Deflagration: Subsonic combustion, thermal heat.... sudden, violent burning. Deflagration's also the name given to a local metal band with a sound to match their name. Together 12 years, the band is made up by Beau VanBibber, Eric Mendoza, Skot King, and Tony Ritzler. They originally started out playing cover songs, but once they found their true identity as song writers the band became a whole new entity. "We take a lot of time writing songs. We don't write songs for the sake of saying we wrote a song…the final products have to be perfect and have to blow us away."

Their secret to writing awesome songs is that they listen to different genres of music. They believe that "the best listeners are the best song writers" and live by this rule. Their song writing strategy has proved itself a success through Deflagration's latest album "A Call to Arms" which can be purchased at Gear Source Music on Main Street. Their CD release party took place at Nino's and was a huge success, with "three hundred to three hundred and fifty of our fans showing up that night while we played. We really want to thank everyone for coming out and Nino for having us there." What excites Deflagration the most about their album is everyone's positive response to it. People from all over the world have written comments about it on their myspace, telling the band how much they love the album. "We want people to have a little piece of us to take home…not that we're saying we want to make money, if we could we'd just give it away. It's nice to be able to go and play for people and have something new for them to take home."

Deflagration not only focuses on their music though, but also their performance, since "people remember what they see before what they hear. We really work on our performance, everything is well rehearsed…which makes the show that much smoother and professional." Professionalism is something which Deflagration strives for and what they believe helps to make them successful as a band. Their advice to other aspiring musicians and bands stems from their professional outlook on their musical career. "Show up on time, always be professional, never talk [badly] about anybody, always have a positive attitude." They also stress the importance of communication with fans, especially through myspace. Their fan base is not limited to one particular group of people, but several types of people who "on the street...wouldn't mix [together] at all, but when we're playing it seems like they're all getting along and everything is cool." They are extremely appreciative of their fans because "there wouldn't be any record if nobody cared." All of the hard work that Deflagration puts into their music is worth it "just to see a smile on peoples' faces."

The guys from Deflagration encourage anyone who is interested in talking with them about music, or anything else for that matter to come and find them at Dillon's. "We can't wait to play with other bands in the area, we're looking forward to getting back in touch with the scene."

Visit Deflagration at www.myspace.com/deflagration