Pathogen Interview

Pathogen Interview with Willie D.

EZ-Hey Willie how are things going? Can you tell us the recipe of Lambanog in Laguna why does it taste so good and leaves us drunkards half past dead on every show….

Willie -Morbid greetings, Kenneth and deathful hails to all the fuckin’ readers of Eargasm ‘zine! Right now the band is as usual, working on new material and busy with some personal aspects of our existence. Ahh yes, Lambanog! It’s like a local version of moonshine or the Japanese rice wine. It’s a D.I.Y. drink, but the difference is that it’s made from Coconut. We try to drink that every day to stay healthy, hehe! It tastes good because there are no processed chemical shit in Lambanog unlike other commercially available drinks. It’s all organic.

EZ-Can you tell us and the other fiends the bloody story about how Pathogen was formed?

Willie- Well it all started in the last quarter of 2000 when I was looking around for individuals to play death metal with. During that time I was playing with Effluvium and already released and recorded a demo but our bass player, Donamer, recently got a job and we started to become a bit inactive. I was so hungry to play gigs are write music at that stage even though I didn’t have the chops yet. Things started rolling around January 2001 when I got to meet new friends, Alex Alfonso-a runaway, which believe or not is a nephew of iconic Filipina folk/rock singer, Sampaguita. He elected to play the bass. And Allan Hernandez, a drummer which I ‘borrowed’ from a local high school Metallica cover band which was named Alinari, if remember correctly.  The three of us comprised the initial line up of Pathogen from the first rehearsal on we jammed on original material, riffs that I wrote beforehand and of course covers of some songs which are fairly easy to play such as, “Dethroned Emperor”/”Return To The Eve”/””Procreation Of The Wicked” by Celtic Frost, “Bloodbath” by Unleashed, “Troops Of Doom” by Sepultura and a total shit version of Venom’s “Countess Bathory”. We also started playing in local gigs-they were mixed genre events which was quite the norm for provincial shows back in the day. But anyway, we felt we needed to broaden our sound by adding another guitar player, I thought having two guitars in a band would really sound great because we can create harmonies and interlocking rhythms and be heavier at the same time, etc…so in March 2001 I asked another friend Erwin Javier, who was originally a bassist, and convinced him that he should play lead guitar with us. A job that he was reluctant to do since he didn’t have the skills yet to play leads. He suggested to play only rhythm guitars instead for the planned first demo tape, which I agreed. He also needed a guitar and a stompbox, luckily, I have a spare all-white Squier Strat that another friend lent me and an extra distortion pedal, a Digitech Metal Maniac which sounded awful on any amp! And for the better part of 2001 that guitar and stompbox became Erwin’s armaments. I also pressed Erwin to learn to play guitar solos which Erwin would fully start to achieve on our second demo. Anyway, with the line-up complete, we played more gigs and prepared for the actual recording of the first demo tape “Invoking Disease”. We practiced almost every day during that summer and played a string of local gigs here in San Pablo City and other nearby towns-there were really great memories and pretty wild moments during that time. As fate would have it, we also met, around that time the person who would help us record our first demo, Mr. Dodie Santa Maria, an old drummer which played for a while for that lame 70’s pop group, Hotdogs! He was planning of opening a home studio since digital recording at that time was starting to become more and more prevalent. And finally on July 2001, the recording sessions for our first demo commenced, the drum tracks were recorded at our rehearsal space and the rest at Mr. Santa Maria’s house. I ended up playing most of the guitar solos with the exception of the last track ‘Lord Of The Undead’ the solo of which is performed by the late Erwin Carpio (R.I.P.1975-2013) formerly of a local metal band, Ludra. I’ve personally wanted a different person to solo over one of the songs to give it a little bit of a different vibe. We released the first demo on tape which I think about 40-50 copies we’re made and spread out to many of my overseas contacts, fanzines bands, labels, etc. We participated in a compilation CD in Thailand, Maelstrom 666 Compilation Volume 2, and another for a sampler for a local fanzine and a year later half of the original line up was gone. Allan Hernandez was replaced by Vic Jarlego and original bassist Alex Alfonso was replaced by Erikk Calabia, after which the rest is history!

