Colombian Death Metal!!!

Well let us offer you some samples of the interview with Alex Okendo, singer of MASACRE!!! Why this name, especially with only one "s"? Is it because there were the Floridians guys ( MASSACRE with Kam Lee & Rick Rozz), and the name "Massacra" was already taken ? The name with one “s” is because that is the way the word is spelled in the Spanish language and that was the language we used to sing. We chose the name because back then in 1988 it was considered the year of the massacres here in Colombia and we used to live with that kind of violence How did you get noticed by Osmose Productions and get signed for your first album "Requiem"? Before Osmose, Herbaut had some kind of trade business and we used to send copies of our demos, magazines and all those things to him, so when he created Osmose Productions he was interested in Masacre and told us to sign and record our first LP with his new label What do the lyrics of the song "Donde habita de mal" deal with? Who directed the video clip? The lyrics deal with the war and violence we have suffered in Colombia for so many years, it is a song about the barbarities of this war. The videoclip was directed by Juan Chinchilla at Revolver Studios in Medellin, Colombia Let's go back to the past, especially Medellin in 1988, there's a punk scene, but how come music styles such as thrash metal, death metal, black metal came here in Colombia and spread like wild fire? Who was the one or who were the ones who initiated all of you ( Parabellum, Reencarnacion, Blasfemia, Sacrilegio, Masacre and so on) to Venom, Slayer, Metallica, Dark Angel, Celtic Frost, Kreator, Sodom etc...? How did you all create bands such as the ones quoted above ( Parabellum, Masacre, Reencarnacion, Blasfemia...)? Did you know the Brazilian scene ( Sarcofago, Chakal, Holocausto, Vulcano, Dorsal Atlantica, (early) Sepultura...)? Ok, first it is necessary to say that heavy metal, thrash metal etc all of it came to Colombia in vinyls, bangers who traveled to usa or europe and brought the records and then we recorded tapes of them and trade them with friends, so it was a web of friends sharing music. Then after listening to tons of metal, some of us were willing to play the music, play instruments or singing what was in our heads, trying to do covers of the most important bands of that time, and after that writing our own songs and creating a style well defined in Medellin. Of course we knew all the scene from brazil, all the great bands you mention were worshipped here, we really appreciate those bands and grew up listening to them. In 1989, you released a tape called "Colombia... Imperio Del Terror", i suppose it was self produced, a DIY thing, so what is the difference (besides the music) between Masacre and bands like Mutantex, I.R.A., Pestes, I mean a politically committed punk band? Yes, our first two demos were self produced, it was impossible to get a contract with a label for an unknown Colombian band back in the late 80s. All the bands here were trying to release demos and being in contact with the rest of the world, a difficult task to achieve All those punk bands and Masacre have come from the same scene, the same vein in Medellin, both genres are politically oriented but there are certain differences in the way things are said and the specific themes treated in the songs. Obviously the music, melodic lines, vocal style, riffs, drum patterns etc are the most different according to each style Masacre celebrates 30 years of devotion/allegiance to Death Metal flag...maybe a European tour would be great, what do you think, people?

DOSE BRUTAL interview 2017 (samples)

