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Nota del autor: si quieren leer la versión en español
de la entrevista, vayan para acá.
One of the things I love
the most in music is finding a band or an artist that practically comes out from
nowhere and takes you out of that routine or stagnation in which you have found
yourself, musically speaking. This is something that usually happens a lot in
Metal: you come across all kinds of bands that can surprise you and excite you
with good songs and good albums of wide variety.
What I didn’t expect,
after about six months of listening basically the same bands and the same albums,
was finding a group of such high quality as Parasyche on YouTube. Natives of
Chile, this group that is just beginning and whose debut, Insanity Origins,
came out this year and they play a fascinating mix of Heavy Metal, Thrash and
Progressive that will remind you of an infinity of classic bands of those styles,
but at the same time with its own stamp, its own imprint. An album that’s
superb and that has been my favorite of this year.
So, eager to put the blog
back in the ring, I decided to contact the Parasyche
boys for a very good interview where we could talk about their influences, the
difficulties of the music business, the iconic video version that put them inthe map and many other things of these excellent musicians that, worth noting,
are also great people and that is much appreciated.
The answers are conformed
by Nico Borie (vocalist and rhythm guitar), Nicolás España (drummer), Cristian
Suárez (bass) and Matías Becerra (main guitar). Without further ado, here is
the interview.
KT: The first question I
usually ask my interviewees is why they were dedicated to music. What inspired
them?
MB: at the beginning of 2010 I had in mind to
form a Metal band that could be at the level of my musical idols, which were Megadeth, Metallica,
Opeth, Dream Theater, Pantera, Rage,
among others. Then we put together the first stable line-up with Nico España
and Nico Borie and besides sharing that musical side, we realized that we
wanted to experiment and achieve a musical balance that was fresh, but that
would also be able to please our audience. Finally, we defined our identity and
it is based on musical versatility and on trying to express faithfully and
energetically some aspects of people's lives such as frustration, madness and
others.
NB: when I was a child, I was inspired by watching
the video clips of bands like System of a Down, Alien Ant Farm, Gorillaz,
Linkin Park. The energy those bands had
and the attraction of the videos. Then there was a guitar from my mom in my
house and I started using it. I was a fan of drawing, but when I took the
guitar I left all the other hobbies aside.
NE: I played the guitar a long time ago; in
fact I was playing with Becerra in another band, both as guitarists. At that
time I listened a lot of Rage and
Dream Theater. I was always thinking
about music and songs that only sounded in my mind; I wrote some very basic
ideas until the verse and choir of The Wolf Inside came to mind back in 2009, 2010 when a drummer came to my house and I
started playing when I was 25 years old. Matías contacted me because he was
looking for musicians and I told him I was learning to play, so we got together
and that motivated me to continue with drumming.
CS: since I was little I was linked to music
through my father and my brother, who have listened to Rock music all their
lives. I grew up watching videos from Iron Maiden, Metallica or Guns 'N' Roses on VHS, for example.
KT: This is another
question I usually ask to present its influences. Name your ten favorite Metal
albums.
I had a hard time choosing (*laughter*).
NE: Favorite albums, but not in order.
NB: aaah, I forgot about Tool's Lateralus (*laughs*).
KT: What are the
difficulties that a Metal band can have in Chile? Any aspect in particular that
complicates you?
NB: the difficulties are all you can imagine.
There is nothing in your favor: neither the producers, nor the number of people
who support the national stuff-although there are many metalheads-, how
expensive it is to produce records, the lack of broadcasting on radio, how
difficult it is to play live and that you feel happy with the sound.
MB: In Chile there are a lot of metal fans,
but they usually support bands that are world famous. It costs a lot to give
emerging bands a chance. On the other hand, the underground scene is modest and
there are no resources to do things of good quality–from organizing events with
good sound and good broadcast to record an album or whatever. That means that
the work is double because, apart from doing the musical work, we have to
finance or self-manage what we do to the last detail, considering that each of
us has full-time jobs and that we have to combine the music with the rest of
our lives.
CS: the diffusion will always be difficult in
a fashion-led country and that in general does not value the efforts of
emerging bands like us, preferring foreign bands, when here there is very good
material and excellent musicians, but the reality is that there are very few
options here in Chile to succeed. It is a matter of seeing the scene a little:
all the bands that seek success go abroad to squeeze the potential of their
band. I hope that someday this situation will change in favor of the
maximization of the Chilean musical culture.
KT: and well, another
aspect of Parasyche is that you are very aware of your context.
I mean, I'm included in the group of people that met the band because of the
cover videos you guys made. What do you think of the role of the internet in
Metal, considering that you grew up in this era?
