Zardonic – an evil sounding name, but an amazing artist nonetheless. Fine lines exist between metal music and various other genres, and Zardonic is an artist that fuses metal with danceable drum and bass. From Venezuela, Zardonic dishes his music unlike any other artist today. With his musical and mixing prowess, he is entrancing the world over with his vision. With his album Vulgar Display Of Bass releasing just last year, Zardonic prepares to release a full-length remix album titled Far Beyond Bass – The Vulgar Remixes, and in the meantime, RockRevolt Magazine was able to steal a moment of this artists’ time and get to know some of his inner workings.
Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today.
I am happy and excited to do this via Skype, because most people don’t take the time to interact with artists this way. I really appreciate the interview invitation.
Absolutely. The more often I can do Skype, the more interesting it’s for me than speaking with someone at the other end of the phone. I can place a face with a voice.
True that. It makes things easier too.
Tell me about this room you’re in now.
Zardonic’s LibraryI live in a library, so to say. This room that I live in used to be the library at my house. It’s packed with books. I took out the books that belong to my parents because I needed the space to put other books in, and I slowly moved into this place. Now I have my studio, my bedroom, my wardrobe, everything. Basically I just need a freezer and a kitchen, and it’s a house.
What kind of books you have in your library?
I don’t have a lot. I have The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene. It’s one of my favorite books, ever. I still haven’t read it all, and it’s so interesting. The information in it doesn’t only apply to people who want to attain power – that’s a very egotistical thing. Nobody is exempt from having an ego, because we are born with it, yet I try not to be controlled by it. I’m conscious of it. A lot of the visions that it has apply to day-to-day routines and human behavior. It’s not just about attaining power. It’s a very interesting book.
I also have Culture Shock: Venezuela, which is a book that I show people when they want to know who they’re dealing with and why I am the way I am. It’s interesting and sometimes it’s funny because you will find from this book that people from Venezuela are very emotional. For example, sometimes people think that guys are about to get in a fist fight. Most often they are not. They’re just telling a story and they become that character. It’s like we’re living it again. It’s very theatrical.
A lot of passion.
Passion. That’s the word. Thus Spake Zarathustra, by Friedrich Nietzsche. There are a couple of books in there that I haven’t read completely, because when I started reading them I didn’t think that they were that interesting. The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons. They were okay but they weren’t what I was expecting.
Angels and Demons was better than The Da Vinci Code.
The movie was better, so I would imagine it would be better in the books as well. I saw the movie, and then I wanted to get the books. I also have the Christian Bible, because it has a lot of inspiring quotes. Next to it is the Satanic Bible. People never get it. I’m too odd to be even, and too even to be odd. I take knowledge from every source and apply what I like and discard what I don’t.
Smart man! You started out as Gore Priest in 2001. How does the music from Gore Priest differentiate from that of Zardonic?
First of all, I appreciate that you investigated that, because nobody asks me about that, and that is beautiful. The Gore Priest concept was me trying to do black metal with the few tools that I had. I was 15 when I started. I just had a Casio keyboard, and then I got a Yamaha keyboard which was decent (I hate Casios). Basically, that was the only thing that I had. The guitar sound from the Yamaha keyboard was terrible. Instead of me trying to do “Ke Ke Ke Ke Ke” on the keys, I decided that I was going to replace guitars with pads. All the riffs were made with pads. So, basically that is what I did. I would compose a guitar riff in my head, and I would translate it to a pad – and it kind of came out as an ambient black metal project. I was trying to do something not as complex, because I didn’t have a lot of experience composing. I mean, the composition was decent. It was a black metal track, replacing the guitars with pads. That’s what I did because those were the tools that I had back then. The first album came out in 2003, and it was terribly mixed. I didn’t even know how to mix. When I think back, I think, “How the fuck did I get away with doing an album like that?” People were actually digging it. We only had 200 CDs and they sold out. To me that was a major success. At that time, it was like me selling millions of copies. When I mixed it then, I was using a software call Cool Edit. I didn’t even know how to use the multitrack. So I basically grabbed the drums that I had done on software called SequBeat. It’s a really old tracker-like sequencer, for Windows 3.1 or something. I pasted the pads over the drum track. I overlapped everything, without even thinking about volume or equalization. So, the pad levels are different on every track. It was me just experimenting with it. I made two other albums, and those were a bit better because I knew how to control the multitrack. That was pretty much the end of it. I guess I would’ve loved to have lived off of black metal.
