Foolishness and perseverance.
Chava of Surgery talks about Condemned to Miseryabout learning to record themselves for the first time and how a band of friends from the same neighborhood reaches their 17th birthday intact.
Surgery He has been making death metal for 17 years from foolishness and passion, never from calculation. What started as a band of friends from the same neighborhood wanting to play what they liked is today one of the Mexican bands of the genre that have toured with Incantation and played at festivals like Hell and Heavenwithout ever having become a product. His most recent EP, Condemned to Miseryforced them to learn how to record themselves when their usual studio closed, and something new came out of that accident. On September 19 they celebrate their 17th anniversary at the Fuck Off Roomwith free entry, accompanied by Fracture and Vitriem.
Indie Rocks!: To start, tell us about the recording process for your latest EP, Condemned to Misery.
Surgery: We had a lot of fights. We were used to recording in a studio where we had already been recording for a long time, which was called New City Recordersbut that study thundered. We were already super comfortable there with them, and the fact that it no longer existed made us learn a lot, because we had never recorded like we did this time, which we recorded.
First we recorded in two studios and it didn’t turn out well. It was a production issue for both us and the studios, and we had to do retakes of everything. So we did it, just like do it yourself, We just send it to be mixed and mastered somewhere else. For us it was a lot of learning. We were so comfortable that having this happen to us made us learn a lot, and we had never done it before. That part of recording ourselves is cool and interesting, even though we didn’t know anything. We learned a lot.
GO!: And in these moments where it is very easy to record yourself at home, without depending on a major league studio, you can put together something major league from your home studio.
S: Yes, yes. Besides, all this digitization makes it much simpler. Now with processors you do everything tiny: literally, in one laptop with an interface and its processors, and that’s it. Really the only thing that cost us a little more work to capture was the drums, but still: we captured the natural drums and it was converted to digital.
It was really cool, nothing more than we didn’t know. We never imagined having to do retakes of everything. It was awesome, and apart from the first takes we did pay for it. Fortunately we had money from the band and that was paid for, but later we realized that we could have saved all that money. It was much cheaper for us to buy all the things than to record in another studio. We didn’t know, but now. New learning processes.
GO!: Surgery has a very marked visual part, both in the setting and in the cover art, simple and merch. Tell us where the art of this EP comes from.
S: The bottom line is that one of the few things that we maintain in a traditional death metal way is precisely the art part of everything we do. We have not wanted to make art with a lot of digital illustration, we really like traditional illustration and we want to keep it that way. As all these years go by we realize that this escalates much more. At some point we wanted to change that visual part and it didn’t work out so much for us, so we went back to that.
He even says Kechol that we put much more work into the audio part than into the visual part. I don’t agree, because we also like the other one. The thing is that they are used to seeing much more complicated, much more saturated art, and we make it much simpler, by hand, black and white and with a super texture. Even the little paper texture. That’s pretty cool.
GO!: How is this new EP part of Surgery’s trajectory?
S: At some point we had said that we were not going to make physical albums, because it worked much more for us to make a single, make a video and give everything to a single song. But in 2021 we were fortunate enough to go on tour with Incantation. We did about six dates with them and we had albums from the previous ones. We sold all the ones we carried. We would have carried more, we would have sold more. So we said: I think the death metal niche is still very traditional. That’s why we decided to return to the physical disk part.
And apart from that we did all the composition and lyrics based on a concept. We believe that having everything on one disk expresses itself much better.
GO!: Since you mention the current consumption part, how do you see the immediacy of music today?
S: It is a very complex topic, because that immediacy of information, not only about music but about everything, is complicated. It’s good, but it’s also a double-edged sword. The immediacy is so great that the offer is too much, and anything of quality is forgotten. In less than two seconds I already you scrolled and he already forgot. But I think that having music as soul and content, that will always last. We like to think so, I hope so. Then there is not so much to worry about, just adapt to all this new. And apart from us, who are already gentlemen, it has taken us a little work, but we are getting there. I feel like we’re doing well.
