Hello Matzii and Alex! Be welcomed in the sixth issue of Tales of the Morbid Butchers! How often do you get interview requests from fanzines? How much is the interest for you from Europe?
Matzii: Hello to you and to all the readers! Since the release of the album we had many requests from all over the world to do interviews for fanzines and webzines, and is always a pleasure!
What do you think about fanzines? Do you read them or you prefer to read webzines?
Matzii: I think that they are really important today. Even when it’s easier to get webzines because of the internet globalization, a fanzine has a different feeling. I prefer a thousand times to buy a fanzine and read it completely than reading webzines.
How did you get contact with metal music? What was the first album which was bewitched you?
Matzii: My first contact with metal music was when I was 15 years old, 10 years ago. I started listening to Metallica and for a couple of years that was my main band. Then I started to know more bands of thrash metal and later death metal and so with many other suub genres in metal. The album that bewitched me was Ride The Lightning, so far.
When did you decide that you want to play music? What kind of instrument have you start to play on?
Matzii: That was when I met Nico, also drummer of Toxica. We played in the same futbol team and we both liked punk music at that time, we were 13 years old. He was starting to play drums while I was doing the same with guitar, so as soon he had his first drum set we start a punk band called C-4 in february of 2010. We played local shows for two years and then we both entered in metal music so we wanted to start a heavy metal band. After a year or so we met Maxi Martinez and then we start to compose thrash metal.
Have you played in any other bands before TÓXICA?
Matzii: Yes, how I mention in the previous question, me and Nico played in C-4, Alex (Bass) played in Zigurath, Konnen,Trance and in his actual hardcore band called Criacuervos.
Please introduce TÓXICA! How did thrash metal style come into the picture? Who did you bring the band together and who were the members of the first line-up?
Matzii: Toxica was born with no name and with heavy metal hunger. It was initially me and Nico, then Maxi Martinez entered as guitar player. Two months later Alex entered as bassist and the band was complete. When we started to rehearse all together we realize that we wanted to play thrash metal. A few months later we recorded our demo which came out as an EP.
Your first material was „Egoismo Autodestructivo” EP, which came out in 2014. How do you remember to this release? Did it give a headstart to your band’s carrier?
Matzii: Yes, I remember it as it was yesterday. We had three songs finished so we wanted to record one song as a demo to the scene and for the people to know us. Then in the studio we decided to record the other two songs. Finally when we were about to finish we decided to record another song that I wrote while we were recording the other ones.
We decided to release it as an EP and the cover art was made by an awesome local artist called Kwaichang Kraneo and he blew our minds with his art.
Your next release was a split album with CODE RED from Japan, which was „released” only digital format. Why there was no physical format?
Matzii: There was a few physical copies but very few. We edited 30 copies or so here in our area and Code Red did the same there in their town. It was a good experience, we learned a lot and it helps us a little bit to get known in other places and countries.
In 2016 you fired your guitarist, Maxi Martínez. What happened with him? It was easy to find an another guitarist to his position?
Matzii: Maxi wasn’t fired, he just wanted to start studying a sound engineer carrier in Buenos Aires so he moved on to there. There was no chance for us to wait for him to come to our town and play when he was here, so by really good ways he left the band. We are still very good friends and when he travels to the south we meet and drink way too much beers!
After that, it wasn’t easy to find a replacement, but we found Ariel Lardani. He worked on his dad’s hardware store which was close to Alex and me’s job. He joined one month before we started to record our album Ahogados en Contaminacion.
What do you think about tapes? Which is your favorite format? Do you collect merch? What did you buy recently?
Matzii: I think it is awesome. The revival of these class of formats is really great, tapes and vinyls the same. My favorite format is vinyl and we are working to have a vinyl edition of the album. I liked to buy merch at concerts, because I like to wear local bands stuff and to help the band too, plus I know how helpful it is.
In that year your first full-length was released via the Witches Brew from Germany, which is so kick ass! Congratulation! How did you find to this ambitious underground label? Are you satisfied with the work of the label?
Matzii: Thank you very much! We contact with the label in 2015 when we released the split, and at that time they said that they can’t realese the split but would like to work with us in a future material. So when the album was finished we sent it to them. In a few week the label answered us with the offer of release 700 copies and distribute it worldwide. It was really mind blowing for us, a small argentinian band being released by a german label! Can you imagine that? We were really happy. Then Witches Brew release it on 9 of december of 2016 and things went crazy. We had lots of messages from all over the world of people who bought his physical copy and of people who listen to it online and like it so much, we had lots of interviews request from many diferent webzines and fanzines and also we got known in our country too. We are still a small band but we will try to grow more and more with every release.
