Mexico’s Rabia Sorda are making all sorts of waves with their latest release “Hotel Suicide”. They made the Rivetheads Best of 2013 list and feature heavily on the Rivetheads playlists. John E Smoke has been chomping at the bit for the chance to have a chat with Erk Aicrag who is also lead singer of Hocico.
JES – First of all, a massive thank you for sparing some time to chat to Midlands Metalheads. How does 2014 find Rabia Sorda? How did you celebrate the new year?
EA – 2014 started just good, an imaginary friend and me drank an almost complete bottle of whisky on New Years Eve and woke up on New Year’s Day with almost no hangover… 
JES – What was your main objective when you started Rabia Sorda and have you achieved it yet?
EA – Right from the beginning my main aim has been to explore music in a different direction, to be open to experiment with music without preconceived concepts about any music style or about myself. So far it feels like I have been true to this thoughts and I’m enjoying this solo venture a lot.
JES – What do you see as the main themes in your work? The title of your previous work “Noise Diary” implies that it was very personal. Is “Hotel Suicide” also very personal or is there a different theme with this release? What is “Hotel Suicide”?
EA – The themes for my lyrics are from different nature, I like to say that my lyrics are drops of sweat, blood and semen. Most of them are of a personal nature but I love fiction too. “Hotel Suicide” is all about the idea of transition and change. Death is the most expressive way to achieve transition and change, so I embrace the idea of suicide, but I’m not necessarily talking about a physical death; I mainly want to say that in order to achieve change or transition you need to kill (emotionally/spiritually) yourself or at least a part of your own self to be reborn as a new individual.
I have committed suicide at many stages of my life, artistic suicide, spiritual suicide, sexual suicide, social suicide… and I’m still around looking for my next transition. Hotel Suicide paints the scenario where all these suicidal acts take place. It is definitely a nice place to visit, it might look scary at first sight but I’m going to be there waiting for you in Room 13 and we will have fun together.
JES – “Hotel Suicide” is getting you a lot of attention. I for one think it is one of the best albums of the last year. How do you feel about the album and the reception it is getting?
EA – I’m very proud of “Hotel Suicide”, it was a very challenging and demanding album since I wanted it to be the best outing that I have released to date, I challenged myself to write better songs. I didn’t leave the studio until I was sure that I achieved that. This album has been released only for two months but that it’s been getting a good reception among the fans and our new victims.
JES – Going back to your first album “Metodos Del Caos”, what do you think has changed going forwards to “Hotel Suicide”? Is there a plan for the future or is it more immediate when you come to work on the project?
EA – Looking back in perspective I think my approach to writing songs has improved and I feel more confident to go the way my heart goes without asking if I’m pleasing someone else or not. I have no plans for the future in regards of following a certain path or sound, I’m actually trying to avoid perfecting “my style” or “any style”, I just want to feel free to create whatever that pleases me and I want start from scratch on every new recording project, that is the only way that I can have fun doing this.
JES – Rabia Sorda sounds like there’s a bigger punk influence in comparison to your other work. If you were to collaborate with an artist from the punk genre from the past or the present who would it be? Is there anyone else you’d like to work with that you haven’t yet?
EA – I really enjoy punk music, It would be great to collaborate with Jello Biafra or Suicidal Tendencies. Apart from that I would love to work with Pavarotti but he hasn’t replied to my request yet…
JES – Your music is very angry and heartfelt. What inspires your rage, and what do you hate the most in the world?
EA – Rage is a weapon to survive, that is the way it started on me as I used to live in Mexico and Rage became part of my art and expression. Whether they violent or not, I like to write songs that are honest, I want to write songs that sound true to myself. Predominantly my songs are angry because I feel compelled to deal with the negative side of life in my music, that keeps me sane.
JES – We were lucky enough to see you on tour in the UK with Combichrist and Dismantled. I caught the Birmingham date, in the home of heavy music. I was struck by the energy of the live performance. How did you find our grim and grey UK? Do you find the audiences reactions differ from continent to continent?
