After an interview with Walter Broide by Vania about two months ago, Argentinean STONER is again under our lights with the surprising BANDA de la MUERTE and their excellent 2nd album "Pulso de una Mente Maldita", to be officially released this week, simultaneously with their first steps in Europe in the company of their S.A. brothers of CULTURA TRES...
This new album shows a great improvement in terms of structures, catchiness, melodies... It's also not just the better production but vocals are deeper too, the rhythmic section more tight and thick, solos are amazing; even if there's 2 fast and short songs, this is still powerful and heavy but more refined, less raw and punk... Vocals in spanish add a special touch to some potential "Radio-Stoner" Hits that you should hurry-up to discover ! Support these guys by checking out this hot masterpiece and/or by going to one of their European live shows (the line-up in Birmingham is absolutely awesome but Dutch and other dates are worth going too !) ... Xoni (voc) answered a few questions :
* Hey guys, first, thanx for accepting this interview... Your sophomore album "pulso de una merte maldita" just came out, there's positive reviews from foreign blogs (written in english) but how are the 1st reactions in Argentina (where I suppose the expectations were pretty high, considering the 1st album had a great success but came out more than two years ago) ... ?
Hey! Thank you very much for the interest.
We don’t care about expectations, at all. We just focus on our songs. I think that if you are thinking about what others want your album to sound like, then you are not doing honest music, and BANDA DE LA MUERTE is about being hones to yourself.
* Continuing on the local aspects of your popularity, I suppose that your audience in Argentina goes further the underground Stoner/Metal/punk rock scene, do you get for example airplay in national radios or videos on TV, interviews in important rock magazines... ?
Stoner/Metal/punk are not so popular music styles in Argentina, but there is a growing community of people that are very interested in what’s going on in music, so personally for us we had very good reviews in rock magazines such as Rolling Stone Argentina, and our music has been played in the main radio stations, most of the times in the heavy rock programs.
* This new album shows a great improvement in terms of catchiness, melodies... It's also not just the better production but vocals are deeper too, the rhythmic section more tight and thick, solos are amazing; even if there's 2 fast and short songs, this is still powerful and heavy but more refined, less raw and punk... What were your objectives when composing/recording this new album ? What kind of mistakes/defaults from the 1st album did you want to avoid in particular ?
You know, the first album was more like a demo. We spend about 200 US $ recording it. So we didn’t think it would be so well received.
In this new album we wanted to sound better in the composition, we just love to play songs, heavy sounding songs.
* You'll tour Holland by the last week of March (next week in fact !) with CULTURA TRES, PENDEJO and UNDERSMILE... pretty excited I suppose ? the dutch band PENDEJO includes guys from S.A. origins, do you already know them ? how did exactly come this opportunity , from Mudfest or Pendejo ? Are you aware about the dutch local specialties (not to just name their awesome weed !!!) ? What are you gonna buy first : tulips, weed or a good local beer ?!
Beer Jajajjaa
We are very good friends whit CULTURA TRES. We toured together in Chile and Argentina. They help us a lot with the tour. We have heard PENDEJO and they are great, but we don’t know them personally.
* I heard that you planed the whole month of April to tour Europe but only have a couple of other dates aside dutch ones, isn't it a bit frustrating ? are you still opened to other dates, if for example someone reading this has any last minute-opportunity ?
We are open for more shows of course we want to play as much as we can, but I don’t think we should feel frustrated since we are playing in Germany, Switzerland, England and Belgium. We are very thankful.
* With you and C.T. soon touring in Europe, that's a great part of the South American Sludge movement that is gonna be represented here, do you feel a special pride towards this ? What are your expectations for this 1st coming in Europe for the band and as individuals ?
I don’t think it is about being proud, we are going to play our music, we understand it is a bit different and we hope people to be able to enjoy that difference. The main thing is to show the way we play heavy rock in South America.
* I don't follow closely this S.A.S. scene but from what I see, BdlM and C.T. are very active towards the rest of the world in terms of promotion/gigs/exposure whereas most of the others are generally quite withdrawn, I know you've got some precious help coming from a nice girl living in Sofia, how do you organize and share the tasks? Do you concentrate yourselves on S.A. and her Europe?
Since this is our first time in Europe, we were a little lost, and then we received a lot of help from this "nice girl living in Sofia" jaajaja that we really appreciate.
In South America we have help from the indie record label Zonda Records, our manager, and our press agent. but we work a lot ourselves for the band.