What kind of reviews did you get for this release?
Matzii: Very good reviews so far. The only thing that some reviewers didn’t like so much was the vocals, but not as a definig detail so it’s great the same.
The cover of the album is so spectacular! How do you like it? Could you tell some words about this talented Venezuelan painter who made it for you?
Matzii: The spectacular artwork definitely help us to catch the attention. John is very awesome artist who has made lots of awesome artworks for many bands. He is a good friend of the band too, he and Alex talks almost every day with whatsapp audios.
The lyrics on this album are in Spanish like on the previous material. I personally really like when a band sing their thoughts in their own native language, especially when it comes with crazy music as yours. I think Spanish words give the music an extra evil atmosphere. Have you even thought about switching to English and writing lyrics in that language?
Matzii: We ask ourselves that in the beginning, but we decided to stay in our language. Some people is always telling us to switch to english lyrics because that will make us get more attention, but we don’t want to do it. Our future materials will be in spanish too.
Alex: The native language gives you identity .. know where we came from
Could tell to us what TÓXICA’s music is about, as most people in Hungary can’t speak Spanish? Which are the main topics you singabout? What does the title „Ahogados en Contaminacion” mean?
Matzii: We like to sing about real life problems, that affects people like you and me: job, politics, streets full of waste and trash, youth inmersed in drugs and living in the streets, etc. Ahogados en Contaminacion means drown in pollution, in reference to what I said before, streets full of waste and contamination. Here in the zone where we live we are surrounded by three rivers, but all are contaminated so you can`t swim on them, not even fishing. Goverment gives a fuck about doing something to revert this. So that’s the meaning of the title, we are literally drown in pollution.
There are 4 tracks from your fist EP on the end of the album. In your opinion how much have you progressed compared to that period?
Matzii: Definitely a lot. We had matured our musical vision and our music too.
How often you play in live? Have you ever played abroad or on another continent?
Matzii: We play very often, maybe once every two month, sometimes more sometimes less but never stopped. We haven’t played even in another country yet but we are in plans to do it soon.
Which bands did you share the stage with? Are there any legendary bands which would you really like to play with?
Matzii: Not Yet. Just local bands.
Alex: We have hundreds of bands with whom we would like to share the stage, as well as the places we would like to visit ...
How does the local scene look like? Could you recommend some remarkable bandsto us?
Alex: The local scene is constantly growing, despite the typical problems that surround the metal. places of rehearsal, diffusion and recording. so and all exist high level bands, who have nothing to envy their peers from other parts. recommended bands: d.m.b, vomit of doom, trance, konen, coffin,
In your opinion how can the most of South-American bands play much more aggressive and cruel music than the bands of other continents? What is in the air at your place? Haha!
Alex: lot of hate ... haha all of South America is submerged in constant chaos. due to the bad actions of its rulers. the social situation affects us too closely, also added to the individual actions of the people. too much poverty brings with it robbery violations chaos everywhere, even our country lived on the verge of another coup d'etat, the president was overthrown in 2002 and almost the same thing happened recently now. all that affects you one way or another
Which bands created the basis of metal music in Argentina? There are some names coming to my mind like HORCAS, LOGOS and V8…
Alex: si no hay que olvidarse de bloke y retrosatan,hermetica, y tantas otras olvidadas en el tiempo al no poder dejar registro
On the pictures which made for the album you wear a KREATOR „Pleasure to Kill” t-shirt. What do you think their late things?
Alex: hahaha is true ... some things I like others not so much.
It hit me very hard when I started listening to them. although lately they bore me a little
There are so much classic thrash metal bands that reunited in the last decade. Some of them were went off well but the most weren’t the best choice. What do you think about this phenomenon? Do you think these bands can be still relevant in this large dumping of our days?
Alex: I think a lot of people of the new generations started to get interested in these bands, which led to some meetings, some with good albums of return and others not. I was particularly given the chance to see some live things that were impossible before, and many bands can not overcome the glories of the past
I really like to ask from the foreign interviewee: Do you know Hungarian bands? What do you know about Hungary?
Alex: Hungary is a country that we have heard about but we honestly do not know where to place it on the map hahah.
a lot of black metal comes to mind but layers that fail to name the bands
I’m out of questions! Finally let’s tell to us what are the future plans of TÓXICA and send some words to the Hungarian thrashers!
Alex: As an immediate future we have planned the new album for this year. we do not know yet the date but we are already working on it, the cover is again in charge of the artist john quevedo janssen .. and the record of zero record.
thank maniacs continue on the path of alcohol thrash and destruction as long as the world continues
ahogados en contaminacion!!!!
Interview by Sz.
