Interview with People as Machines @ RockersDen Rock Fest

Talent is found everywhere on this planet Earth, and this outstanding band from Austria and Mexico is the definitive proof. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting the lead guitarist and drummer and have a chat with them at the Legend Club during the RockersDen Rock Fest.

Hello, Mauricio and Jesus! How are you doing today?

I’m very fine, and you?

I’m also very fine and happy to be here in Milan.

Your debut album was released in 2019. So what can we expect from the future projects of the band?

We are working on more singles now. Because the first album was kind of conceptual, but the new music’s coming in singles because it’s more individual. It has nothing to do with each other it just comes to our minds, and we express it. You can expect more music and more shows around the world.

Do you come from an artistic or musical family?

Actually, that’s a really interesting question. My parents are not musicians or artists at all, but we are five brothers and sisters, and four of us are musicians. My older sister is an opera singer, my two brothers are guitar players, and I’m a drummer. My other sister doesn’t play anything, but she’s married to another drummer, so there’s music everywhere in the end.

In my family, there has never been like a professional musician or something. When I was very young, around 10 years old, I used to spend a lot of time in my grandmother’s house, and I played a lot the piano that was there. I started learning how to play classical music, and at some point, I became like a teenager, and I said, I don’t like classical music anymore. I want rock or metal!

Do you prefer to play concerts in small or big venues?

I’ll say big venues. I think it’s more fun for sure. And well, when there’s more crowd, there’s more noise, so it’s better. And I think the atmosphere is different when you play at festivals and big stages.

Both have their own benefits. Usually, when you play in big venues, sometimes you get very good acoustics. And it’s very important for the confidence of the musician because you can also transmit the sound and the music better, but in the smaller venues, you have the people so close to you that it feels like they’re part of the band, and it becomes crazy.

What kind of questions don’t you like to answer?

Questions about band members.

Yeah, about past band members.

I am a huge pancake lover. What do you eat for breakfast?

Oh man, that’s a crazy question. How can I answer this in a not-boring way? My morning breakfast every day is muesli with milk or almond milk, but I’ve got to say my favourite breakfast, which I think about every day and sometimes I even dream about, is some tacos. Morning tacos.

Let’s get some fat to the system. I think my answer is more boring. I love to have breakfast with eggs of all kinds of types. In Mexico, especially, we had like a lot of different ingredients. So you can make them with tortilla or with bread or bagels, but you manage to put a little creativity into it. But it’s good food, and it’s also tasteful, so eggs.

Would you say women are treated differently than men in the metal industry?

That’s a very interesting question because I think there is a duality in how women see in metal and in many aspects. When you see festivals, there will be a lot of female inclusion, but somehow when you see the main headliners, it’s different, and you rarely see a girl singing as the main headline. At the end of the day, I think that as long as women also get involved in metal as it’s happening lately, I think sooner or later, more artists will become legends like the normal headliner you see. And they will start to appear more in equality.

I’ll say the same, probably. I think it’s been step by step during the last years that women get increasingly involved in rock and metal and everything. So there are a lot of interesting and creative front women. I think they are welcomed and appreciated as men; it’s the same thing, that’s my opinion. It’s just that it’s taken a little more time.

Especially because metal is always related to aggression and aggressiveness. It was not related to women. But now you get to see girls in moshpits and that, so they’re becoming fans and artists. And at some point, I think it’s a matter of time before we are going to see much more of them.

I wanted to play a little game with you if that’s all right. If you could choose to be Batman or to be Robin, which one would you choose?

I think everyone will be Batman for sure.

That’s a real question. Who wants to be Robin?

How about if you could choose between Batman and Superman?

I would be Superman for sure.

I will choose Batman.

Thank you very much for taking the time to do this interview. I really appreciate it. And I really enjoyed your show. Do you want to add anything else to the readers of FemMetal?

I would like to thank you and FemMetal, and also your readers, for supporting the scene because, without you, this would not exist. You are the ones who move this and the ones who keep it alive. So there is nothing but thankfulness for all of you. Thank you.

The same; thank you, Milan and Italy, wonderful city, excellent people, everything we really love to be here and thank you very much for having us.