Interview with BLOOD AND ROLL
Welcome to the FILTHY DOGS OF METAL Webzine.
Tell us a few things about BLOOD AND ROLL (Members, Starting Year etc).
We started around 2021-2022 can't remember really well, we are both Ecuadorians who live in New York, well James is half USA but does drink like an Ecuadorian so does Franklin who is a painter. We both share the taste for the essence of black metal and that life should be entertaining more than a struggle, so that's why we focus our music on free will, Satanism, weed, women and blasting the chords to make a good moment out of dark music.
You have recently released your single ''Blood For The Gods, Beer For The Kings''. What is the feedback from your audience as well as from the press?
We are glad that we could fucking get 7 different labels to produce our material and that each one has a different presentation of any kind, we come from bands that are recognized in Ecuador and New York (Eutanos and Naruth) so we sort of had already a fan base waiting to hear this. The impecable sound done by Joseph Cincotta (sound engineer for suffocation, obituary, misfits etc) helps a lot to bring a huge atmosphere, we have received good critics like we sound sort of like venom, Celtic frost, motorhead, dark throne. this is actually the second interview haha but we know we are just starting in this road.
Label or DIY and why?
We go for both, we just started as an underground band and been in bands, at the moment I think that if somebody want to reproduce our art and spread it, giving Ng it a special touch and identity to even if it's 30 copies we are proud and glad they like our work and can spread the sound. For whoever is looking for our material look for your geographical closest label.
ENTHROPY LABEL (Colombia)
AL Azif Récords (Chile)
Fishtown Récords (Ukraine)
Ah Puch Records (Mexico- USA)
Negro Morgue (Romania)
Insane Asylum (Ecuador)
Assgard Hass Records (Switzerland)
H8 Records (USA)
Is there any funny or weird story from the recordings or from your live shows that you would like to share with us?
Fucking Franklin, like we are with the best sound engineer in the world, recording what is supposed to be our first taste of the band in not a cheap studio... He drinks most of the rum and smokes weed in a way where he is unavailable to perform even our songs, luckily Joseph has gone through it all so he understands and sends us home after we finish the bottle lol.
Do you prefer Vinyl, Tape, CD or Digital Format and why is that?
We like them all, we recorded this EP for the sake of getting it on vinyl, but we haven't been able to get that yet, but hey, one label does tapes, other one does split, other one does A5 with poster. So like really I'm proud and when we get to save some money and start a us or Mexican tour which have been offered, I think we can travel with our vinyls. One label offered us digital release, I think it's funny because like they help us upload our music and play it somewhere else.... Well ok let's go for it.
Your music style is Black MetalPunk. Which are your main influences (Favourite Artists / Bands etc.)
Well I think the band is thought to be easy not technical, so we do go a lot for Venom, dark throne, Celtic frost off course motorhead stuff but we also listen to other stuff like archspire, Judas Priest, Panopticon, Pyaemia, Absu, Hellripper, and Ecuadorian bands like Grimorium Verum, chancro duro, curetaje,Parca, Ente and basca to name a few.
Which things do you think a band should sacrifice in order to succeed? Have you ever sacrificed anything in your life for a better future for your band?
Sometimes you have to risk friendships or opportunities for having a suppostly normal life, job opportunities and off course a lot of money. It's the underground that is never the main focus. I think making art and something that is preserved for long after you're dead is worth it. Also doing something more worthy of just working and spending money off course.
Describe your ideal live show as a performance band. Have you already experienced that?
Well I would love to play in sort of. A big festival or at least a venue with bands like midnight, discharge, venom, you know immortal, that kind of things would be brutal, I also love small venues full of crazy people those are also amazing.
What attributes do you think that a new Black MetalPunk Band should have in order to gain identity and be unique?
I think mostly and what I James looked for it was the good energy of the band members, with that you can do simple music, but it will have the special taste that cannot be copied or transformed. It's very hard to say you can invent a genre or something nowadays.
Do you believe that Digital Platforms help the new Black MetalPunk Bands? Which, do you think, is the ideal way for a band to promote its work?
We live in a digital era, trying to deny that it's impossible, even AI bands are showing up so, like do physical copies off course, nothing beats the format, but people like to have all their albums in their phone or computer, so in the end it's better that if people choose to listen to you they are spending their time with your stuff, while if you close your art to certain formats your just closing your art for a lot of people.
PD: I do not support AI bands at all.
Do you see any differences between the US Metal Market & the EU Metal Market (Labels, Bands, Fans etc)?
Wow this one is hard because we haven't toured too much through the us, I think in both places people recognize art as a job so people support bands and get their merch, we get more attention in Europe using our Ecuadorian side more than the US side tough haha.
Tell us a few things about the New Underground Metal Scene in New York (Bands, Fanzines, Webzines, Metal Clubs etc.)
Well new York is an amazing city you have the lucky 13 which is a bar full of naked girls, strippers and good metal venue, duffs is a metal museum with a good ambient and real guitars and gloves and stuff from world wide musicians. and then you have the big venues where the big bands play. Most of zines have gone digital, also there are always new venues or improvised venues from the different nationality of persons who bring bands from their countries, there is always something to do.
Do you know anything about the Hellenic Metal Scene?
We have heard some bands, I also had to search metal archives to see what I Recognized, haha, Astarte, great band heard it since I was 15. Rotting Christ, really good band but not a huge fan of it, they have their formula already. Varathron, really old school there, Atavism, Burial Hordes, Macabre Omen, Diábolos Rising (weird stuff), Moloch, odes of ecstasy, septic flesh, septicemia, soulskinner, the elysian fields. Bands I haven't heard but looked good speeddevil, raw riot, Scooby doom lol, raw poison, executioner.
The last 4 years, worldwide in the world, we have faced many dark, strange & new situations in our everyday life (covid, lock-down etc.) Did all of this affect you positively or negatively?
We managed to begin the band on COVID, it was better back then there where no shows in new York and we could rehearse with no interruptions, now we have to sacrifice some shows or change our rehearsal day sometimes.
What are your future plans?
Make more music, to do a full length, actually this stopped us from getting bigger labels as well, tour USA, Mexico, Colombia and Ecuador, nearly in the future Europe off course.
Thank you very much for your time & keep up the good work! The closure is yours.
Thanks for this Interview for you and for who have sometime to read this lines, blood and roll is here to stay and to give some satanic pleasure for the right ones and for the bad ones as well haha please enjoy our music on Spotify, YouTube and any stream media, and off course get your physical copy because everyone has a special value.
By Steve the Filthy Dog.
BLOOD AND ROLL CONTACT:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100084073057200&mibextid=ZbWKwL
https://bloodandroll.bandcamp.com/album/blood-for-the-gods-beer-for-the-kings