 Interviews - Mala Suerte
11-17-2004, 10:12 PM
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by Rube
November 17, 2004
 Mala Suerte are deep doom from the Lone Star State, grim minds equally comfortable throwing down slow grooves and DRI-style crossover rave-ups. The band has been together since the late 90s, and with their recent, crushing full-length Non Serviam, they seem poised to make bigger waves in the heavy underground. Fans of Sleep, YOB, Grief as well as the classic days of crossover would do well to get themselves a hold of some Mala Suerte. I was lucky enough to engage lead singer Gary Rosas in an international summit from Texas to Toronto on all things metal.
Hellride Music: How did Mala Suerte get together? Who’s in the band and what bands were you in before Mala Suerte?
Gary Rosas: Mala Suerte is David Guerrero on guitar, Mike Reed on bass, John Petri on drums, and me, Gary Rosas on vocals. Dave and I are the only two original members of Mala Suerte and we’ve been creating music together since late ‘96/early ’97. Back then the band was called Tertium Quids and what we were doing at the time could probably be classified as hardcore punk with a very experimental and psychedelic edge. We recorded two demos under that moniker and then sometime in early ’99 we changed our name to Mala Suerte to reflect our new direction and heavier approach to song writing. Not long after, our original drummer, Richard Woolsey, unhappy with our slower and more doom influenced sound, left the band. We spent the rest of ’99 and much of 2000 gigging in and around Texas with our good friend, John Petri, filling in at the drummer position. Later Richard rejoined the band and we set out to practice and write songs for our first full length. In 2001 in the midst of recording sessions for the full length, Richard, still unhappy with our current musical direction, left the band yet again.
We called on the services of John Petri to record the drums for the one unfinished song and in 2002 a demo version of “Tales of Modern Alienation” was released. Later we went through a couple more different drummers and our original bassist, Bobby Garza, left at the end of a brief tour in late 2002. In June of 2003 we went in to record songs for which would end up being the “Non Serviam” demo with the addition of Mike Reed on bass and our drummer at-the-time, George Lewis. Not too long after, John Petri returned to the Mala Suerte camp and replaced George on drums, which leaves us with the line-up we have today. John was formerly a member of Gutbucket, Happy as Hell, and Madcow and is also currently active in local Austin band, Remains of Something Human. Mike played in one my favorite, yet virtually unknown underground Texas bands, Caustic Death and then later Tardive.
Hellride Music: What are the highlights so far? I assume playing SHoD III would be one of them.
Gary: The fact that I was able to find other people that are into creating the type of music that I’m into and that like what I do has been pretty rewarding for me. And when I get feedback from people that actually really dig what we’re doing, I actually feel like we’re on the right track and accomplishing something. We’ve also gotten the opportunity to play with some really cool bands over the years and I was especially stoked to get the opportunity to play with Spirit Caravan, and also Electric Wizard.
SHoD III was actually a lot of fun and we got to hang out with and meet a lot of really cool people. Unfortunately, we played at 1 PM on Saturday afternoon and I think a lot of people probably missed our set. Also, we played a few of our really fast songs so I think quite a bit of the audience was somewhat taken aback by that, and I don’t think SHoD founder/promoter, Rob Levey appreciated that too much. Oh well. Highlights for me definitely had to be Las Cruces, Thee Plague of Gentlemen, Iron Kind, Sourvein, Acid King, Place of Skulls, Slow Horse, and Witch Mountain. It was also cool to actually see Solitude Aeturnus for the first time.
Hellride Music:Non Serviam is completely bad-ass. Tell me about the writing/recording process.
Gary: Well, a lot of that was written before we went through some line-up changes. For instance, we wrote “Quest for Light (The Outsider)” with one of our old drummers, Grant Renken and then got George to learn it once he joined the band. All of the songs, with the exception of the instrumental at the end of the demo, were written with our original bassist, Bobby. As a matter of fact, he wrote all of the song Non Serviam. Dave just arranged it a bit after Bob came in with all the riffs pretty much written. Bobby was originally going to record it with us, but due to scheduling conflicts and financial reasons we decided to get Mike to do it with us. He was already going to be a member of the band, so it just made more sense for him to do it really. He actually came in and learned all of the songs really quick and did a damn fine job, I think. We recorded everything in like three days and spent approximately another three mixing it at a studio here in town called Republic Studios. After the problems we had with some of our last recordings we knew we were going to have to find a new place to record, but we weren’t sure where. I remember one night while I was hanging out at one of my favorite local watering holes, Lovejoys, I ran into this guy I knew named Mauro Arrambide and he mentioned that he was engineering at a new local studio in town and that I should check it out if we ever needed any recording done. I knew Mauro was really into heavy music so I figured he’d at least know what kind of sound we were trying to convey, so we decided to check it out. As it turns out, Republic Studios had a really cool and laid back vibe and we really liked Mauro’s work, so we decided to record there. We actually just finished recording another song at Republic - a really long doom/sludge epic which should be out soon on a split 10”.
