This is a great, articulate interview, yes, on of the best that I've organized this year!!!
Without doubt one of the best things that to be a metal writer, is to have the chance to do a digital briefing with a person as Mr. Horacio Colmenras, a musician, one of my favourite, to which it likes to speak, and he knows how to compare him with his interlocutor, therefore not a cold artist interested only in promoting his last work, but an impassioned that live for the music, and not with the music, free from preconceived of various nature.
Well, we aren’t here to speak about his past spent in the official Steel Prophet’s line up, but talk on New Eden, his currently creature, that have had the chance to reprint, thanks to the interest of Rock it up records from Germany, his third album, the magnificent “Stagnant progression” released three years ago, under his own label P&P Records, but badly distributed, especially here in Europe, where a few copy of the cd, are arrived like an import.
And this was a bad situation, because the album is really amazing, full of great composition, focused on an impressive mixture of traditional metal, some part of thrash metal echo, and a progressive attitude that give to the band’s song writing, a special and unmistakable touch.
But now it is the time to leave the microphone to Horacio what it will drive us to his metallic world,
in to the discovery of what that it hides behind the band in the last time.
Hi Horacio and welcome to Hard n’Heavy pages, thank you for your availability, first of all I want to know how is nowadays the situation inside the band? Can you confirm the solidity of the line up that have record the last CD, or there are some line up’s change?
With the exception of the singer, the line-up is very similar to STAGNANT PROGRESSION. Rick now lives in Arizona and the rest of the band is in California. I still keep in touch with Rick as we are both part of the current STEEL PROPHET line-up. In October 2007 NEW EDEN played a show in Santa Ana, California in support of the band THERION. Our original singer Victor Vaca sang for NEW EDEN on that show. There was a possibility that he would continue with NEW EDEN and record the next CD, SOLVING FOR X with us but in the end it didn’t quite work out that way.
To the music level, what you have combined after the publication of “Stagnant Progression” until now? Why in the last years are circulate few news about your band? Don’t you have not worried that your fans can they forgotten?
STAGNANT PROGRESSION took a long time to finish and the band went through a lot of changes and dealt with a lot of headaches. Once the CD was finally done, we played several local shows in support of the CD and then I decided to take a break from live shows. All the years of constant “issues” had left me tired of certain elements. I retreated to the sanctity of my studio to work on new material; some for NEW EDEN and some for miscellaneous projects. I know that NEW EDEN doesn’t release CD’s like most active metal bands, but that is not a problem for me. At this point in my life, I am much more concerned with releasing a CD I can be proud of rather than releasing CD after CD of crap; like so many metal bands do nowadays. I am not really concerned with fans “remembering” NEW EDEN. I don’t make my living off of NEW EDEN and I don’t count on it for income. I feel a fan will always embrace a new release from us; those that forget about NEW EDEN were probably never a true fan.
Well, how is to rise the idea to reprint the “Stagnant Progression” cd that was released just years ago by your P&P records? You have done it only to have a good feedback also here in Europe, right?
The original version of STAGNANT PROGRESSION was released through my own fake label called “P&P Records”. There was no promotion, no advertising, or anything else to really give the release a proper debut. I sold most of the copies to metal distributors and some via mail order. When ROCK IT UP RECORDS contacted me about releasing it through their label, I felt that it would be good for everyone. Many fans could not find the CD, and I didn’t/don’t have the time nor interest in doing what a record should be doing. There was no point in releasing the same CD under a different label so I decided to remix it and rework the booklet. I added a lot of photos plus a 3 song demo from 1999 that featured our previous singer, TONY DEVITA. I hope that in making the “Silver Edition” of STANGANT PROGRESSION very different from the original version, fans will not feel they are buying the same CD again; I don’t like being ripped off and I have no interest in ripping of NEW EDEN fans; directly or indirectly.
You have signed a contract with a young German label as Rock it up records, are you satisfy with his job? And if is not too much, the contract is bound just for the old platter, or you think they will have the opportunity to promote also the new one?
