interview with CONCEIVED BY HATE

Have any of you played in other bands? [Morbid] Yes, I played on DISORDER (Thrash/Black) which is a band I have since 90s put to rest in 2002 and reactivated in 2011 and also on MORBID STENCH (Death Metal) on which we are working in the first full length with CBH drummer and a friend from Costa Rica. Lately I got involved in ANTARES DEATH (Death Metal) which is the band of Iosif Najarro our CBH drummer for recording the second guitars so those are the bands on which I am currently involved with.

How is it that you started playing music? [Morbid] I never took a formal class to learn how to do it, I remember starting playing bass but then I got my first Acoustic guitar and started playing around with it and trying to figure out by ear songs from bands like Benediction, Kreator, Venom, Unleashed, etc, at the very early 90s. Since then I think all have been about practice but not much about those instructional videos of egocentric virtuosos, just playing songs of bands that I liked and also trying to compose my own songs.

What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you? 

[Morbid] Our ages are between 34 to 42 years old, I think Aldair which is the guy that joined us in the last months to fill out the live vocals I think is like 24 something like that hehe, below the current lineup and names:

Morbid – Guitars/Vomits

Iosif Najarro – Drums

Carlos Basagoitia – Bass

Tulio Mata – Keyboards

Rene Vega – Guitars

Aldair Mejia – Vomis (Live Performances)

Have you had other previous members? [Morbid] Yes, we have had some changes on the drums and vocals through all the carrier.

Did you make music even when you were young? [Morbid] Yes, I remember I always tried to compose something. It was more complicated back then because I did not have any gear to record the music so I had to have it all in my mind and sometimes riffs just got forgotten but yes since the start my vision was always to compose   my own music and lyrics.

Where are you from? [Morbid] We all come from a city called San Salvador or Hellsalvador which is the capital of El Salvador (our country), this is located in Central America near Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Its a very small country which native language is spanish.

What year did the band form? [Morbid] I started this band at the end of 2002 when I was forced to disband DISORDER (my other band) so CONCEIVED BY HATE has around 13 years of existence.

What's your style of genre? [Morbid] My favorite genre is early Death Metal from the 90s I have always have it in my plate haha, I prefer the rustic and simple stuff than the complex and technical one. I think with CBH in the early days the composition structure was more technical and 6 to 7 minutes songs, after years passed I think composition became more simple but at the same time more obscure and aggressive, I like it this way better, I enjoy it more to play like this kind of compositions.

What inspires you? [Morbid] Life itself is one of the best inspiration in all aspects, depending on the mood and which topic I would like to talk about, also depends on the notes used for the riffs, events that are happening in our country or any other place and any other information that caught my attention.

How often and where do you rehearse? [Morbid] It depends but generally we rehearse once a week and we pay for a rehearse room here in San Salvador. Right now since it seems we will have to use another lineup for the coming Mini-Tour with Nargaroth we will have to rehearse more with the guys that will be filling out the lines for us in this tour.

How have you developed since you started with the music? [Morbid] It depends on which topic your are referring to, I have been able to developed a better promotion network in other countries that help spreading the releases in a faster and safe way; regarding developing playing the instrument I think with the practice we have developed a better playing style but I am not into to technical style it is boring for me. And also I have been able to put high quality manufacturing releases, I mean in terms of the pressing plants I use. We are moving forward for sure but always loyal to our roots.

Do you have other interests of work outside the band? [Morbid] I think we all have to pay the bills so yes we have to deal with the “normal” life as everyone do but I my vision music is one of the main forces in my mind.

Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that? [Morbid] We already have one so I am not looking any other yet, I got interest In specific regions as south america and Asia but will see in the meantime my main concerns are doing short tours in europe supporting other consecrated bands so we can start making some fan base out there which is very difficult for a band coming from our region but I am working on it.

Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that? [Morbid] All previous releases were put out in my own label MORBID SKULL RECORDS or independently but right now for this band I am looking for a massive way of distribution so yes, I am looking for a bigger label for the next full-lenght and I we will see what happens but be sure that with or without big label we will continue putting out releases and new music.

What made you decide to make this music? [Morbid] I guess it was not even a decision I took, it was just the only way or kind of music that made sense to me. I listen to heavy metal since I remember, since I was a child I think its in my family blood so there was no decision, it was just the way it is. I have been playing metal since early 90s and I still feel hungry about it, more than ever.

