Guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz Talks Times of Grace

Adam Dutkiewicz is a man of many talents and jobs. Not only is he the guitarist of Times of Grace and Killswitch Engage, he is a highly sought-after record producer.

Times of Grace features Dutkiewicz reunited with former Killswitch Engage singer Jesse Leach. The metalcore outfit released its debut album, ‘The Hymn of a Broken Man,' in January of this year, and have been touring in support of the disc.

It's been a busy year for Dutkiewicz, who also produced the Devil Wears Prada's upcoming album ‘Dead Throne,’ which drops Sept. 13.

Loudwire recently caught up with Dutkiewicz to talk about Times of Grace, Killswitch Engage, working with the Devil Wears Prada and maintaining good hygiene on the road:

Times of Grace are playing a bunch of shows with bunch of bands including Underoath and Stray From the Path, just to name a couple. What is your relationship with some of these bands?

Well, of course I’m good friends with the Underoath guys because I’ve recorded two of their records in the past, so I know them all pretty well.

You guys were set to play a few dates in Australia for the Soundwave Revolution festival, which unfortunately got canceled.

It was canceled because one of the headliners backed out. We’re bummed because we really really wanted to go there. They’re going to be doing the actual Soundwave Festival, the original one, in the winter time, so we’ll probably be doing that.

Your Times of Grace album cover and even the teasers and the band’s overall website seem very much influenced by nature. Where did the idea for the cover of ‘Hymn of a Broken Man’ come from?

Well me and Jesse are kind of earthy, crunchy nerds. We’re inspired by natural themes; it just seems very uplifting to us. We decided to incorporate that with the record. Our original intention was to actually have all of those videos (the nature-y teaser videos) onstage while we play; unfortunately it was a little too expensive to do so.

What are some of your favorite songs on the album?

Well I guess they all kind of suck [he jokes]. I like playing ‘Where the Spirit Leads Me,’ that’s fun; ‘Strength in Numbers’; they’re all near and dear to me.

Do you know what the next single from the album will be?

We were trying to do something for ‘Live In Love.’ We already filmed the video for it and I think we’re just kind of waiting to see what to really do with it.

Even though the first album for Times of Grace dropped early this year, is there any talk of a second album?

Well, we’re not thinking that far yet, but for sure I'll tell you right now Jesse and I really love making music together so I don’t see why we would want to stop.

How would you describe your friendship with Jesse? How was it working with him again?

It was great, we’ve been friends forever. Even after he left Killswitch, we remained friends and kept in contact, we’re good buddies.

Any upcoming plans for Killswitch Engage?

We’re starting to write our new record as soon as we get back from this tour, keeping busy.

Speaking of busy, you produced the upcoming Devil Wears Prada album. How would you describe that experience?

It was cool, a lot of fun. We just finished that up about two months ago and it came out great. I pushed them to try different kinds of styles and I think it’s one of their more believable records they’ve done in a little while. I think it’s just a little more organic; it sounds more different than all of the recordings they’ve done.

What is the biggest difference for you between being a musician and a producer?

A producer is a lot different because you're kind of just an extra member of whatever band you’re working with. Of course, being [a musician] on tour is way different, too, because you’re out traveling, pretty much drinking beer every day. It’s kind of like a vacation … but the dirtiest vacation you’ll ever take.