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| w/JUAN GARCIA |
| Dawn/The Metal Web!: With a new album released last month Order of the Illuminati, doing very well I may add and having a new label signing with Scarlet Records as well as being added to a prominent tour The Bonded by Metal, I'd say the bands off to a pretty good start! What do you feel contributes to Agent Steel's success? Juan Garcia: Good question; I think the fact that we’ve been around as a band since 1984-85 gives us a lot of credibility. The main contribution to our success has and always will be the music and the songwriting. It’s very important for us to come up with original material; we work very hard on this. We want to stand out and sound as original and unique as possible. Dawn/The Metal Web!: The Bonded by Metal tour has a great band line-up. Some Agent Steel has played with over the years as well as some new. How did the tour come to be and what can the fans anticipate? Juan Garcia: Our booking agent in Europe, which we’ve worked with in the past, set the tour up. I think it’s a great package of having Exodus, Nuclear Assault, and Agent Steel along with the new extreme bands such as Behemoth, Carnal Forge and others like Mortician. Dawn/The Metal Web!: Prior to the European tour, you stated that there would also be some selective US dates. When and where will the US dates occur? Juan Garcia: At the moment we are looking at setting up shows in Phoenix, Arizona, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Mainly the West Coast I suppose. It’s not that we do not want to tour the US, it’s more like our fan base is strongest in Europe so we concentrate on overseas more. Once this new album circulates a bit more and the promotion kicks in I think we will reach out a bit further than just regional shows. Hopefully by early next year we will plan a full US tour. I really would like to get out to states such as Texas, Illinois, Ohio, etc.. Dawn/The Metal Web!: In the past Agent Steel has toured extensively and with some of the best. What is Agent Steel looking forward to most on this tour and why? Juan Garcia: We are looking forward to performing a good majority of the new material along with mixing in the old catalog of metal anthems. Also we are looking forward to meeting our fans that have supported us for so long. Just being around the whole European metal community is very cool. Also traveling to places that we’ve never been too is pretty awesome as well. Dawn/The Metal Web!: The new label Scarlet Records signed Agent Steel for the new release Order of the Illuminati but I also see the mention of AOS Artillery of which your name is affiliated with. So does this mean the band manages itself as well as having label support and if so why? Normally it’s one or the other. Juan Garcia: Let me clarify this for you. We licensed our record to Scarlet Records for the European and Asian territory (Japan). Now for the USA, we decided since I have a distribution to release it on our own imprint AOS/Artillery Music in association with The End Records. We have total control of the marketing. We do our own press, and radio mailings. It’s more satisfying to know what is going on with your album than some label who keeps the artist in the dark of the workings of a project. I mean, if EMI or WEA came up to us and gave us a huge advance “fine” they can have the masters and work the album, but I’ve already been on independent labels and have gathered enough knowledge and contacts to understand how the business works, and to be honest we should of done this a longtime ago. Doing it yourself is the way of the future for Metal bands until things crack on a real big scale! You will see more established artists stepping up to the plate and taking control of their future. Especially with the way the music business is heading. Dawn/The Metal Web!: The tracks, Enslaved, Forever Black and Dead Eyes are a couple of my favorites off the album. Can you give me some back round on each track? Musically and lyrically the band’s writing ability is very intricate which really impressed me. Not an easy feat to do! (Laughs) Juan Garcia: Thank you, those are some of my favorite songs as well. Lets start off with Enslaved, a real fast song with some intricate guitar work and sort of hard to play live since it’s moving quite fast! The lyrics to the song are about how the human race is blinded and how sneaky Governments can take some of our rights away and before you know it we are all “Enslaved” to a New World Order. These things were masterminded by very intelligent people and although the lyrics are based on a conspiracy theory, it can happen for real. Forever Black is about the Philadelphia Experiment, experiments with time travel and radar invisibility and how they actually made this stuff happen. Wild stuff lyrically and musically it’s a fast one and very fun to play live, probably my favorite song. Dead Eyes lyrically is about Japan's War Crimes committed by Doctors and Scientist's that took the research from the Nazis to a whole different level. One of the divisions was Unit 731; these people took the meaning extreme to a whole different level. Dawn/The Metal Web!: In your opinion how do you feel Order of the Illuminati will deviate in comparison to past releases? Juan Garcia: I think it will do just fine. If it were on a major label with the major marketing dollars and tour