Being a great fan of Norway’s DEATH IS NOT GLAMOROUS, I was instantly attracted to a new video of HÉRCULES VIGILA, hailing from Buenos Aires. I arranged this interview to find out more about their local music scene and to expose and share their wonderful moment to the general public. They’ve actually planned for quite a long time to make this Fall the special time of the “HV” EP release and I’m more than happy to have it available now!
Blistering, anthemic, melodic yet powerful straight-forward punk rock / hardcore punk drive and well-written, thought-provoking lyrics – these are some of the qualities I love about the aforementioned DING. This new band right here brings a really tasty release and introduces one of the coolest indie / pop punk / punk rock / hardcore punk releases this year. Fantastic lead guitar melodies, relentless drumming , great stylistic variety and heartfelt singing. It’s all there, probably still requiring some polishing, but what the hell.. this will surely encourage further development of the band. Can’t wait to see how they grow in the future!
Hey guys! Your new track “1959” is dope! As a die-hard DEATH IS NOT GLAMOROUS fan, I really enjoy the song! Congratulations on that. I love your posi vibes, they truly make me want to break out in dance, haha! What’s UP? How are you friends?
First of all thanks for letting us be a part of this, even though we are a band from the other side of the planet. We’re glad you liked it! We’re good, very happy with the new material, and anxious to show our work everywhere.
Cool. You’ve just released a new video for one of my favourite tracks off the record. How did you pick up this song and what was the idea for the video?
Basically, we chose this song to make the first video, because it is also our favorite song on the EP.
With this video, we wanted to show the artistic side of the band.
It was made by our friend Alejandro Richter created entirely with photographs and edited in this special way (great photographer by the way, you should check out his work at alejandrorichter.com.ar)
It took a lot of hard work, we took a trip to a town miles away from where we live to get the perfect house, the perfect spot, it was kind of magical.
The part of the video in which we are playing the song was also a special job. We had to play the song at half speed, because it would have been impossible to edit it if played at normal speed.
Wow. Nice!
By the way traveling, how vital is Buenos Aires in terms of local punk rock scenes development? You mentioned that it’s a difficult place to spread such music. Is it so? How come?
Well that’s a tough one.
In 2004, Buenos Aires suffered a tragedy during a rock show, which killed nearly 200 people.
Based on this, the government took very hard measurements respecting underground music, closing lots of venues.
This limited not only the punk and hardcore scene but music in general; and created a hughe division between underground and mainstream scene.
Thanks to this, gigs organization became harder, because there are very few places in good conditions, and the ones available cost a lot of money.
On the other side, press its purely MAINSTREAM.
Underground fanzines and blogs help us but there are also only a few, which complicates bands to show their music.
So, we concentrate on showing our music via social networks, making it easyer to get our music to other countries.
Particularly also the punk scene in Argentina is a weird one.
A genre that’s growing strongly is “Post Hardcore / Screamo” (based on the bands of the moment of the US scene, warped tour, etc.)
On the other side there is a hardcore scene (including straight edge) that is slowly opening to other genres.
I estimate that we find ourselves in the midst of all hahah.
Our audience is based on a mixture of all this genres i just named, and thats something that we are proud of, because we want to be listened by open minded people, we are ourselves open minded, we love all kinds of music, and we experiment all the time with different genres.
Can you shoot me some names of the underground punk bands, zines and other undertakings we should definitely check out?
Argentina’s best bands, in my opinion are BOOM BOOM KID (in the 90’s ‘Fun People’) .. MASSACRE, CARAJO, ATTAQUE 77. But this bands are in the ‘mainstream’ and not punk exactly
Underground and new bands. I can mention SUDARSHANA, ETERNA INOCENCIA, EL CAMINO MAS DIFICIL.. There are too many bands to mention you could not reach me all the space here
The label Entes Anomicos from Peru, has a zine and helps many bands Argentina… mmmm.. other sites and webzines: Onlypunx webzine (now Melodic Never Die Web), Screaming fastcore, Opcion de Vida Webzine.. these are just some examples.
Cool, thanks! Do you get many shows from foreign bands?
Yes, many bands lately are coming from all styles. South America is returning to the map.
Do you travel a lot? I mean both personally and with the band?
We love to travel, either with the band or personally.
Since the band is relatively new, we are first of all playing a lot in our city and nearby towns.
But next year we are preparing many trips, both in various cities of our country and in other countries as well.
We all come from previous bands which traveled a lot, because in our country, cities are quite far from each other.
Getting back to Buenos Aires for a while again, the city surely has a unique architecture and culture. How does that influence HERCULES VIGILA?
The culture of our country teaches us first of all the values of diversity and coexistence among different cultures, because it consists mainly due to miscegenation and union, in previous generations.
That is reflected in the music when learning not to get stuck and having that variety helps us to find items of different types, which form a complete piece of art.
Walking around you find inspiration everywhere, we have some beautiful landscapes, architecture of different styles, the art is just around the corner to be appreciated.
Alright, let’s go back to your newest baby. How long have you been waiting for this release to come out? Tell me about your early days and how you decided to start this band.
It was all very fast. We all came from different bands, different styles. And since we’ve been friends before, the idea of the band appeared because we were always together, sharing things such as meals, night outs, etc.; and so we thought “Hey, we’re all musicians, why not play together?
We naturally started writing songs, and instantly record them.
We came with the EP so fast because we knew the way to do it, and we learned from our past projects, the mistakes we didn’t have to make, and all the work flowed naturally.
By the way those bands, what bands exactly have you played in before HERCULES VIGILA?
Besides high school bands. Lately the band members played in bands such as ONEDAY, CACTUS LOVE, MELIAN, SOBRE EL OCEANO, and many more bands of friends that just wanted to have fun and make music.
How many gigs have you played together with HERCULES VIGILA so far?
Not many, first we had a sold out debut in our city, and from there many shows, not only in the city but in the surroundings. And obviously at parties and friends events.
You mentioned some trips you’ll have next year. Tell me more about it and your general touring plans.
First of all we are thinking of touring around our country, but it’s not an easy mission, because the cities are far away, and the costs are high.
But as I said before, we are willing to do it and ready for what may come.
We’re receiving different proposals from other countries in South America, such as Chile, Brazil, Colombia, Peru.
This is all being discussed, we have nothing definite yet, because we do it all 100% us, without any help from booking agencies yet.
We also are wishing to go and tour Europe, but as i told you earlier, it’s all being prepared slowly, step by step.
Can’t wait :)
I know a lot of your fans are already getting hungry and are going to be curious about the next record. How far along are you on that whole process right now?
As mentioned earlier, our first EP went out very fast, and basically we expect the same for next.
But this time it will be an LP, most of the critics we received from the EP we’re: “it’s too short”, “it leaves you wanting more”, so we want to make the new record as soon as possible.
Actually there are already a couple of songs ready to go, but we will give it the time it needs to the pre-production and preparation. We’re very anxious to get it done.
Alright guys. Thanks so much for taking some time with IDIOTEQ! Is there anything you want to discuss? Any last words?
First of all thanks for the selfless support in our band. It was very fun doing this interview. Thanks for your interest in our music, our scene and culture. Your page is lovely, has very good information, and it’s an honor to be part of this.
Thanks a lot! :) Cheers from Warsaw guys and once again, congratulations on your amazing debut EP!
Thanks again!, Hopefully soon we can come to your city. This is just beginning, with lots of energy and many new songs to come!
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