NEGATRON

Effluvium's change of name to Negatron when they came up with their latest demo "Messiah of Damnation" surprised me personally so i hooked up with Willie once again to discuss the name change, the local scene, their new demo and his countless other bands and projects, among others. And if you can't take a joke or two, screw you!!!

Let’s start off with the most obvious question: why the name-change?
Well, because everyone thought it was a crazy idea, so I said, “What the hell!” and went for it. By the way how’s everyone in Cavite lately? (Things are basically just the same here.- roel)

Why Negatron then? Does it has anything to do with the fact that your music now is very much influenced, among others of course, by Voivod?
Yeah I think that’s one of the main reasons and because “Negatron” sounds a bit odd for a metal band. I like the weirdness of it and the fact that it’s just a name. it has no deeper meaning.

You’ve been struggling in the scene for over 8 years already and yet the proper recognition still seems far away. How do you feel about that?
That’s a great question! Well, it’s a constant struggle, you know. There are quite a few times where I just wanted to give it up. But doing so will just let all the people who talks shit about us win. And I can never let that happen. We have to strengthen that resolve, no matter what happens. I must admit that it gets tiresome and discouraging, so I have to have an Iron Will. I tend to see it as a test of our spirit. Whoa! 8 years! It certainly didn’t seem that long. A lot of people here in our city still can’t believe we can write out own music! Ha, ha, ha!

Your recently released e.p. Messiah of Damnation sounds very much like Phantom Shadows materials, is it safe to say then that Negatron still has that same Effluvium blood flowing or do you want the band to be a different entity altogether?
I guess we will always have that “Effluvium” sound even a little bit because that’s the way we write and arrange music, but on the other hand I wanted it to be, as you said, a totally different entity.

For the sake of those who haven’t got your e.p. yet please tell us more about it?
Okay, it was recorded on December, 2003 and was released on January, 2004. Right now there are three different versions of it floating around. First was the CDR version which was independently released by us with two bonus live tracks. And then there was the Metal Havoc version on cassette with one live bonus track, totally different from the CDR version. I really like this version. And thirdly, the Afterlife Productions release on professional cassette entitled “Thermal Shock” with Effluvium’s “The Phantom Shadows” as bonus tracks. Released early this year in Malaysia and distributed worldwide.

The Metal Havoc Recs tape release has different bonus tracks than the original CD-R release. Tell us about it.
It’s a song recorded live during one of those “Sickfest” gigs back in ’03. I guess it was one of our unreleased/unrecorded songs. It’s pretty much a bootleg quality recording but Alvaro liked the vibe of it.

The song Exerion could easily have been three songs but instead you simply divide the tracks into 3 different parts. Why was it done that way? What’s the key connection between those songs?
I’m glad you noticed. I always wanted to write something like that. The lyrics is actually a science fiction story that I made up and we divided it into three chapters. It has a lot of riffs and tempo changes quite probably the most complicated song that we’ve ever written. It’s even very difficult to play live.
In the future we plan to write more adventurous material, perhaps a 10-15 chapter song which spans from 20-30 minutes in length. That’d be very cool.

Phantom Shadows has a bass solo track and again Messiah of Damnation features another bass solo. Will you tell us more about it?
Well, they are basically filler tracks which Donamer pretty much writes on the spot. It also changes the vibe a little bit. It serves as a contrast to the heavier, more aggressive part which makes up most of the recordings. It gives a bit of an ethereal/atmospheric edge to the music.

A tape version of Messiah of Damnation with Phantom Shadows tracks was recently released in Malaysia. How did it happen?
Alvaro hooked us up with Wan Syamsul of Afterlife Productions. He’s a real cool guy and he knows his metal real well. He pressed about 500 copies of the cassette. My only complain is that he only sent us 50 copies of the stuff. I hope he’d send us 50 more copies soon.

There’s also a very good review of Negatron in one of US’s biggest metal mag. How does it feel to have such a positive review?
It’s nice to be appreciated in a flattering way. Somebody actually sent a copy of the demo to Metal Maniacs and it got reviewed. Anyway, our fist demo “genesis of our Conquest” also received a pretty good review on MM’s November, 2000 issue.

You’ve been playing as three-piece for sometime now. Have you ever thought of adding another guitarist in the future?
Ever since we first started I wanted us to be a 4-piece band with 2 guitar players. The problem was we can’t find the right person who likes the music we like or has the passion to play something like the music we create. So we’ve been sticking it out as a 3-piece forever. I don’t fucking give a shit anymore. I just wanted to create and release our own music.

