interview with J.P. Krom
What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you? This is a soloist project, but nowadays is a band preparing to play live. J.P. Krom (me, 35 years old): Vocals and guitars, Martín Gárate (33 years old) guitars and vocals, Reynaldo Catalán (33 years old): Bass and vocals, Braulio Morales (24 years old): Keayboards; and Charly “The Kid” (29 years old).
Have you had other previous members? Yes: Felipe Rodriguez (Bass) and Alexis del Río (guitars and vocals).
Did you make music even when you were young? Sure! Since I was 13 years old. My first band was “Devastator” with Felipe Rodríguez. It was thrash-death metal, we never recorded anything. After that I created the band “Eternally”, have some songs recorded, but nothing uploaded to the web. And in the twenties created a female fronted heavy/progressive metal band that I called “Sector 9”. In Youtube you can find the song “Sombra de Dolor”.
Where are you from? We’re from Chile, one of the countries at the end of America (America is not USA), in South America.
What year did the band form? In 2009 I decided to create my soloist project. My first work is “Classical Covered” with adaptations to “classical” pieces of music played in electric guitar.
What's your style of genre? Astrological Metal. The ancient knowledge of astrology is the main concept in all of the songs. The sound roughly a mix between Black Label Society guitars, Heavy Metal and something that sounds like the voice of Type O Negative, Peter Steele.
What inspires you? Astrology. This knowledge has been darkened by religions and media. Thousand years ago it was a help to all of the cultures around the world. And still it is, but just for a few. I have a responsibility creating music and is teaching what I’ve learned to the ones who want to listen.
How often and where do you reherse? It depends on the dates of gigs. These days we have a gig soon, so we’re going to have rehearsal 2 or 3 times per week.
How have you developed since you started with the music? In many different ways. Music is part of all of the societies in the history of the world. The most abstract art among all of the arts. It has made me developed a sublimation of all of my energies and creating music is the reason of my life.
Do you have other interests of work outside the band? Astrology, teaching music, psychology, the hidden true history, ancient cultures and a lot of other things.
Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that? Not yet, but we’re going to do that when the first album is already finished and ready to sell it. What I know about it is that these agencies look for gigs for the band and you have to pay them. Some bands in Chile, like Six Magics and Nuclear, have made that to play in Europe
Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that? Sure, the music we play needs to be known in all of the world, that’s the reason we need an international label.
What made you decide to make this music? First of all, the musical orgasm I feel when I play something I like a lot and the powerful satisfaction of creating. Second is all of the messages, information and knowledge you can give to people, making they feel identified with the lyrics. At the same time the satisfaction of making feel people great with songs they like and making they learn more with astrology. Rock and metal are oppositional to the official information people with the power to control our societies that try to makes us blind followers. We, artists, have the responsibility to open the eyes of people.
What are your songs about? Astrology: it so deep and complete; so you can talk about all of the behaviors of the human being and lot of things in our galaxy.
Who does the composing and writes the lyrics? Me.
Do you start with the music or the lyrics? It depends on the song, but often I start with the music.
Do you compose in a certain environment? Home. But sometimes the ideas come in anywhere and I have to record them.
Have you done any covers live? A lot. They are gothic metal, you can find them in my youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/jpkromp
What language do you sing in? Do you mean what language I spek? It is Spanish.
What are the least and most people to attend one of your gigs?
We’ve never played the original songs, this next May 25fth will be first.
Playing covers the least was something like 50 persons? Not sure of it. The more I guess it was 500. When we play with Denun before Therion, here in Santiago de Chile, there was at last 5000 persons, but it wasn’t a gig of mine.
What ages are most of your concert attendants? 20 to 40 years old.
Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary? We vary. Now we want to play something different each time, but it depends on the time we have to prepare it. All of us have different works, not related with music.
Do you have a regular place you play live often? No,
What was your first gig like? When I was in secondary school, don’t remember the first one, but I do remember the kind of gigs that they were: In very precarious and without the best gear.
What was your latest gig?
It was with a tribute band to Guns N’ Roses: January first.
They needed a “Slash”. Years ago I had another tribute band to Guns,
So I knew the songs.
Have you had to cancel a gig? Never.
Where have you played live this year? The first gig will be in MIBAR, after that, we want to play in all of the places we can.
Where do you plan to gig the coming year? We want to play abroad. Hope we can do that in Europe, USA and other countries.
When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale? We don’t do that yet. But we’re going to.
Where can people buy your merchandise? We have nothing to sell yet, but it will be available when the record will be finished, after July in www.jpkrom.com
What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records nowadays? There are bands that are agree with free downloading of their songs and other bands that are disagree. I think nowadays the bands don’t earn a lot by selling their albums, they earn more by playing live. Anyway, the metalhead is a audiophile and he/she is going to buy anyway the records of his/her favourite bands.
How do you think the music industry have changed because of this? It has changed a lot, nowadays we have a lot of musicians producing their music and selling it.
What do you think of my work? I think is great, there are lot of bands, like us, that don’t have the diffusion we need. I want all of the world know what we do, so I thank you.
How do you think and know that this interview will help you in the music business? Don’t know how much people with read this, and don’t know how much will like the music we play. But even they are just a few, it will be helpful, because it is a few we don’t have. And I’m sure that if they like the music we play, they’re going to say to others, and someday we’ll be playing for you in your country.
Do you have any role models or idols? I take from the information what I think is interesting, but I don’t have any kind of idols. This information can be taken from Tao, Sumerian culture, native cultures of all America (That is North America and South America), like one of cultures we have in Chile (Mapuche), Incas (from Perú) and some many others. There is an Argentinian astrologist that I like a lot for what he has written and his name is Eugenio Carutti.
Why do you think that they exist? First we need the meaning of idol, I found this one: “Figure or image who represents a supernatural being and who is worshiped and worship like divinity itself”. I ask myself if a supernatural divine being needs a worship from humans, and if it needs it, is it really supernatural and divine?
Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today? We find inspiration in everything, even we don’t like it. In any sense we can find inspiration. I like what older bands did and at the same time I admire the new things that bands try to do and not staying always in the past.
What have been your biggest obstacles? You can’t live of music here as you live working in a regular office, for example, selling something. Besides the metal music has been always under, because it is not on fashion as the music the powerful ones want we listen. There are a lot of biggest obstacles, like living in this country, people who doesn’t dare to listen new music, Chilean labels dedicated to only old school metal, irresponsible musicians, places that ask for you to pay to play in there, always have two lives at the same time (the one who has a regular work and the other that is musician), troubles in relationships because the priority of music in our lives, expensive gear, we have to pay all, and many many others that I don’t know if it is necessary saying them.
What advice would you give other bands or artists? Imagine yourself old, ready to die and tell me: what thing you’re repent you didn’t? if it is music, you have to do it now, and do it well.
How do you get psyched for a gig? Just being me in that role.
Do you have any new material? Yes, don’t know if it is new for you. You can look in youtube the lyric video of Omnipotent Egotist. This is the first single of my new album, not finished yet.
What are your web sites?
https://www.facebook.com/J.P.KromMusic/
https://www.instagram.com/jpkrom/
How can people reach you? [email protected] or in facebook.
What are your plans for the future? Make this new metal style, the astrological metal being known in all of the world, playing a lot in different countries and the learning of people through the knowledge of this music that is astrology.
Do you have something to add? Wait for your comments, hope you like the song Omnipotent Egotist and the concept of astrological metal. See you soon! Thanks!