Ah, Barcelona! This country is loaded with Metal acts, Kilmara is a rising Melodic Heavy Metal act from Spain, as they describe themselves. They’ve been around since 2003, and produced 3 demos and 3 full-lengths, in which we reviewed their latest album Love Songs and Other Nightmares which you can read here and a lyric video released from the same album, entitled ‘Time Flies’ where you can read about here. We gathered with them and had a short fun interview to know more about them, their music and their future plans.
First off, I love your music, but you guys don’t remind me of any band in specific to be honest, do you have any specific influences?
Thank you so much! Well, all of us in the band have very wide influences inside the vast and varied heavy metal genres and branches. So, whenever we compose and write songs, all those influences come together and make them sound very ours and that is something we are proud of and something that gives us a personal style. So no, we never aimed to sound as any specific band or genre but just as a melodic heavy metal band.
How did you all meet? Tell us a bit more about your background?
All of us have played for many years in bands from the Barcelona underground scene before the formation of Kilmara, which was more than 15 years ago. The core members are Kike Torres, John Portillo on guitars and Javi Morillo on drums who have remained together and known each other since day one of the band’s history. And the newest members Didac Pla on Bass and Daniel Ponce on vocals have both been part of the band for nearly a year now although they both knew about the band before their entrance.
Other than metal of course, what kind of music do you guys listen to?
To be completely honest, we believe that what we listen to the most is just metal! Ha-ha, no, but really, as we mentioned before, we all really have diverse and different tastes although mostly related to heavy metal. You can find us listening to styles from prog, death, power, thrash, A.O.R., speed, Goth, alternative, traditional, Viking folk, classic hard rock, punk, black, hardcore, all the way to classical music or movie soundtracks to even some good pop artists.
What does Kilmara mean? I tried googling it but to no avail.
Legend says that it was the name of a King’s guard dog. One day after the King and his men returned to the fortress, they found a bloodbath in the castle and the king’s baby child nowhere to be found. Kilmara was in front of the throne covered in blood. So the King thinking that Kilmara had devoured the child, immediately send to sacrifice the dog, with Kilmara’s last breath, a baby child’s cry was heard behind the throne. It was the King’s child whom Kilmara hid there to protect from the attack of a pack of savage wolves.
Your manager also mentioned that you guys have played in “Il Male” Heavy Metal Fest, how was it? I don’t usually think of Italy when it comes to metal but it seems to have been a big deal.
It was a great experience! On one hand because it was our first time playing in Italy, and on the other, because it was the live debut of our singer Daniel. It’s a great underground metal festival that they organize in Bolonia each year and the crowd really supported us and enjoyed our show! So in resume a perfect experience!!
Tell us more about your lyrical themes.
Our lyrics are mostly about life in general. You know, things like social issues, jobs, love relations, climate change, having a good time, the past, present and the future… But we also sometimes write more based on the fantasy side of things, such as about vampires and werewolves, legends, myths…
How has the Italian scene helped you to shape your music?
We’re not sure; of course there are great Italian bands as well as great Spanish ones. So you could say that the whole Mediterranean metal scene has a personal way of being influenced by our surroundings and our culture, the same as the bands from for example: Scandinavia or northern Europe, or the South American ones for example also reflect their heritage in their sound.
You have also introduced your new vocalist “Daniel Ponce”, what do you think of his performance? I obviously haven’t heard him since he just joined you guys last year.
He has just been with us for some months, but already we can assure that we are very happy with him as a singer but also as a person. He has adapted very well with the rest of the members and the audience that has had the chance to see and hear him also agree that he has been an accurate choice for us. We hope to record some material with his voice soon so that everybody can discover him as well.
Are you guys working on any new material? It’s been almost 2 years since your last album came out.
As we just mentioned, we plan on recording new material as soon as possible, and hopefully release it by the end of the year. So yes, currently we are working on the composition of our new album, which we hope to record once again at Grapow studios with Mr. Roland Grapow at the helm like on our last two records.
What festivals have you performed in and which was your favorite?
We have performed in many festivals mostly around Spain and a few of them abroad. But without a doubt our fondest memories are when we had the privilege to share the stage, the dressing rooms and hotel with Uli Jon Roth, Paul Di’Anno and Blaze Bayley at the Rock Knights Festival in France in August 2012.
Are there any other tours you guys have on schedule? Or are there any specific fests you guys are interested in?
This year our priority is to write and record our new album, so we don’t plan on scheduling any tours, but we will be playing at some festivals on specific dates. The ones that we have confirmed are, The Doctor Metal Fest In Spain in May, The More Than Fest in Slovenia in August, The Winds of Rock Fest in September in the Canary Islands and very possibly the 3 Days in Rock Fest in Italy in October.
Thank you Youssef and Rock Era Magazine for taking the time to make these questions and all the best always! Rage and fire!!!
Edited by: NJ Bakr
