HAEMORRHAGE
INTERVIEW
Taken from Eternal Frost Webzine #5
Interview with Luisma
Here you go, an interview with
the best grindcore band currently on the scene and one of the two
best Spanish extreme metal bands around, the other being DERANGED.
Upon hearing the new HAEMORRHAGE album, Anatomical Inferno, I was
completely blown away, so I came up with an interview (one of the
fastest I've ever written) and got a quick reply, thanks to
Luisma, the guitarist of the band. Read the interview then RUN (don't
fucking walk, you poser!) and get Anatomical Inferno! --goden
Eternal Frost: Alright, we’ll skip most of the boring
biographical info that people don’t care about. I am
curious, though, as to how many demos Haemorrhage released before
getting signed to Morbid Records. Had the band been around a long
time before getting signed?
Luisma: We recorded just one demo, Grotesque Embryopathology,
in 1992. That demo wasn't distributed really because we knew the
sound was really shitty. We just recorded it for some friends and
'zines. We recorded a promo tape in 1994. We sent it to Morbid
Records and they offered us to release a split EP and then a full-length
album. Believe it or not, but we were formed back in 1990,
although we can't be considered a real band until the beginning
of 1994, when we got a full line-up. Until then we were playing
with other bands and Haemorrhage was just like a project band. So
when we recorded out promo tape in 1994, we had a little
experience and the band worked very well from the start.
Is Haemorrhage successful in your home country of Spain? Do a
lot of people come to the shows? Is there any kind of grindcore/death
metal scene in the country or your particular area?
Yes and no. I think we are the most well-known grind/death band
from Spain. We have three CDs out and some split EPs and stuff,
but we can't be considered successful if we are compared to
foreigner bands because most of the people prefer these bands to
Spanish bands. For this reason our better gig in Spain was a show
with CANNIBAL CORPSE and IMMOLATION. When we play with Spanish
bands there is less than half of the people of that day.
Fortunately, we get more support from the rest of Europe than
from our own country. . .we don't care. In spain there is a
little underground scene with cool people and cool bands, but
there is a lot of trendy people that just know CRADLE OF FILTH. .
.
How long does it take for the band to write a song?
Haemorrhage churns out so much music, yet none of it sucks.
Everything I’ve heard just plain rules.
It depends. . .there are some songs which come out alone. But
there are others that are changed lots of times until we get
something we like. Sometimes I am playing guitar in my bedroom
and I have a good riff and I compose the whole song at that
moment. I record it with a tape recorder and I listen to it
trying to add vocals or some new ideas, but very often the songs
are finished at the rehearsal room because it's easier to imagine
new parts with drums, etc. The we listen to the song all together
and we tell our opinion. . . There are some songs that are
refused and we forget it immediately. We try to record just the
best ones.
Is it true that you guys dress up when you play live? What do
you wear?
Yes. We wear surgeon clothes, knives, tools and blood. . .
Anyway, that doesn't happen at every gig cause sometimes we've
played without that stuff, but there's always blood at our shows.
Do you play live much? Does Haemorrhage ever play with any non-grind
bands (doom metal, black metal, etc.)? What are some of the bands
that you’ve played live with?
Definitely we don't play live as much as we would like, although
we usually get chances to do it. We have our jobs, girlfriends
and private lives away from the band, so we can't play very often.
We just play when we feel we wish it and when the conditions to
play are good. I mean money, place, date, bands, etc. We have
played with bands of different styles like AGATHOCLES,
FLESHCRAWL, Cannibal Corpse, Immolation, DENAK, KRABATHOR, MANOS,
OBSCENITY, DEAD INFECTION, C.S.S.O., etc.
What do you guys do in your spare time away from the band?
Work? Make fun of black metal bands? Watch gore/splatter movies (If
so, what are some of your favorites?)?
We do lots of different things. We like to play and watch
football (sorry, "soccer"), go out, get drunk, paint
and, of course, we must work, although it's fuckin' boring, ha ha
ha. . . We also like gore/splatter/horror movies. Some faves are BRAINDEAD,
BAD TASTE, NEKROMANTIK and NEKROMANTIK 2, CANNIBAL
HOLOCAUST, ZOMBIE, DAWN OF THE DEAD, AFTERMATH,
FROM DUSK 'TIL DAWN, THE EXORCIST, THE OMEN,
TITANIC, GONE WITH THE WIND, etc.
What is your favorite song (or songs) from the new album?
Right now mine are "A Cataleptic Rapture", "I’m
a Pathologist", "Putritorium" and "Dawn in
the Rotting Paradise".
My favorites are "Witness of Forensic Horror" and
"Treasures of Anatomy". Also, "Necrotic Garbage"
is fuckin' intense!!!
Why did you decide not to use your artwork for the cover of
the new album (at least my promo version has what looks to be a
real picture)? I think your art is awesome. Will you be doing
covers for any other bands or anything in the future?
Well, I have painted the cover for Anatomical Inferno
picture disc as I did for Grume, but we have used photos
for our album covers and it won't change by now. I only like to
paint for pic-LP covers. Anyway, there are some really sick
drawings in the CD booklet. I did some artwork for bands in the
past, but I have no time right now.
Do you keep a medical dictionary handy around the house?
Ha ha ha. . . No, I keep the medical dictionary inside my mind!!!
There were some line-up changes a while back. What’s the
current line-up for Haemorrhage?
We only had a line-up change in 1996, when our old drummer Jose
left the band. Since then the line-up is Lugubrious--maligna vox,
Luisma--guitar, Ana--guitar, Ramon--bass, and Rojas--drums.
Are any pitch-shifters or other effects used on the vocals? It
sounds like it, but with some people, you never know. . . I love
the wacky shit you and Lugubrious spew from your throats!
Yes, we use pitch-shifter, harmonizer, cavernizer and all kind of
effects we think sound sick. We think it is good to add some
variety to the vocal parts, but most of the time we use our real
voices. I think there are many "true singers" who hate
vocal effects, but they are using lots of reverb, compressors,
etc., so they are fooling their fans. We like vocal effects and
we will ever use them!!!
What are the noises at the end of "Cirrhoetic Liver
Distillation"? Is it part of the vocals or a sound sample?
Lugubrious was drunk at the studio, so we recorded him vomiting
on the floor. The real recording is a little longer but we had to
omit the most sickening parts.
Where do the ideas for Haemorrhage songs come from? Movies,
books. . .?
All ideas come out of my twisted mind, but surely they are
influenced by things I see or live. Some books, some movies. . .
and the famous medical dictionary!!! Ha ha ha. . .
What else is going to be released by Haemorrhage in the near
future, aside from Anatomical Inferno?
We have been waiting a split EP with the Czech band INGROWING,
but it's taking so long that I don't believe it will be out
anymore. Anyway, I hope to make a good live recording during our
next European tour to release a live EP or MCD. That would be
cool.
Let everyone know what kind of stuff you guys have for sale (shirts,
CDs, everything). . .
We have nothing to sell right now!!!! We decided to quit our mail
order list because it takes lots of time and money. Anyway, you
can buy all our stuff at Morbid Records' address.
That’s it for this interview. Thanks a lot for doing it!
Any other news or last words? Keep playing putrefactive vomit-inducing
grindcore!!
Thanks to you, Kenneth, and keep yourself infecting the 'Net with
the true extreme music!!! Greetings to all American grinders and
friends!!! Listen to Anatomical Inferno. . . STAY SICK!!!!