Interview with Luis Neme of Kill City (Ecuador)

May 10, 2024

Interview with Luis Neme of Kill City (Ecuador)

By Mick Michaels

COSMICK VIEW: Hello! Welcome to The Cosmick View. Thank you for taking some time out of your day to chat with me, it's greatly appreciated.

CV: Do you feel Heavy Metal music in general is viewed differently by fans in Europe compared to fans elsewhere, especially in America, and if so why?
Luis Neme: Perhaps heavy metal fans in Europe have a broader range when listening to heavy metal, maybe because music in general is less monopolized by mainstream media in comparison to America or elsewhere.

CV: What do you feel makes Heavy Metal music so alluring to the fans? What is it about the music that personally resonates so strongly with you?
LN: For some maybe its energetic sound, a taste for a great melodic sound elaborated as strong and powerful as possible to feel that energy. But we prefer to keep an open mind and appreciate any tune for what it could give to you for its feeling, instead of what label you could give to it for its style.

CV: Has Metal splintered into too many sub-genres in your opinion, thus, making it harder for newer bands to actually classify themselves as one style over another? Is it confusing for fans as well?
LN: Metal has indeed splintered into many sub-genres, and this is perfectly fine. We need to keep in mind that not all fans that love heavy metal will be capable of making precise distinction of every subgenre, and that not all heavy metal bands can be label in one subgenre only, not even in one exclusive genre like with kill city. We don't try to stay inside one genre, not be in many genres, we just compose each tune in any direction it may go within our broad taste for rock.

CV: How would you describe the current state of the music business considering we are now living in a post COVID aware, and maybe even feared world? Have things drastically changed long-term for artists and bands given the recent pandemic? What are your thoughts?
LN: Before pandemic the music industry was extremely standardized and too limited within the mainstream parameters. It just got worst with the pandemic, but like they say, it's always darkest before the dawn.

CV: What do you feel makes your band and its particular approach to songwriting work? What keeps the band together and making music?
LN: I think the balance between each other’s taste, creative process, and strengths combined to make music it’s what makes it work. That has also been possible to work it out as a group because we are good friends, and that's the same reason that keep us together playing music.

CV: On a more global view, how do you see your band’s music and songwriting separating itself from just being another Heavy Metal act?
LN: The fact that we are not another heavy metal act, or THE heavy metal act, we are just not a heavy metal act. We like take our music to its limit, and most of the time that place is within the heavy metal realm. We feel comfortable there, not because we want to be there, it's just where our music takes us.

CV: Can an artist truly be unique? Some would argue there is no such thing as being unique; that it’s nothing more than a compounding of influences making an artist who or what they are. Would this then say that artists today are destined to be just copies of those who have already come to pass?
LN: I think both are true. We are a compounding of influences, but every blend it's unique. The challenge is to be able to find that balance where you let your influences express your music in your very own process, to create your own unique sound. A challenge between making something new, and also a sound you can relate to, that you would like to listen to. There is so much great music, and everyday more incredible tools to make it, but less time to create it, and definitely less time to have it appreciate it by your audience. There's so much music that sounds like copies, and they sound so good and so professional, but it’s shallow. Maybe so common nowadays because is safer for any musician to try to make music within that comfortable safe zone. That's not for us, if you never let you music be limited to any industry standards, not compromise your uniqueness to be more appealing to any audience, you can never be a copy.

CV: Are there life lessons to learn being in a Heavy Metal band that you feel cannot be taught elsewhere? If so, what are they?
LN: For sure resilience. Being a metal head keeps the good stuff safe inside, but also we could have some life lesson by recognizing there so much good music outside heavy metal that could benefit the genre. We need appreciate all music, and develop the capacity to find great tunes in the most unimaginable places, even in mainstream.

CV: What do you feel makes someone a “rock star”? Does being a rock star automatically make one iconic or are the two completely different in your opinion?
LN: Rock star is an attitude. Some may want to be famous, and look like real rock stars. For us being a rock star is not about looks, is about attitude and never changing who you are to look like a rock star.

CV: What's next for you? What can fans expect to see coming as the world looks to surmount a new normal laced with a load of restrictions?
LN: We will keep making music, just like we have being since 2019 and hopefully release a new album in a year or two

CV: Thank you again for spending some time talking and sharing with our readers. It was a pleasure. I wish you all the best and continued success.
LN: Thank you for your interest in our music and for letting us reach out to your audience through these interview. We hope you enjoy our new album!

Check out Kill City at:
Official: https://www.metalmessage.de/px/home_index.png

Facebook: https://www.metalmessage.de/px/facebook_index.png

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My name is Mick Michaels...I'm an artist, music fan, songwriter, producer, show host, dreamer and guitarist for the traditional Heavy Metal band Corners of Sanctuary. Writing has always been a creative outlet for me; what I couldn't say in speech, I was able to do with the written word. Writing has given me a voice and a way for me to create on a multitude of platforms including music and song, articles, independent screenplays, books and now, artist interviews. The Cosmick View is an opportunity to raise the bar and showcase artists in a positive and inspirational light. For me, it's another out-of-this-world adventure.