ILL Nino

Mars 2013 (La Maroquinerie)

ILL NINO, the Latin-American Metal band from New Jersey founded in 1998 were in Paris to promote their sixth album “Epidemia” (released October 22th, 2012). Before tonight’s show, Dave Chavarri, drummer and founder of the band, accepted an interview to share with us how ILL NINO can still deliver, after all these years of struggle. Yes, “Epidemia” is relentless, and is a statement that IL NINO is back with the full arsenal.

Fab : Your new album is really relentless, yet keeping the identity of Ill Nino. What’s the recipe?
Dave Chavarri (Drums) : We’ve always stuck to our guns, we‘ve always stayed who we are, even throughout 13 years of Metal changing, of many bands jumping on different wagons of styles. We have always stayed true to our sound. I think this is why we survived for 13 years. We managed to stay original. At this point, with this record, we wanted to kinda revive the attitude of the first records. The first records were very angry, very pissed-off, very “fuck you”, and we wanted to bring the same vibe with the new one. Let’s stick to who we are, let’s not jump on any wagons, let’s not do what the other big bands are doing right now but just do what we do.

Fab: Does anything in particular was different during the songwriting process?
Dave Chavarri: No, we do the same thing all the time. We all write our parts, then we get together and jam out, rehearse. We didn’t want to do a 15-16 song record with this one, but rather a 10 song record, because nobody’s doing long record anymore, like they used to do in the 90’s. We wanted to have a concrete representation of the record and so we picked the best ones of the sixteen songs we wrote.

Fab: Looking at the artwork (ndlr: Gisella Rose is the model on the cover), is it a statement that pain is a cleansing process? that you always have to find some positive in a negative situation?
Dave Chavarri: The record is about self-analysis, about what you personally believe in. If you listen to the record, each story is a story of how a person would react to the end of the world. What will you do? What a priest will do? What a drug addict will do? Each song is about a different person and their different reactions. Will you keep your children and your family close? Will you go crazy and get drunk? And I think it all has to do with faith: whether you believe in god, in Buddha, or whether you’re agnostic, believe in anything, believe in your family, believe in yourself…Whatever your situation is.
Everyone has to be open-minded, everyone is different, but I think that sometimes, people are very judgmental, they judge your background, where you’re from, what you do, who your parents were, what language you speak. It’s fucking ignorant. It’s always been the same situation, since the early days of Punk Rock, this “us against them” thing. It shouldn’t be like that, everybody should give everyone their space. You can be whoever you wanna be. If someone wanna do something, it’s none of my business, as long as they pay their rent, don’t commit any crimes, be a good father, a good son… who cares?
Life is short, life is very precious and fragile. It can go away at any second, you  never know.

Fab: Do you consider “Epidemia” as a concept album?
Dave Chavarri: The concept of different personalities in reaction to faith/

Fab: Nowadays, does it is almost necessary to auto-produce one’s band?
Dave Chavarri: I’ve been producing every record since the first one. At the end of “Enigma” (2008), as I’m the founder of this band, I felt that we needed…it was time to allow to other guys to partake in producing. I have my own production company called DC Productions, I’ve been producing for 17 years, even before ILL NINO, when I was drummer in SOULFLY. Cristiàn (Machado – Singer) and Lazaro (Pina – Bass) own Soundwars Studios…It was time for us to come together, as a team. Let’s all produce. It’s a little more chaotic sometimes, but you know the saying “when there’s too many cooks in the kitchen…”. But at the end of the day, it all comes together, so…

Fab: Speaking about that, do you think leadership is needed in the songwriting process? because maybe too many opinions can slow down the whole process…
Dave Chavarri: It is important, but you know, if you’re a leader, you need to be a good leader, and a good leader allows their people to speak. If three people are voting for one thing, you kinda know the answer. We came from a part of the road where we all look at each other like “it’s gonna be this or this”, and the call of majority rules.

Fab: The video for “Epidemia” is featuring Frankie Palmeri from the deathcore band EMMURE. How did you end up with him in this video?
Dave Chavarri: I was talking to Tony (Brummel), the owner of Victory Records, and we’re pretty close friends who work well together, and one day I told that I loved the new EMMURE record, and he told me that Frankie Palmeri loved us, that he was a huge ILL NINO fan. So I said “then, why does he not sing a song on our new record?”, and then we chose the most brutal song on the record and have him sing on it. I called Frankie the next day, he said to me that he’d be more than proud to do it, and then he came down the next day, and he fuckin’ kicked ass! It was amazing.

