interview with Velocidad 22
Have any of you played in other bands? Both guitar players also play in another bands, being Decesor, a thrash metal band and Padrastro Borracho, a classic rock n roll band.
How is it that you started playing music? When I was 16 years old I got a bass guitar and that was when I started
What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you? We are Paul Divano (vocals), Lucho (guitar), Yulian (guitar), Germen (myself, bass) and Pala (drums)
Have you had other previous members? Yes, we previously have some guitar players, being Ivo and Pini the only two that recorded some material with us. Nowadays we have our best line up ever, by far.
Did you make music even when you were young? Yes, since my teens but not a lot, really.
Where are you from? We are from Buenos Aires, Argentina…and I say kill em all!!! (well that’s from the movie “starship troopers”, but yes, we really are from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
What year did the band form? We are playing live since 2007.
What's your style of genre? Pure Heavy Metal.
What inspires you? Eighties Heavy Metal bands is our primary inspiration.
How often and where do you reherse? We usually reharse one or two times a week, we reharse in any place that have loud speakers and beer.
Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that? No, here in our country, that kind of people are usually leeches.
Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that? Not really, we are independent and we are fine about it. Off course if some offer is good and doesn’t affect our independency and style, its all welcome.
What made you decide to make this music? We all love music and Heavy Metal is the music we love, so it was not a choice to play this kind of music, it was the only option. We are all metalheads in the band and is the music we all listen.
What are your songs about? Our songs are about freedom, violence, union, Heavy Metal lifestyle, etc
Who does the composing and writes the lyrics? Now a days, the music is composed by our 2 guitar players(Lucho and Yulian) and the lyrics by Germen(bass player) but we all work together in every aspect of the composition.
Do you start with the music or the lyrics? It depends, we work both ways, sometimes we have some cool riffs and then we add the lyrics and sometimes we have some lyrics and then we add the music. We don’t have a formula for that.
Have you done any covers live? Yes, we usually play a couple of covers in every show. We have made covers of Motorhead, Baron Rojo, Accept, Judas Priest, Riff, Quiet Riot, Wasp among others
What language do you sing in? In Spanish(except when we made covers from English-speaking bands, off course)
What are the least and most people to attend one of your gigs? It always depends, we have played for quite a lot and for nobody in a couple of days of difference. It depends in a lot of circunstances.
What ages are most of your concert attendants? Between 20-40 I think
Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary? We try to vary, we keep some songs that are our “classics” that we try to play always and then we change some others songs just to not play always the same
Do you have a regular place you play live often? No, we try to play evrywere and when we can, we visit other states to play in new places.
What was your first gig like? It was good, we were like a complete different band , our sound was not all developed. Fortunately we have improve a lot, at least I think so!
What was your latest gig? At the time I answer this, our last gig was on November 14, in Mar del Plata, a city that we visit for our first time and it was great, with lots of mosh, stage diving and all that great stuff from the people.
Where have you played live this year? We have played 25 times this year, in lots of places of Buenos Aires, also in Capital Federal and La Banda, Santiago del Estero, Mar del Plata and we will play in the couple of weeks in Tucuman, Salta and Santiagio del Estero again. Those are cities that are very far from our homes and we love to go there, headbangers there are very loyals.
Where do you plan to gig the comming year? We plan to keep playing everywere were we can.
When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale? Don’t remember when, but we usually hace t-shirts and also our cds (Metalcoholizacion and “En vivo”)
Where can people buy your merchandise? Basically in our gigs, and also asking them via internet in our official facebook.
What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records now a days? Its great, because people can get all the music they want from all the places. Also, we have released our cds and people buy that stuff because they support us and the underground heavy metal scene. So I think it helps the independent bands that music can be downloaded by everywere
How do you think the music industry have changed because of this? I think it helps the bands to get known and it hurts big companies that only want to gain money, so I think its good,. We don’t need no more music conglomerates
What do you think of my work? Its great, having interviews of bands all around the world in every genre, congratulations!
How do you think and know that this interview will help you in the music business? I hope that people from another countries can be interested and give a try to our music! I believe is difficult because our lyrics are in Spanish ant he “traditional rock language” is English, but I believe that Heavy Metal is an universal language
Do you have any role models or idols? Pappo , Lemmy and Adrian Makinacion
Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today? Its easier with the classics bands because its what we have most listen in our lives so its there in our brains
What have been your biggest obstacles? Don’t know, we are fighters, we like obstacles so we can destroy them
What advice would you give other bands or artists? Play the music that yoyu like, don’t think in trends or fashion tendencies
How do you get psyched for a gig? Drinking beer!
Do you have any new material? We are planning to record a new album in 2016!
What are your web sites?
http: www.twitter.com/velocidad22
How can people reach you? I think that our facebook page is the best way to contact us, or coming to our concerts!
What are your plans for the future? Keep playing and record a new album
Do you have something to add? Yes, thanks for the interview and sorry for my awfull English!
