HAEMORRHAGE | Interview with Ana and Luisma of the Spanish Goregrind Band - Haemorrhage

Diabolical Conquest (Kunal N. Choksi): Haemorrhage have been one of the first and probably the most successful extreme metal band from Spain. What do the Spanish metalheads think of this? Do they look up to Haemorrhage for inspiration or are they jealous of the band's success?

Haemorrhage (Luisma): Haemorrhage was the first ever Spanish extreme band that signed a record-contract with a foreign label and in those times that wasn't accepted by other bands with more demos and “fame” than Haemorrhage in our country. So we got some criticism by some jealous bastards. And some people closed doors for us so, we had to start a career outside our country. Then Spanish fans saw our success in Europe and we got a great support here.

Haemorrhage (Ana): Yes it took some time and albums to get this. There are still older bands who're jealous, but the newer bands respect us and that's great for us.

DC: Not many know that in the early ‘90s Haemorrhage was known as Devourment. Had the name been retained, the course of (brutal) death metal history would have probably been altered. What do you think about that?

Luisma: Ha, ha...yes, I'm happy of that decision. Our first idea was writting lyrics about cannibalism as a protest against meat consumption and our drummer came up with that name “Devourment”. But I wasn't a vegetarian and i saw that idea quite limited so I decided to write pathological lyrics and change the band name to Haemorrhage. Then we heard there was a polish doom band called Haemorrhage...they split up soon, so we didn't look for another name.

DC: It is quite obvious that Carcass have been a huge inspiration for Haemorrhage. Which according to you is the best Carcass album? (I'm guessing its Symphonies of Sickness). What do you think of their recent reunion for live shows? Would you like it if they were to record a studio album now, bearing in mind their cringe inducing last album?

Luisma: My favourite album is 'Reek of Putrefaction'. I don't care too much about Carcass right now...I think if they reformed the band it's ok, but I'm not very interested In them now. I saw Carcass live in 1992, so now they can't offer anything interesting for me though I understand they are musicians and they should miss the feeling of playing live, etc...I don't think they will record a new album, but listening the last work of their members I think that wouldn't be a good idea.

Ana: My favourites are 'Symphonies of Sickness' [I knew my heart couldn't go wrong- Kunal] and 'Necroticism'. I think if they can play again it's ok, but i would like more to see the Impetigo reunion playing here in Europe cause they are true legends.

DC: How did you find Ana? Is she for real? How do people come to terms with someone as beautiful and talented as her playing in a goregrind band? A lot of fans must be fainting at Haemorrhage shows because of her. Would you like to share any interesting incidents involving her?

Luisma: Ana was and still is my girlfriend and she played in bands before I met her. So when we needed a replacement for our bass player we asked her if she could play the bass for us in a couple of shows. Then we saw that she can fit perfectly in the band so we asked her to stay as a second guitarist. We asked this not only cause she can play very well, we knew she liked the same style that we like. That was important, and to be honest I wasn't very happy to include my own girlfriend in the band, but the rest of the band thought it was best for Haemorrhage.. No, there wasn't important incidents, most of the fans have respect for Ana.

Ana: Yes, in the beginning Luisma didn't want me in the band, he treated me bad. But I started to give him some guitar lessons so he must accept my superiority...

Luisma: Sure!
Haemorrhage live

DC: Haha. I've seen pictures of you guys dressed up as surgeons when performing live. It's fucking cool if you ask me, but don't you guys feel hot in that outfit? Also, what is that liquid you use to pass off as blood? Or is real blood?

Luisma: Yes, if you look at the vids Ana and Ramon take off the surgeon clothes in 3 or 4 songs, and I try to wear it as much as I can but that's not easy and the fucking hat makes me sweat like a pig... The blood is FX blood. We used real blood for an old photo session and thats something I can't recommend...We don't like to use animal blood, and using human blood is not legal...