Fab: The sound of ILL NINO is instantly recognizable. How hard it is to keep one’s band identity throughout line-up changes? Did you had a crisis identity (wanting to do something else)?
Dave Chavarri: Well, when we started the band… we’re all Latinos who have ethnic background. The reality in our eyes is that… When I started the band I thought that originality was the most important thing in art form. And so we carved out a good piece of identity for the band, with “Revolution Revolucion” (2001). It was a piece of art to us that still holds today, after all these years. It sounds like if it was recorded a year ago. And I think that a lot of bands have jumped on the band wagons, you know, like 5 years ago, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, all those bands that became really huge and everyone is following their wagons. Why make a record that would sound like KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, or MACHINE HEAD? We didn’t want that, that would be the death of the band. We’re still here and we won’t be slowing down anytime soon. This tour have been very successful, today, we’re short of selling out the place, yesterday, it was the same thing, 80% sold out, tomorrow in Belgium 85%, it will be sold out in Cologne on Sunday. It’s fuckin’ amazing, especially nowadays, in this time, bands are not selling out any clubs, because there’s too much traffic. Ten years ago, there was 15-16 club shows, but there’s hundreds now. You can go to 100 shows in a week! I’m very proud to say that we’re very content and very humble still, to the point that we’re able to sell tickets and have a career, yeah.

Fab: Does the Latin crowd is crazier and better than the English-speaking one?
Dave Chavarri: I won’t say better, it’s a different connection, they understand what we’re saying in Spanish. But I tell you what’s crazy to me: we did two festival shows in China, and we had Chinese people singing the lyrics! How the fuck does that happened??(laughter). It’s crazy you know. And it was the same thing in Russia, they’re chanting our lyrics (in Spanish). To me, the bridges are crossed, and it’s amazing. It’s a great feeling, like a passage of a positive message. We sold 1.3 million records worldwide in our career, we’re very fortunate and we don’t take anything for granted, we’re always in touch with our fans, we talk to people all the time on Facebook…We’re thankful, we’re never gonna turn our backs on our fans.

Fab: Cristiàn said that, if he didn’t especially like to “label” the music of any bands, he was more into the idea of “Territorial band”, where there is a real input of your origin into your band…do you agree with him?
Dave Chavarri: People in the press, especially in the U.K., they love to label bands. And to me it’s not necessary. Music is music, good or bad. I love pop music! I think that Alicia Keys is a fuckin’ great vocalist, and nobody would ever think that I listen to her. And I do! I listen to a lot of different bands. But of course, I grew up with Spanish music, Peruvian music, as I’m from Lima. But you know, it’s like, you cannot eat the same food every day! You can’t, you need variety, you need to spice up your musical ear, so to speak.

Fab: Speaking of Peru, which places do you recommend in particular?
Dave Chavarri: Callao is probably the best place to get like, good food. Lima itself, is a beautiful city. I’m actually going to Machu Picchu with my wife later this year. I’ve never been there, as a Peruvian…my wife’s Australian, and my daughter was born in Australia but she’s half-Peruvian, half-Australian. But right now, we have too much touring to do, we’re crazy fuckin’ busy this year (laughter). I’m trying to fill in some family time.

Fab: Did fatherhood have changed something about your vision of your work in ILL NINO?
Dave Chavarri: Oh, incredibly. I think about her every single day. She’s the best thing I have ever had in my life. I’ve never drank, smoked, I’ve been basically clean of anything since I was a kid. I’ve never ever been drunk, I’ve never smoked weed…And having this baby maybe opened my eyes on a lot of things.

Fab: Is there a non-musician person who was/is an inspiration to you?
Dave Chavarri: My grand-father. My dad left me when I was one year-old, and my mother raised four kids, and during the process where she had to go to work, my grand-father was taking care of me. He has one leg, he has an amputated leg, and he was my best friend, he was strong and funny, he didn’t take no shit from nobody. He was an impressive individual but the most loving guy I’ve ever met in my life. I try to live my life the same way. Unfortunately, he passed away when I was 9-years old.

Fab: A last word for your French fans?
Dave Chavarri: Thank you for always remembering our band, always giving us a warm welcome. We love France, you know, definitely a part of the family. We just couldn’t wait to come back.