Taking their name from the novel of the same title and bounded together by their shared Christian faith, the band formed in 2005 and began playing shows in the area before they had even settled on their line-up.
When the five piece was in place though, the band moved forward quickly, recording a demo to ship to labels with the intention of getting a deal. After being picked up by powerhouse label Rise Records, the band re-recorded the tracks from their demo to make their debut album ‘Dear Love: A Beautiful discord’.
Not wanting to wait around though the band began work on their second album almost immediately and in the summer of 2007 ‘Plagues’ was released. The album spawned singles which made it onto music television shows and gave them the popularity boost they needed for the album to shift over 30 thousand more copies than their debut, peaking at 57 on the Billboard charts.
From here on out the band’s popularity was set in stone and only grew as the band began to tour with every big name on the circuit. Becoming a staple at the Vans Warped Tour helped to reach new fans as well as shows with everyone from Underoath to A Day To Remember and even European dates with Enter Shikari. With 3 more popular albums released since then, the band are undoubtedly one of the premier names in Christian Metal.
As their name implies, The Devil Wears Prada is a tongue-in-cheek kind of band. A metal band naming themselves after Lauren Weisberger’s best selling novel on the fashion industry and titling their songs with such ridiculous names as “Dogs Can Grow Beards All Over” and “Who Speaks Spanish, Colon Quesadilla” seems like they don’t take themselves too seriously, but the performance of their music in a live setting might say otherwise. The Devil Wears Prada puts on one of the most highly energized performances in the metal genre of the music industry. All members are very enthusiastic when on stage. Lead singer Mike Hranica is jumping around all over stage screaming into the microphone, the drummer, Daniel Williams, is flaring his arms at rapid speeds playing every rhythm in tempo, and guitarist Jeremy DePoyster is shaking erratically and head-banging to the music all while shredding up some heavy riffs on his guitar. Each song performed on the setlist is divided by a large wall of distorted feedback that soon erupts into the loud ferocity of the next song.
The Devil Wears Prada uniquely diversifies their sound by using two different vocal methods. Jeremy DePoyster sings the more coherent emotional parts of the songs while Mike Hranica pushes his vocal parts into full overdrive by screaming out his lyrics at the top of his lungs. The Devil Wears Prada also interestingly incorporates synthesizers into their music, which is unusual for metal bands, but this adds much depth to their sound. Seeing the Devil Wears Prada at the Masquerade in Atlanta was one of the most intense live performances I have witnessed with the whole audience highly engaged in the show head-banging vigorously to every song.