INTERVIEW
HOCICO
LA LOCOMOTIVE PARIS - 12/03/2002
First of all, how do you feel tonight ?
Erk : Very good, it's great to coming back to Paris after 2 years, I think it's 2 years… Yeah last time we were here we had a very good experience and now to see what the night brings, you know, we are very excited about it then…More and more people know you as you are distributed in many countries, you've got fans through the whole world especially in Eastern Europe. How do you cope with your still recent and growing fame and what is your best audience ?
Erk : (translating to Racso) It's not easy to say… Everything has been growing in… I could say in everywhere we have… The number of followers has been growing over the last years… We can say Mexico is great, now we see France where it is growing in, even places like Sweden, Norway, all around Scandinavia and even the States you know, we haven't ever played there live but during the last years everything is growing there, the market and the sells and the number of followers again. It's growing.Your hate remains in all of your songs. You often refers to injustice like in "Nothing Back" but now, album after album, your rage seems to be more 'glorious' and tells clearly about revenge like in "Bloodshed" or "Wounds". Strange question I know but can you explain this ? Do you know what I mean ?
Yes sure. I understand…It seems to be more…
Direct ! Rough !Yes but 'glorious' too, I mean you're face to face with it now.
Yeah… The point is that we have been writing very personal songs lately, I can say "Bloodshed" is a very personal song, it is about the experience of drug by me and even the guy there, my brother. It happened to us that we were involved in real fights in Mexico City and that's why we wanted to write a song about it very direct. We can say that years have past on our lives but our reality hasn't changed so much. The way we do the music and we write songs has changed, the musical way has changed in somewhere, it's involved and it's been getting better for us. About the texts, yeah for sure we are still dealing with violence and rage you know, but now I think we do it in a more personal way. Yeah the songs are about personal experiences… It is the way we feel now because all these things were around us…But can you stay close to this reality of violence as you live from your art today and as you travel all around the world ? Can you even stay close to your feelings of hate ?
That's why we are touring, I mean we like to release all these emotions on stage and that's a great feeling always. You know that we rarely go out everyday and try to provocate somebody outside. No no, it's just trying to release our emotions through music and through these texts, that's hit. Sometimes it's an extension you know, texts are the extension of our lives. It's not really that we are doing this every day, all the things like this, but it really tells a lot of how we are.You've got a really specific sound but it tends to become more 'dance-orientated' as you get new equipment. Moreover you'll have a drummer on stage…
A drummer… No, no…You've talked about it !
Yeah yeah we talked about it, we had it in mind but at the end, the last things didn't work so we decided to do the tour without him.So you thought of something else for Hocico, really...
Yeah sure.So now have you an idea of your future musical directions ?
We've always liked experimenting with sounds, rhythms and everything, and we thought it was a good time to put a drummer on stage but as I said things didn't work in the last minute so we decided to go on tour just like always we were. Actually we have some new visual gimmicks but tonight it didn't fit with this because we brought some lights in the back and we couldn't use it tonight. Nevertheless I think our shows have never been about some many visual gimmicks, it's about two guys on stage showing their emotions so it's rough and direct and it intentionally is like that.Then will you have a drummer one day ?
I hope so, we want to try you know, we've never done it, we want to try someday, I don't know when but properly someday and it's not just about a drummer but maybe more things will come.What kind of music do you listen to ? I know you like Skinny Puppy. What else ? Do you know any French artists ?
French ? Yeah actually there's a guy we were used to listen to, a guy involved in technosy, it's Terence… Errr… (asking Racso) He played here I think some weeks ago… I don't know but it's a French guy, a really cool guy. I saw a flyer outside. (NdR : Terence Fixmer on Gigolo Records).And in general then ?
Lately, we've been more in… Psychedelic Transe, bands from Israel, we really like the Psychedelic Transe scene but we listen to many other things.So you don't mainly listen to dark music ?
No no, most of the time we support the underground scene you know, we like supporting artists from this scene so we try to listen to it more, we're trying to look for things that we really like you know not just the things that you hear on the radio or on TV. Ok they are there and it's easy for you to get in touched with them but we like to look for underground music and underground things. You know, for the movies, I like underground movies.But as you do harsh music, do you listen to harsh music too ?
Erk : No, not really (asking Racso).
Racso : Si (laugh)… (Erk asking again) Si !
Erk : (laugh) Well, it depends on the mood you are in. But mostly yeah.Will you issue a compilation of your demos ? We can see your first tapes on your website, but will they ever be available for selling in Europe ?