support, we would do great! Our goal is to move a lot of units so we can take this to a higher level, but we want to do it ourselves for now. We are in it for the long haul and eventually we would like to sign bands and keep the metal flame burning. Our destiny is Metal! Dawn/The Metal Web!: You as well just recruited a new drummer Rigo Amezcua to replace Chuck Profus who has been with the band since its inception. Was it a smooth transition and what has the response been to the replacement from fans and media? Juan Garcia: It was a very smooth transition because we knew Rigo for so long. Chuck retired from music and there was an empty drum stool to fill. Rigo stepped up and made it happen and recorded some great drum tracks. The response for the most part has been very positive indeed. Dawn/The Metal Web!: When Chuck left back in 2000, the bio quotes John Cyriis had reappeared causing a bit of controversy and virtually stopping the band in its tracks. Chuck having had enough resigned". Were Cyriis's disagreements and the upset that ensued amongst the band due to the re-releasing of Omega Conspiracy on Metal Blade Records the main factor on his departure or were there other remaining factors in making Chuck’s decision to leave? I ask because he was one of the leading members of Agent Steel and had a long history within the band. Juan Garcia: Good question and let me see if I can clarify this for you. Chuck sustained an injury on his hand, so we had to find a replacement drummer because we had live gigs to play that were already booked and we could not cancel. Chuck wanted us to play these gigs as well. So we got Rigo to “fill in” and then after these shows Chuck just wanted to retire altogether. I don’t think it had anything to do with anything else, some people just had enough and want out. I get the feeling as well! It’s normal. But the will to continue is stronger than quitting for me. Chuck was and still is a leading member of Agent Steel and so is Cyriis, Bruce and Bernie. Just because they are no longer in the band doesn’t necessarily mean that they are not leading members any longer. Actually Cyriis is very supportive of our new album Order of the Illuminati. Dawn/The Metal Web!: Speaking of John Cyriis have you had any contact with him or any former members recently and are they in any current projects? Juan Garcia: I have not spoken to Cyriis in a few weeks now. He is a very private person but he is very supportive like I mentioned. I also support him and his new musical and lyrical workings. He is a very intelligent person. Dawn/The Metal Web!: At that time when these disagreements took place Agent Steel was signed to Metal Blade Records. What lead to the departure from that label? Especially with the band just starting to write new material for a follow-up which would have been the now current release Order of the Illuminati? Juan Garcia: Our deal with Metal Blade was a licensing deal only. We licensed to them Omega Conspiracy but we were not locked in to any long-term deal. They are a fine label and Brian Slagel is very successful. Dawn/The Metal Web!: The current release Order of the Illuminati was released in Europe and the US with a difference in album covers. What was the reasoning behind changing the album cover designs? Juan Garcia: We wanted to have two different covers. I was always intrigued by Judas Priest and how“Point of Entry” had two different album covers for Europe and the USA. Dawn/The Metal Web!: On the Japan release of Order of the Illuminati there was a bonus track added "Brainwashed". Why was that particular track added solely to the Japan release and not to any of the others? Juan Garcia: CD prices in Japan are very expensive. So Scarlet Records and the band decided to give them an exclusive bonus song, not available on the US or European versions. Dawn/The Metal Web!: Speaking of the track Brainwashed, will that track ever be available to the US or Europe in the future as well as give your fans some insight as to what the bonus track consists of? Juan Garcia: Probably not in the near future. That is why it’s a bonus track for Japan only. I am sure if people want the song there’s a way of getting an import version of the CD. Dawn/The Metal Web!: As we speak Agent Steel is in the process of getting ready to mix bonus live material for an up-coming vinyl picture disk. Can you give us some information on this live recording and when will it become available to the public? Juan Garcia: We are releasing a single in the US on CD and limited vinyl with the studio tracks Insurrection and Earth Under Lucifer. We are also including 3 live tracks that we’ve recorded with Rigo on drums playing the older material. The live versions of the older classics kick serious ass! The single should be ready for release October or November at the latest. Dawn/The Metal Web!: Again I’ll say Order of the Illuminati thoroughly impressed me. Not that I thought it would be any different than previous releases. Agent Steel was always a great band. Thanks for getting in touch and I wish you guy’s the best of luck with the new album. Not that you need it! You know you guy’s are good! (Laughs) With that said, do you have any final words for The Metal Web!? Juan Garcia: Dawn thank you so much for supporting Metal. OFFICIAL SITE "AGENT STEEL": http://www.agentsteelonline.com HOME |
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