Did you ever have a band?
I was always a solo musician, because I will never find anybody in this country that will fit my vision. I’m not saying that there isn’t anybody with potential or capacity for composing really good metal, because I have some good friends that are amazing at it, and they are mostly on the same page as I am. They have to do solo stuff. We’ve already tried a few things together. It doesn’t work. We are constantly clashing. So, each to their own. That was the main reason I became a DJ. Gore Priest was one of 13 or 14 solo projects that I had. I tried industrial metal, ambient music, black metal, death metal, grindcore, everything, out of passion for the music that I listen to. Then Zardonic happened. I just rolled with it. Before Zardonic took all of my time, which was up until about 2007, I was still composing black metal. I was just composing it out of love, but Zardonic was the project that finally started paying my rent and dues. So to answer your question about the differences between Zardonic and Gore Priest, Gore Priest is black metal, and Zardonic is drum and bass; however, now I’m adding more things. I’m trying to add electro beats to it, all influenced by metal.
Where did the logo and imagery come from?
The mask is pretty much my face. I took a picture of myself, with my head tilted down, all evil looking. It’s funny, because since I was facing down, the expression is kind of…
Foreboding?
Not really. It’s more like confidence and deep observation. Such is the picture and I used Illustrator to draw lines on it, and that’s how it happened. I drew the eyes and the shape of the nose. As funny as it is, given that the music that I listen to is everything but minimalistic, the minimalistic imagery looks very elegant to me. Nobody was relating it to me though, because I had never really used it outside of flyers. The people looking at the flyers could give two shits about the logo. Most of them are there to listen to the music. They see your face, and they ask, “What’s your name? You mix some really cool music dude,” and that’s it. Especially in the EDM scene, you don’t find a lot of megalomaniacs as you find about in the metal scene. You know how we metalheads are really big nerds and we know every single first name and last name of these weird Swedish guys, and their families, and their side projects and all of that stuff, because we love it. In the EDM scene, unfortunately there is a whole mass thinking/marketing point. I needed people to relate the logo with me. I wanted that to happen. I didn’t understand how much impact it could have with the crowd. I just wanted them to know, “This logo is me!” So I started putting it on my face, so nobody would forget anymore. That is how the mask came about. That was it.
Do you feel that it’s been a successful tool for you?
It’s kind of becoming something else right now. Potentially we’re going to do comic books, short films, and develop different stories out of that shape. It doesn’t have to be just one story. I could play Zardonic in a futuristic sci-fi thing, and then in the medieval age, and then have the Zardonic mask could be a symbol of an ancient civilization. That thing has spawned a lot of ideas.
As you are from Venezuela, can you tell us how your culture has influenced your musical style?
I guess, given that the music that the people listen to here is very aggressive. Things like salsa and merengue are aggressive. It has a lot of percussive aspects. I guess that’s why I’m so entrenched in the harder music. Now I am incorporating other things into EDM, but that was very much influenced by the effect Caribbean music had in me. I like to do things that sound very percussive and full. I guess that’s why stuff like dubstep doesn’t have a lot of presence in Latin America. I mean you do find dubstep promoters, but hard techno and drum n bass still reign the underground. The commercial stuff like house and trance doesn’t even have a scene. If you bring Tiesto, the club is packed because it is Tiesto. It’s not a thing of the scene.
It’s the artist, not so much the scene.
Pretty much. That’s what I’m trying to do as well, to reach people beyond the scene, and since I did this mask thing, people remember the mask and the logo. I guess that was a step in allowing Zardonic to play in parties, because people are there to see the artist and the brand. It’s funny because you’ll see some diehard fans and we also see new people that have no idea what music was playing. Some people ask, “What is this? It’s like some fast dubstep!” (laughs) I just say, “This is Zardonic. This is the music that I play.”
What are your thoughts in regards to the criticism of artists that use electronic sounds to produce their music vs. musicians who use traditional instruments?
