INFANTERIA

PHOTOGRAPHY BY KYLE CREESE
WEBSITE: www.myspace.com/infanteria
COUNTRY: South Africa STYLE: Thrash / Progressive / Metal

YOU MAKE IT VERY CLEAR THAT YOUR MAIN SOUND IS THRASH METAL. WHAT DO YOU LIKE THE MOST ABOUT THE “THRASH” SOUND AND HOW WOULD YOU SAY THE BAND HAS TAKEN THAT SOUND AND MADE IT ITS OWN?

Infanteria: We love the raw energy that you get when listening or playing Thrash. The riffs are complex, fast, driving and it’s challenging but fun music to play. When we started the band, we all listened to the same stuff like Megadeth, Metallica and Pantera so we were predominantly playing pure Thrash in the beginning but when Jared joined the band we could add a more progressive sound to our thrash sound.

THE BAND IS BUSY RECORDING ITS FIRST EP AT THE MOMENT, HOW WOULD YOU SUM UP THE RECORDING PROCESS SO FAR?

Infanteria: It’s been great but we’ve just found it hard to record regularly because of college and school commitments. But when we get to record, it’s been going really well. Louis at Burning Tone Studios is a great dude and we really enjoy working with him. He really pushes us, which we like, and he has a great idea of what we need and like. We would recommend working with him to anyone.

IN WHAT WAY WOULD YOU SAY YOUR MUSIC HAS PROGRESSED DURING THE WRITING PROCESS FOR THE EP?

Infanteria: I think we’ve got heavier and we know now what sounds work in our style. We used to try different things that didn’t really work and now we have a good idea of what makes the “Infanteria” sound.

I SEE YOUR NEW SONG “MAKING A KILLING” HAS RECEIVED GREAT FEEDBACK FOR ITS PRODUCTION AND “SOUND” ONLINE FROM LISTENERS, WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT THE SONG WHEN YOU HEARD THE “FINISHED PRODUCT” FOR THE FIRST TIME?

Infanteria: We were blown away but we knew even during the recording process that it was going to sound amazing. Louis has such a great ear for tones that he only really had to do touch ups in the mixing stage, but when we sat down on his couch and listened to the final mix, we all had smiles on our faces.

IN MAY YOU POSTED THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE ON FACEBOOK: “MAKING A KILLING IS BEING PLAYED IN CANADA...HELL YEAH!!!!!!!!” TELL US MORE ABOUT THAT?

Infanteria: Haha, yeah Kyle Puller from Dual Tone Records was over in Canada working at a radio station. He had taken copies of Hammer The Masses with him to show all the Canadians and apparently a DJ at a metal club played the CD and one of their favourites was “Making a Killing”. We were really stoked about that. You never know, a Canadian tour could be in the pipeline for the future, haha.

“MAKING A KILLING” HAS ALREADY FEATURED ON THE HAMMER THE MASSES VOL.2 COMPILATION, DO YOU HAVE AN IDEA YET WHEN YOUR EP WILL BE RELEASED AND WHERE IT WILL BE AVAILABLE?

Infanteria: We’re hoping to have it available by the end of the year. We only have the vocals and a few keyboard parts left so hopefully it will be ready to mix and master by September and then we’ll see from there. We don’t want to rush it. We want it to be the best metal CD out in South Africa so we’re accepting nothing but 100%.

I REMEMBER SEEING ANOTHER POST MENTIONING THAT THE BAND WAS LOOKING FOR A NEW BASS PLAYER, I GUESS MY QUESTION IS; WHAT HAPPENED?

Infanteria: We have a new bass player, Mark from Moment of Clarity first offered to help us out and we were so blown away by his playing and style that we asked him to join permanently. We’re really happy we found someone who fits the band musically and personally. He likes the same music as us and has high standards musically so he’s perfect!

PERFORMING MUSIC THAT IS VERY INTENSE AND HEAVY DO YOU HAVE ISSUES WITH THE SOUND AT SHOWS SOMETIMES?

Infanteria: Yeah of course, but I think most acts do. Metal is a difficult genre to mix for the sound guys but usually it’s manageable. It helps if you’re a tight, practiced band in bad sound situations which we luckily are. Sound at gigs is getting better though which is awesome!

YOU HAVE PLAYED AT THE METAL 4 AFRICA EVENTS A FEW TIMES AND YOU FEATURED ON THEIR LIVE DVD AS WELL, DO YOU THINK MORE PEOPLE SHOULD TAKE THE INITIATIVE AND HOST BIGGER LIVE EVENTS IN VENUES THAT ARE LARGER THAN CLUBS ON A REGULAR BASIS?

Infanteria: Definitely, it would also be great to see a little more diversity at shows too. A lot of the gigs today have very similar sounding bands playing which alienates many fans who don’t particularly like that particular genre of music.

If bigger shows were created with a diverse line-up then there would be more support for the shows. Metal4Africa do a fantastic job in the diversity side so we hope more promoters will follow suite.

THERE ARE ONLY SO MANY VENUES A METAL BAND CAN PERFORM AT IN CAPE TOWN, THAT BEING SAID ARE YOU GUYS PLANNING TO INCREASE THE BAND’S “PRESENCE” AT THESE VENUES IN THE UPCOMING MONTHS AFTER THE RELEASE OF THE EP?

Infanteria: We certainly want to organize a small launch tour or something. We’re still planning that but we’re hoping that the EP will open us up to a bigger audience and more shows will come our way. Thrash isn’t the biggest genre at the moment in SA so maybe this EP will open people’s eyes to it.

THE BAND HAS BEEN PERFORMING LIVE FOR A FEW YEARS NOW; WHAT HAVE BEEN SOME OF THE HIGHLIGHTS FOR YOU GUYS AND WHAT WOULD YOU SAY STILL NEEDS TO HAPPEN FOR THE BAND TO REACH “THE NEXT LEVEL” WITH YOUR LIVE PERFORMANCES?

Infanteria: We would definitely say our biggest highlight was playing at the Metal4Africa DVD launch. The crowd was going insane and we played out of our skins, it was the best show we’ve played.

For the future, we just want to keep writing good music and hopefully our following will increase so we can play bigger shows and keep growing. It’s all about enjoying yourself at the end of the day.

I’VE MENTIONED YOUR EP A MILLION TIMES SO FAR, WHAT ELSE DO YOU HAVE PLANNED FOR THE BAND IN 2009?

Infanteria: We want to try and organize a Joburg tour for the beginning of next year possibly. We’ve never played there before so that would be great. We also want to play a Metal4Africa show again before the year ends; we love those shows in Stellies. The Stellenbosch crowd is full of thrashers so we always have a good time there.

ANY COMMENTS OR PEOPLE YOU WOULD LIKE TO THANK?

Infanteria: First and foremost, a big thanks to Louis for giving us so much support; Kyle Puller and Dual, The Broken Result, Moment of Clarity, Mikey Gill for an awesome logo (winner!) and all the thrashers out there!! Thanks dudes!