Robex Lundgren virkblogg.

What´s the name of your band? My band is called Anti-Venöm with dots on the letter “O” I’ve heard people call those umlauts; I call ‘em little dots. You Swedish people use em a lot.

How was the band formed? The AV project started in 2008 but got its name in 2009

Can you tell about your band? Anti-Venöm started as a solo project, it was just a one man band and it had to be my big break in music, cuz I honestly wanted to quit doing music at that time. The main idea behind it was to do something that I could feel right for me, trying to combine genres and mix my beliefs and my ideology on it. Thanks to to Chris from Riot Ska Records and a bunch of people, bands and friends and mainly in Europe, the project took off in the underground ska/punk scene and it has been amazing. Now we’re a three piece and we currently have one record and three EP’s. We’re currently working on songs for a brand new record.

Where are all band members from?/Who does what in the band? We’re all from México City and the members of the band are my brother Alan on bass, and our good buddy Adrian, on drums. I (Armando Razo AKA Raz Misery) play guitar and I also pretend to sing. Honestly we kinda do all by ourselves, Alan is in charge of booking shows and promotion of the band while Adrian kinda does his thing haha, he brings the good vibes to the band and help us out in whatever we might need, I mostly record and write the music and do all the media stuff related.

What was the ambitions of the band when you started? When AV started I just wanted to have something out that I was proud of, that became something I could feel right and maybe b rag about. I’ve been in bands since I was 12-13 years old and before AV came out, all my bands and all the music I did was shit, it never got anywhere, so I was really just pissed of about it. I never wanted to be like famous or a rockstar or shit, I just wanted a few people going like “that stuff you write is amazing! I really like your band!” That was it, I wanted people to recognize my effort, and to have some connection with other people trough music.

Could you explain your music to someone that haven't heard you? Man, that’s tough question, but it’s like listening to pop melodies filled with hate, haha. I guess the music is somehow melodic punk rock, but we love to mix genres and add something different to every song, ska, 80’s synths, black metal, chiptune, breakbeat, hip hop, crust punk and what not. While the music seems nice and all, the lyrics and vocals are really depressive, I mean, I like to write about politics, social issues, religion and what not, but I also write about my personal problems, personal struggles, and stuff anyone can relate to, but in a really depressing/make-yourself-feel-bad-about-yourself-way.

Where was your first gig? Our first show was at a friend’s party, it was pretty good, I fucked  up the vocals for a couple of songs, but it was good, I ended up really drunk and a couple of people seemed to like us. There are some videos in our youtube channel.

Where was the latest gig? It was at a weird festival called Dead Wolf Fest, like a month ago, January 31, I think? Anywas, we were the main event on it and it was an all ages free show. Everyone was so fucking wasted that I really doubt people remembers us playing that night.  

Who writes your songs?/ who writes the music who writes lyrics? I write and arrange all the songs and lyrics, I used to record each and everysong by myself, but I really want everyone involved in everything for the upcoming record

Who has the best since of humor in the band? We all have a really bad sense of humor, like bad taste in music, but with comedy and such. We like dumb jokes and we are constantly making fun of our own stupidity. When we’re on a roll of bad jokes and such, people can’t stand us, neither of us should be allowed to speak in public for that matter. 

What's good/bad with the band?/What genre do you feel you are? I think we play punk music, we don’t try to label ourselves into any weird genre or stuff like it, in the end it’s just music and if it sounds good to you and you like it, just listen to it and enjoy!