I believe everybody has an opinion, and everybody has a right to have an opinion. I think it’s been going on for a very long time to be criticized. What I’m doing with dance music, it’s not just an electronic element; there is a dance element. This is a very important thing: not all electronic music is dance music. It’s been going on for a long time. There a lot of bands that have been doing it for a long time, even since the 70s, yet it wasn’t dance music. It’s a different thing. I honestly don’t know anybody who’s doing what I’m doing. I would love to see a scene grow out of it. If you want to hear death metal on a dance track: Zardonic. (laughs). I wanted to make music that would shake the club and also make people bang their heads. That is the reason I was doing all of these metal mash ups. Regarding that criticism, everyone has an opinion. I don’t care. I do what I do because I want to do it and there’s nothing else to it.
As you developed yourself into the artist you are today, what have been the biggest challenges for you in the business?
Pushing the boundaries of the scene. Drum and bass has a very low ceiling. Now that we’re talking about the side of music business, in order to live off of doing things that you love to do, you do have to work hard. A pop artist has to work their way up. With pop, if it has the right producers, and if done right, it will sell. I wouldn’t expect to see someone like Madonna trying to do a black metal drum and bass, see what I’m saying? It’s harder because I chose a genre that is hard to sell. I guess it all changed when I decided to attack countries that I’ve never played to, or have related to drum and bass, or electronic music in general. It happened last year when I did the Latin American tour. I just wanted to do gigs. I just wanted to be able to say that I played in countries like Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, etc. People don’t know a lot about Central America. I said that we should try to hit these people up and see what’s going on there. It was also an unknown universe to me; it was a great adventure. And that’s where I met my current worldwide booking agent. I used to have various booking agents, one for South America, one for Central America, one for the U.S., one of for Europe etc. The tour manager for Central America, José Echevarrieta, is my main guy right now together with his wife Natalia Duran and the Monstruo Ink Crew, and he gets me the biggest gigs I’ve ever had, with huge crowds, and it’s because he doesn’t work with drum and bass promoters. He works general EDM promoters, tattoo expos, cultural festivals. So, the last time I played in Mexico, it was in front of Plaza de las Americas, which is a huge cathedral. I was in front of this huge cathedral, on a huge stage, and in front of it, 10,000 people. To go from playing in a small club where there are 400-500 people tops to play in a festival made by the Cultural Institute of Zapopan in Mexico, in front of 10,000 people, with a cathedral to my back. I am now able to have a say when I work with any other promoter, my manager takes care of things and shows them the videos of these festivals and bigger events. It is usually perceived as something bigger, and then it is marketed as something bigger, and then naturally reaches a bigger crowd. That’s the thing. It’s a mindset. If you have the underground mindset, it will stay underground. I think “underground” is a very misinterpreted term. Most people believe that underground should mean playing in front of very few people and getting very little money for the art. I don’t think Slayer meets that criteria, yet is it really “mainstream” No, and it’s commercial. It just reaches a different crowd. I’m all about being as prosperous as I can with the music I want to make, and with the crowd that I choose. The more the merrier, you know?
Get a Taste of the Zapopan Radical Sound Fest
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You are preparing to release a full-length album “Far Beyond Bass – The Vulgar Remixes.” Can you tell us what fans should expect from this album that is going to blow their minds?
Far Beyond Bass is a a followup to the Vulgar Display of Bass album that released last year. Given that this is a metal webzine, you don’t have to be a genius to know that it’s a blatant reference to Pantera (Vulgar Display of Power/Vulgar Display of Bass – Far Beyond Driven/Far Beyond Bass). And well, that is the end of the Pantera references. That was one concept. I wanted to make that point clear, because some people believe that I’m copying Pantera. I’m not. It’s a tribute. This album is a remix follow-up to a newly released album. It contains 12 remixes that are done by 12 different artists. Honestly, it blew MY mind. It was done with these amazing people. I didn’t redo anything on the album. The music of these artists is so amazing. It was meant to be a four track remix cd, or something along those lines, yet I had so many amazing guys, that I decided to put all 12 tracks in again. It’s a beautiful album because it has a lot of strong hardcore. One of the guys, that perhaps some people may have heard of, is Delta 9, which is also featured with me on The Berzerker’s album “Reawakening” with two remixes we did for them. I think some metalheads may know who he is because he works with some really filthy and dirty hardcore music. When I say filthy, I don’t mean dubstep filthy. I mean more raw sounding stuff.
Do you mean Cradle of Filth filthy?