* Are you opened individually to various and different musical genres ? Do you feel attracted in particular by the scene of a precise country ? Are any of you listening Doom MEtal bands ? LOS NATAS and DRAGONAUTA are pretty wellknown names, BdlM starts to get an echo here in Europe but there's certainly others we don't know anything about, so please could you recommend some cool argentinean Doom/Stoner/Sludge bands ? Do you see an evolution throughout the years concerning the development of the local scene ?
We love many kinds of music and doom metal is not the exception. Argentina has plenty of great bands, you should hear ARARAT, POSEIDOTICA, BUFFALO, SICK PORKY, AVERNAL, THE KILLING
You will find that many of us play in those other projects too. In Buenos Aires playing live is like a party because you see and play with your friends.
* The first album was released on Zonda rds, is it still physically available ? What about the new one ? could you please precise the different formats available, especially if there's vinyl to come ? Also you've got a nice T-shirt for sale (thanx again for providing one to the blog's contest! ), what's the price and do you have any other merch available ?
Our first album is available on CD.
The new one is going to be available on vinyl, which is very cool for us. This limited edition vinyl only will be distributed via Clear Spot International (http://www.clearspot.nl/) in Europe and North America and via the band’s label in South America.
And also, we have made a video playing the entire album live, so everyone have the chance to watch it online ( have a look on it below !). And we really love to play live, and the songs get a different approach, so it is a good way to know more about the band, and the music in our country.
We also have some t shirts but I know nothing about the price yet, jajaja.
* Now, let's speak a bit about Football (another passion quite often shared by men !)... Why can't Leo Messi, the best football player of the history after Pelé (in my opinion), be as good, decisive and influent in his national team ? Do you think like me that as talentuous as he can be, he depends also of the collective and at least half of the other 10 players could not play in FC Barcelona ?
Ja ja ja, you are talking to the wrong guy.
I don’t know anything about football, there is no room enough for two passions such as football and music.
* In a recent past, the national championship in Argentina has been often subject of terrible violences between supporters, is it more quiet now ? Was or Is it the reflect of a part of the actual argentinean youth or just a minority of stupid fanatics ?
Well, again, I am not very into football, but people go blind with that and it is being a little out of control I think. I don’t think that it is the reflection of the Argentinean youth.
* Outside Argentina but still in South America, where do you get the best feedback from? And outside S.A.? Of course I'm convinced and wish you'll have tons more gigs coming but if you had to choose just one place for a last gig, where would it be ?
In Concepcion Chile we had a great show, but we love to play in Buenos Aires, in fact the South American sludge fest is in Buenos Aires.
* I'm sure this is an important point for you but I'm sorry I can not read a single word of spanish, so what are your lyrics speaking about? Is speaking in english something you can ever imagine, even just for a cover (maybe you already play some live ?) ?
We love music in English, in fact the music we made is originally made in English, we played some Stooges, Sabbath staff that is obviously in English.
But we speak Spanish and sing in Spanish.
Maybe in the future it would be nice to make an English version of some album
* Maybe I'm wrong but from what I know, the economical situation in Argentina isn't that bad compared to a period where there was a lot inflation... how do you see and live it ? Is there anything positive done by officials for cultural activists in general and people involved in music in particular (bands,gig organizers, independent radios, etc...) ?
I think things are a little better, but rock in Argentina is independent.
Nobody puts money in rock, so we do it because we feel a real passion. And it is supported by fans and very few people who really love music. I think that is a good thing in a way because when you see a show, you can almost hear the effort.
* Thanx a lot guys, maybe I forgot something you feel important you wanna talk about, so here's your chance to do it now... all the best to you for the tour and new album !
Thanx to you for the support of rock music! And I’m sorry about my English jaja.
https://www.facebook.com/bandadelamuerte
http://www.bandadelamuerte.com/
A little reminder for the forthcoming European dates :
28/03/2012 - Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Winston Kingdom (w/ Cultura Tres)
29/03/2012 - Arnhem, Netherlands @ The Stage (w/ Pendejo, Cultura Tres)
30/03/2012 - Gouda, Netherlands @ SoWhat (w/ Pendejo, Cultura Tres and Undersmile)
31/03/2012 - Middelburg, Netherlands @ De Spot (w/ Pendejo, Cultura Tres and Undersmile)
01/04/2012 - Roermond, Netherlands @ Azijnfabriek (w/ Pendejo, Cultura Tres and Undersmile)
05/04/2012 - Birmingham, UK @ Scruffy Murphy's (w/ Cultura Tres, Stone Axe, Alunah, Stubb and Trippy Wicked)
11/04/2012 - Zürich, Switzerland @ Eldorado
12/04/2012 - Freiburg, Germany @ Slow Club
15/04/2012 - Antwerp, Belgium @ TBC (w/ Aguardente)
This band is excellent !
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