Interview with Deraps lead vocalist / guitarist Jacob Deraps

INTERVIEW WITH DERAPS LEAD VOCALIST / GUITARIST JACOB DERAPS
Date: May 25, 2022
Interviewer: Olivier
Photos: Courtesy of Metalville PR

SLEAZE ROXX PRIDES ITSELF ON FEATURING NEW AND UPCOMING BANDS WELL BEFORE THEY MAKE IT “BIG” OR EVEN BEFORE THEY RELEASE THEIR DEBUT ALBUM. ADMITTEDLY, MOST OF THE TIME, THOSE BANDS REACH OUT, OR SOMEONE ON THEIR BEHALF REACHES OUT, TO SLEAZE ROXX ASKING TO BE “CHECKED OUT”. METALVILLE PR REP NATHAN BIRK RECENTLY CONTACTED ME TOUTING DERAPS AS THE NEXT VAN HALEN. THAT OBVIOUSLY PIQUED MY INTEREST AND BIRK WAS CORRECT THAT THERE ARE A LOT OF SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THE TWO BANDS STARTING WITH DERAPS’ UBER TALENTED FRONTMAN JACOB DERAPS, WHO COULD PERHAPS BE THE NEXT EDDIE VAN HALEN.

TIME WILL TELL BUT WE WILL SOON GET A REAL GLIMPSE OF HOW GOOD DERAPS REALLY ARE. THE GROUP CONSISTING OF JACOB DERAPS ON LEAD VOCALS AND GUITAR, JOSH GALLAGHER ON DRUMS AND WILLIAM LACHANCE ON BASS WILL BE RELEASING ITS DEBUT SELF-TITLED ALBUM VIA METALVILLE RECORDS ON JUNE 17, 2022. SLEAZE ROXX CAUGHT UP WITH JACOB DERAPS TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT WHAT MAY WELL BE THE HOTTEST NEW BAND OUT THERE. 

Sleaze Roxx: First off, I have to say that you are a phenomenal guitar player from what I have heard so far. How long have you been playing the guitar and what led you to playing in the first place?

Jacob Deraps: Thanks! I’ve been playing for about 12 years now. When I was a kid, I was playing the video game ‘Guitar Hero’ and absolutely loved all the music that was on there. Then at some point, I wanted to start playing real guitar so I picked up my dad’s guitar, learned all the basic chords in an evening, and was instantly hooked and obsessed with the instrument.

Sleaze Roxx: I know that you are a huge Van Halen fan and rose to prominence with Deraps’ excellent covers of Van Halen material. What first drew you to Van Halen?

Jacob Deraps: I grew up hearing Van Halen songs in the car and in the house. My dad was always a huge fan and me too, even when I was a kid. I kind of got to rediscover them properly, later on, about a year after I started playing guitar. I was into Metallica and Randy Rhoads at the time and I remember scrolling down my dad’s music library on the computer and finding all the Van Halen albums which I had heard a long time ago, throughout my childhood. I remember putting on the first album and finding songs like “I’m The One” and from that moment on, it’s like a switch in my brain was turned on. I was obsessed with the guitar playing and sound that Eddie had, I needed to do the same.

Sleaze Roxx: Playing Eddie Van Halen’s guitar parts is challenging enough but you also handle lead vocals at the same time. Do you find it challenging to handle lead guitar and lead vocal duties at the same time, and what made you decide to handle both at the same time?

Jacob Deraps: It’s definitely a challenge but I like the challenge and I’m motivated and passionate enough to make it work. I started singing because I couldn’t find a young singer who could do what I wanted, so I decided to do it myself.

Deraps‘ “Live Fast Die Slow” video:

Sleaze Roxx: I don’t know that much about Deraps’ history so when and how did the band form and who is currently in the band?

Jacob Deraps: The band is currently composed of myself [Jacob Deraps] on guitar and vocals, Josh Gallagher on drums and backing vocals and William Lachance on bass. I formed the band in 2017. William was a long-time friend and a guitarist so I asked him if he was interested in playing bass with me. Josh and I met through YouTube. We were both doing Van Halen covers and one day Josh asked me if I was interested in collaborating with him on the song “Girl Gone Bad”. That was our first cover together, followed by many. In 2017, I asked him if he was interested in coming to Québec to do some shows here. He flew all the way from Australia and that’s how it started.

Jacob Deraps performing “Eruption”, “I’m The One” and “Ice Cream Man” live at the Montreal Jazz Festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 2017 (video from ShookMeBaby LucGrisé‘s YouTube page):

Sleaze Roxx: I assume that Deraps is your last name. What made you decide to go with your last name as the band name? I am assuming Van Halen may have influenced the decision [laughs]?

Jacob Deraps: It’s kind of a funny story. It’s similar to the Van Halen story as well. It was David Lee Roth who suggested the brothers to call the band Van Halen, because it has a nice unique sound to it. It was also Josh who suggested me to call the band Deraps, because it sounded cool and unique. We used to play under my full name. I had been doing so since I was 14 years old and it was kind of my solo project when we started, so when Josh suggested that, I thought it was perfect.