What are your songs about? [Morbid] Well there are different topics, some of them talked about personal experiences or ways of seeing the world in a misanthropic way, also about playing with how other dimensions should look like and deliberations of meditations. Others talked about been a metal head and worship the old ways and playing with the heart and not with the fingers and techniques. There was one song on the Pestilence Reborn album called “Guardians of the Ancient Wisdom” that talked about how the native people from our country had been isolated from society, this was an interesting song because I managed to get in touch with a talked Nahuatl which is an old language almost extincted in my country, she recorded a song which I think merged good with the track, was a good experience an honor to deal with this person that has ancient knowledge commonly underrated by society. 

Who does the composing and writes the lyrics? [Morbid] Almost all lyrics and songs are composed by me but there are some songs that were composed by Carlos and others by Rene. Commonly Rene contributes with the lead guitars arrangements and of course all  members try to add some touch and arrangements that complement the original idea so basically thats the way it works.

Do you start with the music or the lyrics? [Morbid] Normally I start with music, working on isolated riffs. I record tons of them at least the ones that I really like, when I have a good pool of them I start testing which ones get along with others and start gathering them to get a song structure, I also have in mind  the general idea of the whole song regarding the riffs, I mean if I want a really fast song and aggressive or more obscure and doomy song. Sometimes the title of the song comes first and I try to imagine then the tempos and I go back from the title backwards to the riffs and see if all goes with the flows smoothly. Thats basically how I do it, like I said now its easier than in the early 90s since been able to record the riffs on the cellphone or at the PC its a big advantage since I can have access to it anywhere if I upload them to a cloud. When I have a song completed I start listening to it as a demo version and try to see if all seems correct or natural if somethings is strange I go back and do some changes and re-record it again to keep listening until I like it, I think I compose for myself  I have to like my stuff first and do not think too much what people outside the band will think about it, the opinion of the other members is well received always.

Do you compose in a certain environment? [Morbid] When is time to record a riff that comes to mind it could be anytime but when arranging the songs normally I do it at night, sometimes near midnight because that is the time I am normally free of work and also all is quite to concentrate easily and I do this in my home, I have some recording gear there so I start playing around with new compositions. Lyrics I always do it late at night also at home, sometimes when drinking some beers or alcohol to get off this reality, for some reason ideas come better when starting to get drunk haha.

Have you done any covers live? [Morbid] In the early days of this band we did some covers of death metal bands even of black metal bands but that was in the first 3 years maybe, later we concentrated to just play our songs on live shows. But I started to do cover recordings to pay tributes to bands I or we really like and consider have a legacy so I plan to keep this for the future releases, up to know we have recorded DECEASED “Planet Graveyard” and DISSECTION “Thorns Of Crimson Death”.

What language do you sing in? [Morbid] Our native language is spanish but for this band we sing in english I think its more natural but I also have another band called DISORDER which is my band from the 90s on which I sing in spanish but is more in a black/thrash venue.

What are the least and most people to attend one of your gigs? [Morbid] Well it depends, most of the shows are in small clubs and people could be from 20/30 to 200 maybe.

What ages are most of your concert attendants? [Morbid] I guess between 20 to 30 years old.

Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary? [Morbid] We have am overall live setlist and depending on the time we have to perform then we try to vary the setlist so we do not get bored about it but we are playing songs from the last 2 years releases right now.

Do you have a regular place you play live often? [Morbid] There are not many places on which you can play this type of music in San Salvador so we try not to repeat the same place in the same month but sometime we are forced to do it.

What was your first gig like? [Morbid] My first gig was in the early 90s in a basketball field, I was very young, I remember I played with a Venom t-shirt which I still have in my collection and we played some covers from Benediction and Unleashed. There were around 50 people I guess, good memories.

What was your latest gig? [Morbid] Our last gig was at October 31st in a small club, we were invited by another local band that was putting together the show and I guess all turned out really good, there were maybe like 40 to 50 people in the venue. We played a setlist of around 35 minutes.

Have you had to cancel a gig? [Morbid]In very exceptional opportunities we have had to canceled shows when for example the vocalist or drummer got sick or when there were unexpected changes of the date and we were not available at the new date but we make always our best efforts to avoid canceling shows is not common in us.

Where have you played live this year? [Morbid] This year since shows in another cities are not available we have played only in San Salvador in different places and shows, small ones and big ones, a mixture of all. 

Where do you plan to gig the comming year? 

