The Pittsburgh trio Stalemate Of Wills step into this week’s Meet The Band spotlight. Their debut full-length album is Existence Denied. Vocalist/guitarist Derek Kovacs introduces us to his band.
Chad Bowar: Give us a brief history of Stalemate Of Wills.
Derek Kovacs: We started out as a one man studio project. I have always been really into all of the New Orleans metal: Crowbar, Soilent Green, Eyehategod, Down. I had a ton of riffs of that style that I fused with early ’90s hardcore and death metal influences, so I started putting them together. I released two songs initially, “Corrode” and “Subside.” By the time the third song was finished, I realized it needed to become a real band. I had already known Jake and Bob from previous projects and gave them a call to see if they’d be down to join. They both agreed immediately and we started getting the rest of the songs together and were playing some shows not long after. Here we are a few years later finally getting a full length out there.
Describe the songwriting process for Existence Denied.
The song writing process usually starts with me. The typical pathway is I’ll have some riffs that form a basic structure of a song in my head. It then gets demoed using a drum machine. That to me is the easiest way of conveying what I’m hearing or thinking to the other guys. Once it’s over 85 percent there, I’ll send it over to them to get their thoughts. Jake will add the bass lines and Bob will work on addressing the gaps with his own fills and adjust the beat under the riff if necessary. Once they’ve had some time to digest, we’ll start playing it at practice and fine-tune from there. We are fortunate to be on the same page with what we want to hear so there is never any unnecessary bickering or drama holding up the process with us.
Then comes the lyrics. Lyrics either come to me immediately or I end up waiting a while until I have something. I feel like if I can’t write the entire song in under 30 minutes, it gets put on the shelf. A song may sit there for 3 or 4 months and then one day I’ll have an epiphany and finish it in like 15 minutes. We always have a ton of music in the queue, I’m constantly writing. Existence Denied isn’t even released yet and there are six new solid songs ready to go for the next release.
What will be your strongest memory of the recording of the album?
My strongest memory was having all 26 guitar tracks completed and then deciding that I hated the guitar sound. They sounded too muddy, so I re-recorded all of them. Although it was a delay and more work for sure, it is a luxury you have when you do everything DIY. Since we record all of our own music, we don’t have the cost of a studio or the added stress of hitting everything on the spot and only getting one chance to do it right. On the other hand, there is no reason to rush and it’s easy to procrastinate.
Another memorable moment was the collaboration on the track “High Above.” You’ll notice that there is singing. That certainly isn’t me, it’s a gentleman by the name of Justin Erb, his band is Kulvera. We’ve had that song in the queue for quite some time. It’s been sitting unused as I always thought it demanded cleaner vocals. That is not something I can do, and after asking around, Justin was down to do it. He crushed it too! It’s definitely a memorable track for us as it’s something outside of the box for Stalemate of Wills, but it turned out sick. Kulvera will be releasing an album by fall of 2026, so be sure to check them out!
What was the biggest challenge in its creation?
For sure that would be the vocals. I am a guitar player first. I only do vocals out of necessity, so I think about guitar playing first and lyrical content second. I have gotten way better with it for sure, but I sometimes lack the consideration of “how do vocals fit here?” when laying out a song. I also have a tendency to write riffs that demand the vocals to be lyrically dense. It’s been a complaint of singers I’ve worked with in many bands over the years. I always blew it off as them being lazy or whining, but now I’ve gotten a taste of my own medicine. (laughs) I finally have figured out where to take my breaths. My brain has problems processing certain vocal patterns while I’m playing certain riffs. At first, my vocal cadence couldn’t stray too far from what I’m doing with my picking hand, but I think I have it mostly worked out at this point.
How would you characterize its style/sound?
This has come up in a few interviews… we are a band that is stuck in the middle. Stalemate of Wills is too doom metal for hardcore, too hardcore for doom metal, not metal enough for people into extreme or black metal, and too metal for anyone that is into punk! However, we knew that was going to be the case from the beginning. The way we see it, we’re down to play with anyone – grindcore, hardcore, traditional metal, thrash, death, whatever. It works for and against us. Lots of people embrace diverse show lineups, but some just want 4 or 5 bands that are similar. As long as people want to hear some slower grooving heavy riffing, we can accommodate. We are most commonly labeled doom-core or sludge-core. Sometimes, we get stoner metal, too. I guess we are in the same vein as a band like Crowbar, so doom-core or sludge-core is probably the most accurate way to describe it.