The agreement with ROCK IT UP is limited to STAGNANT PROGRESSION. I have been quite satisfied with their efforts. I realize that a small label has its challenges, but I also like dealing with someone that is an actual fan of NEW EDEN. The next NEW EDEN CD is not ready to be shopped but I will talk to ROCK IT UP when the time is at hand; in the end I am interested in doing what is best for everyone and not just me.
About a future release, have you record some demo material of new song about “Solving for X”? And if yes, they follow the sound of your last release?
I have about 14 songs for the new CD, but I don’t think I want to put all of them on the next release. When Rick Mythiasin was still in the group, he recorded three songs: CRAWLING ERECT, THE NOT SELF, & MONUMENT OF LIES. I put two of them on a demo that I handed out to a couple of people at the KEEP IT TRUE FESTIVAL in APRIL 2006. I happened to be there playing bass for a band called AXEHAMMER; it was a really great experience and I had a great time! The two songs on the demo are: CRAWLING ERECT & THE NOT SELF. The sound is of course in the tradition of NEW EDEN; I wrote the music and words for them. I don’t think it is possible to be a NEW EDEN fan and not like the new material. Since Rick is no longer in the band, I don’t plan to circulate that demo anymore and I hope it doesn’t surface on the internet to much either.
I know, well the New Eden’s musical proposal is always been as a tangled and articulated mixture of many influences where is possible to find elements coming from classic, progressive and thrash metal, I think that you as a musician have had a very solid background, right? Want you to try to describe the music of your band, or you prefer to call it just heavy metal?
Hmmnn… NEW EDEN is of course HEAVY METAL and I have no problems with it being categorized as such. If one wanted to be a bit more specific in its categorization, I feel it would be labeled as PROGRESSIVE POWER METAL. I Personally draw influence from various styles of music as well as various artists from within those styles. My METAL influences, to name a few are early Iron Maiden, Warlord, early Fates Warning. I am also a big fan of Spanish Pop music. I don’t think there a point in naming the artists but they are: JUAN GABRIEL, EMMANUEL, JOSE JOSE, NAPELEON, LOS FREDDY’S, LOS SOLITARIOS, etc. As for my musicianship, I don’t consider myself a very good musician. I am self taught, but in reality I feel I am a student of the world of music. I am always trying to improve my musicianship but often find myself quite frustrated with my musical abilities or lack of.
The production of the platter is very professional, I know You produced
yourself and mixed but how many weeks have you spent in the studio to obtain the final result? And during the record sessions have you used some programs as Q-base or Nuendo? And generally do you think that for a musician as you, the technology can be a useful thing or no?
Thanks for the compliments on the production. Even though I am never fully satisfied with my work, I do put a lot of effort into all that is NEW EDEN. STAGNANT PROGRESSION took an extremely long time. There are actually 3 versions of the full CD plus some variations. The first version has Tony DeVita on vocals. (OBSCURE MASTER PLAN) I used to programs plus a lot of various plug-ins in the production of STAGNANT PROGRESSION. I used SONY VEGAS and SONY ACID. I have tried just about every program out there including Pro Tools, NUENDO, SONAR, and many more. They all do the same thing but most require more steps than the SONY software. I do use vintage microphone preamps from ALTEC and LANGEVIN along with descent sound cards. Technology is of great benefit to me and NEW EDEN. It allows me to more easily realize and materialize an idea. I feel that without the availability of current technological advancements, a lot of really great music would still be nothing more than simple ideas forever captured inside someone’s head.
I know also that this not your first production, you have also worked on “The Goddess Principal” and “Continuum” from Steel Prophet, the debut album of Onward and the debut of the Colombians Legend Maker, right?
Wow, you have done your homework very well. Yes I have indeed worked on all those projects. Each one of them has an interesting story.
THE GODDESS PRINCIPAL started of as an 8 track demo on a FOSTEX A8LR 1/4” reel to reel recorder. I was not in STEEL PROPHET when I began that recording. Another guitarist had been chosen over me for the gig but I was such a fan of the band that I still wanted to work with the group to some capacity. At some point during the recordings, the other guitar player moved out of state and Steve let him go and gave me(the 2nd runner up) the gig. At the same time, a record label became interested in releasing a full length CD, so the demo morphed into STEEL PROPHET’S first LP. I still have the masters and I plan to use today’s technology to give it the mix it really deserves.
