Transcription

Hecatombe – a band in constant evolution

What a great surprise this southern band is. A surprise because Hecatombe’s music is of hard definition, but of easy assimilation, something not always so simple to be achieved. On this interview with the drummer Boll3t, he speaks of the band’s career, the constant search for excellence on their music, the music scene in Brazil and their main influences. On the end of this interview there’s a link for a very cool music video of the music “Inner Pain". Check it out because it’s worthy…

Vicente – How do you evaluate Hecatombe’s trajectory? How was the beginning of the band?
Boll3t – In our trajectory, our main goal was always the evolution, as artists, as musicians and as people. Our steps are in its majority planned, so we are constantly evaluating this trajectory, to make sure we are following the right path or if we need to change something. A few steps or decisions depend on external factors, and that sometimes slow down a little bit this evolution stairway, but we won’t give up following our path due to small obstacles. The beginning of the band, as I believe is the case for most bands, was full of mistakes, caused mainly by inexperience, but also by a great dose of love for rock and the wish of being heard. I think that something that marked our beginning was that, even without the ideal conditions, we always had the courage to put our face on the line and to bet on our ideas, and I believe that this will of showing our work was what made the band keep the work going on.

Vicente – The band has a curious trajectory, because it started as a Punk Rock band, and bit by bit was molding its style until reaching the present sound, a blend between Alternative Rock and Metal. How that process happened?
Boll3t – This process was pretty natural, actually. On the beginning, we had a pretty “closed” mind for music, we used to listen to very few bands and those bands were our influence. But as soon as you get in touch with a wide musical diversity, you get to understand and to enjoy that richness. Today our musical influences are of an extremely wide range. As the concept of the band always was to show our essence, this change of style (which is constant and still happens today) is a constant search of our identity.

Vicente – And did the band also change the name sometimes, until reaching to nowadays Hecatombe? How did you come up with the name of title the band this way?
Boll3t – The choice of a name is always a tough and delicate process. We wanted a name that would represent both the music we write and the message we seek to convey in our lyrics. Hecatombe (Hecatomb) seemed to be the perfect match, because in our songs we tried to express the chaos and the mental confusion that are the state of mind of the people and of the society as a whole these days.

Vicente – Did you release last year the song “Inner Pain”. Tell us about how you wrote that song?
Boll3t – The writing process of Inner Pain was the hardest that we had so far as a band. Since its first skeleton until the final version, it was 2 years of work, several choruses, verses, bridges, intros, drum beats, guitar riffs, vocal melodies, etc. We changed everything several times, always trying to reach the best performance of each instrument. I believe that the only parts that remained the same was the main guitar riff and the tune’s groove, which, after all, is the backbone of the idea and changing that the song would lose its purpose. On Hecatombe, we always write together, working together on somebody’s idea. On this case, the main riff of the song was wrote by Wood and the lyrics by myself and by Mark.

Vicente – How was the shooting of the music video “Inner Pain”? Was it exhausting as sometimes a video shooting is, or was it easy and you enjoyed the process? Because the final result is excellent…
Boll3t – We dug the most to do this music video, because we could plan each step of the production. We were in the studio for 4 days to record the audio, and 3 days in a row without sleeping to do the video shooting. The crew, the volunteer extras and the supporters were all exceptional, and joined the project with their hearts, giving everything they got so the result could exceed the expectations. The critics and the audience and press feedback have been fantastic, and we are very thankful for that.

Vicente – And the goals of the band for 2013? Can we expect a new album this year?
Boll3t – The plans for 2013 are mostly to make a few tours and to record our debut album. Nobody, more than we do, is waiting for that album, and we are working hard so we can record it in 2013.

Vicente – The last release of the band was the DVD “Crossing No-Fly Zone” (2010), which was a very original album. Tell us a little bit about this album.
Boll3t – Crossing No-Fly Zone­ was our great big shot to show the public our work. We recorded 9 songs live in Caxias do Sul (RS)’s airport plus six unreleased songs at the time, straight from ACIT studios in Porto Alegre (RS), also live. The DVD was pretty important to us, we got a fantastic visibility and the people has the chance to know how we sound live.