Why did you pick that particular style?/What are your songs about? I guess we all kinda grew up in a particular way, that we’re not rich kids but we’re not poor kids either, we’re kinda like middle class kids, but our families weren’t around that much while we grew up, so that leads into individualism and kinda like a sense of loss since a very young age, and we kinda fell in love with punk rock for those same ideals. For example, the songs on the first record are more related to people and politics, ethos and what we feel should be justice, like equality and equal human rights, about standing up by yourself, while the EP’s focuses more on personal issues, like loss, abandon, loneliness, drug use, death and such. All the music we write is a reflection of how we see the world and how we feel and know ourselves, how we’ve grown and all the stuff we’ve endured in our lives. The new song ideas are somehow different, cuz I’m trying to narrate struggles people have about themselves, about their lives and also I’m trying to adapt some old ideas and concept from books and popular media into songs that people can relate to without knowing by first hand what is about, it’s really weird and somehow complex to explain at this point, but that’s kinda the idea behind the lyrics for the new record.

Do you write your own material or mainly covers?

We focus on the originals, but when something comes along, we do a cover. We did a cover for a Tony Sly Tribute and it meant a lot to us since No Use For a Name and Tony were a huge influence, same goes with the most recent cover we did which was Hate Yer State by Choking Victim, we love the band and we were invited to be in a tribute record, but those are just a few exceptions, we really love writing our own music.

Have you made any albums?/If yes what are they? We have a Full Length called “As Soon As There is Justice” from 2010 and we have three EP’s “Planet of The Apes”, 2012 “Part II: Generic”2012, and “Tr e s”, 2013. We also have a few singles out and we’ve been in over 20 compilations all around the globe for different causes and social struggles. You can download all our music for free at www.anti-venom.com

Do you have any clips on YouTube?

We have mainly live clips and all our music is available there also. We wanna try to upload new clips from the recording process and what not, we also wanna do an official video, hope we can make it soon! Please subscribe to our channel: youtube.com/AntiVenomMx

How old are you?/What got you started in music? I’m 27 years old, I’ve been into music since I was born, my father loved music and he had like this amazing collection of records, so everyday in my life I’ve been listening to rock music from the 50’s till the 80’s and he gave me a walkman when I was a kid, so I used to make mixtapes full of 90’s dance music, when I was a teenager, I started listening to punk rock and one day he came in my room and was like “do you like punk music now?” and I was like “WTF dad? Is this punk?” I was listening to Goldfinger, Green Day, Blink 182, Millencolin, and he was “like yeah, that’s punk music, check this out!” and he took out his Combat Rock record of The Clash and he went serious and was like, “this is the only band that matters” and it fucking changed my life forever.

At what age did you start playing? I started playing music when I was 12, I wanted to play an instrument and have a band, so my aunt gave me a few bucks and I brought my first electric guitar without any idea on how to play it.

How old were you guys when you first stood on stage? I was like 13 years old and it was at a shitty birthday party for one of my friends at the time, and I honestly think it was good, but his unplugged our shit after 2 songs haha.

What year was the band started? 2009, the year of the devil.

Best/worst gig you've played? Not sure, every show has its ups and downs, we just wanna have a great time, go out and play, have some fun with the audience and after the show’s done, we try to have a great time listening to the other bands and get to know some people.

What places will you be playing in in the imidate future? I’m honestly not sure, I know we’re playing a festival here in april and we will be playing a show with Leftover Crack in may, I’m really unsure about the rest of the line up shows haha

Where have you played from then till now? We’ve only played inside Mexico, we mainly play in the city, but we’ve toured around the country in several states and it’s been great.

Witch band is the best you´ve seen? Lagwagon live is the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen in my life and I’ve seen them twice, Bouncing Souls and Millencolin are amazing too and I’m not a fan of Anti-Flag but I went to one of their shows and they kick ass too. 

Is it always the same songs live? We try to constantly change our setlist, we kinda like adapt it to our audience, if it’s like a hardcore punk show we try to play the harder stuff, when it’s more ska punk, we mainly do ska songs and such.

What has been the best/most promising gig so far? I guess the time when Wisecracker from Germany came to Mexico City last year, we had a lot of fun and met some amazing people.

Have you had any bigger tours from start to now? We don’t really tour that often since people in Mexico only attends to shows on weekends, if you’re doing a show like Wednesday, people won’t go. So we try to do our best by going to different places everyweekend.

