This is one of the best bands that I have listened lately. Their songs are complex but they don´t get lost in technique. They also offer a world of feelings and different sensations. Luis Nasser, bass player and one of the main composers of the band talked with us.

How is the new music in which you are working now?

It is a little bit different from the other music that we have made because this time all the members of the band are participating in the composition and the arrangements. Particularly, I think that Andrés is having an esential role in the project, not only composing music but also editing and giving a better shape to the ideas that I brought written for the new CD. I am sure that it will be a nice surprise, also because is possible that we will colaborate with Pablo García, an excelent keyboard player and composer, that nowadays is very immersed in the world of academic contemporary music. Let´s say that the only thing sure is that it is going to be an extremely progressive record...


¿Why did you change the name of the band from Radio Silence to Sonus Umbra?

When we signed with Brian Hirsch from Moonchild Records, he started a serie of legal things to publish the music and sell it. In this process, we realized that there were some bands calles Radio Silence. No one had the name registered or a trademark, but Brian was kind of hippie guy, that didn´t want to bother people with legal actions, and we choose to change the name. We were trying to sell a record of new music and that was no big problem. We chose "Sonus Umbra" because in latin means "the sound of the shadows" and we thought that it was descriptive of our style. Surely it is bad conjugated, but that is ignorance...



What opinion do you have in this moment of "Laughter in the Dark"?

It was our first record. Is like seeing pictures of the past. Maybe it was a little bit simple compared to our most recent stuff but that were genuinely our feelings and what I tried to express musically at that time. We didn´t know anything about the Progressive movement and we thought that we were the only ones playing progressive music, at least in México D.F. It was a time when the band that was most played in the radio was Pearl Jam, and I think that I was very ignorant of how the music business worked. Despite this it is a record that I am not sorry or ashamed of. There are songs in it that will always be a central part of Sonus Umbra, like "Lamprey Man", "March of
Folly" or "Ahab's Sorrow".


How did the people reacted to "Snapshots from Limbo"?

The response has been extremely positive; people from everywhere are writing us y we are very grateful for that. It was voted as one of the best releases of year 2000 in many magazines and webzines and it has been something incredible, really. It motivates us to work really hard. We have received invitations to play in some festivals and progressive events, and we hope to confirm this. We would like to present our material live to an audience that can apreciate the music more than the people that you usually find in a bar; I am not interested in moving all my equipment tu play in front of some yankee trailers, drinking Budweiser and waiting to listen to "Freebird"...


Which differences have the progressive mexican scene compared to that of Baltimore?

You know, I have been in Baltimore for six years and I don´t know the Mexico scene. Radio Silence played in Mexico City and for example we never heard about Cast. We knew something about Chac Mool and Iconoclasta, but they never played live. I know that there is some people trying to give support to it now: Sol & Deneb Productions, Luna Negra, Las gentes de La Corte Final, etc, and bands such as Kromlech or Codice. I only have frecuent contact with Guillermo González, of the cordero Sinfónico, and with Jesús Díaz of the radio show Eufonia. Obviously I would like that progressive fans from Mexico know Sonus Umbra, because it is a mexican band. It has not happened yet. Maybe soon?

On the other hand, in Blatimore there are a lot of progressive bands of all kind and we have Orion Studios, of Mike Potter and Jay
Valenzuela. It is really incredible the effort and what they have done to create a progressive rock sanctuary. There is a sampler in the last number of Expose, in which there is music from some bands that are presenting nowadays, like Trephine, Uncle Gut and Dark
Aether Project. Of course, there is also Iluvatar, but theya re not in the sampler because the purpose was to give impulse to the "new" in the progressive scene of Baltimore and they have been known for a long time.


Do you plan to rereleas "Laughter in the dark"? ¿Is there more material from that era that you have not released yet?

