Spanish Horror Maniac's Nashgul are truly a “thorn amongst the roses” in the decomposing world of 'modern grindcore'; bringing back the violent and the ugly that has been severly lacking in today's generation of over produced limp-wristed-art-grind.
I talked to old friend and vocalist Santi to see how these fanatics keep the flame burning...
-Santi! Hola! Thanks for doing this interview!
Hey Reb! Great to be interviewed for Vomitose Zine, i owe you a beer....
-First off, Who and what is Nashgul? Who does what, and how did you all get together? What did you set out to create with this band?
Nashgul are 4 freak guys from A Coruna and Ferrol, two shitty citties in the northwest of Spain. We dont know how to play our instruments but we have a good time every time we get together to get drunk/high and play fast! I was not around when the band was created, so i dont know what intentions they were up to....but i think know is just to play honest music, pay tribute to the stuff we love and travel a bit...if this changes, we are over!
-What influences you visually? Do you have a Top 5 movies of all time you can rattle off for us?
Real life was more the influence in the past....and as real life totaly sucks now im stucked in fantasy and films haha....i would recommend this movies to every freak interested: The Wicker Man, Easy Rider, The Trip, Psych Out, The Wild Angels, Last house on the left, Simon King of the Witches, Let sleeping corpses lie, Maniac, El jorobado de la morgue, 60/70s Jess Franco movies, Lucifer Rising, Tigon Films, Jean Rollin, Jose Ramon Larraz's Estigma, John Carpenter, Romero living dead trilogy, Lucio Fulci, Werewolves on wheels....and the list goes on and on and on and on.....
-Are you a typical metalhead like most of us when it comes to being influenced by Horror movies?
Why do you think Metal and Horror works in together so obviously?
Metal and Horror is the best combination ever when your teen hormones are burning inside you thus is the perfect way to release our darksides in a creative way! My addiction to Horror Movies started way before i knew about metal or fast music...so when i saw the 2 combined in Live after death frontcover , was the coolest thing in the fuckin world! then came Impetigo, The Acussed, TSOL, Mortician, Machetazo... I recently discovered this old doom band Blood Farmers, their only full lenght is a must!!! perfect exploitation horror doom rock!
-You seem to be totally OBSESSED by all things horror and obscure. Do you sleep well? What are your dreams/ “NIGHTMARES OF DEATH” like?
Nightmares come more from reality than from horror imaginary unfortunately! I would really love to sleep a bit more in the nights sometimes, but im a hyperactive bastard! Horror dreams are quite cool though.....love to dream about creepy things and places, i should write some dream someday but my octogenarian memory and chronic laziness don't help too much haha
-Nashgul is obviously a band that takes pride in reliving the past glory days of Grindcore ala Repulsion, Terrorizer, Warsore.. But what do you think of this 'new age' of Grindcore? Do you feel Grindcore has any future?
I don't care about new Grind. My musical tastes are quite wide so i spent more my time lookin in the past for some good stuff (whatever the style) rather than keeping updated about the "scene"...anyway i love when a new band surprises me and makes me crazy, its like "there's still hope!!", some new grind bands i dig are Knelt Rote, Malpractice Insurance, Parlamentarisk Sodomi....i would love to be in touch with more good contemporary grind bands...lets write and trade motherfuckers!
-What are your top 5 musical influences? What are you listening to these days?
Top 5 Nashgul influences.....mmm...just the old grind stuff Repulsion, early Napalm, Siege, SOB, Unseen Terror, Bolt Thrower, Discharge, Autopsy, Brutal Truth...at least thats the "Nashgul-related stuff" i tend to listen more....im listening tons of music everyday from noisegrind or doom to early dub or electronics, lot of 70s rock.....too much obsession....lately im listening a lot Captain Beyond, Butcher ABC, Sore Throat, early Anal Cunt, Moho, Negative Approach, Grant Green, Spazz, early Judas Priest, Gism, Eskorbuto, Samson,Brodys Militia, Scientist, Black Hole, Confuse, Iron Curtain, Bram Stoker, Bulbous Creation, Clear Blue Sky, early Soundgarden, some soundtracks.....lot of different stuff!
-What is the social and political climate like in Spain/where you live? Is the environment around you any influence when it comes to Nashgul?
People in general sucks so i dont think theres too much hope about this....Politicians use this stupid marketing shit of "choose your side"...its like too chose your fucking favourite football team..you choose "left" or right...you have yor newspapers, television channels etc to feel related and happy in your side and talk shit about the other while you convice yourself of their spoonfed "ideas", its pathetic....also we have now this revolutionary wannabees trying to be like the new hippies with their ipods......just another part of the game! weakeners! the nightmare continues!
-Tell us about the scene where you live. Spain seems to produce consistently great bands.. Are new recommendations?
