NUESTROS DERECHOS
Interviewed by: CorixI was surfing the fucking net to check out some new stuff from different countries, and I was just amazed when my fucking browser brought me to their website, and accidentally click their mp3 sections, and there, I check out their demo, and, man! These guys from the Netherlands blew me and caught me by surprise, they played thrash,hardcore, punk that you’ll surely bang yah head when you heard it! I got interested in them, to know more about their music and their culture, check this out, here’s Nuestros Derechos.
NB:- Hello, everyone, whats up? Hows everything in your country?
Juan Guillermo:- Everything in our country is quite nice actually. All the trees are green again, lots of bush without actually having to go to war with some country.
NB:- After the released of the 4 track demo, what are the feed back that you received by the people?
Juan Guillermo:- The reactions are, over all, very positive. I was very pleasantly surprised and am already looking forward to recording more songs.
Johnny:- To be honest, I had no idea what to expect when it comes to feedback from other people. I mean, I know I like our music, and I would still continue playing even though we were the only three people on this planet who dig it. But it’s heart-warming and inspiring to find out that other people like it as well. It’s really cool.
NB:- Can you talk specifically about the acoustic track on that demo? Who’s idea in creating that?
Juan Guillermo:- Our good friend Jerrie came up with this beautiful little masterpiece. I like it in particular because of its melancholic undertone. Also, because the other songs flood the listener like a storm, we thought it would be nice to have an acoustic outro like this to cool the listener down and bring back the peace and quiet in his/hers life. Yes, our Jerrie has many hidden talents
Johnny: Consider it as a kind of ‘bonus’. I suggested we actually recorded it to show Jerrie’s other musical competences besides sounding fast and aggressive. Sort of an unexpecting side of our band without making a whiney ballad.
NB:- So, after this demo? What was the next plan or the next project? How about the full length? I’m looking forward to that, man!
Juan Guillermo:- We have just started brainstorming about our next project, so I can’t tell you much about that at this time. The one sure thing we all agreed on is that it will be ‘something noisy with more than 4 tracks on it’ We will put more news on our site as soon as we know more.
Jerrie:- At this moment we are very busy with writing and rehearsing new songs. After our first recording we have developed a more and more own style. That’s what we want to record on a medium/full-length cd. I hope the world is ready for more of our noise!
Johnny:- We would like to record our music with a better production, in order to give listeners a better idea of how our songs are meant to sound. However, spending time in a recording studio can easily become a money-consuming expedition. Hence we are saving some money at the moment, and reflecting on the best way to spend it ;o)
NB:- What can you say about your music you are into right now? Do you think it is a trend that will come and go?
Juan Guillermo:- One of the best things of our music is that we do not focus on what the current trends are. We just ‘do our thing’ and if other people like it too: we are in luck and we love to play it for them. Other music I am personally into is sometimes trendy, sometimes old fashioned and sometimes classical. I don’t care, as long as it sounds good.
Jerrie:- I think trends in music will always come and go, but there is always a very loyal scene that sticks to its own kind of music. You can see that in metal- and hardcore-/punk scenes. When we play live we see a lot of young people who are very much into our kind of music, so maybe it’s trendy right now. I don’t really care whether it’s trendy or not. As long as there’s an audience we’ll keep performing for them.
Johnny: I think thrash-metal is reviving, considering old thrash bands like Exodus and Death Angel releasing new records again, and some new bands playing a kind of ‘modern’ thrash. Maybe that’s sort of a trend. But I want to be very clear on this subject: we do not play thrash because it’s trendy, it just turns out that this is how we sound. Hell, it’s probably the only thing we can play. If we would follow a trend and switch styles, big chance that we would fail miserably :o)
NB:- What can you say about those metal heads that don’t respect punk music?
Juan Guillermo:- Respect for punk music, or any music for that matter, is, in my opinion a personal thing. Nobody has to respect anything if they don’t want to. It’s just that if they don’t respect something like punk music, I feel sorry for them, ‘cause they’ll be missing out on a lot of good and fun stuff.
Jerrie:- I was always surprised that there was such a difference between the metal- and punk scene. Although I’m personally more into metal, I’ve always loved punk music because it’s also loud, angry and fast. I am therefore very pleased that our music is appreciated in both metal- and punk scene.
Johnny: - I discovered punk and metal around the same time, and I’ve always liked the energy of both styles. Musically punk may be less complex, but I prefer lyrics that are down to earth rather than someone singing about unicorns and witches and dragons and stuff like that. I care for the DIY-attitude that comes with punk (in my humble opinion).
NB:- How’s the u.g scene in your country from punk, hardcore to metal?
Juan Guillermo:- There is one and it is called ‘our home’.
