Interview - THANATOSCHIZO

English text


Martín: Hello Guilhermino! You have a new album out now; tell us about the birth of “Zoom Code”.

Guilhermino: Hello, Martin! Well, it took us two years - since the start of the composition until the end of the mastering process - to complete this album. We were promoting our previous record on the road since 2004, so we decided to stop all live activities and focus ourselves only on the new songs. Therefore, after a pre-production in our own Blind & Lost Studios, we entered Rec’n’Roll Studios (Porto, Portugal) to record the album. We usually don’t take this much time between records but we wanted Zoom Code to be really special and to represent a new birth for ThanatoSchizO.

M: THANATOSCHIZO is a long career band. How do you see the band’s evolution through the years?

G: We always evolved since day one. I mean, we started as a very strange metal band, mixing all kinds of sounds: horns, trumpets, black metal, doom metal, death’n’roll; there weren’t any limits for us. However, as time passed by, we felt the need to develop our sense of composition and to write good songs (in the true sense of the word). By this way, Zoom Code is the epitaph of that development and includes what we think that are great songs played in a very personalized way.

M: Are you satisfied with the work of your new record label?

G: Yes, My Kingdom Music is following all the conditions agreed and we are starting to see the feedback of the good promotion they have managed for this record.

M: What are the differences between your past albums and this one?

G: Zoom Code is, without any doubt, the most mature and personalized ThanatoSchizO album. Also, the composition is one of its highlight, since all the music parts fit in an intelligent way.

M: Your music is as eclectic as complex. How is the process to create that kind of music?

G: The rule is: no rules! First we create the basic parts - drums and rhythm guitars - and then we start to fill the music’s skeleton with all the rest - bass lines, lead guitars, sampling, keyboard parts, percussion and, of course, the vocals. We all take part in the composition process and that can be kind of painful sometimes, because it is difficult to achieve some consensus but I can guarantee you that all the songs reflect our musical tastes.

M: Is there a main concept in “Zoom Code”? What themes are you interested in to write songs?

G: In the past, the lyricists (the vocalists Patrícia and Eduardo) used to talk about their own feelings and life. However, on this record, the main theme is third person stories and the tone is not as negative, melancholic and sad as before. The new message brings hope, thus being way more positive.

Zoom Code represents, in fact, the moment we decided to focus ourselves in the best we can do, musically speaking.

M: As a guitarist, what are your influences to create riffs and how do you define your own style?

G: Honestly: life. That’s what influences me the most. Since day one I wanted to create my own riffing style and through the years I’m pretty sure I establish my own trademark in terms of guitar playing. I have my own sound, my own way of playing and that’s what pleases me the most. In terms of artistic influences, I never paid too much attention to guitar heroes and stuff, so my main influences come from bands that are really personalized (in the sense that you listen to a song from them and you immediately recognize who’s playing it) such as Faith no More.

M: What can we expect about ThanatoSchizO’s live on stage?

G: An intense show with some cool impromptus and a very dedicated band willing to perform the best concert ever.

M: Tell us about your point of view about the Metal scene in your country.

G: Things are way better than they’ve used to be. There are great bands in Portugal that deserve to be exported and I’m sure there could have been, for instance, a New Wave of Portuguese Death Metal or something like the ones that the Norway and Denmark metal press created some years ago. I can point out bands like The Firstborn, Pitch Black, Before the Rain, Filii Nigrantium Infernalium and Process of Guilt.

M: Thank you very much for your time. Here you have space to write what you want as farewell.

G: Thank you for this interview and I hope you guys give us a shot and try to discover our insane world. Our website is a good place to start:

www.thanatoschizo.com
http://www.myspace.com/thanatoschizo