Voltaje Cadáver is a five piece band from North Spain. Their music is carrying tons of gygawats power – heavy and blowing with a lot of heart and soul. At Blessed Altar Zine we have been much impressed by their debut album “Todos los colores de la oscuridad” which is out now (Please check the review for Blessed Altar Zine by my borther in arms UHF here), so we decided to invite the band for a short chat about everything that’s going on around them currently. Fidel (guitar) and Manu (voice) will be the ones sweating on our tough 1 million-dollar questions.
- Great that you accepted my invitation to have you for an interview on the Zine! Please present the Voltaje Cadáver and the members to our readers and give us a little background about the band.
- Voltaje Cadáver are Luis (bass), Oscar (guitar), Fidel (guitar) , Panchi (drums) and Manu (vocals). We are a band from the industrial city of Torrelavega in the north of Spain. We formed the group with the idea of reflecting our love for intense and aggressive music from a dark point of view. From the start, we´ve been playing quite a few gigs with some bands we love musically (Monarch,Okkultokrati, Adrift, Señor no,..) however, it's in 2018 when we released our first album. So, here we are.
- Voltaje Cadáver? - your tunes are so electric that they leave cadavers? What about the name of the band?
- We chose the name because of how it sounds. We wanted it to be partially dark, partially aggressive and even with reminiscences to certain legendary song, hahaha. We also tried to avoid clichés and search for a name with that "something special" in our language.
- Indeed, your music is dark and very heavy, and it is soaked with many nuances and influences. You call it mugre metal...
- Let's say it's a mixture of personal and collective influences coming from many sources and with which we try to make something that sounds coherent and above all intense, more than relating ourselves to a specific tag.
- Right, so you love to experiment in search of the right intense, aggressive tone which moves you and has a soul?
- Precisely, so it sounds as powerful as possible but not being plain and having many nuances in different layers . Adding certain doses of melody and playing around with the tempos. We are searching for something to remain in your head, dynamic and not loosing aggressiveness at the same time.
- How does the environment you live, work and play, impacts and provoques you to create that aggressive music?
- Well, it's the typical post-industrial landscape you may find in different places across Europe. It's ugly, grey, but it also has a certain identity that shapes you a little and links you to it. In a way that, if someone hasn't grown up in a place like that, they may have difficulty in getting it. Yeap, so what we feed on these contradictions and tensions a little. In addition, being a relatively small place, there's big tradition and passion for the most aggressive music (punk, hc, metal, plus rock in general). All that has obviously had an impact on us since we were kids.
- What are your main musical influences in the above respect? What kind of music do you like?
- Individually really diverse, regarding our collective taste, rock and metal with a certain degree of heaviness and aggressiveness. There are some influences of some old school death metal bands, of the NWOBHM, doom, sludge. There are also some punk and HC bands, even prog rock. Our very own mixtape could mix without problem Bolt Thrower with Judas Priest, Witchfinder General, Rush, Eyehategod, Candlemass, Trouble, Discharge, Bad Brains or Sodom, and of course Black Sabbath (all periods, all of them), just to give some examples.
- Your first album has been just released – “Todos colores de la oscuridad”. Tell us more about it. How are going to present it to us?
- As a result of many years of collective work, with some changes in the group line-up, ups and downs and generally speaking ,it is a search of our own identity as a band. The final verdict about the outcome belongs to those who listen to the record because our perception is very subjective, it´s highly interfered by the whole experience of the journey. Regarding the content, it's the best or worst reflection of that search.
- How long did it take to record it? Give us more in-depth look on the the whole process, production and the people you worked with.
-It's been a long process with lots of involuntary halts due to personal reasons. Right now,we see it as the closure of a period and the beginning of another in which we want to reflect more who we are at the moment.
Pedro Setién carried out the recording at his home studio. He's a friend of the band who got involved and worked really hard in the recording because he likes the group and he was motivated to work in the project . We are really thankful for the unselfish job he's performed. He's saved us a big amount of money. We are a broke band, you know hahaha.
The reamp and mix were carried out at Drive Division Studios by Alex Pis. He's a local producer and tech who likes vintage sound without any additives. Thanks to him the record sounds rawer and natural and not as processed as records nowadays.
Finally, we worked with Audiosiege, with Brad Boatright. He's done the master for some tight records of YOB, Integrity, High on Fire, Tau Cross...we admire his work as a musician and as a tech. He knew how to capture our essence and he got quite involved. He even told us he loved our record, nice guy!!
- Your lyrics are in Spanish...
- It's the language in which we usually express ourselves , so it's more natural for us than English. Therefore, it is easier to communicate what we want to say with all its nuances. Although it's frequent that bands of our same like record in English, we always knew we wanted to sing in our mother tongue.Though, we´ve never had any problems listening to local bands singing in German, French or Italian...just to give some examples.
- How many and how dark are all the colors of the darkness (transl. “Todos los colores de la oscuridad”)
- As many as the influences we gather in our music and as dark as the obscurity which covers this world.
- Is Voltaje Cadáver your only band or you play in other projects?
- Some of us play in other projects such as Wet Cactus (Stoner Psych), Becerro Negro, Butchers Left (Metal) or D.M.A (Crossover) which are orientated to other type of music styles. We are quite eager musically, so it's likely that in the future we'll plan some new ones.
- How is the Spanish heavy scene doing? How do you see it?
- We think the scene we follow and we are interested in does very well. There's a big number of bands doing very powerful and interesting stuff. Not only the most underground metal (doom, death, sludge..) but also HC Punk. There's a lot to discover around here and luckily, there are more and more bands that tour Europe and have international underground recognition.
- What is the next step and the next big goal for Voltaje Cadáver?
- We live day to day, it isn't piece of cake with our lives and obligations. The first objective is to keep on pushing the band forward, keep on playing, recording and especially, feeling that we are a little closer to our musical expectations as a band. The band is a little like our very own therapy and our collective way to escape from tensions and the negative stuff that affect us. Rehearsing relaxingly, working on new tunes and having a beer together in the meantime it's already a success. From there onwards, everything is welcomed and celebrated.
We'd like to make another record ( or more than one) that moves us and that shakes and moves those people who listen to it. Do something truly special. That's possibly our biggest goal.
- Are we going to see you on tour soon? Plans for going outside Spain? Or for the time being only vino tinto, cerveza, tapas y paella?
- It's difficult to think about touring, we aren't youngsters anymore and we have jobs, families... The usual limitations. Even though, we´d like to play as much as possible, especially outside Spain. That's another of our dreams. If we are lucky, in the near future we'll try make it come true, even partially....for now, we are thinking about starting touring after the summer.
- By the way what your favourite Spanish dish you are going to recommend us?
- We are 5 guys with different eating habits, it's too difficult to choose one dish, but the most common is the tortilla de patata, it safes much lives when you are on the road.
- Muchísimas gracias para esta conversación! We’ll be looking closely for news and further steps by Voltaje Cadáver. Keep it heavy and wishing you much success with “Todos los colores de la oscuridad”!
Interview by Count Vlad
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Interview by Count Vlad
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