In terms of reproduction numbers of the new thing, we are doing well. There are even songs that are hitting the old guys, so it’s cool. Now, about the albums, I have no idea. I don’t know why they buy them, it’s like merch. I no longer have anywhere to put records. My truck no longer has enough for discs.
GO!: It’s been 17 years of Surgery. What has this journey been like and how have you seen the growth of the band?
S: The truth is that it has been something very organic, because we never imagined anything. We made the band because we wanted to make a band, not necessarily death metal, but whatever we liked. And at that moment we really liked death metal, like we always did, and we decided to do it. We never imagined that we were going to play at festivals, that we were going to travel so much. It was something very organic. We never made this band as a product, it was for the mere passion of making music. And the fact that we are growing, that we have already grown so much in some way, is something very satisfying. The people are very cool.
Obviously at that time we were 20, 21 years old. Now we are totally different people, I want to think. We were just as stupid. That passage of time and that maturity is very noticeable in everything, I want to think, both aurally and in everything we do.
GO!: Through that maturity and those years, from starting a band because you want to play to going out on tour with Incantation or playing at big festivals like Hell and HeavenHow do you maintain the connection and chemistry within the band?
S: Did you know? I think we have a huge privilege that very few bands have: we remain the same from the beginning. The only one who isn’t original is the drummer, and our original drummer works with us anyway. We are still the same, we are all from the same neighborhood. We no longer live there, but we still have that friendship connection rather than a band connection. I think the fact that we have made the band a band of friends continues to hold true, and it is what has kept us going for so long. And aside foolishness, perseverance and foolishness. Being well held. A lot.
GO!: How do you perceive the metal scene in Mexico at the moment?
S: Chido. I think we are in a great, great moment, because this professionalization of everything, both bands and audiences, venues and productions, was not seen before. That didn’t exist for metal bands, and the fact that it exists right now is something really cool. When we started Surgery there wasn’t even a place for you to play, not even opening for bands, it was difficult. And now it’s getting easier. Besides, the bands are increasingly of much higher quality, and there is already a real audience for Mexican bands as perhaps there was in the 90s. There was a long time when that did not exist: there were very few people, very niche, and now there really is an audience for the bands. You can now think about having shows with national headliners, and that’s pretty cool. We are in a great moment and I think it will be much better later. In some way, many bands are changing that, and that’s really cool.
GO!: Where is Surgery’s trajectory going?
S: The bottom line is that we do not have a well-defined path. What is certain is that we are going to continue doing this as long as life and time give us. Continue doing quality shows, continue looking for opportunities and growing as a band. We are already big guys: our 30s are late, 40. So we no longer have as much opportunity to play so much, to tour a month; For us it is already very difficult. Just continue doing it with the quality that we have always done, and increasingly more professional. With that projection, but without the thought of forming a band mainstream not at all.
GO!: Where do you see Surgery in another 17 years?
S: Dead! Or in a wheelchair, I don’t know. We’re going to be talking about how we’re going to be 50 and over, plus six. The net, as long as it gives us life, health and time, we are going to continue doing it. I have the great fortune to share stage with four great musicians, and the five of us share the same goal and the same idea. That is something very valuable, because it means that the basis of Surgery It’s super firm and it’s not going to end. Just like we are right now.
GO!: To close, a question asked by one of the magazine’s colleagues. If you were a wrestler, or in your case you really like baseball, what song would you enter the field with?
S: If you’re waiting for me to say Korn, Limp Bizkit or something like that, no: I would enter with “Sangoloteadito” of Joan Sebastian. Definitely.
GO!: And they have an important date to celebrate the anniversary.
S: We have a show in Fuck Off Room on September 19 and they will accompany us Fracturewho are some friends from our neighborhood, and Vitriem from Guadalajara. The tickets were in Fan Ticketbut for what it’s worth, we just decided that we are going to do it for free. Free entry for everyone to go. We are launching production and that is what we want to show. Our intention is not to generate money from this show, but to show this new production and put all the kilos into it so that it is cool, that people fall in love. And we are going to record this live and a video clip that day. So that they go on a rampage.
