AFTERFEEDBACK – Interview with Pla

AFTERFEEDBACK was born in 1995 year in Spain … They exist quite a lot!!! The band create: David, Eloi, Alex, Roger, D. J. Jefe and Pla, which he wanted to answer me on several questions. The music what they play defines the name of nu metal at present. Many of you will turn fulsomely with nose surely, but I am thinking that nu metal is next step in evolution of metal music, whether you like it, or not!!! AFTERFEEDBACK is suitable of attention the representative of nu metal!!!…so I invite to following text.

Your promo CD includes two pieces “Bullet For A Dollar” as well as “XXX”. Why do you choose on the promo these songs?

We choose that songs because they show you exactly the essence of AF-b, A Bullet for a $ is the best song in the album and XXX is something special for the band because it shows we can sing also in Spanish really well.

Additionally you put video-track “Get It Real”. Where come from this fragment of concert?

There are several parts of different concerts, the video is a little fragment of the complete video that appears in the album, well, that is the part you can see the band alive, you can see de making off of the album, you also can see interviews to us, and you even can see our time of relax!! That’s funny man.

I agree. The video is cool!!! Particularly your tomfooleries!!! Hahahaha … And however the gas makes fire!!! Hahaha … Who gave the idea to record such the video about your band?

People likes a lot to see the band in videos, their life, how they play, how they live…I don’t know, we had that in mind because we are the first ones who like to see that kind of videos, it’s a way of knowing the band, to know more of them, the feel them nearer you know?

And we had really time to record with the camera, then, a friend of Rutx performed the video with all the images that Rutx and Alex had chosen.

North – Point – it's seems your sponsors. They the dress can see in the CD (something like the example catalogue of their clothes – articles). But their clothes are more designed for fans of hip-hop than for fans of metal…

Well, we always got the clothes we like, it’s true that their designs are normally for fans of hip hop, but it doesn´t matter, we like a lot their clothes, of course we never had weared their stuff if we didn’t like it.

In your music can to find elements of hip-hop. Anyway nu metal in your realisation contains some motives of rap or folk in style of SEPULTURA, progressive rock as well as typical patents of KORN or LINKIN PARK. Generally there reign heavy sound with low in tune guitars . What was your musical inspirations for your music – Do I am mistook in type inferences strongly?

No, all of that bands your talking about are bands that in some moments we have like them, even now, but what I would like to say is that in this album we didn’t take care of the sound of other bands, we got our own personality, our own sound, of course you can see influences, but that’s normal, all is metal, man! Anyway, at the moment of composing, nobody was talking about something like “ we could do that like x band…” do you know what I mean?

Yes, sure. Do you use Spanish in your texts often? I will admit these sounds originally. Once most bands preferentially used English in their texts. At present sometimes leave from using English. What does decide that some track is Spanish and it isn't English, e.g. “XXX”?

Dav, our singer wrote that lyric in Spanish, he felt like a lot singing in Spanish because he wanted to say high and clear what the lyrics says, he wanted everybody in our country realized the situation, so we compose that song. This song is talking about this fucking business, music business. There are a lot of bands working really hard, wasting lots of money, a lot of hours driving and tripping just to play alive and looking for a chance…but then, the “professional area” is not interested in almost of this underground bands, or maybe they are, but a few months later your music is not so cool, your kind of music is death…that’s bullshit you know? Good music is always good music, but that people has the control of all, not the bands. Sad but true…

About what does AFTERFEEDBACK sing yet?

As I tell you a little bit up, we talk about situations, we write about that fucking nonsense war of Iraq, A bullet for a $ is talking about that, for the band that is the best lyric I’ve written ever, I really like the feeling of that song because we was composing the music just before war started, and I wrote the lyric just in the beginning of the conflict. We also talk about a story of a homeless that I always found in the same corner in Barcelona, playing his guitar and singing, but he only was there when it was raining! , this lyric is “That Old Guitar”, as well, about the problem in amazons where the big companies are destroying the woods, “I Can’t Breathe”…As you can see, they are normally social situations, also as racism, rage against countries….

How is difference between “The First Emotion” and “Afterfeedback”?

