AN OBSCURE SIGNAL
Questions asked by Jon Wilde, added to Rock Realms 20th April 2010.
An Obscure Signal - Alex Mola on vocals, Walter J Huaman and Bryan Silva on guitar, Chris Arey on bass, and Carlos Rueda on drums - have recently signed with Halfwest Management. They also have an EP, Creations, on the way out.
We caught up Walter to find out more.
Hi Walter, thanks for taking a moment to answer these questions. Hope you and the guys are well?
Walter: Thanks man! We are! Just been busy preparing everything for our EP release, which is looking like it will be sometime this May!
Could you tell us a bit about the band – who you are, how you got together etc...?
Walter: Well, I play guitar. I wasn't in the band when it actually came together, but I went to the same highschool as the guys who originally started it. The band formed in the winter of 2007 and I didn't join 'til February 2009. Chris joined in June 2009 and Alex in December 2009. All of us attended the same school and never really thought we'd end up in a band together haha
Where did the name come from?
Walter: From what I was told, Carlos (drums) came up with the name by using the "Dictionary Method" and that was by finding random words in the dictionary and pairing them up. When we wrote the "Creations" EP I thought it'd be cool to use the name as part of the concept that takes place within the album.
Who would you list as your inspirations, both musical and otherwise?
Walter: We all have a pretty wide taste when it comes to music. Personally I'm a huge fan of Djent and Trance. Periphery is a big one but I'm also big into the trance, mainly Armin Van Buuren and Infected Mushroom. As far as what is played in the van on our way to shows, it ranges from acoustic and ambient stuff to death metal and Disney tunes haha
What’s the music scene like where you come from?
Walter: It's pretty diverse here at the DC/MD/VA area. I grew up thinking there wasn't much of a scene for a while but that's because I wasn't really exposed to it. Hardcore is huge thing in VA while mainstream rock bands tend to dominate the venues in Baltimore. There's also a good number of pop punk and indie bands in the area. One genre I feel that will make a pretty big impact here in the near future is the Djenty tech metal bands that have been developing over the past few years. If you dig that style, you simply must check out some of my friends' bands such as Haunted Shores, I The Breather, Friend For a Foe, Carthage, In Alcatraz 1962, Behold The Flood, This Time It's War and of course Periphery!
Has your sound developed naturally, or did you make a conscious decision at the start about what road you wanted to go down?
Walter: I can't really speak for the rest of the guys on this but I started out playing nu-metal and that kind of lead down towards European bands like Bodom, Wintersun and Behemoth which helped me develop my soloing abilities. I used to have a very negative view on bands that played breakdowns and those who didn't solo. I'm glad that I eventually grew out of that mentality and opened my eyes to the newer bands that have been coming out. As for now, I don't really know what to classify the style I and the band play. We have a bit of everything that this area has to offer, some hardcore mixed with a little tech/djent stuff and even some slower melodic passages that resemble the ambient bands in the area. I kinda just play what I think sounds cool now and don't care if people think it's not "Brootal" or "True Metal" enough.
You’ve got an EP, ‘Creations’ on the way out. When did you start work on it and how quickly have the various parts come together?
Walter: Oh boy, this EP was originally supposed to be released July 2009 ...hehe.. We started writing the songs and concept back in March 2009 but we ran into several snags along the way such as member changes, financial problems and dealing with school and jobs. It slowed the progress down but it also allowed us to take our time and make any changes we thought necessary.
Are you continually writing new material, or did you make a conscious decision to sit down and start the EP?
Walter: Yes we are! I already began working on ideas for the next EP haha. The whole AOS concept story is split among two EPs. I have a recording rig at home that I use to program drums and track guitar ideas I might have. I also have the ability to record vocals. So making demos isn't much of a problem for us.
Is there one writer in the band, or do you all add your bit?
Walter: For the writing duties it was split between me and Bryan, we'd show up to practice with different riff ideas and show them to Carlos, which afterwards we'd spend hours trying different arrangements. This was about a year ago, things are different now since I now know how to program drum parts thanks to Misha Mansoor and Chris Purvis.
Is there a theme to the lyrics, or are they all standalone tracks?
Walter: When Alex (vocals) joined I asked that he write the lyrics from different viewpoints of different characters within the story so that he can portray what they were feeling at that point in the story. He of course added his own personal experiences and pretty much nailed it when he showed me his work. I wanted it so that people who read the lyrics could relate to it in a sense that the characters portrayed feelings of anger or sadness, but also that if you were told that it was a concept album and it linked up you'd be able to connect the dots and see the big picture.
