Joe Babiak
drums

Devas was founded in Boston by singer Andri Leonardo while a student at Berklee College of Music as a small endeavor with no aim other than to record projects at school. At that point there was no steady line up; different musicians were asked to join the group, depending on the need of the project to be accomplished.

In 2001 an EP with three originals was recorded including a video for each song. Out of that Devas grew to include keyboardist Emir Isilay, guitarist Gianni Chiarello, bassist Dave Lindeman, and drummer Kaoru Suzuki. The group played the Boston music scene and in 2003 recorded the first album True illusions. Some time after the band split, with each member embarking on his own musical endeavor in different cities and countries.

After relocating to Los Angeles Leonardo and Isilay continued to perform as Devas trying out different musicians. Eventually bassist Eric MacPherson, drummer Joe Babiak, later Chuck VanHaecke, and guitarist German Schauss, became the new iteration of Devas. In 2008 a video was shot for a demo song with Joshua Minyard on drums and Kai Kurosawa on bass, which set to motion the writing of the second album Metamorphosis. During the recording process Isilay and Schauss left the band due to lack of time and VanHaecke was touring Asia thus unable to meet all the recording dates. So Chiarello and Babiak came back to finish the sophomore album, recorded, co-prodced and mixed by Minyard while Leonardo recorded the keyboard parts himself.

Devas takes its progressive cue from such influential groups as Marillion, Queen, Yes, Triumvirat, Kansas, Dream Theater, and others while combining it with the sounds of genres such as jazz, blues, pop, and metal. They’ve been nicknamed “Dream Theater Light” by their fans thanks to their accessible “light” prog style.

Lyrically Devas reflects everyday situations, coping with life, with one's personal experiences and obstacles which need to be overcome. From the illusions of life morphing into adulthood and ending in a save haven.

The original concept was to write a series of three albums: True illusions - becoming aware of the world around you, Metamorphosis - undergoing a change, Saved - ready to face life. (Note that saved is devas spelled backwards.)

Besides this the most important thing to Devas is to have fun. Music was never intended to be serious. It's called playing music and the word playing implies having fun.

Deva means Angel or Deity in Sanskrit (devas plural). Deva comes from deiwos, originally an adjective meaning "shining". The idea came from a book Leonardo read in the mid 90's, “The Deva Handbook” by Nathaniel Altman. Devas are guardian angels of waterfalls, mountains, forests, etc. "I felt Devas is a good name for a rock band, it has this mystic sound to it." says Leonardo.