ANGELUS APATRIDA: Thrashers without Borders

From Bay Area to Albacete, the old school thrash metal knows no borders. Angelus Apatrida's Guillermo Izquierdo is eager to tell us all there is to know about this New Wave of Spanish Thrash Metal.

Angelus Apatrida: Jose Izquierdo, Guillermo Izquierdo, Victor Valera, David G. Alvarez

Metalfan: Back in 2000 you started as a heavy metal band, inspired by the german school of metal. What made you change your mind and switch over to a more aggressive music?
Guillermo: That was because of our age and our technique playing our instruments. We always loved thrash metal music but it was a very very difficult music to play or understand for us at the time. With the passing of time and many changes in the line up, we realized that step by step we were becoming a thrash metal band, and that’s what we always wanted to. I think thrash is not just about the music, it’s a lifestyle and an attitude.

Metalfan: Are you denying your early heavy metal roots, or are they still present in your music today?
Guillermo: No, no. Our roots are very present on the album, influences from bands like Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Motörhead, even 70’s or 60’s rock. Maybe bands as Annihilator, Megadeth or Pantera, can be the most important
influences for us, but we listen to many different kinds of music, each one can give you something good for your music. German Metal never was part of our history, it was just ‘how we sounded like’ in the past, there’s not so many bands practicing that style that we like, maybe Gamma
Ray or Helloween.

Metalfan: Is Angelus Apatrida the first and only spanish thrash band ever? I know for sure I haven't heard another one.
Guillermo: No, nowadays there are more bands and in the 80’s there was Legion, one of the Spanish thrash reference with Fuck Off. The only thrash metal bands with official albums recorded (nowadays) are Angelus Apatrida, Hell-Train and Legen Beltza. There is a little army of new bands as Killem, Rancor, Omission, Arterial Pressure… that will release their first albums soon, and we are trying to unify each band for making a great thrash metal generation in Spain. Some spanish press is calling these years the “New wave of Spanish thrash metal”. I hope it will be for a long time.

Metalfan: Your main source of inspiration is obviously the thrash metal of the eighties, your music has oldschool written all over it. Are you disappointed with the evolution of the metal scene? Now everyone is into nu metal, hardcore, metalcore...
Guillermo: No, no way. We like very much other styles as nu metal, hardcore, etc., as a new musical trend, but what we play is what we feel, if in a future our fingers force us to play other music, we will do it, if it is what we want to, but always in this potential of extreme heavy metal.

Metalfan: Is it difficult for you guys to get together for rehearsals? How do you share your time between your jobs/studies and music?
Guillermo: Well, all of us work in different jobs, even in different cities (Valencia and Albacete). But we have all the time of the weekend to go to the garage. When we were living in Albacete (David and me) we went to the garage almost every day. We work for making money for supporting the band, that’s our dream and something that makes our lives different.

Metalfan: There have been reports that over there in Spain you people use to get up really late, go to work and then have a really long lunch break, and then work a little bit more until afternoon and then it's party time again. The entire world is wondering: when do you have time for anything else? Like, in your case working, studying practising, writting songs?
Guillermo: Hahahaha that isn’t right! In Spain, regular people wake up at 7:00 or 8:00 am, work for four hours, get lunch, work for another 4 hours and then, you are free! We have many friends all over the world, and they say the life in the rest of Europe and USA is very similar to Spain,
maybe we have more party!!

Metalfan: How does the public respond to your music? I always thought that Spanish metalfans are more receptive to melodic metal.
Guillermo: Yes, you are right. Spanish fans were more receptive to other metal styles as power metal or classic heavy metal. But many years ago, there were a lot of bands that were practicing the same style and people begun to open their eyes to other styles. The problem is that record labels, agencies and press, don’t want to bet or talk about new bands or new styles. But it seems that it’s changing. People and press are responding very well to our music, enjoy our shows and make great reviews of the album.

Metalfan: Why did it take so long for you to release your first album? Is it so difficult to make it as a thrash metal band in Spain?
Guillermo: In Spain it is very difficult for any band! The music metal market is going down because there is a lot of quantity but without quality. The price of a new album is about 20 € (22 USD) and when I was a boy I bought Iron Maiden vinyls for about 10 € !!!. Most of the famous Spanish bands for example Avalanch or Warcry, are self-financing their albums,
because no label will pay for your master! They will maybe edit or release it, but nobody bet money in a band. We were with a record label for 2 years but they didn’t want to release our album. We had some troubles and we decided to release it by our own hand, through a Spanish self-financing company called Producciones Malditas. That was the only way for editing our album as we wanted, and with a final price of 10 €.