MB: Nowadays, the audience that listens and
consumes Metal does so mainly through the internet. Today few people buy
physical discs compared to how it could have been a few decades ago and we
wanted to make ourselves known. We find musical content that is potentially
viral because of Nico's imitations and humor in Metal, and we use it for our
work. So far, this year's campaign has been a success, but we are aware that
it’s not enough if we want to go far in music. So now we plan to continue
exploring digital channels with viral content that publicizes and enhances the
original content. This is a work in parallel because it doesn’t help to have
publicity if we don’t make new original content, and we are aware of this. And
that forces us to keep innovating so as not to bore. We hope that one day this
will give us a solid enough foundation to be able to devote 100% to our
original musical content.
NB: the internet has its bad things, but today
it is vital for diffusion. We knew it and when I discovered that I could make
people laugh by imitating vocalists, I knew it was something that could work on
YouTube, so we decided that we should take advantage of this to get attention
and promote our first album. In other times the musicians disguised themselves
to attract attention; nowadays you can do that through memes on social media
(*laughs*).
CS: at the moment it’s a low-cost tool and
it’s available to many people, who tend to be users of audiovisual consumption
platforms; you just need a good idea and with the help of a lot of exhibition
work it can become known in the scene, especially with young people. It’s a
good weapon that we don’t rule out to continue exploiting.
KT: well, I can safely
say that your original content has been a pleasant surprise. And speaking of the
content, where do you get the ideas for your lyrics? Perhaps you could mention
some of the ideas that were behind the songs of Insanity Origins.
MB: mainly the lyrics have been born out of
personal experiences, such as Box of Hate with the theme of rage or Vesania with those of taking justice into one's own hand, or facts or stories that have
caught our attention as Detonation,
which speaks of a massacre, or Cachafaz,
which is the legend of a Chilean demon. To that we add our own crop to try to
generate striking letters and convey a certain emotion in each theme.
NE: they are also born of things that we
wanted to express, as is the case of The Wolf Inside, which talks about pastors of some
religions who are known for cheating people. Some are concrete facts, other are
ideas, personal or collective visions and others are purely narrative
fictitious stories.
NB: I can talk about the lyrics I participated
in the most: Vesania is
inspired to take justice into their own hands against any abuse and for that
reason we decided to link it with the story of the movie Taxi Driver to facilitate the story. On the other hand, Cachafaz is a much unknown Chilean
myth that I found in a book about a demon that people can invoke to acquire
musical powers. And Need deals with
addictions that lead to death. We do the music first, or at least on this album
it was like that, and then we look for a letter that coexists with the music
created.
NE: exactly. Once the song is created, we
introduce the idea that is musically closer to the concept of the song. When we
were writing Detonation we
knew that it was a subject about madness because in the first riffs the idea
was already clear; I think it was one of the few topics that were written with
a clear idea, that would express madness, and then the lyrics were made based
on a fact of maximum madness.
CS: I joined the band again when the lyrics
were already in their final phase. The lyrics, in comparison to many bands, are
structurally very well done: each word is well thought out, the theme is
entertaining, very good concepts were used and fortunately yielded very good
results.
KT: unfortunately, I have
not been able to follow up on the entire album promotion. Have you been able to
do concerts? Any of great importance or meaning to you?
NB: due to several reasons we had not been
able to do live concerts. It wasn’t until October 28 when we were ready and
that was the official debut. In the new video for The Wolf Inside, we included images of that very important
day for the band.
CS: It was our official launch in which a
large number of fans attended in a private session where we only played and
shared with all the people who came to see us. It was a dream experience.
KT: there are other plans
in the near future?
NE: Of course. At this moment we are
coordinating other concerts: seeing the place and the date; where we can get a
big place; a place that is comfortable, of course. We also want to do a
national tour and maybe, who knows, go to other countries.
CS: obviously yes; we must enhance everything
that means exposing ourselves to the environment, little by little, to be known
by our music more than by Borie’s imitations, which undoubtedly helps us a lot,
but we hope that this will be equaled or reversed against the generated music.
KT: something that struck
me about Insanity Origins is how eclectic it is: in that album you
get many influences and styles. Where can you go, musically speaking, after
this work, considering that you have already covered a lot?
NB: we would like to continue promoting
ourselves as a metal band without label, that is, to maintain that versatility
of Insanity Origins, which is the
product of the freedom and comfort of not having to do only Thrash or Heavy Metal, but to be able to explore and mix varied influences. I think that for
the next album we will also explore more in the vocals because several of us
can sing, and also because of the "pressure" that I now have as a
vocalist that can accommodate different vocal styles. You have to get more out
of that. There will also be greater use of bass strings on guitars.
