For me, writing the interview questions is an extremely easy job. Three questions turn into thirty in a blink of an eye, but when it comes to the introduction, I have a problem. This is supposed to be the shortest and the easiest part to write, but new ideas just keep coming, especially if you have a great, intelligent, well spoken, passionate interlocutor who knows how to use the opportunity to promote the band. So, as an introduction, I will quote the words behind which I also stand: “I’m not going to stay still at home without fighting for music.” Please welcome Dani MVN, vocalist and guitarist of Spanish Injector!
Hi! Welcome to Abaddon! How are you spending these corona days?
Hey there! Well, we’re rehearsing at last, since COVID restrictions eased up a couple of weeks ago. Apart from that, I’m working a whole lot in my recording studio and enjoying life as much as I can!
Your album ″Hunt of the Rawhead″ was released in December 2020. How is the feedback since there is no concert activities and you can not promote the album properly?
Press and general public feedback have been phenomenal for now. We are really proud, and of course truly grateful for all the support we’ve been receiving since the album release. While it’s true that live music is living a rough time right now, music streaming is growing at an impressive rate, and all musicians should take advantage of this situation. We have to adapt ourselves to these trying times as good as can.
As I wrote in the review, I think you progressed over the years and on this album you have found the perfect measure between aggression and melody. Is that what you were searching for?
Yeah, that has been our main goal since day one. We all have seen the fast paced thrash trend, which never stops or slows down to enjoy the groove, the melody, the catchy yet aggressive choruses. Well, it’s nice to have some songs, or some parts of these songs, like that but in the end a great song should have all these essential traits to be a true banger.
My favorite song from this album is ″Unborn Legions″. Can you tell me something more about the song?
Here we’re talking about a future where an alien race has created a hybrid clone army programmed to seek and destroy every human remaining on Earth. As for the music, since the beginning I really wanted a guitar driven chorus with some Teutonic Thrash influences.
When it comes to lyrics, you are focused on wars, even video games if I am right?
We always say our lyrics focus on science fiction. From here you could write about anything, but always under this sci-fi umbrella. Back in “Black Genesis” days we came up with a story which we’ve been telling for five years now. That’s the story of the first encounter with an alien race (“Black Genesis”), the almost total annihilation of the human race (“Stone Prevails”), and now the humans are rising to take back what they lost years ago. But that will be no easy task, as the hunt has not yet ended!
We do not write full concept albums but most of our songs take place in this universe we created a while ago.
I can notice that vocals lean on Mark Osegueda singing style. Which bands and musicians influenced you the most?
I’m not really sure about what influenced my compositions, but I can tell you that Black Sabbath changed my whole life since the day I listened to them. We also have strong influences from Testament, Iron Maiden, Anthrax, Slayer, Megadeth… I could go on an on. There are so many great albums it’s hard to know what had a bigger impact on me (or us as a band).
Does the Rawhead have some symbolism?
The Rawhead is a beast out of control, crushing everything in its wake. It’s a great symbol for us, as we really wanted that wild and aggressive side on our music.
Who is the main composer and songwriter and how does creative process look like?
Dany B (the other guitarist), Mafy and I are the main composers. We usually gather as a band with lots of ideas and then we work on them until the four of us are a hundred percent satisfied and proud of the music we’re about to release to the world. It’s essential for us to love every bit of every song so if that’s not the case… We better work on that issue or the song may never see the light of day!
You had some personal changes over the years. How did that affect the band?
It has been for the better, that’s for sure. Anibal joined the band to record our second album “Stone Prevails”. We then toured from time to time for two years. During that time we evolved so much as a band and managed to sound tighter than ever before. Those two years were crucial to the “Hunt of the Rawhead” sound and production.
Let′s dig into the past a bit… You released one EP and three albums by now. Looking from this perspective, is there anything you would change or do better?
The recording and mixing process of our first album “Black Genesis”. It was a mess. We started recording the drums in a small studio as a winning price in a battle of the bands. It was slow as hell, and the label deadline to send the master was approaching at a frightening rate. One day the drum files finally were finished, and guess what… They were absolute horseshit (production-wise).
We had to find a solution, so I saw myself forced to record, mix and master the whole album in two weeks, being a total rookie on this music industry world back in 2015. The album came out and it was much better than expected, but things should not have happened that way.
Fast forward to today, I own a recording studio and that experience showed me how things worked and, of course, how things should NOT be done, haha!
You have signed a record deal with Art Gates Records for your debut ″Black Genesis″ back in 2015. How did it push your career?
It opened a brand new world to us… The music industry. We came from other bands but always on an amateur level. We were used to play on small venues and pubs close to our city, so this was a big deal. It was a huge step forward, for sure!
You have been working with Enrique Garcia Morales who created album covers. What album covers depict?
First things first. Enrique is a really talented illustrator. We were immensely lucky to know someone like him in our very city. He is capable of capturing our music with his strokes in a perfect way.
The three album covers are a graphic way to tell the story of the first encounter with an alien race. In “Black Genesis” we told the story of that encounter itself. Then, in “Stone Prevails” the humanity suffers their almost total annihilation. Here, in the new “Hunt of the Rawhead”, the humanity is ready to fight back. Our last chance to take it all, as in “Rhythm of War” chorus!
Only the ″Harmony of Chaos″ has dark cover, but since you signed record deal with AGR and released your debut, album covers are in very bright colors. I am always curious does the artist have all the freedom or you give some hints how would you like your album cover look like?