Andrés is working with the tapes of "Laughter" to plan at which extent we are going to rerecord it before we rerelease it. This is basically because the CD was originally recorded in an 8 track Tascam, and there are obviously produccion failures. We are going to rerelease it and we hope to have everything ready in november. Also Jeff is going to take care of the percussion because in that recording Alejandro Martini played drums, but he is not in the band anymore.
We also have some songs that don´t fit so good with the new material but that we would like to give to the progressive fans. The plan is to edit an EP with 4 or 5 songs, It will be called "Music for Chameleons", and will be released on Out of
Phase records, from Baltimore. I think that in january or fbruary will be on the stores. It is going to include one of the songs originally included in
"Laughter", called "Asylum Waves", and 4 other inedit songs.. Edgar Franco from Krepuskulum is going to do the cover and the booklet design. I think that it will be a good wave as we say in Mexico.


What can you tell me about Kurgan´s Bane?

Kurgan's Bane eis a Baltimore band that plays progressive hard rock with Rush, Marillion and Savatage influences. The lineup is
Pete Laramee (Guitar, main composer ), Jeff Laramee
(drums, main lyricist), and Lisa Francis (Vocals). I play bass and keyboards and write some songs for the band, basically to give the music a more progressive flavor. I have been in Kurgan´s Bane for 4 years and I really like it. It is completely different from Sonus Umbra but I like the possibility to play a different style. Now we are finishing to promote the second CD "The Future Lies Broken", and we are composing new songs for the next. I think that Jeff and I are an unusual rythmic section, very interesting. All those who are interested can check the details at: www.kurgansbane.com

I would recommend fans of Nexus to check this band. I consider from what I saw of their live set on nearfest that Kurgan´s Bane could be interesting for them. Let´s say that having different styles, they have the same intensity.


How important is to have a good knowledge of musical theory for the music that you do?

I don´t think it is indispensable. Particularly, I know music theory, but I am not a doctor on that. My formal education is on theoric physics (doctorate). Knowing theory can suggest you some ideas or interesting combinations, but it is all about getting empathy and transmit a feeling I think that the best records in progressive rock are basically more emotive than cerebral like "Unfolded Staircase" of Discipline, or "Animals" from Pink Floyd. They are not very technical but in fatc they are of incredible beauty and intensity. Obviously there are disputes, but for me the most important in progressive music is to express with clarity, using what you need of the musical language, with no restriccions. I also enjoy a lot precision bands Dream Theater or Pain of Salvation, but I think I prefer Portnoy in Trnsatlantic than in Dream theater, because he plays more freely. He doesn´t need to impress with his double bass technique and simply plays what the piece requires.


How is your deal with Musea recs.? I thought you were on
Moonchild Recs...

What happened was that Brian Hirsch, president and founder of
Moonchild Records, committed suicide last summer. It is a tragic story and a great loss for the progressive comunity. We will always thank Brian his support and faith in our music, because without him there would be no Sonus Umbra. When he died the label dissappeared and we were left without releasing the record (you can get it only through Kinesis, Amazon and CDBaby). But life goes on and because of the support from magazines and webzines, our music arrived to Musea, thanks to Vitaly Menshikov, from webzine "ProgressoR".
They offered us a deal to distribute the record in Europe and the rest of the world, and
"Snapshots" will be released officially on Musea in april. I hope Big Bear in Argentina is interested in distributing it, because we know that there is in Argentina a lot of people that like progressive music and maybe they will find something different in Sonus Umbra.


Can you explain what are your lyrics about?

Sonus Umbra songs are basically introspective. I was born in the PRI´s Mexico and my lyrics are the reflection of the sistem in which inequity, injustice and intolerance are the base of everyday life. The record is just a collection of moments in 1994, when Radio Silence was desintegrating and I didn´t know which way to take. Songs like "Ghosts from the
past" or "The eagle has landed" are clearly a critic to the PRI, and to the great lie of NAFTA and globalization . On the other hand, "Seven Masks" "Soul Dusk" and "A Season in Helare autobiographic l". Also "Homo Homini Lupus", is a joke on the myth of
burla al mito del "Ragnarok" because it is stupid compared to what it would be human autodestruction with nuclear weapons and the trilogy of "Insects" that is basically a horror history about a man who does not stand society anymore and decides to reborn free of moreal and social pressures, mutating into a predator insect. It is not a tribute to Kafka because the carachter is not a victim of a cruel and sadistic cosmos. It is a a hybrid tribute to people like Baudelaire or Lovecraft whose words continue being effective on me.

SONUS UMBRA´S HOMEPAGE: www.sonusumbra.com