DC: Ana's beauty must be very distracting. When playing live, have any of you guys ever felt like saying, “fuck this shit” then dropping the guitar/mic and running over to Ana for a long, tight hug?

Luisma: Not really. As I told you she's my girl, but when we are in the band she's not my girl. She's just a guitar player.

DC: Luisma, you're a big liar. Ana, how do you handle all the attention? Do you like it when people treat you differently?

Ana: Attention?? All the attention is taken by our singer, who is a real rockstar. Nobody looks at me! [Ana you are an even BIGGER liar!- Kunal]

Seriously, the people treat me ok, sometimes i get “free” roadies to take my guitar to the stage and things like that, but the people are always cool to me, and the girls treat me with respect. That's something I appreciate.

DC: Me too. What do your families think of your involvement in this form of music?

DC: Hahah. A “Spanish sound” seems to have developed in this genre, which is identifiable with a warm “groove” that has been adopted by bands such as Machetazo, Tu Carne, Gruesome Stuff Relish, etc. Do you think it was ‘Grume' that started this whole Spanish groove thing?

Luisma: Yes, I'm not the only one who thinks this, I remember the letters and comments from some members of those bands telling me this. So that's something I'm proud of.

Ana: Yes, but some of them think they are rockstars now and find it hard to admit.

DC: Haemorrhage's music has subtly but surely evolved with each album. How do you decide which direction to adopt or what changes/improvements are needed when recording for a new album?

Luisma: That's something that's not clearly planned. It's maybe our mood, or...I don't know. I remember we got lots of reviews saying we were turning into a death metal band after 'Morgue Sweet Home' and the split cd with Impaled, so we decided to go back to our roots after that. That's the only deliberate change I remember.

DC: The music on ‘Apology To Pathology' seemed reinvigorated and exciting, just what Haemorrhage needed. Did the newer, faster and livelier bands inspire you? What recent bands do you admire?
Ana Haemorrhage

Luisma: No, we just thought to get back to our roots and play pure grind gore in all the ways we knew. I mean slow songs, fast songs, long songs, etc... Of course I'm still interested in new bands and I like newer bands like Butcher ABC, Cliteater, Rompeprop, Blood Freak, and more...

DC: Do you find your Carcass-inspired sub genre to be too restrictive? Is that why a couple of Haemorrhage members formed Greenfly – to explore a different sound/form of extreme music? What's up with Greenfly at the moment?

Luisma: The Carcass inspired sub-genre is not restrictive cause Carcass have 5 albums and every one of them is in a different style, but the Haemorrhage style is more restrictive. We knew what we wanted to played when we formed this band, but we all love different styles that can't be included in a Haemorrhage album. So there are solo projects for that. Rojas and Ramon had Greenfly, but this band split-up some years ago. They included new members but they can't play what they wanted. Now they have another member and they play Technical death metal. I was in a reherarsal and they play like Death in 'Human' and things like that, but I don't know if this band will be named as Greenfly.

DC: Haemorrhage seem to have sold their soul to Morbid Records. They have put out every full-length Haemorrhage release right from ‘Emetic Cult'. How did you get signed to them? Did you ever face any problems with them? Many bands have left their roster recently…

Luisma: Well, we just sent them a tape and they answered that they want to release a split ep and a full cd. That was incredible cause it was the first tape we had sent. We had problems like every band with their label, but we know them since a long time so we can solve these problems. We have a privileged position in the label cause we are their “best-seller” so we don't move if we don't have a clearly better offer, and that's hard to find today, as record sales are bad.

DC: Tell us about your two new releases. ‘Haematology' is a compilation of your Eps and Splits, can you tell us exactly what material is on it?

Luisma: 'Haematology' is a compilatation of our first 10 eps from 1995 to 2005, all the stuff remastered and with a bonus track and a top-quality design, I specially recommend the digi-pack edition, cause it's a totally top-quality release.

