On October the 11th, metalcore outfit THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA expanded their hard-rockin’ empire into video games with the release of Zombie Slay. Zombie Slay is a multi-level game conceived by the members of the band and designed by Echo Interaction Group, for specific use on mobile handheld devices. THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA drummer Daniel Williams talks about the game’s origins and his personal gaming faves and you can see some extracts from that interview below:.

Out of everyone in Prada, are you the biggest gaming enthusiast?

I think that Andy [Trick, bassist] would be the biggest. I would say I’m second.

What are your favorite games to play when you’re on the bus and on tour? We play a lot of Call Of Duty—the regular stuff. Personally, I play a lot fantasy games like RPGs and such. Stuff like Final Fantasy and Gears Of War.

Does that come from some anger management issues or something?

[Laughs.] When I was younger, I used to go to a bunch of card shops and hobby shops. [There was a place] I used to go and rent computers. You could pay per hour and I would go there specifically to play Counter-Strike. Seriously, I would go there at 6 a.m. when it opened, and I wouldn’t leave ‘til 5 pm when it closed. I would stay there all day and just play; I would spend tons of money on the computer.

This game seems as though the Devil Wears Prada are expanding the notion of Zombie as more than just an EP. Was that the purpose of the game: to create a sense of community and perhaps another form of marketing for what the band does?

Yeah, that’s definitely part of the idea. The original idea was just kind of to have a platform to get our music out to people who don’t necessarily buy CDs anymore. A lot of people don’t buy albums, so what else can you give them to still get your music out? Because all-in-all, the music is what’s important about our band, not getting a gold record. If people don’t buy CDs anymore, then what do they buy? They buy t-shirts; they buy video games. It’s not about making money or getting them to buy it, it’s just about getting something to where they are getting something extra.

Plus, they are getting the CD: Every different level has a different song from the Zombie EP. You buy that game for two dollars and then you pretty much get a free Zombie EP with it. But you’re right, it definitely does create this community because we made sure to integrate OpenFeint into it, which is a kind of game-center-esque leaderboard. When you’re playing it, you can see the other people who have the highest scores.

There are five levels. When you play the first level and are killing zombies or whatever, it’s playing the first track, “Escape,” off the Zombie EP. As soon as you get to that second level, it’s playing the second track. You can’t skip the levels; you have to play them in order, so if you don’t beat the first level, you don’t get the second one. I definitely think because it’s a game, people that don’t necessarily know or care about our band can also get involved because they could just be interested in straight-up zombies or that the app is number 50 on the games chart. I personally go into iTunes and download games I think look cool. Zombie Slay isn’t necessarily just for Prada fans, because technically, you could play the game on mute and it’s still a cool game.

So who’s the high scorer in the band?

I would say probably me. Seriously, I played it 8,000 times throughout the process.

So you’re the chief zombie slayer in charge?

I’m the Chief Zombie Slayer In Charge. I would say James [Baney, keyboards] is probably a close second.