DELTA – Interview with Santiago, Nicolas and Felipe

At present probably everywhere are metalmaniacs. There aren't place where don't listen to metal music!!! Sincerely say I don't know about bands from Africa, outside of Antarctica or Arctic. This time the band comes from Chile, and I am sure, that many bands from Europe or the USA have not musical skills like boys from DELTA. They are really excellent virtuosos, what you can to hear on them material, about is speech below ? I invite!!!

Hey!!! First what I heard during listening your music was your virtuosity. So as every of you would to take part in some musical contests?

Santiago: Well I got no problems entering a contest of music. And as a band we entered one.

Your musical competence are very impressive. Why did you resolve to so complex arrangements? Did you play already any concerts? Do not you get tired during performance on live?

Santiago: Hahahaha… well…. about the complex arrangement the music just turn out to be that way!! And well we all arrange our parts…. and of course playing live there are arrangement too…and some improvisation. We have played with the current line-up 2 shows…. and 2 more coming… and we are working to have a lot more… Santiago: No… we don't get tired because we rehearse a lot! So that we don't have that trouble live.

Often have you got rehearsals? You should have a lot of time to play. Your team-work is very impressive.

Santiago: We do have a lot of rehearsals… but there is a lot of work to do at home for every of us… the idea is to arrive to the rehearsals with all ready, nothing to practice…so that in the rehearsal you just have to put all together.

Which is tune play the hardest for you? Which is the most complex technically?

Santiago: For the bass is “Why are you so far?” the instrumental middle is one of the hardest line in the cd… and I have to practice it a lot… and it is not just playing the part…. it is playing it and make it sound good… with a clean sound… and that is difficult. For Guitars (Benjamin and Jorge) I think that “Fly Away” is the hardest to play, because of the main riff. For the vocal player (Felipe) it's “Infinite Sadness”, the drummer (Andrés) suffer a lot with the velocity in Apollyon and for the Keyboardist (Nicolas) is “Schizophrenia” I think.

You exist really since 2003 year. In 2004 year you gave first material “Apollyon Is Free”. What is reaction there on the material in Chile and beyond borders of country?

In Chile the audience is very little… and the promotion in here have been slow… but the people like what we do (there are of course some people they don't like the album)… we are working hard to play with the more known nationals band…. but the band is new… and in Chile the process to get known is really slow… but we are working on it. We have received some comments from other countries… cd reviews… and well… the acceptance i think it is good…. we got a bad cd review in Germany… but we got another good from there too…. and we have sound in other countries… i think that the promotion in other countries thanks to Risestar have been pretty good.

For recording of album you invited many of Chilean artists. Do the people interested in metal music everyday? Among them was woman even – Magdalena Reyes ? Surely she sings in duel for “Encheiresin Naturae” – this is romantic, classic ballad?

Santiago: No…. the metal audience is limited in Chile. And the metal is minuspreciated here… but we presented the project to some great musicians and they like it! So their work with us, it was a great experience.

What do you inspire to creating so complex technically music? The album remain 70 minutes (11 tunes). It testifies about this that you did not lack ideas.

Nicolás: Well… more than compose complex and technically music, is just a matter of musical language. In my case, like composer, I'm really close to classical music, and most of all to the Barroque period having J.S Bach like my musical god and “Father of Harmony”. So the fact of the technique showed among the album is just one way to speak in the world of music. Here we have a lot of chord progressions, arpeggios, the solo parts, and the lyrics… I think that all the parts have to be magnificent, and they have to work together, so that's why the music can be so complicated… Some people can say that is just a demonstration of technique… but I think that is just other way to talk in music.

Have you got some unreleased or unrecorded tunes?

Santiago: Yes …we have some… but they will be in the second Delta album… coming, we hope, next year

How does look creative process of every tune?

Santiago: Well… basically in “Apollyon is Free” Nicolas came with all the ideas ready and everyone worked arranging the lines…

In wholeness I understand where from you took name of Progressive / Neoclassic Metal. In your music are many of progression and influences of classic music, or else the dynamics power/heavy metal, and even in some places you wipe like in jazz?

Santiago: Well yes… there a lot of influences in our music… we are trying to mix things up

What does symbolize the hand on cover-art? Similar gesture shows Baphometh on one's pictures. And maybe it is Hindi Mudra?

Santiago: Well actually it is nothing like that… it go with the concept of the lyrics… it represents the opening of the eyes that let see the darkness that surround everyone, but yet they don't see. It's like the terror that you have when you face something completely new… and of course, when you have to face something that smells no good. That's why the mist is there.

After listening your material I came to conclusion, that if in our times would be live some great composer of classic music, e.g. Antonio Vivaldi, W. A. Mozart or Niccolo Paganini, then he would compose just the tunes in style of progressive heavy metal – that is the full arrangements and virtuosity of parties of guitars and the keys, arrangements evolve from minute to minute, the ideally harmonious sounds. And it all in metal binding, hehehe?

Santiago: Well, we think just the same as you!

Nicolás: Bach would be a Metalhead!!

Don't you fear that ideas will become exhausted on next disc? Doesn't probably it will be duplicating of first album? You don't understand me wrong, but if you will take some old piece and same riffs, and you will play it in different order or tone and tempo, and you will make with solos similarly and then rise “new” piece?

Santiago: We hope not… we are working on the second now, and i don't think that it will be a copy of the first one, and besides, every member of the band have learned more in this year, and the composition of “Apollyon is Free” were majoritary when the band wasn't completed ( In fact…we didn't have a drummer!) so no one work too much on the composition but Nicolas. In the new cd this is different, we all will try to show our influences on the new cd, and we hope that the people like it!

What do you think of symphonic black metal? Do you find there the elements of symphony? Maybe there are only complex parties of keys?

Felipe: Well, personally I like the old black metal like Venom or Celtic Frost but symphonic black metal is a good concept anyway. Bands like Dimmu Borgir are very good in this particular style, they create some certain atmosphere like you are in one of those gore movies, it's really heavy..

Nicolas: Well, If we check out bands like “Childen OF Boodom” we can hear clearly few influences of Mozart in their tunes. It's just other way to use the classical elements, but I don't know if we can call it “Elements of Symphony” at all.

I am interesting what are Chilean metal scene at present?

Santiago: Well right now there are emerging good bands…. there is Six Magics…. Alejandro Silva Power Cuarteto… Fahrenheit….. there is good music in Chile, but is really difficult to rise here…

Felipe: You should listen to a band called Dorso, they are really great. And there is a lot of melodic and traditional death metal with bands like Criminal, Darkemist, Sadism, Timecode. And in power metal there is a band called Blodden-wedd which rocks too!

Do you plan to record in future some song in your language?

Santiago: I don't think so…. making music in Spanish will limit too much our options around the world… we prefer to work on the universal language

OK. This is the end! Thanks!!! Do you want something to say to maniacs of heavy playing from beyond the borders of Chile and first of all for Polish heavy-metal funs?

Santiago: Well I want to thank “Born to Die” and to you Gnom, for the interview. Well maniacs, keep playing a lot, have fun with music and never stop!!!! Hear a lot of heavy fucking metal ( And of course , buy our cd!!!! Hahaha)

ceterisdelta@hotmail.com – www.deltachile.com