How big crowds do you usually play for? I’m guessing that it should be like 50-100 people per show, we’ve had less people in the crowd but we’ve had more.

What are the plans for the rest of the year? Relax, have some piña colada, and have fun! Nah, we’re writing the record but there’s no hurry or anything like it, if it turns out ok, we’ll record it by the end of the year.

Where do you usually play? We play at some venues constantly here in the city, but we really don’t like those places so we won’t advertise em.

What are your goals with your music? Make a living out of it and tour all around the globe. Yeah, that’s it.

When did you decide to go all in for the music? When people started listening to AV, when we got a label, when I was getting messages from all across the globe saying that they like what we write, what we do and that we inspire them. That’s when it clicked me

Is it easier to get your inspiration from older bands or from bands more modern? I guess it depends, for me I get inspiration of older bands and documental videos, but I get my inspiration for playing live from new bands. 

What are your sources of inspiration? Life itself, the stuff you grown up with, the stuff  you have to endure, what you see on the news, what you see on the streets. I also love books, movies, chats with other people and that helps to fuse them all together

What's the first step when making a new song? Not knowing what to do with the guitar in hand or the piano haha.

How do you feel about the downloading of music instead of buying albums? I guess, times change, and the music industry is dead  now. Free music should be the way to go for everyone, cuz music itself is free, you can grab a can and start hitting it in some sort of pattern and you’re already making music. Why charge for it? But also, people should realize that making music takes a lot of time, effort and money, so if you can donate or collaborate by buying the digital record or a physical copy, going to the shows, getting a shirt and sharing the music you like with other people, that makes a huge difference, cuz you’re still enjoying the music  you like, but you’re also contributing to make the artists make a living out of it. I guess, the artists should up their game too and create all sorts of content that fans can get in their hangs, videos, chats, digital media and what not.

What would be your dreams for the band? I don’t really dream of wish something for my band, I guess everything that happens to you in your life is a merit of your own work and a bit of luck.

Besides your own music, what genres and bands do you listen to? I love all sorts of genres, bands and music, I’ve been listening to a lot Alien Ant Farm, they dropped a record recently and it sounds good, I loved the latest Lagwagon record, it’s an amazing piece of punk music. I’ve been listening a lot of Cindy Lauper, Big Wig, Mindless Self Indulgence, Capdown and Gorillaz lately, also this super sick dj named Scott Brown from the UK. And I fucking love swedish bands, Millencolin, Refused, Birdflesh, Invasionen, Randy, Rotten Sound, even The Hives! I just love music.

What do you hold most dear? I guess the memory of my father and all that that we was to me before he died, he was a super rad dude. I wish I could knew him a bit more.

What would be your greatest fears for the future? Not being able to keep doing music or being busy with stuff that does not provide me the means and time to do so.

When you are on stage, what do you fear most then? Getting kicked out from the show by the audience haha

What songs and what years were they released?

?¿ Not sure about this one haha, I guess my favourite songs? I have a bunch, I recently made a mixtape with some so here’s a few in the list haha:

Franz Nicolay – Frankie Stubb’s Tears – 2012

Lagwagon - Obsolete Absolute – 2014

Atom & His Package – Before My Friends Do – 2001

Big Audio Dynamite – Looking For a Song - 1994

Fugazi – Merchandise – 1990

The Get Up Kids – Tithe – 2011

Gob – Face The Ashes – 2007

Gorillaz – Superfast Jellyfish (Unicorn Kid Remix) – 2010

Hot Water Music – Moonpies for Misfits – 1999

Weezer – Tired of Sex - 1996
311 – Eons - 1999

Have you been part of any other projects?

I have this Black Metal/Hardcore/Crust project called Coconut Distroyer, and I have a project called Ben Reilly, which is like Techno/Chiptune stuff

Have you been in any other bands? Yeah, but I don’t want to name em haha they all suck. Just check the ones above!

