BLACK SUN – Interview with Chemel Neme, vocalist

Hello! Great that you bring some time. In April 2005 you released your album „Tyrant from a foreign land“. Tell me, where are you from, who are you and how, where and when did the story about BLACK SUN begin?

First of all thank you so much for the opportunity of this interview. We are all from Ecuador, Southamerica. We live in Guayaquil, which is a city along the coast of our country…. Very sunny most of the time!. The band has five members: Luis Fabara, our bass player; Christopher Gruenberg and Juan Miguel Iturralde, both guitar players; Nicolas Estrada, on the Drums and Chemel Neme on the vocals.

The band was actually started on the year 1999 by Nicolas, Christopher and an ex-member and friend Javier Diab. The first rehearsals were done inside Nick’s house which was kind of a problem (at least for his parents and the neighbors). They kept on getting together to play the music of their favourite bands, such as Helloween, Metallica, Hammerfall and Megadeth among others. Time went by and they started getting better at their musical skills, which led to the search of the 2 spots that were vacant… the bass and the vocals. I don’t know about Germany, but in Ecuador, good bass players are hard to come by and Blacksun’s quest for one was no exception. Finally they decided on being helped by a friend who usually played the guitars, Juan Miguel Iturralde, but was willing to try the bass for this proyect. Then it was time for the vocals. Since no singer could be found, Jamil Chedraui, a friend from another band helped out for the first gigs. After a while the band needed a permanent vocalist. Nicolas knew of a guy, named Chemel Neme, from a friend at work. His influences were the same as the band´s and so the gave it a try. The match was great and so the base of what is presently Blacksun came to be. Sadly, after various concerts and during the composition of Tyrant, Javier had to leave the band. He had the opportunity to study abroad and was leaving for almost 2 years. We played with only one guitar for a while, mostly in bars doing 80s covers. But we had to finish our album and for that purpose we required a good bass player as well as another solid guitar. Juan Miguel covered the guitar space gladly and his hardcore 80s influences sat well with the rest of the band. A friend from a different band who often assisted our rehearsals, gave it a run on the bass. Luis Fernando, did a great job complementing the band’s whole sound. Having played in 4 bands before entering Blacksun, he knew his job well and his semi-progressive style sounded great to us.

Where did you record „Tyrant from a foreign land “?

Tyrant was recorded at Cloaka studios in Guayaquil, Ecuador. The recorder/mixer/producer was a friend called Carlos Bohorquez, although we secretly named him Dracula… not because he looks like a vampire, but because he was always sleeping whenever the sun was up. This was ok to us and we had an awesome time recording with him, he is a great guy and knows quite a lot about recording. Afterwards Mika Jussila gave it a finishing touch at Finnvox, with a masterizing process.

Who is responsible for the songwriting?

All of us. The truth is that nobody ever came with a complete song, from start to finish to a rehearsal. I think maybe programmed is the only song that Juan Miguel brought to us and almost nothing was modified except for some of the lyrics maybe. Other than that somebody usually brings a piece of a song, such as a riff or a melody and we keep on building the rest from that. Other times we just get together and start from scratch, which was the case of Metal Madness and Tyrant.

How does the songwriting process turn to be in detail? How do you start, what comes first and what comes afterwards?

We usually start with a base melody. Then we start adding 100 different things and end up with a 15 minutes mix of….hmm, stuff… Then we shave off the excess music and afterwards we polish every little detail. Sometimes I have lyrics already written just in case we have any new ideas for a song. During all this time everybody has a different point of view about everything of course!! But I think this difference of opinions is one of band’s greater strengths and this will show even more in our next album which is currently under construction.

How did you come to the band name „BLACK SUN“? Which meaning does it have?

Actually, we once had a concert coming up and we had no official name. Somebody suggested Blacksun and everybody agreed. If you do search on the internet about the name, very interesting stuff will come up, which I think it’s perfect for a metal band.

Could you already get a name urbanly?

I hope so!! We’ve been playing for almost 3 years now and we are well known locally. Although will have a much more busier schedule this year 2006.

How is the metal scene there where you live? Are there a lot of metalheads?

The metal scene is not that big in Ecuador and even less in Guayaquil. Being such a big coastal city, the musical taste of it’s inhabitants is quite influenced by the American pop culture, which we don’t like at all…. There is of course some metalheads here and even more in Quito and Cuenca., which are cities in the mountains, that support Blacksun as well as other bands. To those good few, we thank them eternally.

What about gigs or a tour in the near future?

I think 2006 will be quite a busy year. We have a concert with Mago de Oz in Quito during the month of march, which should be awesome. Mago is one of the most respected bands of Spain and we will love to open the concert for them. There are also some gigs scheduled for Quito and Cuenca as well, with a great Ecuadorian band called Viuda Negra. We did one of these gigs, which we named B3 (for 3 bands) in Guayaquil last year and it was great. In the end all of the band’s members got together on the stage and did a mix of classic metal covers. We’ll have some video of that up on the website soon.

Which bands do you like privatly?

Angra, Rata Blanca, Helloween, Maiden of course, Saratoga, Gamma Ray, Juan loves Children of bodom although it is not my style, Metallica, Rhapsody, Hammerfall, Judas Priest, Sonata Artica, At Vance, Def Leppard.

Why would you recommend your album?

I think it is a fun album. Some of the lyrics are quite serious, while others are pure quest-for-metal songs. In general it is quite enjoyable and entertaining.

Which subjects does „Tyrant from a foreign land“ include? Is it a concept album?

It is not a concept album. Every song has different themes and most of them are fun metal stuff. I think Tyrant and Just like Fire are more serious tracks in terms of lyrics… Tyrant talks about this last episode in Iraq’s war and Just like fire about something else which I can’t say here, but if you know about the subject of the song then you will probably understand our message.

I like your songs, because they are pure and heavy power metal for me. Which is your favourite song on the new one?

Thank you very much Tanja, we are delighted that you do. Right now we have about 6 unfinished songs for the new album…. My personal favourite is called Dehumanized. But everything is still on a very early stage, so we’ll se what happens during the next few months.

How far do you want to go with BLACK SUN? Is BLACK SUN a fun band or something serious?

I think for all of us, Blacksun is both. It is a fun band, because we play and compose exactly what we like. We don’t care if Reggaeton or Death Metal are big sellers right now, we will do what we feel good about, regardless of any commercial issues. Which is why I think it is a fun band… but it is also serious, because of our love for music. I think none of us could live without playing. If it comes to a point where we become successful and we have to tour internationally, then we will.

Who is responsible for the great cover artwork?

The cover artwork was done by a Colombian graphics designer called Diego Rodriguez. We loved his work, he is a very bright guy.

Your words to the metalheads?

Keep an eye out for our website, we’ll have nice surprises for you guys and Tanja you’ll be the first to know about it. Thanks once again, stay metal!

www.blacksunmetal.com
Line-Up:
Chemel Neme – vocals
Christopher Gruenberg – guitar
Juan Miguel Iturralde – guitar
Luis Fernando Fabara – bass
Nicolas Estrada – drums
Contact:
info@blacksunmetal.com
Discographie :
Tyrant from a foreign land – 2005