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How was Berserk born?
Crimson:
Berserk was born after 2008's new year party, when a couple of friends, all of them thrash metal lovers, sit and talked about forming a thrash band in El Salvador, since there were no other pure thrash bands at that time, inspired by the 'new wave' of thrash going on in different countries around the Globe. Basically, we're thrash fans with no to little musical background trying to let the Salvadorian metal scene have a taste on what thrash is all about.
Where did you take the band name from? / What does it mean?
Berserk may be taken from the Viking warriors, the Berserkers, but the term itself refers to a very high state of anger. We liked the name because it reflects the feeling we want to transmit to the public, we are not happy with certain aspects of life, and that's our best way to call that feeling. Some people might relate it to a very popular anime/manga series, but we didnt take it from there, although it is a really good series haha.
What are your musical influences?
We have all sorts of musical influences as individuals, thrash is obviously the heaviest of them all, but we can include speed, power, death, progressive rock and metal, and even a bit of jazz and latin rhythms. When it comes to thrash, we can mention some relevant bands in as major influences like Annihilator, early Metallica, Exodus, Anthrax, Sodom among many 80's and 2000's bands. But bands in other genres have also inspired us, being Iron Maiden, Helloween, Angra, Dream Theater, Blind Guardian -and many more- important as well.
Do you feel it is necessary and also important to have a broad taste of various music genres in order to grow as a band/ musician?
Of course, we admire other genres, each and one of us has had a different journey in the world of Metal, so we kind of mix ideas and stuff altogether. Sometimes it works fine and some other times... we can call them experimental haha. As a band we try to make our music enjoyable, something that people can use to either beat someone to death or even to dance with. We don't really like to stick to one rhythm so we can be slow paced at some times or really fast paced at others.
I understand that you wrote most of the material on Berserk, what have been your major influences? /what are your songs about?
Yes I'm proud to be the main songwriter in the band, but I have to acknowledge that my brother Marvin and Edson also help me a lot with the lyrics. Well again, we are very open minded so we can write songs about almost everything, from inner feelings to fantastic stories,
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personal experiences, hypothetic situations, you name it and we sing it haha.
Thrash Metal is not a very exploded genre in the Salvadorian Metal scene (as you earlier mentioned), and Berserk seems to be becoming a pioneer on this, what do you think about the lack of thrash metal bands in our local scene?
It is really a shame that thrash is not well-known among most Salvadorians. I guess that it is because we had a really tough civil war during the 80's until early 90's and it was really difficult to obtain music at that time. Most metalheads became more familiarized with Death and Black Metal, and that was the norm for the years to come. We have many Death and Black bands, and some of them are really good, nonetheless, I could never satisfy my thirst for thrash in the local scene, so we ended up making our own band. Being considered a pioneer in this field is both an honor and a great responsibility we are aware of having to fulfill.
Are you happy whit the fans response to what Berserks proposes?
Hell yeah I'm happy. Actually, the support that we received is enormous for a newcomer. Most new bands in El Salvador tend to struggle a lot to be heard. We are fortunate of having this opportunity and by no means are we planning to let it go. Although we are in the process of building a scene for the genre, we have received the support from well known bands and that is something I really appreciate. When it comes to the fans damn it, I was myself a fan just some months ago they are so fucking great. Ive got to meet many people in this late days and I have received all kinds of positive comments and ways to improve, so definitively, Im glad to be in my shoes right now haha.
As an active member on the Salvadorian Metal Scene and been aware of our limited conditions, what are your goals as a band?
Well, I'm the kind of person that thinks that whenever a goal is achieved, a new one must be set. So Ill probably be telling you that things might change once they are completed, we started wanting just to thrash my garage, and then we wanted to gig. Currently we are working on recording our album and looking forward to continue delivering good ol thrash metal not only for our country, but to the world as well. Whether we plan to conquer mars in the future or not, is yet to decide.
Now that we have touched the subject; what is your perspective regarding our scene? Have you seen any improve on it?
When it comes to the Salvadorian Metal scene, it has grown enormously in the last couple of years, especially in this year, and definitively we can notice much more enthusiasm and eff
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ort from the local bands. And we consider ourselves fortunate to be part of this, you can expect us to work hard to be the best we can be.
Have you found enough media support for Berserk?
Well, I can tell you that we have had support from almost everyone that has known us, and that they can help us as they can and I appreciate it greatly. To call it 'enough'... I'm not sure if that's a good word for it, as there are lots of things that we need to have, but when it comes to advertising and spread-the-word kind of help, we have had a lot. There are plans for us to record decently and perhaps a video with the help of great people in the media, so support is always coming and is always welcome.
Nowadays to let your music been eared outside our country is way more easy than 10 years ago, but been a self producer band, have you think about contacting any Record Label to get a contract whit?
We are definitively willing to, but we are realist. We need to work harder and to have better recordings for us to contact an international label and be actually taken in consideration. There are thousands of bands out there that are really good, and that might have more resources than we do, but that doesnt mean were slowing down, fuck no!
When can we expect Berserks debut album?
Thats a question I wonder as well hahaha. Well, there are many challenges in the making of the album, we have the full set of songs already, and that is a big part of the deal, unfortunately, the rest has to do with money, and we are short on it haha. For the people that dont know, in El Salvador, you cannot be a musician and live from it. You can do it only for the passion, but you need to have a separate job to sustain this hobby. Well try to have it sometime next year, the latest.
Where do you see Berserk in 5 years?.
Well I see us playing good finally! haha, to be honest man, I know that things can change when you least expect it, but if you ask me what I WANT for Berserk in the next 5 years, I'd like us to be friends as we are right now, to be better musicians and to help other bands as we are being helped right now.
Is there anything else you would like to add and share with the SOM community??
Spirit of Metal is a great community and I hope for it to grow much larger, I'm glad to be myself part of this and I consider that spaces like this help spread the word when it comes to metal. Thank you for the opportunity you give us to communicate our thoughts to the world, which is something priceless. Keep on thrashin', we surely will!!!
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Interview done by _Zero_
Indeed Berserks has released their EP, Thrashing Machine, on december that same year :)
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