Hellride Music: What’s the scene in Austin like? I know country music has always been big and some punk rock bands have come from the area, like the Butthole Surfers, but how’s the metal scene?
Gary:  Well, there are quite a few metal bands here in Austin but there just doesn’t seem to be any unity or camaraderie. Also, everyone here seems to be a bit jaded, so it’s a bit harder to get people to come out for local shows, especially when there’s always a big road show just around the corner. In my opinion, there is also too much fragmentation between genres and sub-genres, with too many metal fans feeling that they only want to support one type of thing or feeling that certain types of music aren’t “true” or “cult” enough. I guess I could actually be accused of the same thing though, because I absolutely despise any kind of “nu-metal” crap or anything remotely considered emo. Basically, what I’m trying to say is that there isn’t enough support for bands at the local level that are still trying to play some form of underground music and are doing so with honesty and integrity, regardless of what the current trend or fad happens to be. There are some cool local bands though, like Fuck Work, Black Spring, Condemned Unit, Sluggard, and The Sword, to name a few.
Hellride Music: I know you have a radio show on Kaos 95.9 out of Austin – what’s your sense of the strength of the heavy underground circa 2004? Who do you think some of the most promising bands are?
Gary: Actually, I don’t have a regular weekly slot. I’ve only been doing fill-in and guest slots for my friend DJ Nitro who does a show every Sunday from 7-9 PM Central US Standard Time. KAOS Radio is pretty cool and I strongly suggest that everyone support it because they play tons of underground punk and metal, free from the crass commercialism of normal radio, due to the fact that they are a pirate radio station. You can listen to KAOS online at: http://kaos959.com. It would be cool to have my own weekly time slot though - maybe someday I will.
As far as the current underground scene is concerned, (and by “underground” I am assuming you are talking about unsigned bands) I’ve been listening to Japanese doom/death band, Coffins, Low Man’s Tune from Germany, Thee Plague of Gentlemen from Belgium – though they’ve released a few recordings on a few different labels, Io from Shreveport, LA…actually, there is a ton of really great stuff out there, definitely way too much for me to list! In my opinion, the heavy underground scene will always be strong because there will always be people that are sick of the radio and MTV selling them the same old regurgitated crap and will always search out bands that are trying to create something real and meaningful, or at least something interesting and devoid of any commercial trappings. The days of tape trading might be a thing of the past but the proliferation of the internet has made it a lot easier for people to stay connected and to find out about music that they otherwise may not have been exposed to.
Hellride Music: I love the way hardcore rubs up against metal on Non Serviam. Were you a fan of crossover (D.R.I, COC, Bad Brains) growing up? Which bands would you say were early influences?
Gary: Oh absolutely! I was and still am a huge fan of all that old-school hardcore and crossover stuff like D.R.I., Bad Brains, Excel, and Suicidal. The Dirty Rotten LP by D.R.I. was actually the first album to get me really heavily into the underground hardcore and metal scene. I remember going into the local record store and seeing that on cassette and being instantly intrigued by the cool cover art. I also distinctly remember really tripping out on the insane amount of songs on there, with titles like “Money Stinks”, “I Don’t Need Society” and “Capitalists Suck” and I knew I had to have it. I took it home and my impression after listening to it for the first time was, “Aren’t this guys ever going to slow down?” I played it again and that’s when it clicked, and I’ve been hooked ever since. We’ve actually played covers of “Money Stinks”, “Commuter Man” and “Reaganomics” live on many occasions and actually recorded a cover of “Commuter Man” for the D.R.I. tribute that was released sometime back on Malt Soda Recordings. From what I understand, Spike, D.R.I.’s guitarist, actually picked all the songs for the tribute himself. He even sent me an e-mail one time saying that our cover was one of his favorites of the whole CD! Needless to say, I think we all felt pretty honored.
