Interview with Merciless Death

This is the Interview with Merciless Death, all the answers by Cesar Torres.

1. How was the way you two (Andy and Cesar) get involved in heavy rock, to be more specific what was your first musical approach to this genres?
-Hey there, Cesar Torres, drummer for Merciless Death here. Thanks for the interview! Well, I’ve been introduced to music by various people, each affecting me differently. I still listen to bands such as Journey, Scorpions, the Cars and such because I grew up listening to those bands from my father. My eldest brother Victor grew up in the 90’s, so it wasn’t uncommon to listen to Metallica, Pantera, White Zombie, and Nirvana. But it was my brother Andy that influenced me musically into metal. He began to listen to bands such as Iron Maiden, Old Metallica, Megadeth, and Judas Priest. It was these first bands that really got me into the metal genre. I used to eat up Priest and Maiden by the gallon! The vocals – high pitch and wailing away! Maiden’s technical melodic sound and Priest heavy approach really appealed to me. After that, we both kept searching for heavier bands.

2. How did you meet Dan?
-I met him when Andy brought him over to our home. Andy invited him after becoming friends with Dan in High School. I was still in Junior High so high school was still foreign to me. Dan is an intimidating guy! At that time I was 13 or 14 years old and Dan is this huge 6 feet-something man-mountain, who wore black Venom and Slayer attire. Intimidating indeed, but he was actually a cool guy. Anyways – he was there in my living room with Andy practicing some new tunes Dan had written; he wanted Andy to try some vocals. Apparently they were starting a Thrash metal band. I thought it was cool, but decided not to interfere with them – I wasn’t in the band yet so my input on anything was meaningless.

3. Is there in Canyon Country more thrash bands that you really like?
-Actually it’s pretty lonely over here in Canyon Country. The only band I can think of that is a thrash band would be Incinerator. Malicious Assault was based here, but the band split-up; we all still hang out together though. Other than that, most bands here are emo, nu-metal, and punk bands. Canyon Country is an hour North of Los Angeles located in the valley, not many thrashers out here other than us.

4. Tell us about your experience at the Thrasho de Mayo
-Thrasho de Mayo 1 and 2 were both great! I’m not sure who exactly set up the show – I believe it was first conceived by Omar from Malicious Assault, but I am unsure. Thrash de Mayo 1 was in 2006 – early in today’s thrash metal scene. The bill was Malicious Assault, Warbringer, Devastator, Merciless Death, and Fueled by Fire. That was a very important night, because it showed there was an audience for this type f music alive in LA. People flocked to the Whisky a GO GO from all over LA, and the show was quickly sold out and packed full of die hard thrashers – as well as skeptics who needed to see what the underground buzz was about. That was also the night we self-released “Evil in the Night”.
Because of the success of the Thrasho de May show in 2006, Thrasho de Mayo 2 was set up for 2007 at the Knitting Factory. It was switched to the Knitting Factory because the Whisky a GO GO became dicks and denied us thrash bands a weekend booking. So the decision was made to book Thrasho 2 at the Knitting Factory, where they gave us the main stage. The bill consisted of Armored Assassin, Fueled by Fire, Malicious Assault, Witchaven, Merciless Death and Strike Master. The buzz was so high for this show – there was a line stretching around the block of people who couldn’t get in! Seems the Knitting Factory was packed to the teeth! Great show – however, we felt our set time was cut short due to Fueled by Fire (who played before us). The sound guy told them to play their last song – but FBF decided on their own to milk the stage and play three more “encores”. One would’ve been fine, but three? Because of that, our set was rushed and cut. It left a bad taste in our mouths.

5. What’s your opinion about Mexican thrash band Strike Master, do you like em?
-Strike Master is a great band – a bunch of cool guys! Whenever they pass up here we try our best to hang out with ‘em and party. To me – they seem to be keeping the scene alive south of the boarder along with Violator!

6. How is the metal scene at Canyon Country?
-Only us and Incinerator. Not much of a scene – more like a group of friends.

7. Looking back in time how’s been the way since your first demo “THE SHORES OF HELL“up to now?
-Geez, that’s a lot to reflect upon. The first thing I can come up with is that we sound a lot tighter and experienced from what we sounded like before. But that is obvious, I mean it’s been years since the “Sores of Hell” demo so it’s expected we sound better (Although there are bands that don’t progress at all). That demo wasn’t even a demo to begin with – it was recorded for ourselves to hear and memorize all our songs – for practice. No way was that demo intended for release. But, somehow it got online and people know about it. Its not a bad thing, it was weird going online and listening to samples from that recording, I was like, “How the heck did that get out?”. Last time I checked, we only made two “Shores of Hell” CD’s. Then with the release of Annihilate the Masses, we began to grow and people began to notice us. The recording for that demo was okay – it’s only a demo so don’t expect gold, but it was recorded well and it got our sound and message out. Sure we played slow compared to now. With Evil in the Night our sound was set and that album was enjoyed by many. Reviews saying it’s a great thrash album reminiscent to exodus and slayer from ‘85 – that’s a great compliment considering the fact that we were influenced by thrash in general!

8. What plans you have in the future, are you going to release another full length or some single soon?
-Yes! We have a new record coming out in ’08 - Realm of Terror! We are hoping Realm of Terror will surpass our first album and advance Merciless Death to the next level! We have already recorded the album and are awaiting the layout of the record from Heavy Artillery Records. Hopefully we can get this completed soon – there are a lot of people going crazy that there hasn’t been a new Merciless Death release! I assure you all though, it’s being done! So please, be patient until it’s complete!! It’s going to kill!

9. What has been the best show you’ve ever had up to now?
-I don’t have a best show, It’s impossible to rate all the shows we’ve done in a list from best to worst. There are things in every show that kick ass or suck but overall – all the shows we’ve ever played have been great for one reason or many. The New York show on our Evil Curse Tour was great because we met a lot of people who dug us – signed CD’s, crowd went crazy and enjoyed our music, we met and hung out with At War, and they gave us food for free! But all the other shows here in LA or out on the road – they are great cause the fans that are at the shows stage dive and circle pit like madmen! It’s great to see these guys go crazy at a show – It really brings the energy and boosts us up with energy! Then afterwards, we all usually party! It’s great!

10. Which bands would you like to share the stage with?
-Definitely Venom and Mercyful Fate/King Diamond!! That would be great! Venom played here in LA but I missed them (we had play Minneapolis Mayhem in Minnesota the same day – what a bummer!), but it would be awesome to share the stage with them – and imagine if It were the original line-up!? That would be insane! Same with Mercyful Fate and King Diamond – We are so grateful for what they have done – it would be an honor to open for them!

11. When are you coming to Mexico?
-Hopefully soon! We really want to start setting up multiple tours and get outta the US to spread our music around the world – but we aren’t rich and bookings are tough to negotiate. Someday we will play Mexico and all those killer thrashers from south of the boarder will rejoice! Probably destroy something too!

Thanks a bunch for the interview! It was fun!