Could be. You know of Anaal Nathrakh? That is a band that has a raw, primitive, and dirty sound – a black metal sound. This guy has a dirty way of producing his stuff. It’s not meant to sound clean. For me, it’s kind of a cult remix. There are also remixes by Black Sun Empire, which is a dutch trio (a well-known name in the drum and bass scene. They are some of my favorite artists. They are legends.) You will also find on the album some really heavy drum and bass remixes, hardcore remixes, and also some interesting experimental remixes. Have you heard of the artist HECQ? He has a huge resume as far as working with movies. He is a fulltime composer/remixer/producer. His stuff is beautiful. He is also a cult artist. The album has some names that are well known in the scene, and other names that are cult artists – artists that are not exactly well known, yet incredibly respected. As the maniac that I am, I am always trying to look for people who make interesting and good music. This album will have hardcore tracks, drum and bass tracks, dance tracks, and also tracks for a listening audience.
Celebrating this release, you are giving away “Bring Back The Glory (210 Edit)”. What made you choose this song out of your discography for giveaway?
This is a faster edit that I did of the original track. It was one of the top sellers from the Vulgar Display of Bass album. This edit is not on the current album. It’s actually for the fans. The album has another remix of it, done by Counterstrike, and it’s REALLY REALLY heavy. This is more like a fast edit. It’s not an actual remix. I’m not saying that people should shy away from it. I just need to make clear that it basically came out of an experiment in sampling all genres on my sets, which are not drum and bass or hard core only. There is a genre called glitch hop. This is not exactly glitch hop, but I think it fits the tempo of that genre and it could be mixed together with that. It’s like I said earlier: too odd to be even, too even to be odd. It fits in there, because it shares the same tempo and it has electronic danceable tracks, yet the composition of it is metal. That is an industrial metal track. We decided to give it away because it was a cool experiment. I did some cool edits on the other tracks, but that one was my favorite. So far people are enjoying it, although other people prefer the original mix. You know how it goes.
Yes. Everyone has an opinion. What artists have you worked with that have been of great inspiration to you artistically and what artists have helped you grow as a person?
That is always an interesting question. I think one of the guys that has helped me grow a lot as an artist is Dieselboy, which is one of the most prominent drum and bass DJs in North America, and probably the entire world. It was like a dream come true to work with him. He is extremely professional, and has helped me to reach my goals from having the right elements in tracks to having the right attitude. When you are trying to get attention in the scene, you go through an inferiority complex crisis. At first you believe you are not good enough. Then you just act like you are some hot shit and people hate you for that. It comes from the same source: an inferiority complex. I decided to drop it all and do what I love out of pure love, and I try to market it the right way. Now I work with a team of people. I don’t have to be shoved down people’s throats. The music that I do, some people like it, some people don’t. Dieselboy taught me that when he went down the dubstep route. I didn’t like it. He didn’t care. He’s still kicking it. And we’re still friends. Another person who helped me grow as a human being was Joanna Syze, a Bulgarian vocalist and composer. I did some tracks for her in Europe, on her album Rodina which was released on the label Ohm Resistance which releases a lot of interesting and experimental things. It was the first time I toured Europe. I learned a lot because I was used to smaller gigs, and these in Europe were a bit bigger, and I had to act more professionally. I had to come out of my shell and do things that I wasn’t used to doing, and it paid off. Once you change your professional mindset, better things start happening.
Nine Inch Nails were another big influence for me. I wish I had heard more from them, they’ve made so much music. Anything I’ve heard by them defines that approach I take towards the music I produce: aggressive, metal sounding.
Industrial
Yes, and its commercially successful. This is something that I admire. The fact that they got away with doing whatever the fuck they wanted to do, and it’s still popular. I mean, Trent Reznor is a legend. He is a god amongst men.
Another person who has been of great inspiration to me is, and I don’t know if you have heard of her, the Mexican Vampire woman?
No.
The Guinness World Record of most body modifications? She is such a cool person, yet it’s striking when you look at her. People like you and me are not that judgmental, so we don’t have a problem with it, but you know how people are, especially when they see someone that looks like an actual vampire, like she does. All of her teeth are vampire teeth. She has implants all over her head. It’s crazy. And yet she is such a loving and caring person. She’s like a big sister to me right now. She has four children. I was hanging with her and her family, because she also played at the festival I did in Mexico. So then I was sharing some booze with her and her husband, and we started discussing tattoos and stuff, and I decided to get these sigils on my arms (holds up arms).