Why this name "Dose Brutal"? What does it mean? The name Dose Brutal was a posthumous tribute to Sid Vicious, the headline in the Brazilian Magazine reported that Sid Viciou had died by “dose brutal” of heroin Which are your musical influences? The mainly influences of Dose Brutal are : The Ramones, The Clash, Sex Pistols, Sham 69, Cockney Rejects, Four Skins, How did you meet? All members of the first formation of DB had grown up in the same neighborhood, me (Silvio ), Gordo and Samuka had lived in the same street since since the childhood. Did you play in other bands before Dose Brutal? We never played in another band before, we joined us to learn play Punk Rock and had fun. The band started in 1980, around the same time Colera, Ratos De Porao, Inocentes, Olho Seco started either. But Dose Brutal (besides some compilations) didn't release anything before 1986, why? It was difficult and expensive to produce underground rock in the eighties, we did not have access to good music instruments, recording studios, etc. In 1986 Mr. Luis Seguinte invited us to record a first álbum by Radikaos Records. He was responsible for the support of Dose Brutal and created the conditions to record the first album and the second one called "Vadia". Both albuns were recorded in 8 hour sessions like a live show and mixed in 8 hour sessions too. Did Gastao Moreira reach you for the 2006 documentary "Botinada"? I sent to him a lot of informations regarding to Dose Brutal ( Flyers of shows, movies, pictures, press articles, etc...) , I suggested him to schedule a interview with the others guys of DB, but he told me that the phase of interviews was over, but he included only a picture of Dose Brutal and a song "Humilhados" in the soundtrack wich is mentioned in the final credits of the movie. Dose Brutal is featured in a tv show called "Boca Livre" ( TV Cultura), like other bands like Garotos Podres, Colera. Do you remember this? How was it? Because in France there were (and there is) very few tv shows when you could watch punk bands videos, interviews, or playing live... We remember that, it was in January 25th 1988, one of the few TV programs that presented underground music. In 2000s Gastão had a similiar TV program ( "Mundo Kaos" ) that featured underground bands, nowadays there is nothing similar on TV, only on Youtube you can find new bands . What was the reaction of other Brazilian artists/bands ( like Os Mutantes, Chico Buarque, Banda Del Rio, Carlinho Brown, Caetano Veloso...) towards punk movement? Rejection/ contempt, support, or not caring about it? The Mutantes ended before the Punk movement in São Paulo, the others were always indifferent to the punk movement, Gilberto Gil made a song "Punk da Periferia “ ( Punk from the Suburb), where he generated a great revolt to/ a big uproar in the punk movement because he satirized and created a comic stereotype of Punk, commercial music to make money and satirize/make fun of the movement, was not a form of supporting it. What was the daily life of a musician of Dose Brutal, especially in the beginning (of the band)? We worked to earn our livelihoods during the week and on weekends we would rehearse and enjoy alternative sounds drinking a lot of beers, or we lived the typical lifestyle of youth from Suburb(s) of São Paulo who enjoyed Punk rock. We did not worry about in copying the britsh punk [lifestyle]. Do you know how many copies of "Dose Brutal" and "Vadia" were sold, at least in Brazil? 1000 copies were pressed for each one, we did not control exactly how many copies were released anyway . Why did you stop in 1991? And why the return nowadays? We stopped in 1991 because the local scene was weak, few places for Punk Rock, we didn´t have venues to make shows. We came back because one friend invited us to play in his bar in a Motorcycle Club party, we rehearsed 2 days and accepted. Some guys uploaded this presentation in Youtube and Facebook, after that we received invites to play in other places. (more about the interview in a future issue of The Re(a)d Zone...)

FEDRA speaks (but in Spanish)

Another sample of another interview which may appear in Argyope soon, here are the ladies of FEDRA ( Colombian Black Metal) What does "Fedra" mean? How and why did you choose this name for your band? RTA: FEDRA viene de la demonología, es una demonia que tortura y castiga a los hombres por medio de los sueños, volviéndolos sus esclavos. Decidimos adoptar este nombre ya que representa el poderío y la fortaleza que queremos transmitir. la idea inicial era crear una banda donde la mujer demostrara que podía tocar con la misma pasión que un hombre, que podíamos ser mas que espectadoras de un concierto y estar también en el escenario. How and why did you decide to pick a music instrument, learn it, create a band? Were some of your friends already in a band? Did you attend a show and get so overwhelmed by enthusiasm that you had to play music yourselves? Did you read some magazines or fanzines and think you too had to go onstage, create songs, record them? Something else? RTA: - Yathur ea :desde niña me inculcaron la música y a partir de los 11 años inicie con percusión menor y posteriormente la batería. - siempre llevamos presente un concierto que realizamos en la paz Bolivia, ya que la emoción y energia del público fue excelente. - leer zine y plataforma nos permite estar al dia con el movimiento del metal a nivel mundial, pero como tal los proyectos de fedra nacen acorde a nuestas proyecciones personales. Why playing Black Metal, and not punk rock, thrash/death metal, pop music, reggae? RTA : sentimos el gusto y pasion por el género del black metal más que cualquier otro genero musical. According to you which are the interesteing venues, radio shows/ TV shows, fanzines and magazines, record shops in your area, and most generally in Colombia ( I know a fanzine called BELLS OF ACHERON for example...)? -RTA:Music machine Megazine, Metalhead zine, Oráculo zine , Rolling disc tienda de discos, radionica emisora radial. What do the lyrics of "La Ley Del Infierno", "Oda Al Mal" deal with? Rta: las letras de fedra se basan en las vivencias y experiencias de cada uno de las integrantes, no hay relación entre la ley del infierno y oda al mal ya que fueron escitas en circunstancias diferentes OK! you will get more to read (and also in english) in ARGYOPE'zine!

