Pic courtesy of: Katharzys "Well metal is and will always be just another musical genre and that’s that… that’s why I think metal has the same rights as any other genre out there"

CR: Esteban why don’t we start a bit different, lets talk about the upcoming Cannibal Corpse concert due in San José tomorrow night (August 18); there has been a campaign started by one of our biggest newspapers to cancel the concert, how does this make you feel as a musician?
Esteban Monestel: Well metal is and will always be just another musical genre and that’s that… that’s why I think metal has the same rights as any other genre out there. What really amuses me is that we know what we are going to see and hear, and a newspaper like La Extra, needs this yellow journalism, that’s were metal becomes an easy prey; because it is always related to Satanism, cannibalism, violence etc…
All right we are not going to omit the fact that yes there are some bands if not the majority of death, grind core that talk about topics like the ones mention before, but still we know what we are going to see, nobody goes to discover something new in this concerts.

CR: What about the Migration head official that said that he was not going to give license to Cannibal Corpse because he didn’t consider them artist?
Esteban Monestel: I think this gentleman has no qualification to say who can play and who can’t, he’s in a power ride probably… and like I heard some say, “if they prohibit metal because of that reasoning, how can they allow something like the reguetton fest to take place?”

CR: All right let’s talk about Katharzys, why don’t you tell us something about the beginnings of the band?
Esteban Monestel: Katharzys started back in 2001, back then we were trying to put the band together, playing a couple of gigs… we manage to play at the Metal Fusion that year and we open for Disgorge once, Mexico Disgorge that is… after this Nash got involved and we took the name Katharzys as the one we were going to use from there on; that’s why we say that the band really started in 2005, because that was the year when we knew exactly what we wanted to play and how to do it.

CR: Did you guys had any other name for the band before you decided to pick Katharzys as the one? And has the vision always been to play death meal the way you guys are doing it right now?
Esteban Monestel: Well, we have evolved a great deal; nonetheless the idea has always been to play death metal, but like I said we have been evolving, and now we want to play our death metal as technical and original as we can. We also try to get influenced by other music genres. For example I really like to listen to modern jazz, and like me the other guys have their own influences.
The name was the same is just that in 2005 we decided to officially leave it as our name.

CR: Esteban you were one of the founders of another Costarrican band right, December’s Cold Winter?
Esteban Monestel: Well yes, at least I think so, because when I was with them they weren’t even call that yet, they had another name but I cant remembered right now.

CR: In which way can we listen to Katharzys and hear those jazz influences?
Esteban Monestel: Well I don’t want people to misinterpret what I just say, is not like I try to write jazz metal or anything like that jajaja… is just that the complexity and the virtuosity of jazz really catches my attention, I try to learn from it and apply it to death metal; I believe that in order to create you must open your mind, if what you want to do is something different you cant just listen to one thing, because you will end up copying something already done.

CR: I understand; how much motivation is driving the band right now? And what has been the most difficult part of putting a band together?
Esteban Monestel: Honestly, as long as live allows me to, at least speaking for me I’m not ready to let this dream die just yet; the good thing is that I have already been in situations like this so all you have to do is learn from what happens around you. Right now everybody on the band is extremely motivated, and that’s because we have a full length to record and a lot of goals to reach.
The hardest part is to have a solid line up in a country were metal doesn’t pay; most of us are in this because we love this music, but to some that is not enough and they end up changing their priorities.

CR: What about this line in your myspace website, can you explain it a bit further for us “Katharzys, represents the density and strong feeling of metal, fused with spiritual elements and penetrating philosophies.”
Esteban Monestel: Jeje, well metal has been the force that has kept me breathing in this world, I know it sounds radical but it’s true; when I have been down with one of those very severe depression situations, metal (tarro) has always been there for me to lend a helping hand. I think that is what has made me a person with a different perspective on things. I think is all about looking beyond what’s in front of our eyes, somebody said once, why if the universe is infinite, do we insist on only looking at what is in front of our eyes. Our lyrics try to “touch” those fibers, as well as our music, very heavy but with a very clear aim; the idea is to strike a punch on people so that they can get into Katharzys once they listen to the band.

	Pic courtesy of: Katharzys "I believe that in order to create you must open your mind, if what you want to do is something different you cant just listen to one thing"

CR: I think I can relate to that… why don’t we talk a little about Katharzys demo, and to begin a simple question, why an intro track? What is it about intro pieces that you like?
Esteban Monestel: You mean our intro right? In that case it has to do with our style of death metal, I think our music has so many heavy elements that can be a little overwhelming (some actually want that to happen jejeje) and that’s pretty much why I’ve always liked the idea of intros and outros, to refresh and create another atmosphere around the music.
I see it as a boxing match, if you only through jabs at your opponent then its not fun, you need to stop and though your occasional hook.

CR: Do you have a number on how many copies of the demo did you guys sold in Costa Rica? And did you guys promoted the demo outside the country?
Esteban Monestel: I think we got to 350 sold here, I can remember because we were taking them out in packages of 50, so I think I’m not that far off on my calculus. Yes we have send a little over 60 copies to different parts of the world.

CR: How about the international response to that material?
Esteban Monestel: Well yeah, we have received some pretty good emails about the demo from different parts; but anyway we don’t believe that the sound of the demo has a very competitive quality, so we hope to promote the band way more once we have our debut full length. We hope that one has a more professional sound.