EA – I really like playing in the UK, we enjoyed that tour back in 2010 a lot, although I had already played in London several times with Hocico I hadn’t traveled anywhere else in the U.K. and the whole experience was fantastic. We recently played at the Whitby Festival and in London with Rabia Sorda to present “Hotel Suicide” and it was great! I would say British people into the underground music scene are freer from prejudices than in other places, when it comes to music styles I think they don’t care if it’s called metal or industrial or whatever else, as long as its good they will love it as much as they love their sausages.
JES – What Rabia Sorda song so far do you enjoy playing live the most, and which one are you the most proud of and why?
EA – An all-time classic for all of us it’s “Walking on Nails”, no matter what happens there’s always a great energy flowing among us. I’m proud of all my songs, I get on the stage and I defend them as if they were members of my family.
JES – We enjoyed your DJ set as Rabia Sorda at Slimelight in London after the last Hocico gig. Is DJ’ing something you’d like to do more of?
EA – I DJ it from time to time, not much actually, and it’s great fun if good friends are around, that kind of help to read the audience a bit better. I think I suck as a DJ, but well if people keep dancing everybody’s happy…
JES – Here at Rivetheads HQ we like to find out more about the musical tastes of the artists we play. Can you remember the first record you purchased and the most recent addition to your music collection? Please tell us a little but about these records and what they mean to you.
EA – The first record I bought was Mi Grupo Toca Rock from Guillermo Capetillo, it’s a cheesy 50’s rock’n’roll song about a boy whose dreams about becoming a rock star come true… somehow the young me enjoyed dancing to it… I recently bought “Cut the World” from Antony and the Johnsons, I have been a fan of his pasts records but this one got my attention for the video clip of the title track, I saw it and thought it was great to hear such a heartfelt song and seeing a girl slashing the throat of a man… the minute after I bought the record and I really enjoyed the classical orchestra arrangements to his songs.
JES – We’re also a bit geeky here at Rivetheads HQ. Can you tell us about the recording set up for Rabia Sorda? What software and hardware do you most like to use to create the Rabia Sorda sound?
EA – I use my DSI Evolver on almost every song, mainly for the sick melodies or some weird sounds. I swear the devil lives inside of that thing! I love it. My Novation Xio synth is always welcomed in the recordings too for the more modern sounds, but I enjoy playing some soft synths and FX too like the Studio Devil that sounds great on everything and the Fabfilter’s Twin and Volcano, these two are fabulous to create original sounds and I program my drum parts using a Korg PadKontrol’s nice and big pads.
I have a very shitty guitar that can never be really tuned but somehow I manage to get some good stuff out of it. And I have some pieces of circuit bent gear that help me put some nasty stuff here and there in my songs… lately I have been using some ipad synths that great great fun too, like the Animoog and Samplewiz. For Vocals I use a T.C. electronic Gold Channel and I think it really helps me getting good sounds from my voice. For recording and sequencing all my instruments I use Ableton Live, I really like how intuitive and effective this piece of software is.
JES – How does the approach for creating a Rabia Sorda release differ from creating a Hocico release?
EA – Well it’s basically just the obvious answer, on the Hocico releases it’s Racso and me taking decisions on every detail of the recording during the creative process and on a Rabia Sorda release it’s only me.
JES – Hocico are renowned for rather spectacular special editions of their albums. Are we likely to see a Rabia Sorda release get a similar treatment?
EA – Yeah, we already have plans for a special edition of our next release.
JES – Here in the UK it is sometimes difficult to learn about the music from a country the other side of the globe. Rivetheads Radio has of course been playing Rabia Sorda and Hocico, plus God Destruction and Degeneracion Debraye. How do you feel about the music scene in Mexico and which bands should we in the UK be watching out for?
EA – I have been living in Germany for 8 years now, but Mexico has an ever growing underground music scene and there are always interesting bands coming out from Mexico. I recommend listening to Larva and to Ritualz.
JES – Once again, thank you for talking to Midlands Metalheads and Rivetheads Radio. Is there anything you would like to add?
EA – Thanks for the interview, I’ll see you soon in the UK mates!