EZ-Pathogen means an infectious agent. So what is the story behind the name Pathogen?

Willie- In the beginning I was trying to think of a name for a band that would comprise only of one word so it would be easy to memorize and of course also a name that would embody death, suffering and other morbidly delightful things that are universally alluring, so I came up with Pathogen. And it fits our material quite well. It has no deeper meaning or anything. It’s just a name.

EZ-Who does the song writing and how long does it take for you guys to compose a song?

Willie- I would usually come up with a riff and present it to the rest of the band at rehearsals and then everyone would have their own input over the arrangement or how the drum beats should be played. There are times when we are at ‘zone’ and we would nail down a song in one hour and then there are days where we would be really struggling over a riff for many months and they would still sound like shit. That usually happens when we try to force ideas out of our heads. You’ll never know when a good idea would strike. It comes to you when you least expect them.

EZ- What is Pathogen’s ideology when it CUMS to writing songs and what usual topics do you tackle with your lyrics?

Willie- There are no particular ideologies or masterplan when we write music. We just try to come up with stuff that we feel most comfortable with. We’re not really trying to re-invent the wheel or do excessively experimental ideas. We try to write music that is direct and assaulting to the senses and at the same time would make the listener think when they read the lyrics. We always try to write more technically intricate stuff that we can pull off every once in a while, but I can really say based on crowd responses that most of the time the most simple musical statements are the most powerful ones. A lot of the people at shows or people who bought our releases almost always are strongly affected by our songs with the most simple riffs, or at least that’s what they tell me. As for the lyrics they are pretty much about strange psychological behaviors that drives humans into darker inhibitions such as lust, insanity, megalomania, egotism and other universally alluring subjects such as war, history, death, religious oppression, suffering, and other delightful stuff.

EZ-Blasphemous Communion was released 3 times in CD format according to what I have with me, but then the LP version came out. As you’ve mentioned on one of your interviews before, this was the big break for Pathogen…So can you tell us why did you consider that as the break for the band?

Willie- Mainly because the vinyl version was released by Iron Bonehead Productions-which was at that point in time the biggest record label we’ve ever worked with. They have world-wide distribution and helped us reach a lot of other places that our music has never been before. Our initial goal for the first Pathogen album is to have it released in a D.I.Y. way of Xeroxed cover and on a CDr. Real sparse and crummy. We want the album to sound really raw and ugly! We wanted it to sound like it was recorded in 1986! Just like the early Sepultura, Sodom and Sarcofago albums! For several months in 2007 we sent out many promos to many fanzines overseas until the Malaysian label Evil Dead Productions offered us to get ‘Blasphemous Communion’ released on pro-tape, after which we all considered it may be the right time to search for a proper label judging from the responses of the underground press and maniacs on our first album, and so we did and we found the labels to have it released on both CD and vinyl.

EZ-2013 is the busiest year for Pathogen. Lots of releases from splits, Cds and cassette tape formats from different labels in and out the Philippines where it includes 2 pro materials from 2 different highly respected labels from 2 different countries. Old Temple (Poland) and Dunkelheit Produktionen( Germany) . How did you get in touch with these 2 labels?

Willie- That’s right 2013 has been quite hectic for us. The first half of that year was spent working on songs that would make up the upcoming fourth album. The second half was spent recording the new album. As for the releases I think ’13 was the year that we had so many releases. All our hard work we put in for Pathogen’s first decade culminated that year. Lucky 13! But anyway, much of the releases we had for that year has been recorded years previously such as ‘Miscreants..’ which was recorded in 2009  and the “Lust Of Evil” and the Pathogen tracks on the Toxemia/Pathogen split which are all recorded in 2011. As for the labels, I got in contact with Dunkelheit Produktionen through trading sometime in 2012 as for Old Temple, I sent them a promo CDr of our third album “Forged In The Crucible Of Death” in 2011 when we were looking for a label to release it. The said album was also rereleased by Mandarangan Recordings, USA also in 2013.