Some great spanish bands everybody should check are Baron Rojo, Moho, Machetazo, Eskorbuto, RIP, HHH, Ruido de rabia, Denak, Destino Final, Ras, Disturbance Project,One of these days and thee heavy random tone color lab, LFAA, Gruesome Stuff Relish, ....mmm, i think i would love to do a mix tape/CD to anybody interested haha
-Where do you play locally? How often do you play live?We dont play local shows basically....im not really into play local shows really, and we dont play live since december last year anyway....we are quite lazy and inactive sometimes, then we get together and play live a lot or record some shit, but it just have to happen! no reason for this really haha....i really miss to play live, specially do some long tour but fuckin shitty daily life use to get in the middle of the plans so often....anyway we are going to do some kind of 10 anniversary show in A Coruna in December and also we are plannin some shows around Spain...Next year we will go to USA for first time to play Maryland Death Fest and probably play some other shows in the East Coast....really looking forward to it!!! I think we will play more often after the recording we just did for some splits!
-It seems like in the past you guys have done some pretty extensive touring throughout Europe. Do you have good/bad memories from those shows or touring? Where would you love to play?
I have lot of great moments and only very few bad touring experiences...Definitely lot of good moments, we are working class people so for us to be able to visit lot of parts of Europe was really a blast...i could never afford to go to lot of places i went (tourism sucks anyway). Bad moments involve only to have flu or some shithole we had to play in a couple of times..but i love to tour..play grind, travel and forget about the routine...its perfect and worth even though the few bad moments! I would love to play Japan for sure, Mexico or South America, Asia….any place we didn’t go would be great as long as people is enthusiastic about music…
We dont release more stuff because we are lazy and we work fuckin slow haha.....splits are more easy and funny to record, just make a few songs, go to the studio and grind!! We prefer vinyl for sure, but i dont discriminate music by its format...if its something i love i just have to take it no matter the format vynil, CD or tape....music is first but my favourite format is vinyl.
-What new releases have you got planned in the future for Nashgul? What can we expect to hear?
Some splits 7" with PLF, Crucifist, Total fuckin destruction and Malpractice Insurance....you are going to hear the same shit like always, just a bit more old school oriented, the vocals changed a bit from previous records and i think they fit better with the music , also I think now we have better riffs, better lyrics and better bass sound....in the future i dont know, its hard to forsee but i would like to continue in the search of our sound adding more old punk/hc influences and doom on the mix....lets see!
-Are you still on Power it Up Rec's? How has your experience been with this label?
We dont have any commintment with any label...when we have some stuff ready to be recorded we talk with friend labels in order to do a release. Power it up was the first foreing label that gave us the chance to release something..was fuckin great to be able to release a split with a band i was really into like Sewn shut, so Power it up has our sincere gratitude, but we dont belong to anybody...
-Do Nashgul members have any other side projects? How can we check these out?
We play/played in several bands like Hongo, Codia, Black Panda, Deadmask, Generic Death. i also helped in the past to LFAA and Machetazo, being a great pleasure both experiences! You can check everything on the internet god, everything belongs there
-Nashgul has recently been added to the Maryland Deathfest 2012 lineup which is looking better and better.. How did this come about?
I wrote to Ryan asking if he would be interested in Nashgul, he said yes and gave us great conditions so we said yes immediately! We are planning to play some shows across USA with Marrow, a band from Baltimore that sadly is not going to play in the fest but you can bet they fuckin rule! Yeah, its going to be our first time there...so im hoping to meet old/new friends there, play with some nice bands, check some nice places and get wasted watching fuckin Autopsy!
-Tell us about the influence for lyrics and art in Nashgul.The Nashgul artwork is always impressive, full of primitive skeletons and horrific looking hand drawn zombies.. Who does the artwork and lyrics in the band?
The artwork is mainly made by Luis and the lyrics by me. Hes a professional drawing artist working in a daily job doing that, and also working for bands, festivals and so on..you can check his work at www.sendonluis.com
-What do the members of Nashgul do in your daily lives? What do you guys enjoy doing outside of Grindcore (if anything)?
Beside work (or being unemployed) I spend almost all my free time between music, movies and books! Also I love to spend lot of time in the countryside or in some solitary beach, we have nice gloomy landscapes here in Galicia so its always nice to have some outdoor doom sessions with the good friends haha…
-What are your thoughts on New Zealand and Australian bands? Do you have any interest in our tiny scene over here? Are their any particular countries or scenes that really interest you?
I love WARSORE!! one of the best grind bands ever, raw and angry like grindcore is supposed to be!....Rupture, Blood Duster, Mournful Congregation.... of course AC DC, and one of my favourite bands ever is australian.....im talking about BUFFALO, their first three LPS are fuckin masterpieces...Volcanic Rock LP rules so fuckin much!! a rockin psychedelic kick in your face with some of the best artwork I ever saw!!! “Only want you for your body” LP comes close as well… Also gotta say you introduced me to some early New Zealand punk bands that I totally dig! Looking forward for more kiwi old school stuff…yeah!
-Thanks again Santi! Insert your dying words below....URGH!
Thanks for the interview Rebe! Vomitose rules but you have to PRINT IT again!! haha…… UP THE IRONS!!!!
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