Erk : No they are not available in Europe, not even in Mexico. Actually we are planning to release them someday. (translating to Racso) There are some songs of this demo tapes around the net, we had one before on it and it's still there but I think nobody really has it. We are planning to release them for sure, but it is not the right time maybe, in a couple of years, but it is something that we really want to do.And what about a video clip ?
We've always wanted to do a video clip. (asking Racso) Yeah we've tried, we've tried… It's not easy because our label doesn't support this, that's the point. They're alone into this kind of promotion or artistic development so they say "no no maybe later".Well it costs...
It costs a lot, it's time. It's not just about the money you know "if you really want to, ok you could get the money"…But you want a really good thing.
A really good thing ! Not just something that you can make with 500 dollars.Most of the bands want this, I guess…
Yeah yeah ! You dream of something really good and well done ! Maybe next year…Could you speak about your artwork ? Why don't you work with Ismael Martinez from New Crime Design Corp Studio anymore for the new album ? Because it has changed and I've seen there is your brother involved in now.
Yes, he is the photographer actually. He's my brother and we are (showing Racso) in close family.So why has it changed ?
Well he was doing his job but at the end he had some personal problems and he was enable to finish it on time so we took another guy. Actually the new designer is Out Of Line's designer. I didn't like so much the artwork but for the lastest things it's ok and the pix are ok still.And what about the logo, is it a spider or… What does it mean ?
Yeah it's a kind of spider (showing his tattoo on forearm), it's this. It's a kind of a spider, a beetle. In the first time, he (showing Racso) decided of a very rough version of this logo and our designer Ismael Martinez developed this idea for us. Yeah we really like it. It's something about the fact that we've always liked spiders when we were kids, playing games with spiders and every kind of insects. Spiders have poison and it's the way they can kill even big animals and it's the way we are, we have charisma (laugh) whatever and we want to sting and provocate in someway as spider does.If I tell you "Corporaçion"… Why is it end ?
Wow, it's a long time ago, it was about joining efforts from all Mexican bands existing in that time but after I think one year, it was end.Ok so you didn't really make…
Oh yeah we organised some things, we were trying to support but at the end everything was shit. If you're trying to do everything with the others, you can't give the same energy for one objective you know so it was better for us to do for ourselves. It was good during our way, at the end…What about the Dada X, you still go over there ?
Yeah every week-end.Could you say it is the place where everything started for Hocico, because you often played over there ?
Yeah we played there very often (laugh). We have close friends. We've only given the priority for releases, I mean to organise shows for the first time in Mexico. It's always cool playing there, it's a cool place, and it's the only place devoted to this kind of music : gothic, electro, all this kind of underground music.Will you spread your tours to more countries and make several dates in France as you already do in other countries like Germany, Italy or Scandinavia ?
It depends, for sure we'd love to do it you know. But I think we must grow more, we have received a lot of orders from France, many offers to play. It depends, yeah, the promoter cannot organise it or the place is not good, there are still many aspects to review before you organise a show. But I hope, I really hope that someday we can do maybe a French tour or to play anywhere in another country. It will take time but I really hope that someday we can do it…Have you got any collaboration project with other artists inside Hocico for a commercial release and who ? If not, why ?
You mean doing an extra… There is Dulce Liquido… You know it ?Sure, we like it too, it's really good ! But I mean could it be someone outside Hocico coming in from another band, like In Strict Confidence for instance who you played with ?
Erk : Ok I understand ! Yeah we are open, but the point is that it's not easy to arrange such things you know. Even for the Mexican scene, everything's been always not easy… To deal with these things…So we can await for many different things from you then ?
Yeah you can expect very good things from us, there are still many things to come. (asking Racso). Yeah it's about the time, we're always planning things with Hocico and so on the other side doing the things, it's not easy. This year is about touring but maybe at the end of the year I don't know. We know many many persons in this scene and yeah hopefully someday we will do it…Do you want to live a message for your French fans ?
All around France we just know Paris and we can say it's a special place for us. We feel all the energy when playing here. Thanks for supporting and we're gonna always try to do our best so you can enjoy everything we do. I hope this is a good night, a fucking good night. That's hit.Anything to add ?
Yes, thanks for the interview. That's all. Many thanks… to support guys…
Interview par Dawn et Comatose pour Clyzenn
Merci à Erk, Racso et Fabian / Hocico
Merci à Guillaume Michel / D-Side