[Morbid] For March 2016 we have confirmed our first short european

tour supporting NARGAROTH, below the confirmed dates:

Friday 18-Mar Arlon (BEL) "L'Entrepot"

Saturday 19-Mar Apeldoorn (HOL) "Gigant"

Sunday 20-Mar Erfurt (GER) "Club From Hell"

Monday 21-Mar Bratislava (SVK) "Randall Club"

Tuesday 22-Mar Vienna (AUT) "Viper Room"

Wednesday 23-Mar Oberhausen (GER) "Helvete"

Thursday 24-Mar Leiden (HOL) “Gebr. De Nobel"

Friday 25-Mar Rostock (GER) "Alte Zuckerfabrik"

Also we will be booking local shows as always and I am working on another short tour outside El Salvador but cannot speak about it yet since it is in the planning still.

When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale? [Morbid] I started to sell merchandise since the band started and we have had available items like T-Shirts, Longsleeves, Pins, Small Patches, Back Patches, Flag, Stickers, CDs, Vinyls, etc. I sell the stuff locally at shows or by Facebook also there is a bandcamp link, I ship anywhere.

Where can people buy your merchandise? [Morbid] You can get the merchandise by contacting MORBID SKULL RECORDS at facebook or send email to [email protected] but regarding the CDs or Vinyls those are available in many labels in europe like TPL Records, Iron Bonehead, Iron Pegasus, Apocalyptic Records, Floga Records, etc. So you can check their Distro sections and there should be some copies there, also the CDs and Vinyls can be  purchase on MORBID SKULL RECORDS of course.

What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records now a days? [Morbid] I not the right person to judge that people but I am sure this is killing the mysticism and romanticism that used to be on this kind of music in the old days, I think you do not put the correct value to the music if you get it so easy by doing a clic than to purchase an item, in a way Internet is a very good resource to promote music around the world without investing much money just time but as all in life and death to keep a balance there is this bad part of downloading that had caused many labels to broke and also bands to not be able to get budgets for new releases. One thing you need to be sure as fans we all are, the best way to support a band or a scene is to go into concerts and/or purchase the merchandise and releases of the bands you like, that is the best way to show the support and have good effects on the scene.

How do you think the music industry have changed because of this? [Morbid] I am not an expert on this but as explained before I think bands need to tour more in order to get more budget for future releases or for trying sustain the efforts, labels I think are suffering because the volume of sales is not the same as in 90s or 80s so that is why I can understand that you do not see many new bands signings on big labels because they need to be sure where to invest there money for releasing music, at least that is how I see it in a way. On the other hand there is a bigger underground movement of  many labels and bands that are putting out releases without knowing much if they will loose or gain money, so on this underground movement I think there is still that passion that keeps the beast breathing.

What do you think of my work? [Morbid] I think its very good and I hope you keep doing it.

How do you think and know that this interview will help you in the music business? [Morbid] Any honest chance to promote my work and bands will be appreciated, I think these kind of interviews in countries like yours will help me to get my music exposed to your readers and that is one thing I am interested in....spread the plague!

Do you have any role models or idols? [Morbid] Not really, I just try to follow my own vision but I do have respect for some people in the scene like King Fowley.

Why do you think that they exist? [Morbid] I did not get your point.

Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today? [Morbid] I listen mostly to old bands but also to new bands that has that old vibe but I do not listen to bands to get inspired because if  I do that I will just be a cloned of those bands. To get inspired I like to read some books and see interesting stories of topics I an attracted to.

What have been your biggest obstacles? [Morbid] Maybe lack of time for doing all the stuff I wish I could and sometimes leaving in central america increases the costs for playing and expose this kind of music in other places like Europe or Asia but we are used to it.

What advice would you give other bands or artists? [Morbid] Follow your own vision and be honest with yourself when doing music.

How do you get psyched for a gig? [Morbid] Lately I try to warm up and once it started I think I go with the flow, its a trance.

Do you have any new material? [Morbid] In the coming months I will put out a limited tape version of the DECEASED/CONCEIVED BY HATE split on my label.

What are your web sites? 

www.conceivedbyhate.net

www.facebook.com/conceivedbyhate

https://soundcloud.com/conceivedbyhate

How can people reach you? [Morbid] People can reach me at MORBID SKULL RECORDS facebook page and also to email [email protected]

What are your plans for the future? [Morbid] For CONCEIVED BY HATE we have this european tour in March and also I am working to setup 2 splits and the second full length for 2016 so I guess there is plenty of work to do. On the other hand I also have some releases coming from my other bands and also to push little more my own label by supporting some underground bands out there.

Do you have something to add? [Morbid] Just thank you for this opportunity to be part of your work and cheerz from El Salvador!

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