CHÜZO - Full Steam Ahead ! (Aggro Metal - Interview with Cristian)
- Please introduce yourself and let me know how it all began with the band ?
Hello to the respectable readers of Rough Times Zine. It is an honour to be interviewed by you. The person who will be writing these answers is Cristian Salamanca, guitarist, backing vocals and founding member of CHÜZO. Very nice to meet you. I am a first generation Canadian, my parents are Chilean. I also lived in Chile and Calgary, Alberta, Canada on and off from 1990 to 2018. Moved many, many times, way more than necessary for my mental health some might say. This is the Mark III line up of CHÜZO. Carlos joined on early 2023, he was part of the Mark II formation initially. After the Mark II bassist and singer decided to leave the band in late 2023, I contacted Mischa, our current singer, in early 2024 through a musician’s page and she was able to recruit Alex our now Bass player. We started to jam around April 2024, and we have progressed very rapidly this year with this formation. Our current line up is Mischa Marmade on Vocals, Carlos Gutierrez on Drums, Alex Shlyannikov on Bass, and myself. As for past band experiences, for myself I played bass in a few punk bands in Montreal before forming CHÜZO, Mischa was a power metal vocalist in her band Zaltana back in Brazil. Carlos had a funk rock band in Venezuela, and Alex was a technical death metal guitarist in Saint Petersburg, Ex-Leningrad, Russia. And the main need why I formed this band was to have a Grindcore trio at first, but that didn’t happen, nonetheless, it was primarily to have a band that I wanted to play in with songs and grooves that I wanted and enjoy playing. I make music to play what I want. And as grand and magnificent as the Montreal Metal and Hardcore scenes actually are here, there was no band that just had a different vision besides sounding a looking the same as the bands that were in these respective scenes or being a “parody” or an 80s cliché or regurgitations of other music scenes in North-America; basically, copying whatever shows up on the YouTube channel like “Hate5six” for example. We are fans of music, not fans of scenes, thus, we created our own sound and we make Aggro-Metal. This is why I needed to create this band, to make music.
- Describe your sound and explain why I should listen to YOUR band at all cost ?
Our sound could be described as the amalgam of all the mostly inspiring and aggressive riffing styles from different metal sub-genres as Grindcore, Swedish Death Metal, Thrash Metal, NÜ Metal and Hardcore Punk. We really do not like sticking to one riffing style or sub-genre, thus, we combine all the ones we like without any restrictions, hence, we proudly call our style “Aggro-Metal” and you should check us out if you’re a fan of any of these genres or have an affinity towards 90s Riff/Death-Groove Metal worship such as Sepultura, early Machine Head, Brujeria, Suffocation, Napalm Death, At the Gates, and modern Grindcore such as Rotten Sound, Wormrot and Fuck the Facts.
- Lyrical and musical inspirations/influences? How important are the lyrics for you? Are there any specific messages or thoughts you try to develop and share through your lyrics ?
Our Lyrical and musical influences are varied, yet mostly come from 90s Death Metal, Grindcore. Sepultura is a huge influence on us as well as Brujeria and Fear Factory, Napalm Death and At the Gates. As well more modern bands like Nails, Rotten Sound, Teeth Marks, Barren Chainsaw Grind. Tomas Lindberg of At the Gates and many other bands is a lyrical genius in my humble opinion, he is someone whom I admire a lot for writing deep and thoughtful lyrics that have stood the test of time. It is very important for us as a band to not only have a great foundation for a song, but to also have a great thesis that will go with the song. The sound of the Boss HM-2 pedal is a foundational piece of gear for our sound, as well as, listening to the bands that have used this pedal in different contexts such as the bands that have already been mentioned. Lyrically, we like to write about real life, and real human struggles and pain. Dark thoughts and complex traumas are real issues in today’s society. We pride ourselves in writing lyrics of themes that matter today and for ever. We have written societal themes such as the death of George Floyd in 2020 with our early song “Off my Neck”, or the abuse of the catholic church with the discovery of mass graves in the backyards of residential school in Canada in 2021 for our song “SEVENHUNDREDFIFTYONE”. We pride ourselves in writing lyrics that matter now and that will matter in the future. We take inspiration from lyricists like James Hetfield, Dave Mustaine, Tomas Lindberg and Max Cavalera. And as for our latest EP, "M.T.M.D.", when writing the lyrics, Mischa and myself really dug deep into our inner psyche to develop ideas and words than could express as faithfully as possible what the songs were making us feel interiorly. When the lyrics were done, we took a step back and found ourselves to be surprised and shocked how deep and dark some of the lyrical content came out in the end. We found out how the idea of “Maximum Threshold, Minimum Decay” actually meant to us, how on “The Brutalator”; an anti-hero that was devoid of love or justice throughout his lifetime, cast away by society returns to claim revenge and to impart his brutal justice upon all the inflictors of injustices anywhere and everywhere. How in “Brand New Cell”, the idea of being fueled by revenge can be a mighty motivator yet it will also corrode your soul and leave you with way more consequences than closures. And how in “Bruised And Broken”, one could be provoked and instigated to the point of no return, seeing red and just letting go of all rational thought, being triggered into violence. These are things that are happening to people today, right here, right now. Society is making us all go through the maximum threshold of stress, anger, rage, violence, and how we all must try as hard as we possibly can to come out of the other side with minimum decay upon our souls, mind and bodies. With our music in M.T.M.D., we want to convey the message of human survival and resistance towards the people of the world that will experiencing the inflictive and oppressive natures of what is about to come with this new fascist world order. Did I say too much ? Oops ! (It's NEVER too much - Ed.)
