interview: Miskatonic Union

The traditional, dark heavy metal band Miskatonic Union (Chile) has an outstanding debut album called Astral Quest, a work by a band with a great knowledge of the tradition of the music they play. So who are they? What explains the debut’s such good quality? That’s what we mean to find out now.

Greetings! How is life for your heavy metal band in Chile? Where in Chile in particular are you?

Hello everyone and thanks for this interview. We are Miskatonic Union a heavy metal band from Melipilla, Chile, a small city near capital city, Santiago. Because we are a relatively new band, we are just making our way in our country; the album was released just this January 26. In our city there are not too many gigs like in Santiago but there are many bands.

Who are the members of the band now and what their responsibilities in the band? Who are the founders of the band? Who is answering this interview?

Well, the band members are Hector Paris (guitar), Raul Saá (vocals), Carlos Retamales (drums), Paul Rajcevic (bass) and Rodrigo Meza (guitar). We try to distribute responsibilities equitably among the members, so we all participate in some way in regards to the band, so we are all answering this interview. The founders of the band were Hector Paris and our previous guitarist (Claudio Villa). Then they recruited Carlos and Paul in 2015 and finally Raul on vocals in 2016. Then Claudio left the band because personal issues and Rodrigo Meza joined us in 2017. He is our newest member and we are very proud to play with him.

Congratulations on your wonderful album Astral Quest! It’s definitely a good album! The album does not sound like a debut. It sounds very experienced. Are you all in other bands? Have you been making metal music for a long time in other bands?

Yes, this is the first album of the band, our debut. Of course, we all have made some works with other bands; Raul Saá (vocals) has a CD released by his former band “Atomic Genocide” (thrash metal), Hector Paris (guitar) has a CD released in his previous band “Forhell” (death metal). Paul Rajcevic (bass) had a band called “Osiris” (heavy metal) with some not official demos, Rodrigo Meza (guitar) had a band called “Chaos in Progress” and Carlos Retamales (drums) has 2 CD in his other band “Unblessed” (death metal) soon they will have a tour in Europe, too.

I think that Astral Quest is a wonderful album. How old are the songs? They are well written and performed well, too. Were you writing the songs for years and years before you recorded them?

Thank you very much, all songs were written between 2014 and 2015. In a certain way the songs were already finished for that time, but we delay in the process of recording and mastering. They were hard times. It also cost us a lot to find the support of a label and finding a new guitarist. But the band is complete right now and ready for things that will come.

Who wrote the songs?

The ideas of the songs and lyrics were written by Hector Paris and our previous guitarist (Claudio Villa). Of course, the arrangements of the other instruments were made by the other members of the band, including the voices. Then the machine began to work very well for us.

What are your plans for performing the songs live in Chile?

We only had three presentations before the debut of the album, being the first one in September and October 2017 and January 2018 all with the current line-up. And we had a gig on March 3rd. Of course, we want to play in as many countries as possible. If any producer invites us, we will be happy to leave our mark anywhere in the world, but that depends on the possibilities that occur along the way.

The album is on the German label Iron Shied Records. How did you come into contact with them? Are there plans for Miskatonic Union to play shows in Germany?

It was a matter of luck or simply destiny. In our search for a label that supports us we find Thomas from Iron Shield Records who liked our work and trusted us. We are very proud of that. At the moment there are no plans to go to Germany, but it has always been in our plans to go there in the near future. We hope that in the future we can go there and to many places in the world, too.

The production of the album is very professional. How were you able to get a such a professional sound? Are there good studios for metal music in the city where you live?

Of course, there are good studios where we live. The instruments were recorded in “Vomithor Studio” and voices and mastering in “DB Studio” between 2015 and 2017. It took a long time until we found the sound we wanted. That’s other reason why the album took so long to release. We wanted to present our first album in the best way possible and with our own resources so that a label would interest to release the disc. We are very satisfied with the final result.

What can you tell us about your excellent video for the song “Miskatonic Union”? Where did you record it? How long were you making the video?

The video was recorded in October 2017. We recorded it in a full weekend, day and night. It was a bit complicated since we had to record several shots so everything was fine. We are very satisfied with the final result. It was recorded in Melipilla, the city where we live, for that we went to a hill and asked for the theater of the city in addition to some locations outside DB Studio. As data the actor of the video is the bassist of the band Unblessed, the other band of our drummer Carlos Retamales.

How have metalheads in Chile reacted to your album?

We have received good reviews in Chile although the album is just being released here, so we hope that over time the fans will be more and have more reviews about the album. We have also had reviews from several countries of the world and that fills us with pride, because for that we work and we will continue in that.

I have a favorite song from your album: all of them. Which one is your favorite song?!

We all have our favorite songs on the album, it would be difficult to choose everyone's favorite, we like the whole album. Maybe we can say that our favourite songs are Awakening, Road to the Mountains of Madness, Bushido Ninja, Miskatonic Union, Astral Wings and Captain Sparrow for saying something.

I have watched your live videos on YouTube. Do you know who is putting the videos on YouTube?

We have our own channel in youtube, so we are putting the videos by ourselves and other accounts of band members or friends. It’s ok for us if someone outside of the band wants to do that, if they upload a video of us, that means that is a fan and we will be proud and grateful of that.

When you were younger, what were some Chilean metal bands that you liked?! What is your opinion about metal music in 2018 in Chile in general?

Well, there have been a lot of Chilean metal bands that we like. Inquisicion is the band that we like more. Other Chilean bands that we like are Panzer, Tumulto. Here in Chile there are a lot of very good bands not only heavy metal. Thrash metal and death metal bands like Pentagram, Torturer, Massakre, Necrosis, Undercroft, Disaster, Slavery, for saying something, here we have a lot of bands and fans here too and the scene has metal for everyone.

Can you please tell us where people can buy your music?

You can buy the album through Iron Shield Records website, they are responsible for distributing the disk outside our limits. Here in Chile you can contact directly with us in our Facebook page, we have an Instagram of the band, too. You can listen the album through Spotify, Tidal, Naspter, etc. just search for us in the internet and you will find some material to hear.

When will you play in Seattle?!

We would be very happy to play in Seattle, so if any producer is interested in us, just contact us. As we said before, we are willing to make our mark around the world

Thank you for your time!

Thank you too it was a very good interview, we had a very nice moment answering it. Stay following us. We will have more gigs and we are working for the second album. Stay true!!

MISKATONIC UNION - Miskatonic Union (Official video clip 2018)

facebook.com/miskatonicunion/