Interview with STEEL SNAKE
!!!MEXICAN METAL!!!
We had a conversation with Andrea (Vocals) & Rodrigo (Drums). Enjoy!
Welcome to the FILTHY DOGS OF METAL Webzine.
1. Tell us a few things about STEEL SNAKE (Members, Starting Year etc).
Andrea (Vocals): Time has run faster than we can imagine since we decided to make together a little album which compile some of our songs. We are talking about the true beginning in 2017 when we were completely determined about the right members for the dense and long task of record. Over those days one of the guitarist leaves the band so it was the starting. It was a moment of clarity for everyone, a beginning with Omar Barreto, Diego Camacho and Rodrigo Fonseca, 3 of the smartest guys I ever met, they played before among them and another guys and I sang before for a band with girls, rare phases which were good to mature some ideas.
2. You have recently released your New Album ''First Contact''. What is the Feedback from your audience as well as from the Press?
Rodrigo (Drums): Although it has been a few months since the release of our first EP, we all still very excited with all the feedback we have received since then. Just three days after its release in Bandcamp we were contacted by an independent label from Russia that was interested in distributing physical copies for our country and worldwide. We also had the opportunity to have a space on a well-known YouTube channels where we received very good comments. So we are very happy with the results of our work, right now we are about to start a mini tour of promotion in Mexico and things are going very well.
3. Which are your main influences (Favourite Artists / Bands etc.)
A: I consider important to say that our main common influence is stridency self, because that is a wide fact between us even we are not similarly influent we can smell the dense singular substance in genres that we like. We use to share many bands like Mercyful Fate, Black Sabbath, Coven, Alienforce and Voltax from our country.
4. Do you prefer Vinyl, Tape, CD or Digital Format and why is that?
R: It's hard to decide, but I prefer more CD than other formats, since I'm a collector and the way I perceive music is always image and sound. In a physical format, the cover of art and design is always important as a complement to the concept of an album. As human beings, it is very important that a song reminds you of an image (usually the cover of art) because it is a matter of association, so for me the aesthetic form of a CD or any physical format is always important because I love the feeling of doing something intangible like music in something you can play and see. I also like digital format and streaming because it is an easy way to listen to music and discover new bands, its role in music is important nowadays and I think it will not replace physical formats, but will complement them.
5. Label or DIY and why?
A: Personally I don’t think that one thing could be better than the other because prestige can be an internal illusion, but many people can recognize a good material, and however it be today more than never its important that artists have the enough control about their materials.
6. Describe your ideal live show as a performance Band. Have you already experienced that?
R: We have really focused on perfecting our show and giving our best with each song we play, we rehearse a lot and we also leave room for improvisation in some songs, that is something uncommon in heavy metal bands but I think it is our nature. To have an ideal live show sometimes we depend on a good equipment, a good stage and a good sound engineer, unfortunately it is not always possible to have all that in all venues but we always try to get the best of each venue to give a good show. We've experienced both sides of a live show, when a show goes wrong it's almost always because of sound difficulties that are out of our hands but those shows are very few, so many of this problems are corrected with a respective soundcheck before the show. So for sure our ideal live show is where we are comfortable with the sound and people are enjoying our music even if the people are listening us for the first time.
7. Tell us a few things about the New Underground Heavy Metal Scene in Mexico.
A: Underground scene is always a kind of oasis to feed a very special feeling in persons and some tendencies in genres so. Heavy Metal in México is not the exception of this, the scene is constantly in movement, it is comforted by the mix of new bands, young listeners and bands and listeners of years and years. Public in Mexico are special and this fact is something necessary for choose what kind of bands of bands really worth it, as listener or organizer.
8. How is the situation in Mexico as far as Studio Recordings / Rehearsal Rooms etc. are concerned?
R: There was a time where in Mexico doing heavy metal music was very difficult due to cultural references and censorship issues on the part of the government, it was in the mid-80s that a new community of bands that played heavy metal began and for several years it was developed until the point that in the 90s there were many bands of Death, Thrash, Grind and more, at that point the quality of recording were very poor but after all so many people started to build Studio Recordings and Rehearsal Rooms due the high demand. So nowadays we are fortunate to enjoy a large number of options for recording studios and rehearsal rooms throughout the country, many of these are concentrated in the cities near the capital but almost in every state there are options for all types of music, and now is sustainable.
9. 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 of your Band?
A: Probably we sacrifice our prejudices first, to get nearest possible of the wished result in our sound, the rest will be always achievable.
10. Do you know anything about the Hellenic Metal Scene?
R: Well, I don't know as much as I would like to, but I know there is a wide variety of bands of many genres, in my case I listen all forms of extreme music, so I love bands like Rotting Christ or Necromantia. I also like bands like Septicflesh, for example they have a very characteristic Greek sound with the use of orchestral arrangements and the concept of their lyrics, they recently came to Mexico and recorded a live album with a mexican symphonic and it was spectacular. I'd like to listen more music from the most underground scene metal in Greece because there is where all new waves are being gestated.
11. What are your Future plans?
A: We are weaving the last ideas for our new single which will be the first song for our first official LP. We hope to take a big part of our ideas to reality. We wanna work very hard for take our music to new lands and know new cultures living the dirty passion of metal.
12. Thank you very much for your time & Keep up the good work! The closure is yours.
R: We’re really happy to have this interview and think that the magazine is amazing so, we are very happy to spread our music beyond all political and physical boundaries for making that other people feels the contact too. We would like to thank Stavros and FILTHY DOGS OF METAL Webzine for doing this hard work to support the underground metal scene. Let's keep alive these holy gift of music. 93 93/93.
By Steve the Filthy Dog.
STEEL SNAKE CONTACT:
https://www.facebook.com/SteelSnakeMX/