The LEGEND MAKER CD was also quite interesting. SENTINEL STEEL Records contacted me about possibly having me do the lead vocals on this group from Columbia called “MEISTER DE JUGLIARIA” (I hope I spelled it correctly). It already had vocals but they were in Spanish. I listened to the demo (which had been recorded on 16 bit ADATS) and thought the music was awesome and I loved the vocals it currently had too. The production was very bad and needed a lot of work. I told Denis of Sentinel Steel that I was not the right singer for this project and instead recommended Michael Grant. I had already worked with Michael in NEW EDEN and had a good working relation with him. The lyrics were translated and Michael went to work on the project. While he worked on being ready for the recording of the English vocals, I worked on the production of the drums. I ended up triggering the snare and kick drums with an ALESIS D4 sound module. I then produced the vocals and did some mixes. In the end, Denis did the final mix in NEW JERSEY.
The ONWARD project was recorded at another studio. I was given the master reels and then produced Michael’s vocals. That album kicks ass and Mike’s vocal ideas were great. We tracked a lot of harmonies (unfortunately a lot of them were not used in the final mix) and I triggered the snare and bass drum tracks. I made some mixes for myself and the final mix was done in New Jersey by Sentinel Steel Records.
Again about the Prophet, I've read that Rick will join the band again, is right? There's not the possibility for you to play again with your first band?
Yes, Rick is back in STEEL PROPHET and we are working on the next CD. We are also headlining the SWORDBROTHERS FESTIVAL in SEPTEMBER 2008.
What are the difficult you have faced until the release of your cd? And what the satisfactions are instead?
There are lots of road bumps and issues while pursing the finishing of any project and STAGNANT PROGRESSION is no different. The most challenging issue was dealing with shortage of time and lack of a solid band line-up. In the end, the CD was done…
Well the album is been going out for a little time on the metal market,
which has the reception reserved been from the specialized magazines and of your fans, in particular way in your countries where classic metal is become an underground movement?
The reception for the “SILVER EDITION” of STAGNANT PROGRESSION has been very good. For some reason I thought the release would mainly go unnoticed, but it has gotten warm reception from fans and the industry.
Tell me if is wrong, but I’ve understand that the artwork for the “Stagnant Progression” was originally meant for “Obscure Master Plan”, but Nuclear Blast have to change it, can you tell us why?
The STAGNANT PROGRESSION artwork was originally slated for OBSCURE MASTER PLAN but NUCLEAR BLAST did not like it. The original artwork was lost but fortunately a high quality scan of the artwork existed and that was uses for the booklet. The same artist, JUHA VUHORMA created the artwork for the OBSCURE MASTER PLAN release.
It is true that have you still planned a kind of little European live shows around Germany in the middle of the new year? Do you think that can be the opportunity to see you here in Italy?
At the moment, NEW EDEN is confirmed only for the HEADBANGERS OPEN AIR FESTIVAL in July 2008. I am trying to set up other shows to coincide with our trip to Germany but so far, I have not had much luck. I am more than happy to hear from any prospective promoters about a working relationship. I recently visited Italy (ROMA, FIRENZIA, PISA, & VENEZIA) and I would looooooooove to bring NEW EDEN for a show or two.
A special question come from a fan of your band, the first official release of New Eden “Through the make believe” is sold out from a long time, don’t you have received any proposal to reprint it?
Well the first official release is actually the “SAVAGE GARDEN” EP. I would be interested in release a special version of TTMB; perhaps a double CD version that includes SAVAGE GARDEN, TTMB (all 15 songs), and some cool bonus tracks.
Before the end, what do you do when you’re not involved in the band’s
activity?
When I am not being a Rock-Star at night, during the day I am an Audio/Video Engineer and computer and network technician. I am also a freelance videographer on the side.
Ok Horacio, this is the end, would you do a special greetings to our
readers?
Many thanks for the interest and support of NEW EDEN. I truly hope to take NEW EDEN to Italy one day and catch a good futbol/soccer game. Many CHEERS to everyone…
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Pubblicato su: 2007-12-29 (689 letture)
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