When guitarist Chris Broderick and drummer Shawn Drover were members of Megadeth (from 2008-2014 and 2004-2014, respectively), there wasn’t an awful lot of room to contribute in the songwriting department (with Dave Mustaine being the main man). But with the formation of Act Of Defiance, the two former Megadeth mates are now in the “songwriter driver’s seat.” Joined by singer Henry Derek and bassist Matt Bachand, the group recently issued their sophomore full-length, Old Scars, New Wounds. Broderick recently spoke with BraveWords correspondent Greg Prato about the new effort, video making, and if he’s still on good terms with his former band.
 
BraveWords: How would you compare Old Scars, New Wounds to Birth And The Burial?
 
Chris Broderick: “I would say it’s more cohesive in terms of a band effort. I think it’s just more developed. We’re starting to hit our stride more as a band now. For me, as an individual player, I also feel a huge sense of accomplishment in terms of the development of my techniques and my musicality. I feel much more comfortable in my ability to write and create with this CD.”
 
BraveWords: Favorite tracks?
 
Chris Broderick: “I would say my current favorite is ‘Rise Of Rebellion.’ That song to me is a huge anthem. I love those kinds of songs - they sound big and open. And then it’s got a big guitar shred interlude in the middle, which I love. I just like the way the song came together overall. I definitely also like ‘Overexposure,’ because it’s just accessible. It’s got a good hook, a great chorus, and I think Henry did a great job on that song - in terms of writing it and singing on it. Another one that I like is ‘Reborn.’ That one is a good, old school metal song, in my mind. To me, it harkens back to the days when I listened to King Diamond all day, every day. So, there are a lot of different songs for different reasons, but those are the ones I’d pick out currently. But the one thing that you’ve got to know as far as an artist is it’s kind of like they’re your children. There are reasons why you love the songs for different reasons, and you’ve got to, because you invest so much time in why you believe in them and why you want them to be something great. You work hard to make it something that’s musical and gets out your artistic ideas. In essence, it’s hard to always choose which songs you would like best or not, because there are reasons you could pick out of any song. That’s what you’re trying to accomplish when you write. If I wrote a song I hated, then I don’t think I would write it!”

 
BraveWords: Videos have been filmed for the tracks “MIA” and “Overexposure”.
 
Chris Broderick: “‘MIA’ - mis-information age - was definitely excruciatingly hot. We were in a warehouse in Downtown LA, and it was 107 outside, and then we had a ton of hot lights in this un-air-conditioned warehouse inside…I have no idea what the temperature was. But it wasn’t cool, that’s for sure - we were sweating our balls off. But I still remember having a really good time making the video, and just having fun with Rob, the director, and looking at shots and scenes. With ‘Overexposure,’ we filmed that in the same weekend, and that was quite a different experience. We showed up at another warehouse, expecting the same kind of thing, because it was just as hot that day, but luckily, it was super cool inside and was comfortable. The cool thing about ‘Overexposure’ is that Vince Edwards from Metal Blade was the director on this one, and we’re all friends with Vince, so we gave him plenty of crap, and had fun messing with him. It was a good day of just messing around - it didn’t even seem like we’d made a video, it was just like we were goofing off.”  
 
BraveWords: How does playing in Act Of Defiance compare to playing in Megadeth?
 
Chris Broderick: “For me, it’s much more about being able to express myself, and feeling comfortable in what I bring to the table and the way that I have control over my musical and artistic destiny. That’s the main thing - I have that kind of freedom now.”
 
BraveWords: So, it’s different approaching guitar in both bands.
 
Chris Broderick: “Absolutely. Again, it’s the idea that in Act Of Defiance, I’m free to create anything I want with the way that I see fit, whereas when I was in Megadeth, it always had to sound like Megadeth. Which is fine, because I was part of Megadeth. But ultimately, I needed to express my musical ideas and my artistic intent. So that was the big difference between these two bands.”

 
BraveWords: Are you still in touch with any other members of Megadeth? 
 
Chris Broderick: “No, not really. Not so much.”
 
BraveWords: Touring plans?
 
Chris Broderick: “We’ve got a tour coming up in February that hasn’t been announced yet, so I can’t really tell you about it at the moment. But we’re really excited about that. Our real tour plans this time are to do less headlining shows and to get on more as an opener or direct support for bigger bands. We’re really excited about that. And that’s the potential that is coming up in February. We actually had a potential tour coming up in October for the same kind of thing, but that tour got postponed. So, we’ll see where that one’s at, and when we can announce that one, as well.”