Featuring Rick from Wire Vein Interview by Ruud Dreessen aka ebm-industrial.nl 23 december 2009 6:12
Thanks Rick that you have found time to give answers to these questions,
1- For the first question will be - do you know the netherland?
Yeah, I heard of a location in the Netherlands called Amsterdam. I never been there but I would like to go visit and see it for myself.I heard the hash is legal to smoke there and the Amsterdam is great for a vacation. Also, I know Grendel, the Harsh/EBM/Industrial recording artist is from the Netherlands.
2- Do you followed the electronic music scene, do you have any other favourite bands?
Yes, I followed the electronic music scene since the early 90's til now and my favorite current bands are Nachtmahr, Alien Vampires, and Terrorfakt.
3- Greetings Rick could you please shortly introduce our readers your music project Wire Vein Please fill also a biographical resume about how,when and where...give us a more background information?
Wire Vein was founded back in Augest 28, 2006 by me in San Diego. I started out with Mao, my first vocalist for about a year. Mao lived in San Jose, CA. at the time. I use to send him a CDR of audio tracks of my music to San Jose.He would work on recording his vocals at his recording studio facility and send them back to me so I can upload them on myspace music. Unfortunately, Mao didn't have time to complete songs with me so I had to find a different vocalist later. One night I went to this club called, "Ascension" in San Diego there, I met, German Benitez, who became my official vocalist for Wire Vein.I did a Wire Vein remix of one of his instrumental tracks, called, "Alpha and Omega" and German was please with it. Later, I decided to ask him if he would like to do harsh/EBM vocals and write lyrics for Wire Vein and he agreed to it.We did about five songs together. German left Wire Vein in June, 2009 because of personal issues he needed to deal with. He was unable to focus in writing lyricals and recording newer songs with me, Rick.German was the best vocalist and lyricist I worked with since I started the project. He will be missed. Currently, I'm seeking for a new vocalist at this time, now.
4- How did you start to make Industrial / Electro / Experimental and what is music for you?
It began for me in the early mid early 90's when I use to live in San Francisco. My first project was an Industrial/Metal style. I was working with Erik at the time as my guitarist and vocalist. We took samples from Discovery channel and t.v. news and manipulated the samples in the Prophet 2000 sampling keyboard. The music consisted of tribal beats, heavy ryhthm guitar with bass guitar, screaming punk rock vocals and samples.After a year went by, Erik and I departed ways and I was moving into more electro/industrial/ebm style later in the mid to late 90's. It took me a while but I was able to acquire all the necessary music equipment like hardware synthesizers and a DAW system using Steinberg, Cubase. I never been to schools to learn electronic music but learned on my own.
5- What and who are some of your influences in Industrial / Electro / Experimental?
I would have to say Cevin Key of Skinny Puppy, Jean Michel Jarre, Hocico, Cenobita, Amduscia, Front Line Assembly, and Laibach.
6- What are your top ten favorite Industrial / Electro / Experimental Club Songs of all time? Who are you influenced by? What would you consider your favorite cd's?
1. Laibach - Tanz Mit Laibach
2. Nachtmahr - Tanzdiktator
3. Alien Vampires - Far From Humans
4. Funker Vogt - Thanatophobia
5. Skinny Puppy - Worlock
6. Hocico - Bizarre Words
7. Amduscia - Profano Tu Cruz
8. Dulce Liquido - Anti Christianos
9. Front Line Assembly - Resist
10. Leatherstip - Japanese Bodies.
I'm influenced by Leatherstip, SP, FLA, and Hocico. One two of my favorite CD's I would say are Suicide Commando's, "Axis of Evil", Skinny Puppy, "Too Dark Park" and Front Line Assembly, "Hard Wired".
7- Do you have a favourite track and album?
I like the track Spasmolytic from Skinny Puppy's "Too Dark Park" album.
8- So tell me a bit more about yourself, such as musical?
Well, I picked up the electric guitar at age 12. I learned and studied under a guitar teacher in classical music. As I got older, I was studying heavy metal guitar method from books and audio cassesttes.I studied music theory in high school and formed a thrash/speed metal band called, Sarcophagus with my brother Rob and cousin, Francisco. We found a drummer later from my high school, name Nick, and he joined in with us. Later, the band, Sarcophagus, name changed to Obscurity which later recruited in Hasaad Freitage on bass guitar, and Michelle Danztman on vocals. I was introduced to industrial music by an comic book artist in 1992 at the time of my band Obscurity. The sound of industrial music drawn to me very quickly and I decided to quit my metal band, Obscurity, to pursue my industrial music project.
9- By the way do you like my questions? tell me what you think about it! ;-)
These are very intelligent questions and I do like them. I like the interview questions alot.
10- What is the main idea, the message you want to leave to people who listens to you? What is your motto?
Well, Wire Vein doesn't really have any specific message for the listeners of our music and there isn't any motto we follow by.
11- What’s the name of your band? What’s the origin of that name? Have you changed the band’s name before?
Wire Vein is the name of the band and its origin comes from Cyborgs. The name always remain the same.
12-where did the concept come from? and whats planned now that your album is finished? or anything else you're working on? Tell us a few words about the concept of this?
The concept comes from cyberpunk literature and sci-fi movies and at this moment I am working on the mixes of my six songs to be later release as a six track CD demo.
13- When's the new album coming out?