What do you work with outside of the band and the music? I’m currently doing some work on education evaluation, and I’m trying to get some reviews of records and video games up in a few months.

What would you do if there was no music? I would kill myself, last year I got something stuck in my right ear for a while and I couldn’t literally hear shit with that eardrum, so it was hell and it was one ear, If there was no music, I would definitely kill myself.

How important are your fans? Fans means a lot to me, sometimes you take it for granted, but if people weren’t there you wouldn’t be shit, I love talking to them, hanging out with them and I always try to reply when they write me.

What's the funniest/most memorable thing a fan has done for you? We were about to play a show and I notice this weird looking dude, just staring at me, like a fucking madman, he was kinda drunk and we was just looking at me full of hate, so I  had to go trough him to get to the stage and then he grabs me and whispers something to me, and I didn’t understand what he was saying so I just smiled at him and tried to keep going, then he says some other thing and I go like “yeah buddy…” so then he grabs me by the neck and took out his phone from his pocket and gave it to the person next to us so we could get a picture togheter haha, it was terrible cuz I really thought that he was going to kick the shit out of me.

How often do you rehearse? Not quite as often as we should haha

Where do you rehearse? We rehearse at my house, we don’t have the best line up or gear but it does the trick. We used to pay for a rehearsal studio, but it was waaay to expensive.

Name 2 of your own songs you like at the moment? Vampires feat. From The Cradle To The Rave and The Spectacular Failure of Wishful Thinking

What do you feel is the best live band you've seen? Lagwagon, they’re amazing live and on studio, their music means a lot to me in so many ways and the energy they put on live Is amazing.

What drives a band that isn't all that famous and renowned to try to make a living on their music and to keep playing? Love for the music, love for what you do and mostly love from the fans.

Do you have any webpages? Yeah, www.anti-venom.com

Any pearls of wisdom for all other bands out there? If you think you’re gonna be famous or make a living out of this, that aint gonna happen, if you’re playing just for fun, just play in your garage or your house and don’t claim that you play just for it. We all play to be listened to, to have some sort of recognition, this isn’t a game or a hobbie, so if you wanna do it for those reasons, do it on your own and don’t consume the time of others. If you think you have what it takes, go out and never quit.

Describe your show, visually and musically A fucking mess, three guys trying to sound good  and giving it all on the stage.

How do you view the music industry of today? I think it’s dead, it doesn’t exist anymore. We’re all on our own and we have to take advantage of it and make it by ourselves

What advice would you like to give other bands? Quit it while you have a chance, it leads to no good haha.

What are the biggest obstacles for a band? Yourself and the rest of the members, the tools and media are in your hands, if you won’t or can’t use em, quit it.

What is best/worst with playing the clubs?

The worst: the lack of respect for musicians, there’s no help, there’s no promotion, there’s just their money interest

The best: Sometimes they give you beer. 

Tell us about upcomming gigs and why we should be at them? We’ll be playing with Leftover Crack in may and those guys fucking rule, it’s an honor to open for them, so it’s a must

How would you describe your sound in one sentence Pop Melodies Filled With Hate

What is your favorite crappy instrument? My favorite crappy instrument? I have this old Casio keyboard for kids, it sounds terrible but I like it haha

What was one of the most quarrelsome times for you in the band? Our past drummer, he was the most useless mother fucker and quitter of all times.

Whats your Pre-show ritual? I smoke and drink red bull, talk about how nobody is going to like us and complain about dumb shit, once I get on stage I turn into this completely person who only wants to show the audience what is supposed to give it all on stage and give em all he’s got.

Do you have anything to add?

Thanks a lot for the interview, you can find us in www.facebook.com/AntiVenomMexico and you can follow us on twitter, tumblr and instragram @antivenommx 

All our music is for free so get it and share it with your friends! www.anti-venom.com