- About your latest release ?
Our album was recorded at Uplift Recording here in Montreal. Our producer Kevin Jardine recorded, edited, mixed and mastered the whole EP. We started the recording process around July of this year. With Kevin it is a step-by-step process that he has to manage when it comes to availability as he is a very requested producer that has to make the best of the limited schedule he normally has. He made time for us, and was very helpful along the way. As for new content, we just released a new video for our song “Brand New Cell” which you can watch here :
We are also gong to have more releases as in lyric videos, more music videos and exiting announcements in the near future. We are only available online for now, no “tangible” types of distribution such as CD’s or Vinyl’s just yet; but I assure they will be coming soon.
About the artwork, it was done by our good friend draught; it shows a man being torn apart by a cyclone of stress; while enduring the maximum threshold of agony and anguish. Yet, he will come out of the other side with minimum decay upon himself, his body, mind and soul. We saw this artwork and we know that it completely represented the theme of M.T.M.D. We are very happy of our choice or artwork.
For all the people who are curious about our music, you can find us in all the more popular streaming platforms. If you wish to support us directly, you can go to our bandcamp page at: https://chuzomtl.bandcamp.com/album/m-t-m-d-maximum-threshold-minimum-decay
You can buy our music and merch right there. You can also find us on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook.
- Future plans ?
Right now, as I am writing this, we have already started writing new material that has already surpassed the sound of M.T.M.D. We are writing for an upcoming EP sometime next year that will be including 6 songs. We are also now in heavy promotion mode, letting everyone and anyone know about our new EP and our new formation. We are also booking shows for 2025, so we will be seeing a lot of new faces in the upcoming year. And we are doing all the possible hard work that is needed to make this band be know to as many heavy metal loving people as possible.
- Your most insane dream with the band would be ?
Play Wacken Open Air, even if its one of the small stages. Or Rock in Rio, Brazil or Loudpark in Japan. These are the dreams!
- Your BEST & WORST concert - as a band - and why ?
All things considered, the best one thus far has to be the last show we did here in Montreal last October the 26. The vibe was great, the sound guy was amazing, and our set was tight. That night we released our single “Brand New Cell”. It was a great show with mostly friends and some actual fiends in the crowd as well that were utterly surprised that we’re still here and we’ve gotten this far. To them I say: “You left us for dead ?... Once again ?!” Haha! It was an amazing show, still making me smile !
The worst ? I must dishonorably mention the very first two shows ever that CHÜZO preformed in 2022; as they were not properly rehearsed and the Mark I formation was just uninterested in making a better show because of their own apathy, dishonesty and their lack of commitment, as well as not respecting what I was wanting for the band as the member that came up with name, wrote all the songs and lyrics. Those first two shows were a bitter and very painful eye opener on how fake and misleading people can be in the Montreal Metal and Pseudo Hardcore scene in a city full of envious, bitter, untalented, elitist, bougie, scumbags. I disassociated myself from the ex-Mark I members back in 2022. Nevertheless, to be completely honest, the absolute worst show that CHÜZO has ever played was in September 2023, the final show with the Mark II formation; we played a “Battle of the Bands” event so to speak. The first-place prize was a spot on one of the side stages in a massive metal festival in Mexico. This took place in Toronto. We got selected as the last band. From the get go, it all seemed very fishy and unorganized. It was supposed to be for bands that were “amateur and unsigned”, and the majority of the bands including us were, yet there was this band that arrived in their own tour bus, that’s right! Their own huge, luxurious and spacious tour bus with their own roadies, with very expensive gear, they were young and fashionable looking with the most attractive lady companions in the entire theatre. Anyway, every band that performed before us had ample time to set up and set down before and after their set. The “very fashionable independent” looking band was before us. They took their sweet time setting up. Played their set, and once they were done, they took their sweet time setting down. We were rushed onto the stage, the set up was done wrong, our sound sounded like shit! The organizers were cruel and rude. We played, we said ‘thank you all very much!’ And obviously the “Fashionable Independent Band with a huge tour bus” won ! The End !
- Next live-appearance(s) ?
We have booked shows for March in Ontario, waiting on date and location confirmation. And we’re booking as much as we can into the summer. To keep posted on future CHÜZO shows; follow us at our Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/chuzo.band/
- Some words on your local scene - bands you're friends with and you'd like to name ?
Shout out to Carissa from Ottawa, great homies from the capital and super heavy metalcore. Check them out!
Also, Evil Villain from Toronto, Heavy Death Metal Mother Fuckers ; cool cats all !
Wooden from Montreal, Power Metal that is preformed with passion and intensity, as it should be!
And lastly, Ghidorah from Montreal, Prime Executioners of NÜ Grind. Power trio with a great future ahead in Grindcore.
- Last word is yours...
- Thank you very much for this opportunity to showcase our latest EP M.T.M.D. See you all in the pit next year. Wishing the very best to everyone involved in Rough Times Zine.
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