 2 and a half years, and originally he has a bunch of side projects and stuff that he just does on his own to stay busy and play music. And it had it parts and its moments, it wasn’t a Deathpoint song per say but we got our hands on it. We convinced him, hey man let’s like sit down and really write this as a Deathpoint song and we pieced it together and it just turned into an absolute highlight on the album, for sure. Tom’s vocal work on it was brilliant. I don’t know, it just came together as one of those epic melodic tracks that really sticks with people. I know it has had a big influence on a lot of people who have already heard it. It is up on our Soundcloud to hear and it is getting a lot of attention. Definitely a highlight from the record.

Music Junkie Press: It is! Now Tom Emmans is a great singer. I know that he was filling in last year, is it true he will be staying on as the vocalist?

Mike Labate: He is staying on full time now. That decision was made probably six months or so ago. He started by just recording the record, helping us out as we were in a pinch with the loss of our previous vocalist. So he was going to help us out in this pinch, recorded the record with us, listened back to it and he just fell in love with it. He said “Guys, I need a full time spot in this band”. We were happy to oblige because he is a great vocalist and a great guy so ya, we kept him on full time.

Music Junkie Press: I Love It! How was your East to West Coast Canada Tour?

Mike Labate: It was good, it was a good run to Halifax and back, aside from the accident of course. But we met a lot of great people, got a lot of great feedback, made a bunch of fans. It was a lot of fun playing Spread The Metal Festival in Halifax, that is part of a big crowd, was a great time playing alongside some great bands. We are back home in Ontario. Unfortunately some contractual issues came up with the West Coast so that didn’t happen. But we are currently working on a couple bigger shows and a full Ontario/Quebec run and over the winter we will be settling down a little bit and getting in to writing the next record. We are going to be doing extensive touring the Ontario/Quebec area for sure and then we are looking at the US, West Coast and everything else come Spring time. Because obviously as you know, it can become very, very nasty to travel in Canada through wintertime so for safety and contractual issues, that is probably the plan we are going to go with.

Music Junkie Press: We are excited to hear about you guys coming to the States here. It is going to be great!

Mike Labate: Well, it has been a big goal of ours. It is such a great market and we have been receiving a lot of radio play down there and we have charted down there so I feel like the demand in the States is worth looking into and worth getting down there. We are only 45 minutes from the border and the American market and people are just great for music. So it definitely is a huge goal of ours to get down there soon.

Music Junkie Press: That will be exciting. Now you guys all started pretty young with music. How old were you when you first started playing drums?

Mike Labate: I first started playing drums when I was 16. I had played a bunch of other instruments before that but I always found myself falling in love with the drums and so I started playing when I was 16. I had maybe four or five months into playing drums when I got the invite to try for, what is now Deathpoint, but that is eight years ago. The only original, original member is Brad, our current bass player still and he was only 13 when I joined the band. So he has been in it since day one and just absolutely loving it. So I guess I have been drumming for about eight years now and always trying to improve my stuff as is every other member of the band.

Music Junkie Press: Now what is your current rig rundown on your drums and kicks?

Mike Labate: The kicks I play are Pearl Elimator Demon Drives. (Music Junkie Press: Those are awesome!) Absolutely, Top of the line, I love them. Ever since I first played them I fell in love with them. So those are the kicks I rock for sure.

Music Junkie Press: Nice! How about if I could peak into your Ipod, what artist or song might I be most surprised at finding in there?

Mike Labate: Uh, probably a little Mumford & Sons and Macklemore. Not a ton of stuff. I got to admit the majority of it is metal. I always like to listen to metal because it helps influence me, gives me ideas and inspiration or what not, but sometimes you got to go outside the box and Mumford & Sons is a big one for me. They are quite popular right now and doing very well and I love their stuff, that folk rock style but they have come up with a very unique way of doing it. I really enjoy them and Macklemore, I am not big on hip hop, there is a couple things here and there but Macklemore has a really cool original style too. I check him out every so often. Actually I was listening to him earlier today. It is nice to change things up once in a while.

Music Junkie Press: Very true, it is. If you could take a song from any other genre and turn it into a Deathpoint style song, what might you choose?

Mike Labate: We have been talking about this for a while, actually. We are on the fence about covering a song that is metal and making it into Deathoint metal or we are going to take a song that is not metal and make it metal but it has been thrown around a bit, like Evanescence. We have been talking about that a little bit and also Bon Jovi’s “You Give Love a Bad Name”. I think that would be a great one to do as a full metal cover. So, we have been talking about it, nothing is set in stone, and it is really hard because there are so many great songs out there that potentially could be turned metal but to do it an a classy way and make it actually really well done, that is definitely a challenge.

Music Junkie Press: It would be great to put the Deathpoint style to it. You guys have such a great groove and the instrumental highlights would be great for any song. Lastly, is there anything else you would like to share with our audience?

Mike Labate: I just really want to encourage people to go give the album a listen, check out our Facebook page, the Soundcloud, you can search us on Soundcloud. I truly believe that any metal head is really going to enjoy this album. We have heard so much positive feedback, the reviews are coming in, and we really think we got something special here so give it a chance, give it a listen because we really feel like that is all it is going to take to hook you in. Like the Facebook page and you can get all the updates and everything you could possibly need to know about the band is right there. We are just a young Canadian band trying to put ourselves out there and we appreciate the support.

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If you give the album a listen, I am sure you will be hooked. I know we were and you can’t help but listen to it from start to finish. For Your Eyes Only is an amazing heavy song with great melodic style as well. Title track Sinister brings the heavy side out and the drums on it are powerful, then it blends right into clean vocals and harsh vocals perfectly! Thirty Stitches has kick ass guitar work and is an intense song that has become one of my playlist favorites! All the songs on this album are fierce, check them out for yourself. Also make sure to visit their social media sites so you can stay up to date on tour dates, news and other fun stuff!

~ Crank it up loud, Marisol

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