Clarity Found

Interview With Antagonist

Anaheim

From Issue 1.4, March/April 2005

Throw some treble in it,” said Matt smirking.

“Throw in some bass,” said Lond and with that, Matt went into hysterical laughter which turned into a fit of coughs as Carlos stood silent (except to later ask for a Capri Sun) to the jokes in the recording room at Orange Crush Studio in Anaheim.

The musicians of Antagonist include vocalist and guitarist Carlos Garcia, 20; drummer Lond Garcia, 20; bassist Paul Salem, 19 and Matt Lopez, 19.  Purevolume described the group as the next break out band in the world of “metalcore.”  Highwire Daze Magazine printed a review stating that despite Antagonist’s members’ relative youth, they do a lot of “first rate” playing.

Antagonist’s members are indeed good at what they do.  In fact, vocalist and guitarist Carlos would be the first to admit this.  However, to mention age in qualifying their talent would seem irrelevant-not to mention somewhat insulting.  After all, this band has been around since 1998-the result of a meeting of the minds when Carlos and Lond met in their first period P.E. class. This means seven years worth of perfecting a sound the four earned and worked for.  To say they are “up-and-coming” is to miss the point and the facts.

They are here.  They have been here, and they obviously intend to stay for the long ride.

“We believe in what we do,” said drummer Lond.  “We were able to adjust pretty quickly to one another and just started jamming it up. We’ll keep writing and keep getting better.”

Their talent can be partly attributed to knowing how their instruments actually work.  Carlos is studying classical music and learned to play the guitar in the sixth grade.  Along with the rest of the band, all four took to music naturally.  Lopez has been playing the guitar for about eight years.

“When I was young, I was really into the movie, ‘La Bamba.’  That’s what got me motivated....  Then I really got into Metallica; I wanted to be Metallica. Their music is like what every kid who picks up a guitar, wants to play-like this Metallica force.  I don’t know what it is,” said Lopez as he picked away at a classical guitar song from memory.

Lond, like Lopez, never took any lessons and has been drumming for the past seven years.

“I was really bored, really young,” said Lond.

“Drums just seemed like a good outlet for when you’re frusterated or mad, or even when you’re happy. It just looked like fun.  That’s the reason I started playing drums; we play music to be happy.”

Salem picked up the bass about four years ago and started playing Metallica songs (similar to the rest of his bandmates).  Described as the “businessman of the group” by Lond, he prints shirts and likes going to shows.

Aside from knowing how to play their instruments, another reason for Antagonist’s longevity, is their tendency to indulge in whatever makes them happy, rather than following trends. Carlos admitted to wearing a Ninja Turtles shirt and sandals to a show once.  When they play gigs, they never wear the “cool” shirts of other bands, or plugs in their ears or eyeliner.

“What does that have anything to do with playing music,” wondered Carlos aloud.

They like watching cartoons and shout random lines from the “Dave Chappelle Show” or “Napolean Dynamite.” In one digression from the interview, Lopez discussed his latest purchases on the Internet, which included an Elephant Man T-shirt.

“With his face on it,” questioned Carlos to which Lopez responded “no” as they agreed in unison that a shirt with the guy’s face on it, would not be pretty.

The members of this band are not into gimmicks to make themselves and their music acceptable to others.  The music stands as it is:  powerful, deep, emotional and it is hardly fair to call it only metal.

“We’re influenced by different things.  So, what we play is just a louder version of everything we are influenced by.  We’re one big, loud punch in the face,” said Lopez describing the music of Antagonist.

A lot of bands can claim they transcend the genres to appeal to all audiences.  However, for Antagonist this sentiment is particularly true. The lyrics, mainly written by Carlos, are articulate, and the music is thought-provoking-hence their band name Antagonist.

“The last CD, was full of religious imagery which is funny because I’m actually against organized religion,” said Carlos as he generalized the music’s lyrics.  “Other stuff has to do with the war, Bush and just shit. It’s the human experience and everyday life that we’re fucking through-or, at least that I am [going through].”

At that moment, Lopez chimed in, “I don’t watch the news; I watch ‘Seinfeld’ all day.  What war?  I’m at Monk’s Cafe.”

Back to being serious however, Carlos commented on the turn music has taken, in general.

“Everyone’s trying to compete,” explained Carlos.

“Yeah, everyone’s trying to play faster,” added Lond.

“And it just gets old quick,” Carlos continued.  “It all begins to sound the same as long as they [other bands] put in break downs.”

It seems many bands are just following each other.  If someone does something cool, there are hundreds of kids waiting to mimic that. New bands rise and then fall.  

“It’s inflation of egos,” as Salem put it.  

“We have fun doing this. It’s not like were assholes; we’re not a metal boy band,” Salem continued.

“Bottom line, there’s nothing interesting about us....We played the theme to ‘PeeWee’s Big Adventure’ once [at a show],” said Lond trying to think of something that sets Antagonist apart from other bands.  They will also open shows with the intro to “Batman” or movie scores.

Bottom line:  there is a lot to be said about a band that is not afraid to wear Ninja Turtles or Elephant Man T-shirts in a sea of kids all sporting the same tight fitting jeans and black nail polish.  That is, after all, pretty interesting.