Unite Fanzine

Unite Fanzine

The 90’s were a great time for experimental, genre busting acts that played music their way.
It was a beautiful time for music. It was an era that bore acts as diverse and influential as Helmet, Quicksand and of course Fugazi. These days however that ethos seems to be lost on most bands. Fast forward to the present and I’m finally getting the chance to catch up with a trio of musicians known as !No Pasaran!. Very little is known about these guys and I’m not sure whether to consider it a blessing or a curse. The band takes the frenetic energy of Punk and couples it with experimental noise and a touch of beauty. Watching the band perform live is another experience all together. Eric is part frontman, part madman. Pouring his soul into every song. Romel’s guitar work matches aggression with beauty, while Tom keeps it all together as if it were a symphony. I got to sit down with them at practice the day they were to play with the Night Marchers at Maxwells. I was just looking to learn more about a band I have grown to love.
JD
In the Beginning:

Eric: !No Pasaran has a history of just never completely getting the ball rolling. Whether it’s been life’s responsibilities. Be it school, jobs or family. (Eric goes to school and Romel has a beautiful wife and daughter.) Tom had also broke both of his elbows at one time.

Romel: When we first started in 2004 we were looking for quality over quantity. We wanted to play with bands we really liked and of course our friends. When we started we had a singer by the name of Diego. We had practiced together and quickly realized he was non committable to the band. We had also put an ad on Craigs List for a drummer and Tom replied. We didn’t know what to expect. The day of the audition this six foot seven hulking monster shows up in this big coat. (picture the Terminator)
He showed up and just killed on the drums. We kinda knew Diego’s days were numbered when he cringed and said “Oh my God. He’s so loud.”

Tom knew a lot of the same people we did. We had a lot of mutual friends.

Eric: I always wanted to be in a band that played compulsive, noisy loud rock n roll. Just go up and play without the banter and nonsense.

Tom: At first we had this Queens of the Stone Age image. Having different singers come in and perform different songs. It was at the very beginning when we were totally clueless.

Eric: Romel and I come from that Punk and Hardcore background. Where as Tom is a total Indie guy.

Romel’s Health:
Romel: In December 2009 my legs started getting numb and I was feeling really bad. I went to the hospital and was diagnosed with what was like a tumor in my spinal chord. I had to have surgery for that. I was diagnosed with Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. I had to go through Chemo therapy. I’ve been in remission since January. The diagnosis is pretty good. It was like going through hell because the chemo therapy I received was one of the most intense ones out there. I was basically in bed for three of four months. (runs his fingers through his newly grown hair which looks good and natural.) It was hell because I had to also rehab my legs which are now about 95%. It’s hard because you have to basically teach your legs to walk again. Dealing with that, the back surgery and the chemo therapy. It was a three ring circus.

Tom’s Lament:

Tom: I got drunk at a friends bachelor party in
Jersey City. We were walking around streets of J.C. when my friend found this shopping cart. My buddy was cheering us on so I got in. He started pushing it when it hit the curbed and flipped. I fell out and broke my fall with my palms. The pressure from the fall snapped my elbows. I was in two slings for a while. A lot of people wanted to visit but I didn’t want to be seen. I even missed my friends wedding. It’s a cautionary tale. I was smart enough to say “No” the first time they mentioned getting in. Dumb enough to say “Yes” the second time.

Credentials:

Eric: We started working on the record Credentials in 2007. It was recorded with a friend of ours during a time when we were having financial issues. We started recording it at Moonlight Mile Recording studios in Hoboken. We were having these issues with our finances when we found a friend who would record us here (Clifton rehearsal space for free. During that period we had also come up with new songs. So we decided to record again. There was a tough transition at first. We didn’t have the money to record with Mike from Moonlight and here was this guy offering to do it for free. It was awkward at first but we’ve since mended fences with Mike. The music is available digitally on our My Space page. It was never released as a hard copy.

Tom: We were a little more comfortable here because this is where we practice. The feeling is more comfortable. It happened here a lot quicker than we would have imagined.

Eric: There were positive and negative elements to it. He’s very laid back. It’s a looser environment. Recording at Moonlight put some added pressure being that we were going there with the sole intention of recording.
It’s more like we’re just here to practice.

Drive:

Romel: The experience of playing the music live. That visceral Rock n’ Roll experience.
I want people to see and hear it. Music is a lot different these days. There used to be more of a sense of community. Maybe there was a sense of it back in 2001 or 2002 but I’m not sure.
These days I don’t see it. It can be hard for us to even get an opening slot these days.
Most headlining bands tour with an opening band now because of how booking agents do shows presently. We’re doing it because it’s still fun.

Eric: I love it because we’re still enjoying getting up there and sweating it out. It’s like the best of times. I’m looking over at Romel and he’s sweating it out. Looking over at Tom and his octopus arms are banging shit out.

Tom: Right now we’re concentrating on this show (Maxwells) and getting a really pummeling set together. We just really got back together two months ago. So writing new material will have to be put on the back burner for now.

Get those ears popping up!

Eric: We’re prepared and we’re going to butcher the stage up.

Playing to your Heroes:

Eric: Tonight we’re opening for The Night Marchers. The frontman John ‘Speedo’ Reis who started Drive Like Jehu,
He was in Rocket from the Crypt and Hot Snakes. When he called me I thought it was a joke. He called me the other day. I saw this 619 area code and thought “is this a bill collector?” I thought it might be Tom (drummer) playing a joke on me. Then I heard “Hey, this is John Reis from the Night Marchers.” I just replied as if I had marbles in my mouth. He’s just one of those guys that just rips in every band he’s been in. It’s amazing. As much as we’re influenced by bands like Fugazi.... When we got together we were all about the band
Hot Snakes. We wanted to rock like that. We went to see them in 2002 and got all teary eyed like “We want to rock like that.”

Romel: Not as much in sound but in attitude.
It’s all about the music and the performance. We’re not about a
‘“look” or merchandise. We’re all about performing.

Under Cover’s On:
Eric: We played a tune up show in Kearney last week under the name Cockwitch. It was last minute and sometimes you don’t want to play two shows in one area during a short period of time. This was in a sense a warm up for the Maxwells show.

Romel: I still have issues with my balance and standing. I wanted to deal with those issues prior to the show as opposed to at Maxwells.

Eric: He didn’t want to feel like Mick Mars from Motley Crue. Where we had him propped up on a guitar stand.

“What is to be done?”
Romel: That’s been on my guitar for a long time. It’s a quote from Lenin from the Russian Revolution.
It’s always been a pressing question. You can even pose it to this band. “What are we going to do?”
What’s the plan? What’s the next step? It’s just a statement not to be complacent. There’s always something more you can do. It’s something that pre-dates the band. I’m a big left winger.

Interview and band images by James Damion

Band Links:
!No Pasaran! on Facebook

!No Pasaran! on My Space

Sunday, July 18, 2010