Sleaze Roxx: Has there ever been any discussions about getting a second guitarist in the band or having more members than just the three of you?

Jacob Deraps: Definitely not another guitar player — most bands that I love have only one guitarist and I really like the clear sound of just drums, bass and guitar with vocals.

Sleaze Roxx: Deraps’ debut self-titled album will be released via Metalville Records on June 17, 2022. Who wrote the songs on the album and how long have some of these songs been in the making?

Jacob Deraps: Me and Josh wrote most of the songs. I co-wrote a few songs with other people, “My Side of Town” with Jesse Bradman from Night Ranger and “Live Fast Die Slow” and “On My Mind” with Vann Delorey, a friend of mine. There are many songs that came from old demos of mine from when I was 16 years old. Some other songs are recent so it’s been quite a few years in the making.

Sleaze Roxx: How did Deraps hook up with Metalville Records?

Jacob Deraps: My manager took care of that. He’s a big fan of the band, a great guy who really believes in us and we’ve been working together for quite a while. He got in touch with Metalville and they sent me a deal which was great. They loved the band too so I signed it.

Sleaze Roxx: Deraps play a brand of 70’s and 80’s rock n’ roll that is no longer at the forefront of the musical landscape these days. There are still tons of fans of that music genre but a lot of them are older and don’t eat, breathe and sleep the music anymore like I assume you do [laughs]. What do you think is needed for more young people such as yourself to get into this genre of music?

Jacob Deraps: They just gotta hear it onto a good pair of speakers or headphones and take the time to listen to the songs properly, to hear all the details and lose themselves in the music. That’s what really gets you into great music, when you get to listen to it and experience it the right way. It’s easy to say you don’t like a song you hear on the radio or on a bad audio system. It’s different to actually listen to it properly. Hearing us play live is another way as well. We do it exactly as it was in the 70’s, with the sheer power of cranked amplifiers and authentic, raw playing. We get new young fans every time we do a show. Young people discover it like it’s brand new and they go wild on this stuff. Rock isn’t dead. It’s only that most rock stuff these days is way too generic, overproduced and uninteresting to listen to, in my opinion.

Sleaze Roxx: What are Deraps’ plans once your debut album is released?

Jacob Deraps: We’d definitely love to go on tour and we’re currently looking into it.

Sleaze Roxx: Time for some tougher questions! You can only choose one — Van Halen with David Lee Roth or Van Halen with Sammy Hagar. Who do you choose and why?

Jacob Deraps: That’s an easy one, for me! Van Halen with DLR, 100%. Van Halen with DLR is legendary, organic, wild, raw, it’s pure energy and fire, the best rock n’ roll band of all time, in my opinion.

Sleaze Roxx: Eddie Van Halen or Joe Satriani — which is the better guitarist and why?

Jacob Deraps: Definitely Eddie! I like Satriani too but what Eddie did was absolutely unreal. He’s the most innovative and influential guitar player of all time, hands down. He created his own guitar, his own artwork, had a completely new and unique guitar sound, had unmatched technical abilities and more groove and feel than anyone. Every note and chord is so pure, his rhythms are groovy and perfectly executed, while still being raw and organic.

Sleaze Roxx: There has been some talk about Alex Van Halen continuing Van Halen without Eddie Van Halen and ironically with Joe Satriani on lead guitar. What are your thoughts on that?

Jacob Deraps: That wouldn’t work. I’d love to see Alex play again. He’s my all-time favorite drummer but I think it would be strange with Satriani playing EVH stuff. Satriani’s a great player but his tone and style of playing is so far from Eddie’s, I think it would be weird in the context of a Van Halen tour or an official tribute tour.

Sleaze Roxx: What are your top five Van Halen albums and why?

Jacob Deraps: ‘Van Halen’, ‘1984’, ‘Van Halen II’, ‘Women And Children First’, ‘Fair Warning’, probably in that order. I love ‘Diver Down’ as well. Any of those six records are epic. I love the raw sound and energy of those records. The songs are dirtier and more rock n’ roll. It’s an iconic and legendary sound.

Sleaze Roxx: Is there anything that we have not covered that you would like to mention?

Jacob Deraps: I think it’s important to mention that our debut album was done entirely by me and Josh and that we’re self-taught in everything. It’s something that we’re both really proud of. We created the music, did the production, the recording and the mixing in our home studios, etc… The only thing we didn’t do is the mastering. I did the guitar, the lead vocals, the backing vocals and the bass. Josh did the drums, some backing vocals and some co-lead vocals as well, on certain songs. He mixed the entire thing, with me giving him my input on the mixes and mixing my guitar. He also did all of our music videos entirely by himself — he’s a monster at that. This album is the foundation of everything that we learned about creating and producing music, and the art of mixing. It was very hard at times to try and achieve certain things that we wanted, while trying to learn how to do it and getting better at the same time. It could be so frustrating. We were also working on very different schedules, on opposite sides on the planet. Josh was in Australia and I was in Canada. He’d wake up, I’d go to sleep. I still can’t believe we got through it sanely and actually pulled it off, it’s unreal!

Deraps‘ “My Side of Town” video:

Thank you to Nathan Birk of Metalville PR for facilitating the interview!