Metalfan: Tell us about the concept of the album. Who unleashed what evil?
Guillermo: We all did. Just turn on your TV and watch the news. The world is crazy!! People dying everyday, politicians negotiating with human lives, natural disasters, wars… The world is going down and the only question about it is when this shit will explode.

Metalfan: What are the lyrics about?
Guillermo: Social troubles. We talk about religion, politicians, injustices and everything we don’t like. Personal subjects and things that happen to us in the day to day.

Metalfan: I thought it was a common usage for Spanish bands to use Spanish language for their lyrics. (Heroes del Silencio, Tierra Santa, Dragonfly)  Why did you choose to sing in English, and how do your local fans react to this choice of yours?
Guillermo: Well, this is a very difficult discussion. There is a problem in Spain and it is that people normaly don’t understand English language. If you want people to hear well your music, do it in Spanish because they might not understand your lyrics. But we think that problem is about to be solved, we grew up with English language music and we make music in this language, because is how we can express perfectly what we sense, more easily than in Spanish. Sadly, in our shows our fans don’t sing with us every song because they don’t know what we are singing, but if they sing with Iron Maiden, Sepultura, Metallica… shit! scream with us motherfuckers!!! Hahahaha

Metalfan: You've got a great cover for your cd, I've got two questions about it: who did it and what does it represent?
Guillermo: Thanks! I think you are the first media zine who ask us about the cover! Haha The artist is my partner of job, a Colombian called Felipe Machado. It represents a mix of the power of the capitalism (Uncle Sam) and the chance of the humankind. Nobody is out of danger in the world and you or your country could be the next to be destroyed.

Metalfan: How is your live activity so far? How was the show with Sepultura? Was it your best live show ever?
Guillermo: Yeah, of course! That show was so exciting! We made a dream come true, play with one of our favorite bands, is something that can’t be explained. We were in tour last year with Warcry and played alive for thousands of people, but sharing stage with a band as big as Sepultura is the best thing that happened to the band!

Metalfan: What reactions you've got from outside of Spain? Any plans of touring outside your home country in the near future? Is there a special country you'd like to play in?
Guillermo: Well, our music is being listened outside Spain mainly on the internet, because we don't have yet a contract deal with an international distribution office, and people who listen to the album usualy like it. There are more constructive reviews of the album (like yours) because people in other countries are more familiarized with thrash metal, so they can really tell us what is wrong and what is right with the album. By the way the reviews aren't so bad! hehehe.I think our office management is dealing with some promotors outside
Spain, I don't remember well but I think it's from the UK. We would be very very happy if we could play alive in other countries, especially in center europe and in the USA! But first we must set our legions in Spain! hehe

Metalfan: As already mentioned in the review, the Spanish strawberry fields are fully enjoying the benefits of Romanian labour force. Have you noticed your straberries are tasting better lately? Now, seriously, what do you know about Romania?
Guillermo: Hahahahaha, I fucking love strawberries!!! Well I know in my city there are a lot of romanians but I see them working in constructions, in the grapes fields, and other regular jobs, I don't know where the hell strawberries are being collected in Spain! hehehe. Sadly I don't know so
much about Romania, the basic we learned at school, as about other countries, but I know you have a great national soccer team! [not anymore] hehe, I remember USA'94 championship, great players as Hagi and Popescu. There was another one playing in the team of my city (Albacete) but I
don't remember well his name... Craioveanu, isn't he? [yes, he is! You really know your football!]

Metalfan: Is there a latin spirit shared by metal bands coming from latin countries? Spanish, brazilian, italian, french, romanian bands, do you think they have something in common in the way they express their music?
Guillermo: Oh it's a difficult question... I don't know so much bands from France, Italy or Romania... Sepultura, Soulfly or Angra are some of the best bands in the world, and all I know from Italy for example is power and melodic metal... Even so I think there is a common feeling in the bands
from latin countries, someone can make their music more "european" or more "american", but the inner spirit leaves its mark on their music. Shit! Recommend me some headbanging romanian bands! [Avatar, Magica, Taine, Trooper, there you go, Guillermo n. red]

Metalfan: Looking to the future of Angelus Apatrida, what do you see? Tell us about your plans.
Guillermo: Sincerily I don't want to know what is the future of the band. I only want to enjoy the present, working to keep things together, never let it sink. We will continue with our spanish tour, and I think if everything is ok, in middle 2007 we will enter to record our next album, we would like to release it in the end of next year.

Metalfan: Thank you for the interview, there's a quick quiz waiting for you, so let's finish this with a few closing comments.
Guillermo: Thanks to you. We want to say a great heeeeeeeeello to all romanian metal fans, and please keep with the good work!!! THRASH, ATTITUDE & VIOLENCE*