Very nice!
Right. They are not something I’m going to regret when I’m 70 years old. I never got tattoos as a teen. These are my first tattoos, and for four of them I spent four hours getting inked. It’s been two or three weeks. I can’t even imagine what I would do if I had tattooed “The True Mayhem” across my right arm when I was 15. I can’t get passed having another band’s name tattooed on my arm, because that should be something that is personal and meaningful. So, each to their own. I get inspired when I see other people getting the Zardonic logo tattooed on them, I just would prefer to wear another band’s logo on a shirt. That way, I can take it on and off whenever I want. Tattoos are something more personal. I wouldn’t want to have something tattooed on me that the meaning would change after 30 years. What would happen if in 20 years I decide that I don’t want to play Drum and Bass anymore, and I want to play the bongos and I want to play salsa, and I don’t like metal anymore? And I have a logo of The Unguided or The True Mayhem on my skin, and I’m playing salsa? It just doesn’t fit.
You never know. It could be interesting!
Definitely cool. I guess it would make good interview material!
Yes. Yes it would! I know when I got mine, I was very concerned about working in a professional environment and having them visible. That is why I do have tattoos, but they aren’t on display.
The reason I got mine where I did was because I wanted to have them in a place where I would be able to see them. If I had tattooed my back, how would I be able to see it? I guess that is why I decided to get them done in this zone (signals to arms). If I were to do more tattoos, I wouldn’t do them anywhere else other than my forearms.
Tats are always a unique way of expression. What has been your greatest achievement as an artist?
I believe that the greatest achievement is so far is to have met José Echevarrieta from Guatemala, because he changed everything. He changed my mindset. I could also list in him the list of people that have helped me grow as an artist and person. He basically told me that I had to believe in what I do, and to not sell myself short. He saw a man with very high potential in me. My greatest achievement has been to partner and work with Monstruo Ink.
Since you’ve moved from black metal to drum and bass, what is the biggest difference between the metal scene and the drum and bass/EDM scene?
It is so nice to deal with people in the metal scene. In fact, usually you find nicer people in the metal scene than in the EDM scene. The EDM scene is full of cokeheads. That is pretty much it; and a bunch of kids on pills. I’m not a saint. I’ve done a couple of things in my life. I’m not on a full-on anti-drug war or something. I simply don’t support the lifestyle. Like Lemmy said, I’m not going to support the lifestyle that has taken the lives of friends of mine, that basically fries their brains and destroys relationships. I was doing coke for months with a girlfriend I had and nothing good came out of that. Nothing. Nothing. Absolutely nothing good, other than the experience and the lesson, of course. Those kinds of things get you thinking, particularly about the people that you surround yourself with when you are in the world of drugs. You find criminals. Unless you are smoking the occasional joint with friends and stuff (which is a completely different thing) you are deep down with dealers and all these guys, and it gets pretty grimy.
I think at that point it becomes less about community and meeting people and moving forward, and its more about “how do I feed my need to feel better all the time about myself?” It becomes very self-centered. You are no longer out there to learn or to engage. You are just looking for that next high, “How do I get it? Who do I need to talk to? Who do I need play nice with/smile at?” It turns into a selfish type of a relationship.
You nailed it. You nailed it. Drugs make you, especially the stronger and more addictive drugs, make you very selfish. That is the main thing I saw in there: the selfishness of people. I never had a big problem with it (drug use). The little time that I did coke, I wasn’t suffering from any withdrawal symptoms or anything. I just decided that I didn’t want to do it anymore, and I didn’t. I guess the only habit I still have, and it doesn’t look like I’m fighting against it, is cigarettes. Everything else, I never had a problem with. The whole experience made me realize that I had to do a self-evaluation regarding the things that were wrong with me. It was a very hard time for me, because it was a time in which I started to question myself, judge myself, and be the only judge and not caring about what people would think. It was an evaluation from my own inner point of view: what am I doing that is right or wrong? I’m not 100% conservative, yet I am a guy of protective morals, and I do believe in the ultimate concept of wrong and right. I believe there is a natural law behind it all. I think we all have an innate judge that understands what is right, and what is wrong.
It’s a moral compass, and some of us have one that works, and others have one that doesn’t always seem to guide them as well as it should.S
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