Johnny:- I’ll try to give you a tiny scene-report. There are not many punk rock bands in Utrecht, but Possible Suspect and Circle J are cool ones. As it comes to real loud and fast thrashy punk, you better check out Mihoen and SAF (which stands for Struggle against Fascism, Short And Fast and Skulls And Flames). Other remarkable bands: Kamikaze (NYHC-style), Dodewaard (Screamo) and Urban Blight (a one-man D.I.Y punk-project) When it comes to pure metal, check out Detonation (excellent modern thrash), Pleurisy, Engorge (both death metal), Orphanage (gothic/death) Imbolc (death/black), and Zone (grooving nu-metal) Underground bands from other cities around The Netherlands that are worth checking out: Shikari, Seein’ Red, Gilgamesh and Makiladoras as it comes to punk. Textures, God Dethroned, Warchitect and Acrid are some hi quality metal bands.
NB:- Who are the bands that regularly spins in your cd player these days? And could you pls. tell me the prime influences of the band?
Juan Guillermo:- At the moment I listen a lot to: Cake ‘Fashion Nugget’ Muse and Coldplay. I really like how they approach the music in an unorthodox kind of way. I try to let the creativity of such bands be an inspiration to me, even though it’s a whole different kind of music.
Jerrie:- As I was saying before my preferences go out to metal. I’m very much into thrash- and deathmetal. I love bands like Dismember, Suffocation, Vader and my all time favourite SLAYER. I do write most of the songs inspired by a guitar-riff. These guitar-riffs are mostly inspired on thrash-metal from the 80’s and early 90’s. But the other guys make the song complete with their very own influences.
Johnny:- When I was twelve years old I started out with Bad Religion and NOFX. At the same period I discovered bands like Anthrax and Testament. Soon after I got very into NY-hardcore bands like Judge and Sick Of It All. Around the same time I liked the humming sounds of death metal bands like Death and Entombed. I like both the ‘Bay Area’/Florida and the Gothenburg/Swedish-style of death metal. Right now I’m eager to hear music and bands I have not heard before. As for inspiration: there are a lot of bands out there with things that I would like to incorporate in our music, but as I am not very technical I simply do not have much of a choice but practice first.
NB:- Any political sentiment towards your country’s government? What can you say about your country politically?
Juan Guillermo:- Our government consists mostly of wimp daddy’s who focus too much on money and too little on human- and animal life and on our natural environment (yes, I am a vegetarian)
Jerrie:- What pisses me of the most is that there’s so much money spent on defence while lots of people can’t even buy themselves a decent meal. Our government says we need to cut down and they always take away the money from the people that really can’t miss it. Why not let the rich pay for the poor?
Johnny:- I have to agree with Jerry and Juan Guillermo. Politics are too concerned with economics and not enough with people. And can someone explain to me why economics must be based on a never-ending growth?
NB:- You said that you prefer to perform live in a big crowd? Do you also prefer playing gigs for money? In your own way, what is the main principles of d.i.y and underground?
Juan Guillermo:- I just love to play. It is as simple as that. My goal is to have fun and I don’t have to make money doing it. It is nice though to, at least, try to break even or earn a little extra to help us pay for new recordings. D.I.Y. for me means doing what you want, your own way being as much as possible involved in every step in the process of creating something.
Jerrie:- As soon as you get a deal with a big record label they want to be involved in the creative process. As long as you do it yourself, no one can ever tell you what to do. In that way you keep your freedom of creativity (which is essential to making good music, I think).
Johnny:- DIY is actually DIT: Doing It Together – with enthusiastic people who like to help out of love for music, not for money. For me it means a way to learn new stuff at my own conditions. For example: a nice girl teached us how to silkscreen print shirts with our band name on it. It’s great to discover you can do so much independently of a man in a suit with dollar signs in his eyes.
NB:- Have you heard anything about my country Philippine scene? Would you like to play and have tour here with your own expenses like plain tickets, passport and other stuff, like what other underground bands did?
Juan Guillermo: - Although I know very little about your country, I definitely like to come to the Philippines but think it will be too expensive for now. Maybe something for the future. I’m keeping all options open.
Jerrie:- To me it’s a dream doing a tour abroad. I know that our kind of music is very popular in your region. The only problem we all have is that we all have regular jobs. Going on a tour through the Philippines would be very expensive and takes a lot of time. I think our aim would first be closer to home. But when a possibility comes, we would surely come to where-ever in the world.
Johnny:- Though touring through the Philippines would be great, I think it is not going to happen soon due to the time and money that are involved with. Unfortunately I do know very few bands from the underground scene in the Philippines. Perhaps you could help me out and give us a scene-report? I’m quite curious!
NB:- As a metal band that inspires hardcore/punk, do you believe in anarchism? Is anarchism works in your country?
Juan Guillermo:- I just like to see us all getting along. And if that means ‘anarchy’ for you, than I’m all for it!