Going to Malaysia...

Yes, here is a sample of the interview of the man behind Afterlife Productions and Deadhead fanzine, mister Wan Syamsul! What made you decide to achieve/write a fanzine? Is Dead Head the first one you are involved with? I decided to write my own fanzine because I wanted to contribute to the local Metal scene here back in the 90’s. I cannot play any music instrument nor have idea to promote gigs unfortunately, so my only contribution is to writing about the scene in a zine. Before that, a few years earlier I had been heavily corresponding with a lot of Metal bands and zines, also made a few pen friends, so from there came the interest to write my own zine since I was connected with a lot of underground people in the scene by supporting their demo, merchandise or just exchanging flyers. To have people replying to your letters was a speechless feeling. So, it was great to get letters every week and I also made new friends as well, one of the main reasons I created this zine. I wish I had done this zine in 1993/1994 but I was still studying at that time, [it's] not until I got my first job in 1996 that I had money to finance the printing cost and buy a computer. To write a fanzine in the 90’s was a pain in the arse. Everything was done by hand written mail. When I started working, I could afford to save money every month to buy a computer finally to do all the typing works, this is really important tool. I was using Microsoft Words 95 for the typing in those days. Are there any fanzines which influenced you and made you start doing one ? Which fanzines then? Probably got influenced with the inspirational works of Slayer Mag (Norway) and Tales Of The Macabre Mag (Germany), these are one of the most top underground magazines in the world which deserved my supreme respects. If you can realize, I followed what Metalion did by giving each issue a special title and using the simple front cover design (with just zine logo and big band photo) came directly from Slayer Mag influence. In the earlier issues of Slayer, Metalion had a lot of humor mixed in the interviews which is entertaining to read. We all know, in the underground, Slayer Mag ruled eternally. In the final issues, his questions were more serious and it’s boring I think. I even interviewed Metalion in my second issue and received a praise from him (in Slayer Mag #13 review) about my zine after sending him a complimentary issue where his interview [was] featured which resulted months later in me receiving tons of orders from overseas. I think without his review, my zine wouldn’t be known worldwide like what's happening right now. Things were brighter ahead because of his positive review in Slayer #13. I really thanked him for that. Why, according to you, are Asiatic bands ( outside Japan) and Asiatic scenes almost not covered by magazines and fanzines, at least here in Europe? You probably missed a lot of things in the past about our local scene. Well, let me tell you a lesson here, during the early 90’s, a lot of Malaysian bands were featured in foreign Metal fanzines, strong names like Rator, Silkhannaz, Nebiras, Brain Dead, Suffercation, etc. were familiar names in overseas zines. Because in those days, they used a lot of promotion through zine editors (as you needed motivation and hard work to spread your band's name around the world) and spread a lot of flyers in the mails. They really had deserved the overseas recognition. In those days, Malaysian underground scene was starting being known overseas (also active locally) because we had already many bands and zine editors who exchanged letters with overseas people in those days, it was like a really good and positive competition, there were lots of releases, things were exciting and emerging. And I am proud to tell you that in those days, we even had our own “staple local” sounds which were intense, barbaric and crucial. Once you heard the stuffs, then you knew this was a band coming from Malaysia or the South East Asian area, due to the exotic sounds. Other great examples from local bands'fame here are : Beherit hailed Rator as one of their influences, Darkthrone mentioned a Nebiras line-up in “Ablaze In Northern Sky” thanks list (their first Black Metal album), Silkhannaz got a recording offer from Peaceville, Suffercation got invited by a booking agent to tour Europe with Kreator in the early 90’s, etc. This was the most important period for the local scene here, but unfortunately things weren’t on our side financially. Who achieved the logo of Dead Head, and does your artwork in general? The logo was designed by a guy from Sarawak, the biggest state in the West of Malaysia. He’s doing a zine too if I’m not mistaken, sorry this was really a long time, and I cannot remember such event 20 years ago. I asked him to draw a zine logo and he did it immediately. His design was perfect to my taste after just one sketch. The pentagram at the center coincidently reminds me of Impaled Nazarene logo. I have never met this guy unfortunately. We only communicated through letters back then as he lived far away from here. He did once trying to work in the Peninsular (at Toyota car factory I think), but after one letter he sent, he disappeared. I don’t know if he ever got my reply or my letter didn’t reach him, sometimes address at work place isn’t secure. I have no idea what happened to him these days. But I really hope he could reach me back if he is still alive. Really would like to meet him one day personally. Ok people, more to come in the paper version, I mean ARGYOPE fanzine!

