Page 110 - ION Indie Magazine SeptOct 2024

Since returning to Green Bay, DeVillers has been a part of multiple musical projects, some as a
freelancer, some as stand-alone projects, and he never shies away from trying something new that
he can either involve his friends in or make more friends in the process.

“Aside from playing bass on a few different releases by Before Dawn and 700Feet Apart, I also have
a few other side projects just to keep having fun,” said DeVillers. “Modern Haunting is the main band
I release music under, and definitely the band I dedicate the most time to. With our other projects,
Colin [Catalano] and I split the work between writing and recording everything to lighten the load for
each other.”

DeVillers and Catalano have developed a label for themselves and all of their other projects under
the name Super Friends Productions, where they can and have released music under the names of
Carlos Champagne and the Balcony Brothers, Leslie Jacobs and the Nazareth Riders, Modern
Haunting, and any other new project they pitch to each other and later make a reality.

Though DeVillers and Catalano bounce ideas off each other and work together frequently, DeVillers
admitted that for Modern Haunting, he prefers to work through the process alone.

“My workflow is nuts, so I have to work on Modern Haunting on my own,” he said. “For the last EP I
put out, I would record from 11:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. in my room, not wearing pants, because that's
when the creative juices were flowing. All that music exists in my brain, first and foremost, and I
have to sit down and get it all out whenever it's ready to come out.”

It seems this method works best for the band, as Modern Haunting took home the Bay Area Music
Award (BAMMY) for Best Original Song for their song, ‘Terrified!’ in the 2023 lineup. Similar to the
origins of the band’s name, DeVillers had actually finished this song well before its release date,
afraid to publish it due to feeling like it was out of his band’s league.

“I sat on my song ‘Terrified!’ for nine months before I finally released it,” DeVillers said sheepishly,
“I was afraid it was too good for me to put out with where I was in Modern Haunting’s journey. I just
couldn’t believe that I had written that good of a song all on my own, and when I would play it back
for people, they also thought it was just as good.”

“Having my hard work be recognized through the awarding of a BAMMY was insane. It’s still my
favorite song of mine, and I’ve had to stop myself from comparing my other songs to it because now
I’m afraid I won’t be able to top it. Thankfully, it’s pushing me to write something that excites me at
that level, because, this is embarrassing, but that song was my number one most played song on
Spotify last year because I was so proud of it.”

Finally recognizing his own hard work that was put into both the song and his band, ‘Terrified!’ has
been DeVillers top streamed song on Spotify since its official release, however, he still struggles
with seeing his worth in the music scene, feelings his friends and bandmates work together to steer
him away from.