
This is one of the best bands that I have listened lately. Their songs are complex but they donīt 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. Letīs say that the only thing sure is that it is going to be an extremely progressive record...
ŋWhy 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 didnīt 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 didnīt 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 donīt 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"? ŋIs 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 donīt 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 Kurganīs 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 Kurganīs 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:
I would recommend fans of Nexus to check this band. I consider from what I saw of their live set on nearfest that Kurganīs Bane could be interesting for them. Letīs say that having different styles, they have the same intensity.
How do you compose the songs? Do you prefer to compose alone or with the rest of the band?
I wrote almost all the music in "Snapshots from Limbo" alone.Ricardo also has written some songs but independently and then I incorporated them on the CD, using them as a seed (like in "Insects" or "Doppelganger") . I would like to make clear that I am not a "Control freak", I have always liked the idea of participating in composition with the rest of the band. In fact the melody of the music box at the beginning of "ghosts" is a theme composed by
William Lee (a friend from the Physics university in UNAM). I listened it for the first time in 1988 and I always thought that it would be a good idea to use it in some piece. I think it was a surprise for him to listen his song years later, but te fact is that I love to collaborate with other people. Andrés, Ricardo and Jeff are excelent musicians and extremely creative people and I think that incorporating what they write will make the sound of the band extremely rich
We have always participated as a band in the arrangements of the music but for some reason there has not been a bigger collaboration in the compositional level. At least not until now but Andrés is now getting ready and the thing is changing. I am very optimistic for the new music that we are doing. I think it has a lot of potential and it depends on us to develope it and record a worthy CD.
Is there something more that you want to add?
Only to thank you for giving us the chance of getting in contact with Music Extreme readers and I hope we can establish more bonds with the Argentinean audience and the rest of South America. Say hello to everyone!
SONUS UMBRAīS HOMEPAGE:
www.sonusumbra.comInterviewed by Federico Marongiu
SONUS UMBRA - DISCOGRAPHY
Laughter In the Dark - CD (1998)
Snapshots from Limbo - CD (2000)
ACTUAL LINEUP
Luis Nasser - bass, korg 01W, acoustic guitar, vocals
Jeff Laramee - drums, percussion, vocals
Ricardo Gómez - electric and acoustic guitar
Andrés Aullet - vocals, Korg Trinity