MATRIARCH Interview for Argyope (2017)

Un des groupes interviewés dans ARGYOPE #10 voudrait voir son interview en ligne en plus du papier, alors voici....reproduction partielle n'est-ce pas...Si vous me dites que vous avez déjà entendu parler de ce groupe, chapeau! Cinq musiciennes, Ara Lopez (guitares, chant), Michelle Baez (claviers), Isabel Conde (basse, chant), Vanessa Urrutia (guitares, chant) et Shamara Irizarry (batterie, chant) se réunissent en 2002 pour fonder BLACK APPLES. Elles sortent la démo éponyme (donc "Black Apples") en 2003, après quoi Michelle Baez et Ara Lopez tireront leurs révérences. Entre temps le groupe s'est rebaptisé MATRIARCH. Il faudra attendre 4 ans pour l'enregistrement et la sortie d'un premier album, autoproduit s'il vous plaît, "Revered Unto Ages", sachant que matriarch a composé des titres comme "Sinful Decadence" en 2004 ou "Profanity" en 2005. Malheureusement le groupe splitte peu après, Matriarch effectuera un dernier concert en 2008 pour la release party. A noter que le morceau "The Damsel Of Death" figure sur la compilation de 2015 "The Distorted Island: Heavy Metal Music and Community in Puerto Rico" qui accompagne le documentaire du même nom. Why and how did you pick "Black Apples" as a name for the band? Is it related to "Snow White" fairy tale, when the evil Queen brings poisoned apples to the heroin? Shamara – I honestly don’t remember how I came up with this name. I came up with it years ago and use it as a nickname in message boards and forums. Then when I started the band we decided to use it temporarily since we didn’t have a name yet. It has nothing to do with the Snow White fairy tale. Which are the band's influences? I suppose Cradle Of Filth, Theatre Of Tragedy (with Liv Kristin), My Dying Bride are some of them, especially with female voice? Isa and Shamara - For musical influences we have to mention Hypocrisy, Darkthrone, Bolt Thrower , Death , My dying bride, Kampfar, Finntroll, Amon Amarth, Kreator, Old Dimmu Borgir, Borknagar. For female voices and band’s with vocalists that inspired us definitely Therion, The Sins of thy Beloved, Tristania, Sinister, Morbid Angel, Opera IX and Cadaveria. Who is in charge of Matriarch artwork and logo? Isa and Shamara - For the logo we had some friends that gave us ideas as well as myself (Isa). We liked one particular logo a friend made for us and we decided to work with that one then that logo was changed a little bit and that’s how the current logo ended. The artwork for the shirts, demo and album cover we all came with the ideas as a group and different people worked on the art. I (Isa) made the drawing for the demo. A girl in Spain made the album cover she did an amazing job and totally describes the concept of the band. So Matriarch released their first album "Revered unto the Ages", independently in 2007, then why did you split the same year? Isa and Shamara - Releasing the album was a good experience after all the hard work we put into it. We were having some differences as a trio during the recording and we were going in a different direction musically. We tried to stick together because we loved the band and playing shows but unfortunately it did not work out. "The Damsel of Death" talks about serial killer Aileen Wuornos, what do Matriarch's lyrics usually deal with? Shamara and Isa - Interesting question. Our Lyrics are all over the place. For example, “Profanity” talks about a man planning to have its way with a woman. There are others like “Sinful Decadence” that talks about the fight between good and evil and some are about women in power.