What lyrical topics do you cover?
Mostly just things that frustrate me. I tend to concentrate on the hopeless nature of humanity for some reason. There is no shortage of topics there so I guess it’s a solid one! Early on, one thing that I noticed I do is make things vague. Some people may not like the idea of that as they may have an opinion, stance or point to make that they want to ensure is conveyed. These songs are clearly about something to me, but everyone hears things differently. Maybe the song’s lyrics hit someone for other reasons, that is something that I think is interesting about music so I decided to keep purposefully doing that.
What are your goals and expectations for the album?
Our main goal at this point is to have fun doing this. You know how it is, being in a band is almost fun. It’s a lot of work and headache, fighting with your bandmates, drama, expense, the list goes on. Getting back to the DIY thing, we aren’t beholden to anyone. We don’t owe anyone money, we aren’t forced to tour for certain lengths of time when we don’t feel like it. Our only expectation is to release what we’ve been creating and hope some folks get on board for the ride. As far as goals, we’d always like the band to pick up additional momentum and fanbase, but we also do not have any delusions of grandeur.
What has been your most memorable Stalemate Of Wills live show?
Last summer we did a show in our hometown of Pittsburgh with Crowbar and Eyehategod. It’s always great to play to a packed house in your own town but what is memorable about that show to me was the people, seeing old friends, some that I hadn’t seen in decades came out. It was great to hang out and catch up with them. We are older now and have left behind the violent mosh days so no medical emergencies to date at any shows!
What are your upcoming show/tour plans?
We have a few shows leading into the summer, but we are just going to take it easy and see what comes. We aren’t obsessed about playing constantly or touring at all, and we purposefully do this DIY so we don’t have to worry about those things. The band pretty much funds itself, so we can do whatever, whenever. I would like to do a few small runs in the U.S. within the next year, so we will see how it goes.
How’s the metal scene in Pittsburgh these days?
I’d comment that it’s healthy, there are a lot of great bands in all sub-genres here. There certainly are no shortages of shows, maybe too many IMO. As an example, we actually played here last night. When this show was booked, there was nothing on the radar. By last night, there were 5 other metal/hardcore shows in the city and surrounding area. I wish that people had more foresight and tried to avoid that but it doesn’t seem to be a thing. I guess it just solidifies my comment about the scene, I saw some pics/ video of all the shows and all looked well attended.
What are some of your non-musical interests and hobbies?
I’m not sure I have hobbies outside of music. I like craft beer, if drinking is a hobby. (laughs) The overwhelming majority of my free time goes to music. I have two other musical projects I’m currently working on to fill any gaps with Stalemate. One downside of doing everything DIY is it consumes all of your time. Recording, writing, booking shows, design, promotion, we do it all so it’s not that hard for this to consume every available minute you have.
What’s the best thing you binge-watched recently?
I work a job where I look at a screen for 9 plus hours a day, so I’m a bit burnt out on screen time. For that reason, I don’t watch much TV. However, one show I do enjoy is Alone. For anyone that’s unfamiliar, they drop contestants in a remote area with a few items and whoever survives the longest wins money. I have no idea why I have any interest in this because I am a city person. Maybe I am yearning for a simpler life outdoors! I need some alone time! In the new season, these people are just south of the Arctic. They are barely existing in a freezing climate, with 6 hours of daylight living in a makeshift shelter with the constant concern of attacks by grizzly bears and wolves. The shit is wild. I think I’m attracted to the stubbornness of not tapping out. (laughs)
What’s currently in your musical heavy rotation?
Corrosion of Conformity – Good God, Baad Man, Temple of Void – The Crawl, Entombed – Uprising, Sorrow – Death of Sorrow, Brimstone Coven – The Light Shines not for Thee.
Anything else you’d like to mention or promote?
First of all, thank you for the interview! Please take a moment to check us out at www.stalemateofwills.com and give us a follow us on all of the socials, Facebook, Instagram, etc. Our new album Existence Denied dropped on April 26th, so please give it a listen and if you like what you hear, pass it along to a friend! Thanks again!
(interview published May 2, 2026)