EZ-How was working with these 2 labels?

Willie- I can say that it’s good because we didn’t have to send tons upon tons of promo CDr’s to various labels world-wide like we did in the past. In the time of ‘Blasphemous Communion” it was quite difficult because labels would just offer us a deal for one release but now we have deals for multiple releases. We are still in contract with both of them so it saves us a lot of sweat and money. We are still planning a more releases from both labels so the upcoming years would still be very busy for us.

EZ-Latest material from Pathogen will be “Lust of Evil” a re-release from the original cassette tape version under Afterlife Productions, Malaysia. Tons of review are being posted both online and provided on fanzines. So are you satisfied with the feedback from those listeners and supporters?

Willie- Yes, we are very much awestruck and surprised about the reaction of the underground media and supporters on how much they liked the “Lust of Evil’ CD. As you all know the CD version are collected from tracks from the previous tape version of “Lust Of Evil” which was released by Afterlife Productions, Malaysia in 2011 and from the “Gryphon” tape EP released by The Northern Cold Productions, Canada in 2012. When the CD version came out last year, Old Temple really pushed that release and helped us a lot in getting reviews and interviews from fanzines and webzines all over the world and we are really surprised how much they liked that release.

EZ-Any other labels that you would like to work with aside from those said labels? Were there any other labels who offered you from outside the country aside from these 2?

Willie- There have been several other offers from certain other labels but I can say that Dunkelheit Produktionen and Old Temple offered us the best deal in terms of promotion, royalties , distribution, etc…The kind of support that both these labels have and will give us are tremendous and hard to measure in mere words.

EZ-I believe Pathogen was supposed to be signed up under BERDUGO Records. However, this project never saw the fiery lights of diabolic tomorrow. So what happened with that deal?

Willie- Life got in the way, if I should say so myself. But it doesn’t matter to us now. Did you know that after the deal with Berdugo dissolved that we had another offer to release “Miscreants…” on CD by Inner V.O.I.D. Records, USA? But for a year nothing ever happened and they became harder and harder to contact so we also assumed they’ve changed their minds. We started looking around for a new deal until we ended up signing with Dunkelheit Produktionen.

EZ-Erwin has been a part of Pathogen and is also known to be as one of the foundations of this band. So what made him leave the band out of all its success with all those releases and front act shows for big names on the underground scene who’s touring the country?

Willie- The fact is that Erwin went through some very difficult challenges in his life in 2011. He and his wife for several years separated in the most terrible of circumstances. After which his life fell into pieces and he went through some of the darkest chapter of his life. He went back into heavy drug use and most notably his behavior changed. He started to miss practice sessions and only would show up at some gigs and recording sessions playing started to suffer and it seems that his mind is not there at all. He went to a harsh argument with Vic one day that spilled over into social media until we had to make the terrible decision of firing him. We never wanted Erwin to leave but his thoughts and actions are really becoming quite erratic. We’ve thrown him so many ropes so that he can climb back to his former self but he didn’t take any of them. It’s really difficult to help a person who did not want help him or herself, I suppose. Hopefully things would turn around for him in the near future despite all the bad blood that occurred between us and him. I personally hold no grudges and we did what we have to do.

EZ-He was replaced by Jervish of Rabies, so what qualified Jervish to join the Pathogen flesh feast?

Willie- Jervish is a semi-permanent member of Pathogen, meaning he can come and go in the band as he please. Since the ouster of Erwin we elected not to have a permanent guitar player yet. Jervish is the likeliest choice since he’s not a stranger to the Pathogen material because he was sessioning for the band as a guitar player and bassist for several years before Erwin was fired, and Jervish also did a great job for Pathogen’s upcoming 4^th album.