CR: This demo shows a band with many tempo changes and rhythms, complicated songs that don’t really fit under a “traditional” death metal label… Is there any specific model that you guys want to apply when it comes to write songs for Katharzys?
Esteban Monestel: You never stop learning for once, there is always something that can be improved… just like I told you earlier, we really like complexity, and there isn’t an specific formula when writing for the band, and if we did well then it will be no fun. We have always liked the idea of exploring… off course but always keeping that death metal essence that we like so much.

CR: who are the main song writers on the band… and how many rehearsals do you guys try to have at least every week?
Esteban Monestel: Well right now I’m the one writing the music and the lyrics, the drums are taken care by Ignacio. We try to get together at least twice a week.

CR: I have this theory that in order to really listen to a Costarrican band I should first do it on a demo or album, because for some reason the live shows in this country really lack of sound quality… Do you think that one can fairly qualify a local band just by listening to them playing live here?
Esteban Monestel: Well I’m a sound engineer for that matter. Believe me when I say that as long as you don’t have the proper equipment, and we are talking about a local band or sound enterprise, you are never going to sound good.
Some people think that sound is a couple of speakers and a 30 watts amplifier, and that is never the case.
I believe every band needs it’s own sound engineer, that warranties that somebody is looking out for the sound of your band.

CR: To keep talking about our local scene, I have seen this 2007 an amazing continuity on local gigs, I mean every weekend there is some band playing in San José; Do you think this is a clear sing of just how strong our scene is becoming or just the lack of international shows?
Esteban Monestel: Well a scene with that many shows is definitely very alive and in constant growth and that’s excellent.
But in my opinion we have to be very careful, because people may get bored, and more if the shows are always in the same place under the same circumstances; still I hope this trend keeps up and more and more people will join us.

CR: Speaking about that same thing, do you think we have a local scene “critical” enough and I mean critical in the good way, so that our bands grow from that criticism and develop into more professional outfits?
Esteban Monestel: I hope this doesn’t come across as me been an asshole, but I think here many confuse brutality with quality, some only want to hear brutal stuff and that’s not what is all about, at least in my opinion and it also depends on the genre of course; anyway I do think we should ask more from our bands, this country can be very conformist and metal doesn’t escape that.

CR: I totally agree with you, some people pay more attention to who’s the thoughts band instead on who’s the best composer, performer etc…
Esteban Monestel: In our experience, people have supported us since day one, and we are very grateful for that, we also like to thank those who criticize us, because that makes us grow.

CR: How would you like Katharzys to be described by people?
Esteban Monestel: Like a heavy band, like a metal band that makes sense.

	Pic courtesy of: Katharzys "I hope this doesn’t come across as me been an asshole, but I think here many confuse brutality with quality, some only want to hear brutal stuff and that’s not what is all about"

CR: Why don’t you tell us more about that upcoming album from Katharzys?
Esteban Monestel: Right now we are in pre-production; we are planning on recording it in the Oscar Marin studio, who’s won 2 Grammy’s, so we hope it comes out as professional as it can be.

CR: and that’s here in Costa Rica?
Esteban Monestel: Yeas right here.

CR: And have you guys looked or are looking for a label to help you out with this album?
Esteban Monestel: We are dedicated to the recording at this moment. We believe that the best presentation is the music, so until we have the album ready we are not going to be looking for anything like that.

CR: Why do you think a big label hasn’t sign a metal Costarrican band? Do you think is a market issue, a placement issue, or we haven’t really shown to the world that we could sell big number of copies like for example a Dimmu Borgir?
Esteban Monestel: Complicated question jejeje… I think is a package, good production, a lot of hunger, good contacts and to be very, very lucky.
I have heard some US bands signed by big labels that sound pretty bad.

CR: So no idea on when can we expect the new record?
Esteban Monestel: Well, I mean we are going to be moving around before the album finally comes out, but right now I couldn’t give you an exact date.

CR: To wrap it up… (and I don’t know why I feel like I’m leaving something out!) what would you say is Katharzys “advantage” in a scene like ours, what does Katharzys has to offer that other bands don’t?
Esteban Monestel: I don’t think we have any specific advantage, what I can say is that we have an enormous desire to write, to create, we really want to achieve our goals. Personally, I dedicate all my spare time to Katharzys so I have plenty of confidence in the well development of the band.

CR: All right man, what advise can you give us… the media, what are we doing wrong and how do we need to improve?
Esteban Monestel: Well, I believe that for you guys, just like our bands, you do this because you love what you are doing and not for any monetary retribution. I think it will be very interesting to see a sort of “alliance” between the bands and the media, something like more gigs managed by both, you know to give something new to the audience, I’ve always though that is not entirely the people’s fault for not going to the shows; if you spoil them with cheap productions then you have to figure out a way to make them come to better shows, with better quality of “all around” production, I believe once this happens many media outlets will be motivated to sponsor the shows.

CR: Good advice, all right man thank you very much for chatting with me, any last words?
Esteban Monestel: Hey thanks to all of those who support the band, we hope not to disappoint you with our debut album, with a lot of new stuff, very brutal stuff.
And thanks to Leviatan for the interview!