For me vocally, starting out I was obviously influenced by bands like D.R.I., Excel, Suicidal Tendencies, dead horse, and tons of old thrash. As a matter of fact, back in the early TQ days we used to get compared to old D.R.I. and Suicidal quite a bit. Obviously, my vocals and the sound of the band have evolved quite tremendously since then.
Hellride Music: When push comes to shove, what are your top 5 records ever?
Gary:  Ouch! That’s quite the difficult question, and one I don’t think I’ll be able to answer really, since I like far too much stuff. Okay, I’ll try to give you five different records that have had a quite a big impression on me, for whatever reason, over the years. As already mentioned before, D.R.I.’s Dirty Rotten LP was probably single-handedly responsible for really getting me hyped about underground music. Black Sabbath’s debut album is definitely one of my all-time favorites, for reasons I shouldn’t even have to explain…oh, and did I mention Sabotage, Vol. 4, and Master Of Reality…and [/i]Sabbath Bloody Sabbath[/i]?
Forest of Equilibrium by Cathedral absolutely had a huge impact on me, as that was the first album to get me into doom metal, and yeah, it’s probably one of my all-time faves. [/i]Quickness[/i] by Bad Brains is also another favorite. That was the first album of theirs that I bought, and I must say that I hadn’t heard anything that intense and original before, and still haven’t to this day. Bad Brains are, and always will be one of the greatest hardcore bands ever. Finally, Faith No More’s King for a Day, Fool for a Lifetime also had quite an effect on me when I first heard it. That definitely wasn’t the first album of theirs that I heard and probably isn’t my favorite, but up until then I hadn’t realized how genius they truly were. Okay, that covers some of my favorite stuff, at least from the heavy end of the musical spectrum. I could go into other stuff that I like, but I think I’ve rambled on enough already.
Hellride Music: Who did the cover/design on Non-Serviam? For a self-released demo, I’ve got to say it’s way cooler than a lot of stuff I see with label backing.
Gary: I did the cover art for the demo myself, and thanks for the compliment – I’m glad you like it! I’m very much into the look of old-school album cover art, comic book art, old Fillmore Poster art, and pop art from the 60’s and 70’s, so I wanted to do something that incorporated at least some of those elements into it. Besides, I’ve grown weary of seeing all these CD covers with the same type of boring and generic looking Photoshop created images. Don’t get me wrong, some of that stuff looks cool, but a lot of it can end up looking really redundant and plain. By creating the artwork myself, I wanted to give our cover the feeling of something that is uniquely our own, while at the same time integrating some of the lyrical ideas into it. The rest of the cover was done basically in the cut-and-paste style of old, with images from old books I have in my own personal collection. Since we have a very limited budget we had to put out the CD as cheaply as possible, but at the same time I wanted it to look as good as possible with what we had to work with.
Hellride Music: Any plans to tour?
Gary: Yes, we definitely want to do more touring but we’d like to get a CD of new material out before we do anything extensive.
Hellride Music: Any releases coming up? Plans to record more material?
Gary: We have a split 10” record with the Coffins coming out real soon. Our song’s already recorded and ready to go. I’m just waiting to get the master of the Coffins song so we can send everything off to get pressed. We are presently working on new material, so hopefully it won’t be too long before we hit the studio again. Hopefully, we’ll be able to find someone interested in putting out our next record, as it’s getting really expensive having to self-finance everything.
Hellride Music: If you had a choice and could front any band of all-time, which band would it be and which song would you do?
Gary: Well, I think I am in the band that I should be in. If I was to front any of my favorite bands it just wouldn’t be the same and I don’t think I’d be able to do any of them justice honestly. The reason all of those bands are my favorites is because they have such original and charismatic vocalists, so who am I to go screwing with something like that. Actually, I have always wanted Mala Suerte to play a D.R.I. hoot night, that way I can sing all of my favorite D.R.I. songs. Maybe one of these days we’ll actually take the time to do it. I’d also be up for doing a cover of Cathedral’s “Frozen Rapture”.
 Visit the Mala Suerte website www.malasuerte.net
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