EZ-A lot of local underground bands already went out on a tour to play live outside the country like Mass Hypnosia, Pus Vomit and Choke Cocoi (RIP) just to name a few, so since according to one Fanzine that I read, Pathogen is one of the most Respected bands in the Philippines that is widely known outside the country…So any offers or plans to play outside the country?

Willie- Actually yes, there are a number of offers a few years back but they weren’t too good of a deal. So I guess we’re still waiting for the perfect time. More recently Dunkelheit wanted us to do a small German tour I’m still talking to them about it and since it is a big logistical operation for us we are still working on the details but hopefully that would happen this year or maybe the next. And you know it would be great if Toxemia and Pathogen could do a South East Asian tour! We should really plan that! Hehehe! EZ (we’ll be more than happy to do that…hahahaha..The 

EZ- Alcoholocaust  SEA Tour!!! Hahaha)

-Base on your 2009 biography that came together with promo 2009, you gave a short message about Pathogen’s hatred with the on-going trend of what we call as the BRUTAL DEATH METAL Genre . Can you tell us more about this?

Willie-Back then I got fed up with new people we meet at gigs telling us that we didn’t sound ‘brutal’ enough or that they thought that Pathogen was a ‘brutal’ band. I’m glad that that trend is over and only the true legitimate bands such as DFTW and Pus Vomit remained because early on they’ve been doing that stuff and they were not the bandwagon jumpers that came after the trend erupted.

EZ-What can you say about bands who say that they are “UNDERGROUND” but never practice the Underground ethic? Most of them knows no shit about fanzine at all. For example is trading records and zines, coz for me trading records and other material is very important in this so called underground scene….

Willie- I think this would be better answered in Tagalog! Madami akong kilalang ganyan! Ang akala kasi ng karamihan ng tao ang underground scene ay isang lugar na pag magaling ka o lagi kang natugtog sa mga gigs ay sisikat ka. Ang gusto pa nila pag nagrecord sila gusto nila agad tunog foreign yung production at hindi din nila alam kung ano ang demo at fanzines. Ang hindi nila nauunawaan ay ang underground scene ay isang sub-culture na hindi mo kailangan makipagpagalingan o makipagyabangan. Kung gusto nilang sumikat eh bakit pa nila ipagsisiksikan nila ang sarili nila sa eksena ng punk o metal? Magpapogi na lang sila at tumugtog ng pop music at dun baka siguro sa eksena ng mainstream ay may pag-asa sila. Ang ‘rebellious music’ tulad ng punk, metal, lumang rock and roll, blues at iba pa ay bahagi ng ‘counter-culture’ movement ng mga artists, musikero o filmmakers sa buong mundo na kinakalaban ang ‘established’ o tradisyonal na paraan ng pag likha ng sining sa ating mundo isinisiwalat din ng movement na ito ang mga bagay na hindi binabanggit masyado sa mainstream art tulad ng kasamaan, kamatayan, erotisimso, paglaban sa mga pangaalipin at iba pang kabalbalan ng establisyadong relihiyon, malisyosong emosyon at iba pang madidilim na bahagi ng buhay. Oo bahagi din ang mga ito ng buhay kaya may mga artists din na gumagawa ng musika at sining tungkol sa mga ganitong bagay na tinuturing na hindi katanggap-tanggap ng mga moralista-kuno at mga lider ng relihiyon o kung sino mang Ponsyo Pilatong ulol na laging nagmamalinis. Siguro kahit sa maliit na paraan bahagi din kami ng ganitong ‘counter-culturalism’…Karamihan kasi ng nakikinig at nakaka-trip ng musika namin ay mga taong kakaiba ang pag-iisip at mga panananaw sa mga bagay-bagay katulad din namin.

EZ-I’ve witnessed Pathogen did a front act for Dying Fetus. Now we all know that this was under Pulp who does not practice the underground ethics compare to Pathogen who is widely known for practicing this ethics since day one that Pathogen was born. So how did you ended up playing for the said show?

