Madrid, Spain’s emoviolent screamo act EROS + MASSACRE grabbed my attention soon after their January 2015 release of their impressive split record with COMA REGALIA, put out by Middle-Man Records. This follow up to the band’s “Behind the aesthetic form lies the repressed harmony of sensuousness and reason” EP (2013) is a powerful dose of intense post hardcore foundation and atmospheric, emotional interludes that thrill with angst and sonic grit.
I caught up with the band to discuss their devilish soundscapes, the conceptual content behind their music and a lot more. See the full interview below.
Artwork by Rodrigo Almanegra. Live photos by Nacho Roca.
Hey Lois! Thanks so much for your time. It’s so nice to hear another amazing Spanish screamo band spreading its wings and doing so well! What’s up? How are you? How’s the band?
Hey what’s up Karol!
To start with I really wanna say thank you for this, it is a pleasure to talk with you. We are very happy with what we are doing right now; we haven’t been playing for long but since we released our first EP we have always received a great deal of support from people all around the world.
We included two new members in the band a couple of months ago, so we are currently five and already got a bass player! Haha. luckily we are all good friends outside the band also, so for us rehearsing is the best plan for the weekend.
Awesome! Who are the new members? By the way, can you introduce all of you guys? What is your musical background and what led to the inception of the band?
The new members are Santi and Dani, so the band is now formed by Miguel (Vocals), Lois (Guitar), Juan (Drums), Dani (Guitar) and Santi (Bass).
Santi, Dani, Juan and Miguel used to play together in an screamo band from here called “¡SILENCIO, AHORA, SILENCIO!”
When they split up I (Lois) moved to Madrid and Juan, Miguel and me started talking about playing together, so we formed EROS+MASSACRE.
We had our ups and downs but we always did what we love, playing, and now we are still doing it but with a new formation.About our musical background, we have a big variety of tastes, we listen to punk, emo, black metal, hardcore, math, indie, electronic, rap, jazz… any genre as long as the music is good.
How did the Japanese movie “Eros + Massacre” influence your songwriting and ideas for this band?
We could say that certain aspects of the film, such as sexual freedom, a revolutionary and enigmatic character or criticism, have influenced some of the lyrics and the music. Anyway the film is not just what influences us. Our feelings, our moods and personal experiences are always a reason when it comes to making music. Expressing myself through something is the really beautiful part of it, you know.
You’ve just released your new split record with COMA REGALIA. Tell us more about this collaboration, your relationship with the other band, and the labels that are putting it out.
Shortly after we released our first EP, COMA REGALIA wrote to us saying that they had really liked it and wanted to work with us. We both wanted to do something special, so we decided to do a baby blue color 8″ and talked to our good friend and illustrator, Rodrigo Almanegra, to do the artwork.
We already knew and liked COMA REGALIA, but we had never talked to them, so it was really exciting for us that such an important US band had discovered us and they were in fact interested in our music.
Since then we have always been in contact and have a great relationship; they have been very patient and really easy to work with. I hope that we can meet face to face in the near future.
Regarding the split, it has been edited by Middle-man Records (US), and its going to be distributed as well by Friendly Otter (US), Pure Heart Records (EU) and LongLegsLongArms (Japan). In Spain no label has shown interest, so we are going to distribute the copies ourselves.
What was your process for writing and recording the material for the record?
In spring last year we decided to spend a weekend in the city of A Coruña (where Santi, Dani and me are from) to record in the new studio that some of our friends from the bands Guerrera and Ictvs had started, called Estudios Montealto.
We already had 13 songs written and we recorded all of then live in just one afternoon session.
We were kind of guided by intuition when we were choosing the ones that would go into the split with Coma Regalia. We chose the ones that we thought fitted better in the split. I think our songs, although different, they resemble a lot to their ones.
Lyric-wise, what subject are you referring to?
Our singer, Miguel, is the one who writes the lyrics, they talk about feelings that go from violence, envy and disgust to the drugs’ world and sex. He experiments with language and feelings creating a surrealist atmosphere. They don’t pretend to be understood, simply to be read and to reach people somehow, they just talk about everything that surrounds us, how that affects and the essence of things from a dark and malign point of view.
Was it a conscious decision to write in Spanish? How do you feel about using English language in your songs? Do you think words can limit art?
Miguel: Using English as a way to express ourselves is something we do not really care about, we feel good in this moment writing like this, but we don’t feel obliged to do it, it is something we started to do from the beginning and we just keep doing today. To me, as a singer, I don’t think words limit what I want to express, they just give it a shape, moving the one who listens our music towards landscapes or sensations is what I do by using them, creating some kind of poetry that takes you into what I try to translate. If you feel for real and you focus on transmitting it, words just come easy to you.
Do you have some live shows lined up for this year? Where can we catch you guys live?
We are starting to book shows this year in Spain. We recently played live for the first time all five members together, and it was something totally new and enriching.
Regarding playing outside Spain, we are trying to do an European tour this summer with our friends La Parade, but it seems that summer is difficult for promoters, and we think we’ll have to postpone it. It’s hard not to find places to play in summer, because we’re all in college and during the course is hard to go abroad. So if a promoter is interested in helping us in summer, please write us! <3
Ok Lois. What records get the most rotation in your music player these days? Can you recommend some cool artists to our reader?
There are plenty of artists from all genres who influence us every day, so we leave a list of the most important for us:
AdEBISHI SHANK, BLUE FRIEND, AKIRA KOSEMURA, GAZA, FULL OF HELL, CHINESE MAN, HOLY OTHER, CHILDISH GAMBINO, YURI GAGARIN, PLEASE WAIT, LA QUIETE, NEIL PERRY, RESURRECTIONISTS, 65DAYSOFSTATIC, BALAM ACAB, CHOPIN, ORCHID, CONVERGE, LOMA PRIETA, TRANSHUMAN, ALGERNON CADWALLADER, KENDRICK LAMAR, SLAYER, DAITRO, SUIS LA LUNE, THE LOCUST, ACXDC, KIDCRASH, SUNN O, DEAFHEAVEN, RAEIN, MICHAEL NYMAN, IDLS. And we could say many more…
What qualities do you search for in music? Also, what is your idea of continuing your progress and development for the years to come?
Our idea as a band is to keep on rehearsing, composing new songs, editing in a physical format and performing live meeting loads of new incredible people. EROS+MASSACRE for us means having fun like kids playing and expressing all we feel, as we all share the same musical concept (making new things, mixing genres and trying to create new ones, adding all of our influences in the shape of a riff, sample, lyric or artwork). Besides from EROS+MASSACRE we all have other bands and parallel projects of diverse genres, to try and satiate our infinite musical curiosity, and as an escape mechanism. We couldn’t live without music and we really do hope that this will keep on going as many years as neccesary, always together. Before finishing this off, we would like to mention some of our parallel projects just in case someone might be interested in listening to them: LA CIENCIA, DESCUBRIENDO A MR.MIME and BELLE INDIFFERENCE.
Great, thanks! Thanks so much for your time, Lois! It was a pleasure. Best wishes and greetings from Warsaw!
Thanks a lot Karol for sharing these questions with us, and thanks to everyone around the world who has been there supporting us!
