There is a damned lot of popular stoner and southern
rock bands, the modern doom rock scene is overcrowded, and it’s our sacred duty
to search for you bands which are worth of your precious time and
consideration! Castero are from Ireland, they’re active since 2006 and their
first album “Consequence of Thoughts” (2010) was warmly welcomed by those who
do value heavy bluesy drive and good riffs. It was good work, but second
full-length “Revolutions” is a real big step towards European heavy scene. Take
care and check Castero killer “He Must Rule” while reading this interview with
our honoured guest Johnny Mc Mahon (vocals, guitars). Support Revolution!
Hi Johnny! How are you comrade? How many portion of
ale did you finished for previous weekend?
Hi Aleks, I’m doing great. I don’t drink that much anymore so just the 2
cases for me last weekend.
Sorry man, I just have taken two portions of ale,
that’s why I’m asking. Okay I see that you have big news and Castero second
full-length album “Revolutions” is already published – my congratulations! So
what kind of meaning do you put in this sonorous title?
Yes at last we have a new record out after a 3 year struggle with band
members coming and going and recording sessions that didn’t make the light of
day but its finally done and dusted and we are really happy with the finished
product. The title “Revolutions” came about due to the changes in the bands
line up and the theme running through some of the tracks. It seemed fitting to
call it that!!
I hear it in every song of “Revolutions” man – Castero
sounds more professional and bloody masterfully, the band really grew up since
“Consequence of Thoughts” release. How did you practice your skills for last 3
years to gain such good result? Did you spend this period in sacred meditation
in your cellar studio or did you pilgrimage to holy places of Ireland or pubs
and bordellos?
We held Black Masses and got some wizards to help us find the gift haha.
No, with the line up changing we got in two new members in Richie Donovan on
guitar and Davy Doyle on drums and they brought their own expertise to the
Castero ranks both in the playing and writing department, Richies guitar
melodies catchy hooks & solos really add something extra to the tracks. We
haven’t gigged that much over the 3 year period because of not having a steady line up but that’s all sorted now and onwards
we ride to greater things. We are all
settled in to the Cazzie way of life now.
Do you mean that you just got two new guys from the
street and let them take a part in songs’ composing? Do you rely on them? How
do you share responsibilities in Castero?
The two new guys in Richie and Dave were in other bands and Davy is
still with another band in Dublin. Richie was previously with Fivewilldie and
Wardog so he was already a proven guitarist and songwriter, some of the tracks
on the album were written before the lads joined but little things were changed
on those like drumming sections etc. We always like each member to add their
own touch to the songs. They are both excellent musicians and really added more
to Castero, myself and Bob are old hands in the band but we all get along great
and I can see us going from strength to strength with this Castero line-up
(Mark V) J
The first song that supposes to be a teaser for a new
album is “He Must Rule”. It’s a bloody hit – you know it. What do people
usually say about this song? Does this bait work well enough to lure new
listeners?
“He must Rule” has been received very well and its lyrical content is
based on the Cuban revolution, Castro being exiled and returning to oust Batista
in the late 50’s and taking control of the country. The track has had loads of
airplay all over the globe so far and its really catching peoples attention and
getting us new fans which is what its all about.
Castero is active for about 7 years, did you ever get
any feedback from Cuba? What were most unusual and odd responses which the band
got?
I don’t actually think we have any Cuban fans, I must check that out, we
haven’t looked into the Cuban music scene at all but we must do. We are not
aiming ourselves directly about Castro as I’ve said to you in the past its just
a play on words and revolutionaries being a theme which takes us to this point
and an album called Revolutions, bit of a coincidence there that I forgot
about.
Odd requests from fans hmmm well the normal signing of tits after shows
is one of those Rock star moments haha but that didn’t happen tome it was one
of the others, I wont mention names
though! We also get requests to play for birthday parties (21st
birthdays which is a bit odd too), next it’ll probably be weddings haha.
I guess that such question is still important: did you
find a label for Castero? And how active the band was since release of
“Consequence of Thoughts” release? Did you tour somewhere besides Ireland?
We don’t have a label yet but we haven’t contacted any labels or had any
offers as of yet, we’re hoping to tie up a good distro deal first and get the
album out there and then with a bit of luck someone might take a shine to our
sound and puts us on the books, its not a priority but it would be nice. We
haven’t ventured outside our homeland either yet but a European tour is planned
for next year, we’ll probably do Holland, France, Germany, Belgium and the UK
for the first one.
But the Cds are already pressed, isn’t it? How can
listeners support Castero in this hard time of revolutionary struggle?