MB: we have enough material. Now, looking at
what we have, I can think that the disc will be something more experimental. It
will remain versatile, but this time it will surely evoke more varied emotions
than Insanity Origins. Ideally we want
to mix this new batch of fresh ideas and land them in order to catch those who
listen to them and maintain that musicality that Insanity Origins has, leaving melodies or passages spinning
in the mind after listening.
CS: it is probably where I will give a bit of
my influences, which are already well varied, as you realized. I also compose
and hope to deliver some touches that add a little more aggressiveness and
brutality without leaving aside the melody and complex compositions; that Thrash and Progressive side. It is what comes closest to continuation, but renewed.
KT: or you can do like Paradise Lost and go Electronic-based Pop after an album or two. Do you have any
curious or funny anecdote that happened to you as Parasyche?
NB: a funny fact that occurs to me is that we
didn’t plan to make a video for Detonation.
It wasn’t going to be a “single”, but it has become by far our most known song
thanks to the video. We have other singles in mind, but due to how expensive is
to make a video, we decided to make a simple one first and then do videos with
a bigger budget. We also didn’t consider The Wolf Inside as a single. In the coming months we will
have some news regarding videos we did plan.
KT: leaving the musical
subject aside, do you have other interests behind music? Any other passion?
NB: beer.
MB: I am an Engineer and I really like the
world of technology. I’m attracted to the subjects of data analysis, artificial
intelligent and stuff like that. Yes, beer too (*laughter*). I know that both
Nicos are really into digital things, internet and social media. That’s why it
wasn’t so surprising we ended up using YouTube as a platform.
NB: yes, I really like graphic design (it’s
also my profession), movies and TV series.
NE: I like a lot mixes and try new techniques
and sounds. Also I am passionate about biking. We always talk about Youtube was
the right platform for our goal.
CS: I like cars so much. I like nut´s world;
Beside I am not a mechanic I like to go car events and shows. And that constant
professional perfectionism.
KT: Have you had moments
of doubt? I know that music world is complicated. How do you keep yourself
motivated to persevere?
MB: We have had difficulties of course. We
have had strong discussions where we can´t reach an agreement, but in the end
the fact that we are friends and have a common dream is stronger. And
constantly we work about band communication: the way we take decisions; respect
and confidence. Every year we get better a little in those aspects.
NE: as Matías said it´s though and it cost
because each one understand and have different concepts about everything, but
we try to work especially our personal relationship. That´s why we sometimes
try to just hang out to have a good time.
CS: in this current line-up there´s no doubts;
only desires to keep growing and guarantee us as band, mates and friends.
KT: I always have
curiosity about how bands last so many years: it used to be three, four or more
people trying to stay agree in the same point and that is complicated. Do you
have some method to reach an agreement or it depends on circumstances?
MB: we are four. Normally we exposed our
points of view and if there´s no a clear agreement, then we vote. If it is a
draw, we argue again to support one idea or another, and if after aaalllllllll
there´s no agree…face or tail (*laughs*).
NE: generally in the band, the idea that is
best accepted for the rest is the chosen one. When someone arrive with an
extensive idea, generally can decide about it, but if the rest of us disagree
with it, we try to reach a middle point and normally try to stay everyone
happy. When there´s no agreement, we use the coin (*laughs*).
MB: each one understands what it´s the
healthiest is to grant every time we can. All ideas are important and sometimes
the mix between two or more ideas it´s the best.
NE: as Matías said we learnt to grant. And
that avoid maaaany problems and save us a lot of time.
CS: We all exposed arguments, as you can see,
in front of any situation, delicate or not. If there´s no agreement, then
voting, as the guys said. The minority respect majority´s decision.
KT: well, to finish I
would like to thank you once again for this opportunity. At last I ask you to
send a message to all the people who read this interview.
MB: hi everyone (*laughs*).
NE: thank you so much for the time and space.
I hope you can support not just us but emerging and new bands from your own
lands. That way you can help Metal to be bigger.
MB: greetings to all metalheads in Venezuela,
Latin America and the world. We thank you for take the time to read us. We
invite you to enjoy our material available in YouTube, Facebook and Spotify,
and we tell you in humble way that you will keep having news about us, because
we are motivated to do new and better Metal lml.
NB: thank you very much for read us and a Sail
Away for divulge this. A hug to all who read and enjoy music with us. We are
happy for all support we have receive and we just want to keep going and visit
many countries.
CS: thank you very much for the opportunity to
show a little bit about Chilean Metal also has something to say. We invite you
all to listen our album, Insanity Origins. Greetings
