OTRA entrevista con Martín Méndez

Se ve que Méndez está a full dando entrevistas, salió una nueva en una página australiana.

Opeth's Martin Mendez isn’t one for showmanship. In fact, Martin was probably one of the unlikeliest candidates for a measured rise into Swedish metal stardom. Born and raised in Uruguay, he drank in all the music that his Latin heritage had to offer, pouring it into his elegant, textured bass playing. Making his way to Sweden by way of Swedish-born Uruguyan drummer Martin Lopez, he joined Opeth in 1999, almost half way into the band's now twenty year career.

Despite extensive world touring, Martin seldom spoke during concerts, preferring to communicate via headbanging instead, using his signature side-to-side “two bob” motion (before he lopped off his locks, of course.) Though reticent on stage, he spoke softly but not reservedly to the AU review about their new album, touring and the trek from country of his birth from his residence in Sweden.

Hello Martin, how are you?

I’m well, thanks.

Good to hear. Are you a soccer fan?

I am, yeah.

Congratulations to Uruguay making the Copa America final!

Thank you. It’s a great achievement.

Now on to the music. Are you on a break from touring at the moment?

Yeah. I’m at home but we start touring to [support] the album in September.

How did a boy from Uruguay make it to Sweden to become a rock star?

[chuckles] I don’t know. I just wanted to make music, you know. That was it. The former drummer, Martin Lopez he sort of, well, suggested me. He was living in Uruguay as well. But I didn’t have a dream, you know. I wanted to play music but I never knew what could happen.

When you were growing up, did you initially take up the bass? Did you play other instruments as well? What got you into being a fully-fledged bass player?

Well, my father used to play bass. He used to play when I was a baby you know, we had a bass [in the house.] When I grew up he showed me how to play.

There’s a lot of jazz, flamenco, world beat textures in the new album particularly, were you brought up on those styles? Or was it metal from the beginning?

Well flamenco was definitely something I heard, but as a boy I never had the chance to buy many records. I pretty much grew up musically with whatever was around me; whatever people played at home. So there wasn’t a lot of different kind of music – there was a lot of tango on the radio that they played all day as well as the folk music of Uruguay. Then when I got a bit older I listened to the Beatles and the Doors. [Bands] like that.

Talking about the Doors, I listened to Heritage today and there’s a lot of 60s and 70s sounds on it – a bit of the Doors, a bit of Uriah Heep, a bit of Jethro Tull as well. It’s been hinted at through previous records but why did the band decide to embrace that sound fully on this album?

Well, we’ve always been into these sounds. We always listened to lots of rock music from the 70s. We always had these albums in our record collections. We wanted to experiment with these sounds like we have done over the years more on this album, I think.

You joined the band about 12 years ago now – what drew you to Opeth and what makes you stay?

Well, I still love to play music. I think the problem with these past members, I think is that they stop wanting to play music. I still love it and that’s why I’m still here. I love playing it. I think it becomes difficult for many people because this lifestyle is not for everybody. The touring is pretty hard – it’s long. Sometimes you tour for up to a year and then you release another album and you start again. I think that’s a big part of it, for some people. Maybe.

They just want to be home. I can understand that.

Do you think if Opeth hadn’t become a worldwide touring band, the band would not have enjoyed its success, to a certain extent?

Yes. I mean, we survive on touring, as a band. Making records and things, you don’t see any money from that. For us, to keep the band alive and to survive, you have to tour.
I think we do good for a lot of people, to play live. We put on a good show – we don’t put on a big [spectacle] like metal bands used to. We don’t have any bombs, we don’t have any fire, we don’t have any image to [uphold], we don’t wear weird clothes, or whatever. We just set up and play.

You’ve been to Australia about four times in eight years, which is quite frequent for a metal band. Are you coming back soon?

Yeah. I don’t know. It’s never up to us, you know.

The artwork is out of the ordinary for Opeth as well; it sort of looks like an oil painting – its very pastoral, gothic, even biblical – how did you come up with the concept?

It was mostly Mike’s idea. He sort of dreamt it up…we got [Travis Smith] to help with it. It has a lot more colors and it became a very strong artwork. I love it.

Writers and fans call Opeth a progressive death metal band and have been for a long time – how would you describe the music that you play if you were going to describe yourselves at all?

Well, that’s a difficult thing, you know. I don’t know how you would talk about it. I mean, there are so many journalists in music today. I mean people call us death metal but I think we just play rock or heavy metal, but in a different way, you know.

In the past, you had heavy metal but now you have all these different kinds. But now you have a name for every band and what they play. It’s difficult to just make one up.

In the past Opeth was most certainly a death metal band, but now you’ve sort of moved away from that.

Well, that’s true, but it’s not like we want to move away from metal or upset our fans or anything like that. We still love death metal and we still want to play it as well. I mean we are within metal but we also make other kinds of music. We try to experiment with all the other styles. It’s natural – I mean we’re still the same. We don’t use death growls, for example in the new album but it doesn’t mean we’re trying to get away from metal or anything like that.

It was kind of boring to do another metal album following on from Watershed – well, at least it was for us. That’s why we made this kind of record.

A lot of Opeth fans like to collect your records on vinyl and in special tins and things like that – are you guys collectors yourselves? Do you think Opeth aren’t as cynical about the merchandising and limited editions like some fans tend to perceive it?

Well, we try to make music where in 30, 40, 50 years time people will still be listening to it. The only way to do it is to make good music. That’s what important. With all these collectors tins I think it’s a nice thing, to keep this music alive. To keep this music out there. Mikael is a big record collector and it’s his idea, I guess.

Talking about Mikael, it seems he is the most prominent and dominant figure in the band. Firstly, is that reflected in the songwriting and secondly, does the band feel comfortable about that?

Mikael has been the only member that’s [been there] from the beginning and he’s always been the songwriter. But still, it’s quite open. I mean its his band and we like to play this music. I mean we try to add to the music to make it sound as good as possible.

Opeth over the years has developed relationships with other bands like Porcupine Tree and Katatonia; and you are touring with them soon, is that right?

Yeah, we’re touring with them in September, in the States.

Right. How are those relationships built? Do you influence one another? What are they like? How would you describe those relationships?

Well, we are great friends with Katatonia Jonas [Renkse, vocalist] lives near us and just around the corner from Mikael as well. I don’t think we influence each other, musically. We spend a lot of time together at home or at festivals or touring. We have a history in common so its just a natural relationship.

In your playing, are you more influenced by music you grew up with or new music – or even other things? Where do you draw inspiration from? How do you approach your music?

I think it’s a lot of things – it’s about what is around you and that comes into your music. Other people and things might give you ideas but music is the main thing. What I listen to influences a lot of my music. But people around you, situations around you…that can influence your playing as well in either a good or a bad way.

Martin, it’s been a pleasure. Best of luck with the album and the tour.

Thanks Tom, take care.

Heritage is set for a September 20th release through Roadrunner Records.

Fuente: the [AU] review

Jaja que onda? Se ve que recien ahora se anima a dar entrevistas en ingles

Bueno, en esta dijo mucho mas que en la otra que no respondio una mierda (y la gorda preguntaba cualquiera)

Muy buena info. Me re cuesta imaginarmelo gritando los goles de Forlan

Well, we are great friends with Katatonia Jonas [Renkse, vocalist] lives near us and just around the corner from Mikael as well.

Qué zarpado ser Mendez, tocarle el timbre a Mike, que te habra la jermu y te diga "los chicos estás en el living"... pasas y están Renkse y Mikael eskabiando mientras suena Camel de fondo