Aside from Negatron and school, you also have Pathogen and Morloch and other side projects. How do you manage to do all that?
I don’t know how. Music is such a big part of me. It’s more addictive to me than women or alcohol. I just couldn’t function without it. I have so much ideas in my head that it gets me down not being able to unleash them.
Pathogen is more or less a full time band now. Vic and I play with Morloch every once in a while. I also play with Toxemia every once in a while. Infiltration on the other hand is a real side project. The same goes for that joke band Children of Badeath, ha, ha, ha!

Do you have any other plans or possibly projects that might surface in the future?
I want to form a traditional heavy metal band for sometime now. Donamer and I are always discussing about that during our drinking sessions. Something very melodic like vintage Judas Priest, NWOBHM, Dio, Black Sabbath, etc. I also want to form a crust/punk/meta; project with Corix and Ron in the future in the vein of Hellbastard, Doom, etc. classic crust.
Jerico and I are also talking about writing and recording a real avant-garde music in the near future, perhaps later this year. I just wanted to expand and broaden my artistic horizon.

You normally play live along with emo or brutal bands. How does the crowd of those genres react to your music?
Well, the crowd here are mostly emo and we always have that blank stare in their faces every time we play. At least the crowd in Manila, Cavite or Lucena are more receptive. The funny thing about playing here in Laguna is that you feel like you’re in a Star Trek convention or something. Everyone has the same “emo” hairstyle and dresses up the same way. It seems no one understands the meaning of “Individual Freedom” anymore.
Everyone just jumps from one bandwagon to another. Whatever becomes trendy and whatever the media declares to be “cool” they jump into it. That’s the classic case of “herd mentality”. It’s just so fuckin stupid. They make it seem it is wrong to have a sense of individuality. The problem with punk rock and metal nowadays is that it became categorized and sub-divided. Fitting exactly in a category that can be exploited and sold as a fashion statement.
Notice how many people wear punk gear or metal shirts nowadays? But they didn’t have the slightest idea what punk rock or heavy metal is all about. The original angst was sold back to itself by a manipulating army of parasitical entrepreneurs and the mainstream media.

Speaking of live shows what do you consider your most memorable gig so far?
That gig on July the 8th in Manila was the most memorable so far. Man, you were there. Things went to a boiling point between the Paganfire boys and Fin of Resurrected. Actually I don’t give a shit about their feud. It just pisses us off not being able to finish our set that night. That was the first time the police came in to stop our show. That really sucks!

What can you say about the sudden proliferation of bands in our country? Any bands that you could recommend to our readers?
I don’t know. I’m somewhat disillusioned about the current “scene” in our country. So many bands have sprung about, but very few actually have the passion for what they are doing. I don’t follow the scene that closely anymore. Our main objective is to create our own music, and try to develop it even further.

What about your zine, when can we expect the new issue and what can we expect from it?
I’m still not sure about the next issue. It’s been hanging in the balance for almost two years. But I will try my absolute best to put it out before the year 2005 comes to a close, but I still can’t say the specific date for Dead Reckoning #3.

What about your other projects? I heard Infiltration will soon be having a nationwide tour soon.
Nationwide tour? Hell, we wouldn’t play here anytime soon! I’ll think about that after we finish our sold-out European tour. Man, we’re rock stars over there. They totally worship Infiltration and we get a lot of blow jobs to boot.

How was Children of Badeath’s recent tour? When will the much awaited DVD/CD box set coming out? When are you going to play in the elementary school near my place? The kids are willing to hang their principal to have you there.
They will all end up in the Psychiatric ward after they see Children of Badeath play. Yes of course we will play on your elementary school. Wait til I get my oh-so-trendy emo haircut. The DVD/CD box set will come out after we recorded our third album. And our much awaited live album. You should hear our version of the Bangles’ “Eternal Flame”.

That’s it for me Willie. Hope you can drop by and perhaps stay here in Cavite again. Last words are yours.
Well, thanx again Roel, it has always be a pleasure talking to you. I hope I can visit you guys over there in Cavite one of these days. I really miss Cavite a lot. Take care, bro!

NEGATRON
Willie Desamero
#4-M, Fule Sahagun St.,
San Pablo City, Laguna
4000
Philippines