TO ARKHAM INTERVIEW

1.- Recently, the band celebrated 10 years of career. What can you tell us about the highlights and downsides of the band in all these years? H- Yes, brother, it's difficult to stay together for 10 years non-stop in this scene. We had no splits, separations, breaks,... Anything. We are a 10 year old band. 2.- Leaving aside the musical aspect, I see that there's great union between the band members. You've been together for many years now. How do you manage not to argue and fight because of the usual stuff (like egos)? Do you share the same dreams for the band? H- [laughs] I'm really not interested in my bandmates' dreams. I only know that we're like brothers and that we understand each other well, not only during rehearsals, but also at parties and such. 3.- The first time I've seen you live was about 5 years ago and you didn't have a bass player. Years later, I see you again —and this time— with a bass player. Now you have a stable line-up with Khaos (ex-Wisdom). What made you choose him? Is the band picky when it comes to select band members? H- We're not picky. The important thing to decide if someone joins the band is basically just friendship. We need someone that knows us and how things work between us, not someone that joins or quits the band because of trivialities. Khaos, besides of being a good musician, is a great guy and international champion at beer chugging... I guess that with the last one he won our hearts.

4.- It's been 5 years since your debut album. What's new musically speaking? Why is it taking so long for you to publish new material? H- We don't want to rush things and end up missing details in songs as happened on the debut album. But soon enough we'll be recording our second album. 5.- The first contact I had with the band was because of Carlos Cortez from Southern Hellish Prods (Argentina), a great mutual friend. He sent me your tape and spoke very well of you. How important was he to be known as a band in South America? H- Carlos... A great friend indeed. And a drunkard too [laughs]. He helped us a lot to know people outside this country and giving us the chance to play abroad. 6.- To Arkham came with the second wave of paraguayan black metal, being maybe one of the most respected bands on the scene. How's the relationship with the headbangers? What do you think is the cause for their devotion and respect they feel towards you? H- That's right. Well, I think that they respect us because they know who we are and also are aware that we remain faithful to black metal. I think it's already clear that we don't do this because it's a trend. Many people come and leave... If you know what I mean.

7.- Let's talk about the mystic of the band. I've witnessed that the band is loyal to metal as a way of life, specially, the devotion to women and alcohol, heheh... How do you see this related to the lyrics and music of the band? H- Women and alcohol are a break that we take after finishing some lyrics of the band. 8.- Infecto Records released your first material. I thought that they also would release the LP as they did with other southamerican bands. Why did this relationship end? H- They were interested in the demo. After that release, I lost contact with my friend Willian. 9.- That demo "Born of Hate" had a great impact outside but had some downsides too. How come that the band left everything in hands of the label? There was no adequate distribution and you never talked about that. Why did this happen? Did you trust that the distribution through the label was enough? H- To be honest, only a few copies arrived here and we distributed them among our friends in Asunción.

10.- Just a few months ago I've seen that you released your album in Mexico. After knowing you for so many years I've seen the album, which left me a little bit dissapointed. Don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about the music —which I find very good—, but the production isn't the best, but of low quality. What happened? Couldn't you manage to sign for a better label? H- That's the kind of mistake we don't want to commit with our second album. 11.- You told me that you've had problems with the label because of some contractual issues. Could you tell us more about this so that other bands don't go through this? H- We've heard that the quantity of copies they released wasn't the one we had agreed on. Because of that, they also sent us very few copies. 12.- Speaking of the CD, this one hasn't a drastic musical change, but the sound is more "nordic black metal oriented". It's more sublime and very influenced by Diabolical (also from Paraguay). What do you think about it? H- For us, Diabolical and Wisdom are bands that marked a black metal style in Paraguay. We grew up listening to those bands and surely enough we may have been influenced by them.

13.- Tell us something about "To Arkham Forest". From where the title name comes to the composing of songs and ending with the production? H- Well, I really don't have a lot to say about this album. Yeah, it's good considering it's the first record of our band, but the result isn't really the one we expected. 14.- After this you released a 4-way split titled "Necroblasphemy III". Is there any difference between the tracks featured on the split and those of the album? H- This split has 4 new songs that aren't on the album. We haven't forgot these songs and are still working on them. 15.- How did this work between 4 bands take place? How's the relationship with the other bands that worked on this split CD? H- Our scene is very small and —besides some metal stars— we're all friends or something like that. 16.- I've met you guys 7 years ago. How much did your band and scene evolve? H- The band is beginning to be, what we would call, more demanding and we're demonstrating that with our new creations and live shows. About the scene, there's lots of new people who aren't sure what kind of metal to play, but also, there are great bands. And pretty women attending shows (I know you agree with that). 17.- What kind of ideology does the band have? H- Anti-christianity. Black metal was made for this. There's plenty other styles for stupid stories, rotten corpses and alcohol. 18.- This is a silly question since I already know you guys: What's your idea of a perfect weekend? (I'm sure it's beer, women and metal, hahaha!) H- If you're going to answer your own questions; don't dare to ask, tuja tembo reikoa! Hahah.. 19.- What can we expect from To Arkham from now on? Where do you see yourselves in 5 years? H- First thing is our second album and this album needs to be good. After that, we will keep on composing. 20.- Please leave a message for the south American and worldwide scene. H- Time is short, alcohol is the law! Cheers, brother.