New stories

yes I went to the Vital Remains/ Dehuman/ Aäzylium show in Paris it goes like this... Vital Remains live you can also listen to what happened to Hellfest, especially VENOM great gig, here Venom live part 1 and here Venom live part 2....Enjoy!!!

Still alive

Yes, a new ARGYOPE issue was released a month ago, the fourth one, and I prepare the fifth with Taiwanese death metal act MAGGOT COLONY . If you're a fan of SIGH you can check this LJDH radio show...Right, read you next time!!!

Un peu d'actualité....

Et oui nous sommes en 2015 maintenant, des choses se passent et ce n'est pas trop réactualisé, cette page, alors à venir, de la Oi indonésienne, des actualités norvégiennes de 1977 et bien d'autres goodies nouvelles têtes de ligne ( interview de Teddie Dahlin qui publie " A Vicious Love Story: Remembering the Real Sid") You met Sid Vicious when Sex Pistols were touring Scandinavia in 1977. What was happening in Norway back then? Especially about music, were there interesting and/or important local or national rock acts ( which would support the Pistols on tour or not)? Norway was an artic outpost musically back then in 1977. The promoter was the first person to get a big name band to play in other cities in Norway apart from Oslo. I wasn’t interested in punk. Quite the opposite – I loathed it. I didn’t think they were musically up to speed and I didn’t like the fact that they disrespected the Queen. They symbolized everything I didn’t like about the UK; the spitting and the swearing and total lack of resept for anything. The Sex Pistols were heavily into ABBA at the time. I’m not kidding. They had ABBA Greatest Hits and would play the cassette over and over and could sing all the lyrics. Sid, Casino Steel (The Boys) and Lemmy (Motorhead) had been to an ABBA concert together in London that March. I can’t remember the name of the band that was warm up. We arrived at the venue just as they left the stage. The promoter took us out to dinner and we were late (as usual) Was there a Norwegian punk scene or proto punk scene in 1977? I’m sure there was, but it wasn’t really my kind of thing. I liked ABBA and Diana Ross and Brian Ferry. Which impact did this Sex Pistols tour have in Norway? The tour was sold out. The Trondheim student union venue was packed. Over a thousand people came to see them. They went into what I came to call ‘Pistols mode’ around the fans. They would become obnoxious and crude. As soon as we got rid of the fans, they were just themselves again. I got to know them quite well and they were really nice people. Strangely they just included me in the group and we got on well (except one time when John got really pissed off at me and I thought he was going to hit me). (interview de No Man's Land) Could you tell us about the songs "Taken Away" and "Pride Of Our City"? How did you write them? What do they deal with, what are the lyrics related to? “Taken Away”, I wrote the lyrics and then we did the music together. Telling about my/our experience, it’s about hard times in our daily life, a place where you work doesn’t give you more in life, but you can’t do anything. You’ve been working hard but salary you take is not enough compared to what you need or in other words the money you got from your work for a month is slowly [being] taken away in a short time. “Pride Of The City”, it’s about our feeling or anyone who have got the same feeling. You feel pride forh your city where you belong, a place where you were born. So much love and memories you had in your city, but you have a life in another city, in other words you got no job in the city (your city pride), so that pushes you to move in another city to get a job. You’re proud of your city, but you have nothing, you got no job, you got no money and you got no life. You have it all in another city, so which city should you be proud of? What do you talk about in general, in your songs? We talk about local issues and international issues, local issues we shared our experiences about real life and things among us and we have never gone too far, something we’ve never done. And [about] international issues we fight against racism. Voilà voilà....