Phantom is a thrash/speed metal band from Mexico, and we had the opportunity to interview them when they played Wacken Open Air this year.

Benedetta

I’m here with J.C. from Phantom. How are you doing?

J.C. García

I’m a bit tired, but here we are, doing all right.

Benedetta

How did it feel to play Wacken in such a historical year, an anniversary year?

J.C. García

Yeah, it was something very special for us. First of all, being Mexican, it’s such a special moment for our band. There’s not a lot of Mexican bands that get directly invited to the festival. Most of the bands from our country that have played here are playing the metal battle. We were very fortunate to receive a direct invitation from the festival, so we’re very proud of that. We’re the third Mexican band to get directly invited, and also the first speed and thrash metal band to get invited from our country. So, we’re very proud of it. It was great. It was amazing.

Benedetta

Do you think that the life of an artist is a lonely life?

J.C. García

Sometimes it can be. People just see the rock star thing or just a part of it, like the show, and that’s it. But behind it, there’s a lot of work. There’s a lot of hours doing a lot of stuff, like either writing, rehearsing, traveling from one place to another. Touring isn’t a vacation. You miss your family, you miss your friends, you miss your house. It’s hard, and we all do our best to just arrive to every place after hours on the road, and either with a smile on our face, but yeah, it’s not an easy life, but it’s the life we choose, so we gotta do what we gotta do.

Benedetta

Do you think that we will ever reach equality between men and women in the metal world?

J.C. García

I think we’re actually getting there. There’s a lot of female fronted bands or bands with female members that are amazing and are out there, and they’re kicking ass even better than some men on stage, so it’s amazing to see that. Girls can rock, and they have been doing that since the 70s, the 80s, or even before. There needs to be more awareness of that, because our scene has had amazing women on stage since pioneering ages of this kind of music, heavy metal. Amazing bands, I don’t know, in the 80s you had bands like Acid, Doro, which, well, she’s playing Warlock. Nowadays you have amazing bands like Castle Rat, from Mexico we have The Warning, which is an all-female band. There’s a lot of talent out there, and women are a very important stronghold in the metal community.

Benedetta

On a scale from 1 to 10, how technological would you say that you are? Like in everyday life, making phone calls, emails, paying bills, using the computer?

J.C. García

I mean, I do my best, I’m young, but I feel like a caveman most of the time. I am also the manager of my band, I’m a multitasking guy, I do this, I do that, I write, I do everything basically. Sometimes it’s kind of a solo project, and the live thing is another thing. So yeah, I use a lot of technology, and I think social media are a very important way of communication nowadays. But yeah, I’m not like super, like an expert or anything like that.

Benedetta

Thank you so much for taking the time to do this with us. Is there anything else that you want to add to our readers?

J.C. García

Thank you very much for having us here and for this space. We appreciate it a lot. It was our first Wacken Open Air, hopefully not the last. We had a great time, and thank you for having us here again.