Vicente – And the feedback you got from the fans and from the specialized media, was as expected?
Boll3t – That feedback was interesting. We were able to place some songs in huge American radio stations, and we had great compliments and great reviews. In some reviews the people even questioned if the DVD were really live due to the quality, and that only gave us more conviction that we really are in the right path and that all plans, rehearsals and compositions are worthy.

Vicente – A lot is talked about the many problems in the Brazilian Metal scene. What is your evaluation of it, do you believe it got better, worst or is stagnated?
Boll3t – By talking to people from abroad, we realize that everyone complains about their own scene. It’s not specifically our problem only. And the scene, actually, is the union of every person, media vehicle, venue and band isolated. If everyone is doing their job seriously, or if they treat others work in a serious way, we won’t have reasons to complain. I do believe that the main problem in Brazil would be the professionalization of the scene; it gets pretty hard to work when most of the services are made as side jobs, by hobby or by “love”. This interview, for instance, is proof of that. Very detailed questions, deep and made with research and knowledge, very different from the pattern, which are default and superficial questions. If everyone seeks the valorization of their own work, constantly seeking evolution, the fans consequently will start to pay attention to all this.

Vicente – One curiosity. On the facebook page of the band are listed several influences of the band, a few even unusual. But what are really the main influences of Hecatombe?
Boll3t – We are influenced by many things as a band, and separately each one of us has influences and different tastes. We tried, throughout the years, to use that in a positive manner, seeking to create music that doesn’t sound like anything, that music that one can hear and state: That’s Hecatombe. It’s pretty complicated to seek a main influence, when sometimes you start songwriting right after you hear something amazing from Michael Jackson, for instance. I believe that when you get specific influences, invariably you end up sounding as a copy of that. And we try to run away from that at all costs.

Vicente – In few words, what do you think of the following bands:
Iron Maiden: A classic band that achieved what many few did, which is to do exactly the same thing with the same quality and efficiency. It was a great influence to us, especially in the early years.
Metallica: A reference to us until this day, a band that achieved evolution and changed their music style without losing identity, quality and energy. It’s the biggest metal band of all times, because they popularized metal in the mainstream, opening many doors to several other bands.
Avenged Sevenfold: I know there are a lot of people that hate Avenged, because they don’t like the super-produced-Californian-style that they have, but it’s a great rock band. They achieved, like a few, the perfect blend of heavy metal, new metal and melodic metal without being fake, creating their identity. Due to all those excellent musicians, a great number of teenagers are into rock, people that are developing their musical personality, and long songs (5 or 6 minutes in some cases) started again to be broadcasted on the radio stations.
Slipknot: We are great fans of Slipknot, a band that popularized fast beats, very low tuning, shred solos and guttural vocals. They have a legion of young fans as well, and that’s always beneficial to our scene. We know that there are a lot of metal folks that hate both Avenged and Slipknot, but due to those bands a lot of the new generation people are getting into metal, and the scene would swiftly die if that renovation doesn’t happen.
The Ramones: Another classic band that we are great fans of. Like Maiden and AC/DC, is a band that spent all career doing the same music with a lot of competence. The pulse of every Ramones tune makes everyone excited. In my opinion, Loco Live is the best live album I had the pleasure to listen to.

Vicente – A message to the fans and friends that dig Hecatombe’s work and for those who’d like to know better your music and who still believes in the National metal.
Boll3t – Thanks for sticking with us for all this time, trying to understand our work and supporting the scene. To be an indie band is extremely hard, and without this receptivity of the people everything would be worthless. Keep betting on National metal, listening to new bands, listening to old bands, attending shows and purchasing albums (I still do!). We thank all of you and especially you Vicente by all your support and for believing in our work. To know more about us, join our website www.hecatombe.com.br and follow us in the social network websites. Keep Rockin’!!!