We have the first run of cds pressed they are mainly on sale for live
shows and for anyone who wants a hard copy the old fashioned way via post, we
also have the digital format through our bandcamp page ( castero69.bandcamp.com
) for streaming and download and the price of the album is very reasonable.
When bands do it themselves without label backing it can put a financial strain
on the band to make back what they put in or even break even but we love what
we do so we keep going. Never say Die!!
I remember that Ozzy is one of your favorite vocalists
on heavy scene and first verses of “He Must Rule” remind me about that. Did you
hear last Black Sabbath album? Is it worth of listening?
I’m still a big Ozzy fan even though he’s pushing on in years, I have to
say the new Sabbath album is a really good album, far better than what I was
expecting, its always good to see the pioneers of Metal produce a gem of an
album and 13 is just that.
Would you like to be like Ozzy one day? :-) Hah, oh I
know it’s not politically correct question, so did you want to be a rock star
when you were kid?
I’d like his money but not his wife
haha
I grew up in the late 70’s and into the 80’s when the mainstream was
full of shit bands on keyboards electro pop type stuff, I always hated that and
then I discovered Iron Maidens Powerslave one day and it all changed from
there, I loved the sound of Dave Murray and Adrian Smith, I’d never seen anything like it and straight
away I was hooked. I then picked up a guitar and amp when I was 13 and started
playing with friends covering old 60’s stuff like the Troggs and The Animals
and then onto Maiden tunes which led to joining local thrash bands.
“Too Much Sleep” is too strange name for song ‘cause
you know it – we live in era when everyone hurry up everywhere! None of us have
time enough for sleep, how did you solve that problem Johnny? What’s this song
about?
Too Much Sleep was written a few years ago, I was listening to the band
Sleep a lot at the time and that’s where I got the title, I was jamming out a
riff and thought that sounds like Sleep and took it from there, the lyrics are
loosely based on a out of body experience so I took it onto a space Journey
with the flying express train being the spaceship and also suspended animation
came into the theme. It’s a song I love playing live because it always takes me
away from reality for those 5 minutes or so!!
I remember that your killer song “Smokes of Doom”
(from “Consequence of Thoughts”) has a funny yet didactic story behind it as it
was based on your own personal experience (http://www.doommantia.com/2010/05/interview-with-johnny-mac-from-castero.html). What kind of revelations did you expose in new songs?
The new songs are kind of a different approach in my lyric writing, I
based most tracks on certain subjects like The Chase is based on John Dillinger
and Warped mind is based on the unknown and not knowing what is out there, I
have taken more time in writing lyrics than before as I have done draft after
draft and came back and changed certain parts, the only exception being
Surrender of the damned, I didn’t want to change that because the meaning of
the song is in the two different sections and repeated. To me I couldn’t change
that because I find it works and suits the anger in the theme of damnation.
How do you plan to support “Revolution” release? And
what’s about Ireland scene and listeners? Do you support each other there in
Eire?
Well we have a load of shows coming up in the next few months to support
the album and we’ll be playing Revolutions in full along with some new and old
stuff. We cant wait to get out gigging after the album took so long to wrap up,
its like the album is done now so lets go and play it live.
The Irish scene is still a funny one, loads more venues are closed down
so theres not a lot of places to play and bands don’t always get along with
each other apart from some counties like Limerick where they have close
relations within the local scene, outside that bands are like rivals in
fighting for gigs and a bit of back stabbing etc but most of the bands we know
do get along so its just a few rotten apples trying to spoil the fun for
others. We in Castero are an easy bunch of lads who get on with most bands. We
like to play and party afters!! It should always be fun or else theres no point
I think…
Fidel Castro passed away 5 years ago, the band title
reminds me of him every time I listen your songs; why don’t you have a song
dedicated for this virtuous revolutionary besides “He Must Rule”?
Fidel is alive and kicking, well just about haha, He Must Rule is a song
about him and for his beliefs and I said when writing the lyrics for it that I
have to pen a song about him because of the Castero (Castro) naming. It just
came about without any real planning but it seems to work in that song.
Okay, Johnny, then let us finish this interview with
my wishes to you for gaining such good reputation and achievements as comrade
Castro had! Good luck man!
Cheers for the interview man, its always a pleasure to talk with you.
Final thoughts are go and buy or even just listen to the album, its 30
minutes out of your life which is not a lot
and we hope listeners will like what they hear. It is a step up for us
in terms of writing and structures and they is plenty more to come!!
Now I’m off for an ale or 10 ;)