The CD demo will be release next year in January 2010. There won't be an album yet til I find a vocalist to work on the other songs that aren't release yet.
14-How is the current promotional tour going for supporting this album?
Like I mentioned before, no album yet til I find a partner to join in Wire Vein. However, I did performed live at two shows this year. One in Tijuana, Mexico and the other in San Diego as the opening act I asked Fernando if he would like to back me up as a vocalist for the Art Festival in Tijuana and he accepted the offer. We did the show together live and it turned out well. The other I did with in San Diego was with my brother, Robert. Fernando seemed to be more into his industrial music project than working with me in Wire Vein. So, my brother, Robert, voluntarily stepped in to be my vocalist for Wire Vein at the Second Wind in San Diego. The second show went also well.
15- What do you think of a modern Gothic and about Industrial / Electro / Experimental scene?
I haven't been too much into the modern Gothic scene, mostly the Industrial / Electro / Experimental scene. But I appreciate the modern Gothic scene alot for the musical elements for electronic music and fashion.
16- Our usual question - what is music for you?
Music for me is a creative process from my life influences.
17- What was your best live experience so far?
Performing at the Art Festival in Tijuana last summer this year was the best experience I had. The audience were really into the music of Wire Vein.
18- Please list the name, age, school, and respective instrument of each band member.
Rick Sandoval, age 39, Sacred Heart/Cathedral Preparatory, electric guitar and synthesizers.German Benitez, age 24, not sure what school, vocals and lyrics.
19-What are your views on the current state of this Industrial / Electro / Experimental scene in San Diego, California Verenigde Staten in terms of creativity and audiences? And the scene in other countries?
Well, I see more creativity in music and more of a pleasing audience growing in San Francisco and Tijuana than San Diego. Since I'm originally from San Francisco, I can tell you that there are some local Terror/EBM/Industrial artists starting to come out and get their name known for the audience in the Bay Area. I don't see it too much in San Diego because there doesn't seem to be a big interest in supporting local industrial groups. San Diego has clubs that goes on once a month and it's more Dj oriented than musical. Tijuana is a great place for live performances and to see art galleries at these festivals.
20- you have very nice numbers`.............. tell me about lyrical compositions what you can tell about the done work? How does your music creation process work? How do you create a song?
Well, each song has a different sound to them. For example, God with a gun has a slow, darkwave, dark ambient feel to it. The lyrics of these songs are not like the typical format of lyrics written for a standard music compositionThey were written in a way that fit the music I created for the five songs. I do alot of sound designs with synthesis on my hardware synths and create drum patterns in Reason 4.0 first so I can get an idea of the format of the song.Once I created the drums for the song I record the synth sounds in Steinberg Cubase, which is my main sequencer program by using bass lines, melodies, strings, and sound effects. The music is done in recorded midi tracks, then I record each track into digital audio tracks at a tim. Once I have all the audio tracks recorded from the midi tracks, I go into the mixing process which is vitally important for production of the songs. Lastly, I master the song tracks using mastering audio plugins in Steinberg Cubase.
21-What genre of music do you consider your work to be? Who are your major influences?
I would consider my music to be terror/ebm/industrial style. My major influences are Leatherstrip, Skinny Puppy, Hocico and Front Line Assembly.
22-Since the music industry is more open now to purely electronic music has this made things easier for you?
With myspace music, it has become a great way to get the listeners, promoters, organizers out there to book shows and to get on CD compilations so definitely, yes.
23-So what are their main influences as a band at the moment?
Well, our main influence is Hocico but German and I have different music influences in the Industrial music genre.
24-What is currently inspiring your material as an artist? tell me all about the Industrial / Electro / Experimental scene of San Diego, California Verenigde Staten?
My early Industrial music influences, movies, books and paintings inspires my material as an artist.
25-Do you think that people from the music press didn't expect you to grow up musically?
I really don't know about that one because Wire Vein hasn't been around over 10 years to musically evolve into something else.
26-what is the key to making music from Wire Vein and what inspires you to keep growing as a musician?
Be creative with your synthesizer music gear because there are so many sonic possibilities to make electronic music and real life experiences inspires me as a growing musician.
27-How do you see the future of download / Copyright in area of goth-Industrial / Electro / Experimental music ? What are the best ways to develop it in your mind ?
It's going to be very hard selling CD's for all the electro artists that are trying to make a profit off their music and, also, they will be losing alot of money in CD sales.
28-If there was one thing you want people to know about your band what would that be?
Well,Wire Vein is currently seeking for a new vocalist and lyricist at this moment in time.Whoever is interested and would like to join as my partner,please feel free to contact me at:
ras80392000@gmail.com and I can be contacted at
www.myspace.com/wirevein .
29-Please let us know about your upcoming plans, some new releases you like to confirm here.
There won't be any new releases yet. I will be continuing on new material for Wire Vein.
30-It has been a pleasure to interview you on your musical activity,Well,any last words to your ebm-industrial fans?
Keep the ebm-industrial faith alive!
31-and what is next on San Diego, California Verenigde Staten agenda?
There won't be any upcoming shows at this time.
32-thanks for your time! great work on the albums and good luck with everything.any How can fans-to-be gain access to your music? Do you have a website with sample songs or a demo CD?
33-Were you asked to play or did you have to ask for a slot?
Jordi emailed me about performing a live show for Wire Vein at the Festi Arte in Tijuana, Mexico and I accepted the offer to perform live.
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