“Harmony of Chaos” cover was a pre-drawn illustration. We asked the illustrator the permission to use it, and that was it. We were not involved in the process of making it. Thing changed since that first EP though. For the first album we already knew what we wanted, so we looked for an artist with a specific art style. It was truly a gift to hear from Enrique, as it was exactly what we needed.
We’ve worked with him in the same way for all three albums. We come out with an idea, like the character, some details, the positioning, things like that. Maybe a suggestion about the colors. But then we let Enrique do his thing, including coloring, and I tell you one thing: he always surprises us in a very beautiful way. At the end of the day, he is the illustrator so he knows better about the composition. But yeah, he starts working with our essential ideas in mind, and then he does his magic!
What have you learned in the past 9 years being active as a band?
Music is rough. You have to work countless hours, spend lots of money, drive a fuck-ton of kilometres during days and days to play shows for maybe few people. You could lose or earn some money, no one knows until the tour is over. You end the road trips tired, with very little hours of sleep. But all of this just disappears when you get on the stage, play the first chords, and see the people scream, jump, smile and enjoy your music. That’s the absolute best feeling one can experience.
How hard it is to be original today, not to fall in a trap to recycle metal?
Sometimes you have to be aware of what you’re playing as it is really easy to fall into cliches in rock music. Keeping that in mind, I’m all for the idea of just letting the music flow through your body and… Just see what happens. If you got the basic idea of the song, then it’s time to analyze it, see what’s good or bad, improve some things, discard others… Well, refining the shape. That’s the way I usually work with my songs, and that what’s really working for us.
Before Injector, tell me something more about the other projects you were involved.
Before Injector, Mafy and I were part of a rock’n’roll band called Dinamight Project. It was a really fun project, and my first one! It could have been a solid band, but I guess it was more like a hobby for some of the members (and that’s cool, no problem about that). I was involved in quite a few bands for some years here in my city, but in the last days of Dinamight Project we formed Injector. A few months later Dany B joined us. He came from a progressive/stoner rock band called Alien Z, a really cool one. Then, in 2018, Anibal joined the band to record “Stone Prevails”. He played in a Melodic Death Metal band called Immortal Shadow, so we knew he was in a really good shape to play thrash.
It seems you are a big movie fan. Which genre is your favorite?
I’m a big cinephile, yep. I would say sci-fi and thriller are the genres I enjoy the most. However, if a movie is good, why should I care about the genre? And it happens the same way in music or any discipline of art. Some of my favorite movies are, for example, Godfellas, Alien, The Fountain, Moon, The Fifth Element, Jurassic Park, Terminator… So I don’t really care about the genres if the movie is good enough!
Would you recommend any movie for these pandemic days?
Now that TV shows are in a great shape, I can’t recommend Dark enough. It’s a beautiful masterpiece. Period.
And as for movies, it’s always a good time to enjoy classics like Alien, Terminator, Predator, Total Recall, Die Hard. It never gets old.
I do not know anything about the restrictions in your area, is it possible to meet each other, to rehearse?
We started rehearsing again two weeks ago. It’s a mess right here… One day you can go to bars, enjoy a normal life, and then next day COVID cases start happening again, and back to restrictions. Anyway, it seems the situation has been more or less controlled already, so we’re hopping to get back to normality once and for all.
How do you deal with this situation personally and as a musician?
It’s tough, yeah. As a musician, it’s obviously one of the worst situations I’ve lived. You can’t play shows, can’t travel outside your city, sometimes can’t even practice…
Then there’s my work: the music recording studio. I’ve had plenty of work to do on these last months. It seems bands are back to their practice rooms and they’re trying to overcome the situation by releasing new music, but yeah, it is a hard time anyway.
No one knows when this madness will end, do you have any idea and plan for the future?
Vaccination is starting to happen here in Spain, but things are going painfully slow. I don’t really see a close future where things work as it used to be… At least not yet. Maybe 2022? Who knows, maybe earlier if the vaccine works and there’s enough doses for all of us.
Livestream shows, yes or no and why?
Unfortunately, yes. We have a live show planned for April 30, but that’s with a very limited capacity and tons of restrictions, so the only other alternative right now is livestreams. It’s not the best thing ever, but what else can we do? I’m not going to stay still at home without fighting for music. A year has now passed since this COVID situation started and we make use of any tool available to not let live music die.
The band was formed in 2012. When you turn back, how do you see your musical journey so far?
It has been a marvelous experience. I’ve met tons and tons of people all around the world, and that’s the best thing I’ve got from this crazy travel. I see myself keep doing this forever.
You come from Cartagena, your economy relies on agriculture, shipbuilding and of course tourism. How corona changed your city and the whole area?
Apart from agriculture and shipbuilding (I don’t think these two sectors have suffer a whole lot), Cartagena is packed with bars, restaurants and hotels. And by “packed” I mean there’s a bar every 10 meters, it’s crazy. Things got pretty rough here. Most people I know are working now just a few hours due to the restrictions, as we have a curfew going on right now. We’re used to go out and stay until 4, 5 or 6 AM drinking, so this situation is killing all the hostelry sector. I know close friends who have now their bars or venues closed for a year. I don’t really know how are you supposed to live like that. It’s a mess, and the government seems to not care at all.
In the end, big news for the band. Once again, what will happen on April 30th in Madrid?
Our first live show! Yay! It’s been more than a year, and we are REALLY anxious about this. We have so much energy, passion and rage in our inner selves… It is going to be a fucking blast!
Thank you so much for your time. All the best! And is there anything better to say in the end: thrash till death!
It’s been a damn pleasure talking (or writing, I should say!) to you. Let’s keep enjoying music and, as you said: thrash till fucking death!