Willie- It was out of the blue. We we’re asked by Pulp writer/columnist Karen Sy whom we already knew a few years back and we used to meet her at gigs around that time. But we never expected that. We thought they’d get some other popular local bands. But we accepted it anyway because it was not their stupid summer event and it was a new experience for us.

EZ-You are also the man behind Negatron, Can you tell us what happened with this band? Can you give us a list of its releases as well.

Willie- Negatron was my former band. It used to be called Effluvium earlier. We officially broke up in 2005 due to line up difficulties and musical/creative differences. Here’s our list of releases:

Genesis Of Our Conquest demo 2000(Effluvium) 
Claws Of Twilight demo 2001(Effluvium) 
 The Phantom Shadows demo 2003(Effluvium)
 Messiah Of Damnation demo 2004(Negatron)

EZ-South is well known for producing good bands; however there is only few that is active. So aside from Rabies, Ataul, Kambing and Pathogen from Laguna, can you name a few more bands that are worth to listening and supporting around the same area…No specific genre.

Willie- I could not recall any other bands in Laguna that are actually worth listening to other than the bands you’ve mentioned. And to tell you the truth I’m not too keen on the music scene of Laguna except for the bands that actually record and release music. Laguna is not missing out in terms of musicians that are awe-inspiring. I personally know plenty of talented musicians. However what is missing are musicians who actually write and release their own music. It seems to me all the better musicians here would rather play in a cover band for the rest of their lives. Few people would actually take risks to write and release their own music mainly because it’s not easy to write and think of something to write about, time consuming, financially draining and definitely not a get rich quick scheme. They might think we are crazy playing in an underground band where there are many risks and no financial security, etc, but the fact is that we like what we are doing and that alone justifies our cause. And you can earn money in a different area, but I’m always a gambler and the notion of taking risks excites the hell out of me. So yeah maybe we are crazy! Hehehe!

EZ-What can you say about the so called “Underground scene” today compare to its early years where according to my research you guys are already active during its 2^nd or 3^rd generation?

Willie- For more than a decade we have been living in this international underground bubble-our own little universe where we can escape to and a place where comradeship and international cooperation are prevalent. Back then it was more of bands, fans, fanzines mutually supporting each other because they all enjoy creating their own literature and listening to their own music without the self-imposed ‘rules’ of the mainstream media and the music industry, but nowadays the underground scene has been infiltrated by ‘scenesters’ who want to exploit it to make money or for their own personal gain. The truth is we never really bothered too much in promoting Pathogen locally because we knew ever since the beginning that there is no future for a metal band here in our country. Isa pa, tila ba usong-uso na talaga ngayon ang pagbubuhat ng sariling bangko sa larangan ng musika at iba pa. Madami ngayong mga self-proclaimed na ‘punk’, ‘metal’, ‘hardcore’, ‘artist’, ‘filmaker’,etc. parang tila ba uhaw na uhaw sa attensyon ang mga taong ito tapos gagamitin nila ang eksena ng underground upang dun sila magpapansin ngunit wala naman silang nagagawang kontribusyon para ma i-usad ang eksena nating ginagalawan ang gusto lang nila ay magpasikat o magpapansin.

EZ-Outside Laguna,give your top 10 local bands that are worth listening to and why?

Willie- In no particular order: Toxemia, Sacrosanct, Paganfire, Maniak, Korihor, Brimstone In Fire, Sevorum, Kratornas, Dagitab, Mass Hypnosia, and a few others. Why? Because they actually have releases unlike other bands who’ve been around for 20+years and not even have a single demo.

EZ-Today, people are more in to the digital stuff. Downloading the latest material from different bands so what can you say about this? What are the benefits and disadvantages of digital downloading?