Where do you get your writing inspirations from?
Walter: To be honest, most of the riffs I wrote for the EP were inspired from experiences I had during the time I wrote each song. Time Left is my favourite since around that time I had a lot of things happening within my own personal life that I feel helped me come up with the melody and slower paced feeling of the song. Villains was the last song written, and I thought it fitted appropriately since it's fast paced and it has a bit of desperation to it. It was written over a couple days when we had set a deadline for the EP to be finished. As for the concept that was written, I was always fascinated by video game stories and movies. When our past singer proposed the idea of writing a concept I was completely 100% down and we both sat down one afternoon and began writing the "Creations" story.
How would you describe the sound and style of the release to someone who hadn’t heard you before?
Walter: Take five guys, feed them junk food and let them play video games for eight months. Then shove them into an apartment with a musical prodigy, press record and you'll have us! OR for the most part we just tell people we play metal. We don't try to specify what kind of genre since I don't think we can really say we're a Hardcore band or Djent band or Death metal band or deathcoremoshmoshpoopooplatter band .... we're just "metal"
Have you used any special instruments or recording/mixing techniques on the EP?
Walter: Well we recorded with Misha Mansoor of Periphery (Sumerian records) and I've been a HUGE fan of his sound for the past couple of years. We used Nuendo, Superior 2.0 and an Axe Fx. Plus lots of jellybeans, cheese and bread. Most of the songs were recorded using his Blackmachine tuned to Drop C and then we used my Ibanez 8 string (now sold to Misha) tuned to Gb for "Time Left"
Do you have any favourite parts or tracks?
Walter: I love how the whole EP turned out. I can't really pick a favourite since I love each song for different reasons.
Is there a story behind the album’s title?
Walter: Haha It's a long story. I'll be posting a detailed description of it on our band's myspace blog once the album drops but I'll just say for now that it's a sci-fi epic that takes place in the future. The story revolves around a character who is living during a war between humans and android robotic beings who seem to be trying to take over the world....... yeah it sounds cheesy at first but I tried to stay away from the fact that it was a sci-fi story and focused more on what the characters were feeling. You'll just have to wait until we release the EP to actually read the story and listen to the tracks/lyrics.
Any thoughts on doing a video for one of the tracks?
Walter: We just got done shooting a video for the opening track the other day! It's being directed by a good friend of mine, Vance Jones. We took 3 days to shoot story scenes and performance pieces nonstop...it sucked only running on 4 hours of sleep those whole 3 days. It should be ready to debut around the same time the EP drops!
Do you enjoy the writing and recording process, or do you prefer being out on the road?
Walter: From the touring that I have done, I prefer being out on the road. There's just something about being away from home and being in a different city each night that appeals to me. Although I do love writing and recording as well haha it's just more fun going out and playing shows.
What should fans expect from one of your shows?
Walter: A good exercise! Sometimes I think I'm watching a taebo video take place in front of me when we play haha but seriously I'm glad that we play music that the audience can groove out to! Also we've been building a lighting rig ourselves so get ready for a light show at our shows this coming summer!
How did the deal with Halfwest Management come about, and what difference is that going to make to you as a band?
Walter: It was very random haha. We got an email from Rick Fortier (Owner/Founder of HWM) and at first I thought it was just spam but after reading it over a couple times I decided to call him and we started talking about working together. I am very excited to be working with Rick and Halfwest. He seems like he genuinely cares about what happens to us and that's a bit rare in this business.
When do you see yourselves putting out a full length album? Has that even been talked about yet?
Walter: I feel we won't push for a full length until we have label support. I just don't see it being beneficial for us at this point.
Any question you love being asked that I’ve missed? If so, what’s the answer?
Walter: What's you're favourite beer! And the answer to that is Dundee! It's brewed with honey and has the smoothest taste EVER!
What are you up to once you’ve finished answering these questions?
Walter: I shall be going to bed, it's 2:37am and I've got to get up tomorrow morning for work!
Anything else you would like to mention?
Walter: Uhhhhhhhh .... Oh! My favourite font is Comic Sans!
Thanks again to Walter for his time. You can check out the Rock Realms review of An Obscure Signal's latest EP Creations, er, when we get our hands on it...
http://www.myspace.com/anobscuresignal