The main difference is that “the first emotion…” is an album where the songs had been composed with a lot of time, there is a difference of 3 years between the newest and the oldest songs. We also were younger and maybe a little bit more aggressive when we were composing, “Afterfeedback” is clearly more mature, we had in mind the sound we wanted and we knew what we wanted every time, and the direction of the album. We had learnt a lot of the recording mistakes that we did in your first album, and now we had the possibility of do that much better. Definitely ”Afterfeedback” sounds much more professional.

Both materials recorded in Mohrmann Studios in Germany and they were edited by Nu Metal Recordz. How did come to it that with your material you had hit to Germany?

That was luck I knew a person which got me some contacts, from there we sent our stuff to the guys of NuMetal, we met in Palma de Mallorca, and there we talked about the conditions and what they had in mind too.

When they asked us where we wanted to records, we said, in Germany of course!

Roymimi Music, Adipocere, Bellaphon???

They are the distributor companies, we can’t do anything in that area. But we know that Adipocere is working really well, RoyMimi is nopt working with NuMetal already so we have no distribution in Spain right now, about Bellaphone, I really don’t know, but I don’t think they’re working really well.

What is the position AFTERFEEDBACK and generally the nu metal in Spain as well as in the world?

AF-b is the most popular nu metal band in Spain, but that doesn’t mean anything there, we’re still an underground band, we normally play in front of 300 people, but in Spain, classical heavy metal is still controlling the movement of metal side. The problem is that the big companies are only signing up Latin music bands and pop singer…so there’s nothing to do against that for the moment.

In the rest of the world we’re really known in France and also in Germany, but we have not much possibilities of playing there alive because our management company is only working in our country.

We have received a lot of incredible reviews around the world, brazil, Chile, Mexico, USA, Japan, Malaysia, Moldavia, Russia, and from the rest of European countries but we have no distribution there, so people can’t buy our cd`s.

Does someone from Poland interest your creation?

I really don’t know, we still have no number of sales, so we don’t know in which countries the album has been well sold. If I’m not wrong some other webzine has interested in the band, but I’m not sure.

Pla, tell me more about your concerts. With who did you play? What was concert the best?, etc.

Surely the biggest band we’ve played is Hamlet from Spain and Pulkas from UK, but for the moment we still had no possibilities of playing with really big bands. I think the best concert we have had has been one in our hometown, they came over 1000 people, we didn’t expect so many people, that was an amazing surprise, I remember when we were playing Fall of 99, some guys in front of the stage open out a big flag where they had written “GO ON AFTER FEEDBACK, YOU ARE THE BEST, AND YOU HAVE OUR SUPPORT”, man, me and they guys were really impressed, moments like that are the best things in Rock and Roll.

What is your concert of dreams???

Personally I would like to play with Tool or A Perfect Circle, they for me the best bands in the world, I saw A Perfect Circle alive in Barcelona…that was really cool, man. Could be incredible to play with Metallica or Korn, why not! Ja, ja.

Why did you resolve to use samples and scratches, for which it stand Dj Jefe?

Because we want to have infant possibilities when we’re composing, Dj Jefe let us to expand our music without frontiers, we don’t want to abuse with that kind of effects or sounds, but we want to have the possibility of playing some synths or strange sounds, even some sequenced parts in the songs. But I wanna tell you that all the sound we record in the album you can hear them when we’re playing alive.

Only he has not hairstyle like the rest of band…, hehehehe

At this moment I have to say that he isn’t the only one who has no dreadlogs, Alex the drummer and Rutx, the bass player has short hair now, I think Eloi and David will be the next so I will stay alone man, Ha,Ha

It's a pity. You looked so pleasantly with siliquas. Yoy will be steady, hehehe…Who is Julia Shulz???

Julia is a friend of the band who was helping us in the international promotion, she was in collaboration with Musmac Management, but she isn’t now because she is too busy now.

What have you plans on 2004 year?

We’ve been recording new demos for the next album, we’re now looking for a new recording company because our agreement with NuMetal is over so we would like to find a bigger company. We’ve been touring last year till now, but now we will concentrate in the next album, we will play only some gigs and festivals in Spain and France, but almost time we will be composing new songs.

Thanks for interview!!! What would you want to tell for fans of metal?

I only can say that you must go on listening music, It doesn’t matter if somebody says that any music is shit, or too much commercial, or too much underground, all is music and all can give you different feelings. Fuck the fashion waves!! And of course, look for our album and buy it! Ha, Ha!!!!!!!! Adios from Barcelona.