DC: ‘The Kill Sessions' is said to be an effort to emulate the legendary ‘Peel Sessions'. It is a live album recorded in the largest studio in Madrid, one that is used to record movie soundtracks. Can you tell us about its recording experience? Is it also noted that the tracks were chosen by the fans on Myspace – are you happy with their selection? Didn't you think it would be a big risk considering that you are recording in such a big studio? Did Emetic Records fund the recording money?

Luisma: Well recording a 'Peel Sessions' was an old project, but we had forgotten it, cause it was hard to find a studio big enough to record everything together, or at least guitars, bass and drums together. If you do this in a small studio the drumkit mics get the guitar sounds, etc...the price for a big studio like this is really out of our recording budget, but we had the chance to get it at a fair price but we only had a few hours to do it all (recording, mix). We were lots of times in a studio so we knew how it goes. We planned everything before to save time, and I think we did it right. It was a risk, but everything turned out more or less as we planned. Yes, we got money+stuff enough to cover the costs. Steve (Emetic Records) as was cool as always...

Yes the songs were chosen by the fans, and we were happy, these songs were more or less what we had in mind but we were quite afraid as we were seeing the fan requests. They asked very old for songs we can't play!

Ana: I would like to re-record some older songs we don't play live like “Obnoxious”, “Via-Anal Introspection” or “Putrefaction” but we accepted the fan Luisma artwork

s' decision.

DC: Luisma, I love your artworks. I think they are synonymous with the image of Haemorrhage. But are they exclusively for Haemorrhage? Have you considered using your artworks as Haemorrhage album covers more frequently than just having them as little pieces of art for the booklet?

Luisma: Thank you! Well this kind of artwork is exclusive for Haemorrhage but I did other artworks for bands like Impetigo, Cliteater, Exposed Guts, etc... In my opinion we must use this artwork but not abuse it. I mean it's ok for split eps and some pieces in the booklets but no more. I'm making an animation video and I'm fucking tired of doing the doctor drawing many times so when its finished I will hate to draw it again! Ha, ha...

DC: ‘Apology In Pathology' was banned in Germany recently. I mean it is understandable if this kind of thing happens in a developing orthodox-minded country like mine, but even that's not the case. The closest incident was when a few years back the custom officers summoned me because of Disgorge's ‘She Lay Gutted' CD – they thought it was a porn CD and kinda insisted on watching it. [Today in fact I was summoned again by the customs because they had detained a parcel from Obscene Productions because of the word 'Obscene' in it.] But tell me, why was ‘Apology In Pathology' really banned? I own that cd and I don't see anything in it that could be deemed offensive.

Luisma: Yes, the whole thing is unrealistic...I mean we don't see anything really offensive. We got a dossier of the things they think offensive. The band members' pictures and the lyrics translated to German. That's what they consider offensive. Our image and our lyrics, I can't understand it. Of course I don't think it's an album to be sold at primary schools but I don't think it should be considered worse than porn...

Ana: i don't understand why. You must ask this question to German goverment.

DC: I think they banned it because they found Ana too hot for the German public. Ahem, a split cd with legendary groove-grinders Dead is imminent. How did that release get planned and who will be putting it out? What else is in the works? Can we expect something different from Haemorrhage music-wise in the near future?

Luisma: Yes, we are working on that now. This split will be released by a small label called Rotten Roll Records from Germany, and you can't expect something very different from 'Apology To Pathology', but I think a couple of new tracks can fit perfectly on 'Grume' album...

DC: Hear that you Diabolical Conquest readers? Get ready for JUNGLE MOSH! Well, thanks very much for this interview; it's been an honour. Now that it is over I think it's safe for me to say this: Ana, I love you!!! Okay I'm done. This is your space now. Say whatever you like (just don't decline my love!).

Ana: Thank you, this is the loveliest interview I've answered. Take care Luisma is very jealous! Thanks for the interview and good luck!

Luisma: Yes, i'm gonna kill you!!! Ha, ha...stay sick!!!!