Willie- Well, for one thing, all the rare albums/demos/films/documentaries/live footage, etc. that are out of print that you’ve all been lusting for and been searching for many years are now available at a click of a button. The downside of course when you are playing in a band and writing and releasing original material, bootleggers can easily get a hold of your releases and make money out of them. But if you don’t mind being bootlegged like we do it wouldn’t matter because for an underground act being bootlegged is also another way of being promoted in other parts of the world. But it is a bane for all the mainstream musicians/artists/filmmakers who have invested piles upon piles on money on their products and are more inclined on profiting on sales has given them a run for their money bootlegging practically destroyed the mainstream music and film industry on the past decade. But in a sense I think all that downloading stuff is good because it destroyed the mainstream media’s age old market monopoly. It had opened floodgates for newer ideas of marketing and of course independent artists/musicians and filmmakers are having more world-wide exposure now than ever before.

EZ-Word association:

Satan- Isn’t that Vice Ganda?

KAMATAYAN-Apostate

Brutal Death Metal- Not my mug of beer.

Lambanog- The devil’s drink!

Marijuana- Soothing!

Meth- Death smoke!

Surrender of Divinity-Not much of a fan of theirs but I do remember them being a part of the compilation tape, Maelstrom 666 Productions Compilation volume 1 along with Impiety and my old band Effluvium that was released in 2000. It’s sad that Avaejee got murdered the way he was. But I can also understand the killers’ argument why he killed him.

Celtic Frost- One of the most innovative bands of the 80’s and helped paved the way for modern extreme metal. A lot of people today don’t realize the impact of Celtic Frost’s and Bathory’s early releases on today’s extreme metal scene. Both bands were highly experimental in their early days, Celtic Frost is one of the first bands to integrate classical instruments and operatic singing and electronic music in metal and Bathory also have a lot of classical and folk music influences that many bands in the 90’s and 2000’s would later copy.

Religion-Mind Control!

Government-They should change the way they’re called since they govern in such a terrible way anyway.

Facebook-The new rumor mill!

Youtube- Seems like a better alternative to TV since and you can find almost everything there without waiting for airtime schedules.

China- Wants to own Asia-or at least dominate it both militarily and economically. They couldn’t quite yet conquer Asia through economics since Western and Japanese businesses still have a dominant foothold in the entire Asian continent, they turn to coercion by flexing its military muscle and claiming to own international sea lanes and airspace as their own thus creating tension between them and neighboring Asian countries.

Webzines-They’re good, but of course paper fanzines are better.

EZ-Aside from metal, what other kind of music do you listen to?

Willie- Everything! We do not exclusively listen to metal as most people would like to think. The only thing we cannot stand is mediocre music! On my current playlist right now are Clan Of Xymox, Godflesh, The Police, Iggy Pop, Comecon, Master, John Lee Hooker, Old Lady Drivers, Rotting Christ, Moonspell, Joe Jackson, Abattoir, and Samael. Our musical tastes vary from time to time and depending on our moods, but of course heavy metal is the closest thing in our hearts because it’s underdog music. It’s a genre without much honor from the mainstream rock press and is devoid of the spirited cultural innovation identified with the hippies and punks. The media and most ‘normal’ people equates heavy metal fans and bands as no-I.Q. Beavis and Butthead type of characters who cannot tell their thumbs from their dicks. But we all know that’s far from the truth because most people who like metal are very articulate and smart individuals.

EZ-What do Pathogen members usually do aside from destroying the skulls of their listeners during normal days?

Willie- Obviously, drink lambanog and other mundane trappings of everyday lives.

EZ-What can we expect from Pathogen this 2014?

Willie- More music. Do watch out for our 4^th album. It’s already done we’re just waiting in line for the label’s release schedule. We hope to work harder promoting the band, etc…

EZ-Thank you for answering this interview Willie and more power goes to you and Pathogen. Keep that Lambanog Flowing Bradah!!! Last words for the Crypts, Goblins and Fiends!!!

Willie- Thanks Ken! Best regards to Eargasm ‘zine and of course to the Evil Drunkards themselves, Toxemia. I seriously think we should do a South East Asian tour in the near future. Come on! For more info contact Pathogen at:  pathogenic_virulence@hotmail.com