Jerrie:- I used to be a very active anarchist. I’ve lived in squats and tried to live up to my ideals. Now I’m a little bit older and wiser, but I would still like to call myself an Anarchist. But this doesn’t mean to me that there are no more social structures. I believe very strong in the rules of nature. Man is a solidair species. We need each other. I think a society should be built around the weakest of the group. And most importantly, society needs leaders that don’t do anything else than to grant the wishes from its inhabitants. I myself live up to one rule. Don’t do things to anyone you don’t want anyone to do to you.
Johnny:- The Netherlands are very bureaucratic and full of (absurd) rules. So it’s not easy to live up anarchism. I’m not sure if anarchism could work. Partly because I’m not sure what you mean by anarchy. It’s a word with multiple meanings, like ‘democracy’ and ‘market’: people use it all the time meaning very different things. I do believe in thinking for yourself, being critical (as opposed to credulous) and the room people need to have, simply to be.
NB:- Besides your band, are you guys working professionally? How you support producing your own music? And who updates your website regularly?
Juan Guillermo:- I work in psychiatry. We have a savings account, were we all donate a monthly amount of money to. On this account we also collect everything we earn with performances and stuff. This continues until we have enough to pay for new recordings (which is about now). (Johnny): is our webmaster genius; he takes care of our little baby ‘www.nuestrosderechos.nl’.
Johnny:- We all have a job besides our music to earn a living. Jerrie tries to help our country get rid of ‘garbage’ by working in a recycling-shop, which is mainly run by ex-homeless people. I work as a web editor, writing articles – though it seems I am becoming jobless within two months.
NB:- Is there any straight edge of the band?, is there any among the band who are into veganism? And active in animal rights?
Juan Guillermo:- Two of us are vegetarian and the other one prefers to eat dead animals ;). Veganism is too much for me personally; I am too lazy for that. I therefore really respect the people who do manage to pull it off. I also pay off my conscience by ‘donating monthly’ to a couple of environmental and animal right groups.
Jerrie:- I’m the one that prefers to eat dead animals. As I was saying before, I believe in the rules of nature. I think we are meat- and vegetable eaters. To be honest I also like the taste of meat too much to stop eating it. I do try to buy biological meat because every living being on this planet has the right to live a beautiful life. Actually I think that when you want to eat meat, you should be willing to kill the animal yourself. If you can’t kill for your meal, then don’t eat meat. I’m not very active in animal rights stuff, but I do have a dog and two cats. I think I provide them a very beautiful life. (my dog barks, I think he agrees!)
Johnny:- I go a long way with Juan Guillermo, though I do not donate money to pay my conscience. I think the meat industry treats animals not as a living being, but just as an economic product. I did no longer want to support such a respectless system. And people can do very well without meat and still stay healthy.
NB: - How bout abusing alcohol or beers? And how bout smoking weeds?
Juan Guillermo:- I like the beer. Weed freaks me out, as we recently noticed while practicing after eating some ‘space cake’. So I’ll lay of it for the next couple of years.
Jerrie:- I think I’m the one that likes both mindblowers the most. Me and the drummer both smoke weed. We always do on our weekly rehearsal sessions. Smoking weed opens a door inside my head allowing letting the music flow. At home, after smoking a joint, I often feel a creativity burst. I don’t really drink beer very often, but when I do I’d like to get really drunk. Johnny:- I have nothing to add ;o)
NB:- Do you hail Satan or God? For you, who is the most powerful? GOD, SATAN or MONEY? pls. explain why?
Juan Guillermo:- I hail life as it is given to me (don’t know by who, but I am thankful). Satan, God and money, to me are all figments of man’s imagination, so fuck ‘em.
Jerrie:- I think money is the most powerful force in the world today. God and Satan are just excuses to justify what money can buy. I myself don’t believe in the existence of a God nor Satan. I do respect people who do believe in God and try to do good. I think that people who call themselves Satanists are very very very stupid. I can imagine people living up to the rules of a religion based on doing good. Satan stands for all that is evil. People who want to do evil are pathetic. Respect each other and all the living beings around you. I don’t care whether you do that in the name of God, Allah, Buddha or Yourself!
Johnny: - Again: I have nothing to add to the wise words of my band fellows ;o) Nice question though.
NB: - Aight, guys, thank you so much, good luck to your band, more propz and respect to all y’all! Keep on thrashin’ the brutal core! any shout outs to any body?
Juan Guillermo:- Thank you very much for offering us this interview! Good luck with your site and everything. Shout outs to; Michael Moore for kicking Bush’s ass and to Iron Maiden for kicking everyone’s asses! Hope to meet you one day!
Jerrie: - It’s a strange idea that people in the Philippines will read all about us. I would like to shout out loud to everyone that reads this interview. And remember: if you want to hear our music, check www.nuestrosderechos.nl. Everything for free.
Johnny:- No man, thank you! Keep up the good work. In case you are bored: please feel free to inform us about some cool bands in you underground scene. It’s nice to learn new music
FOR BAND INFO: www.nuestrosderechos.nl
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