DRAGONAUTA
Dragonauta's Frederico Wolman talks about Sabbath, psychedelics and the Argentinean Doom scene—or lack thereof.
(Interview by Brad Jones)

Dragonauta's Frederico Wolman, Daniel Libedinsky, Martin Mendez and Ariel Solito in the throes of a Sabbathly super creation state.

FW: Here in Argentina, there isn't a doom scene. Actually, we don't know other bands that goes in the doom direction. There are now some bands that goes in a stoner rock line, but there aren't doom bands. For many people here—for many metal heads—DRAGONAUTA is a group of hippies trying to copy the first SABBATH stuff. Here, bands as SAINT VITUS, THE OBSESSED, CATHEDRAL, SLEEP and PENTAGRAM are known by nobody! It's really sad. Here in the Sixties and Seventies, there were lot of bands playing a real heavy, progressive, downer rock, but it was completely forgotten.

SR: That must make it pretty tough for you guys. How did you all discover Doom? And how did DRAGONAUTA get its start?

FW: I've been playing since 1995 with (DRAGONAUTA guitarist) Daniel (Libedinsky). I used to play the bass in a doom band called SUPERNALIA, although then we didn't know that this music was called Doom. We played just the rock that we loved and it flowed spontaneously from there. After a couple of years with some singers, we were looking for another one,but we never found him. Along the way, though, we met (DRAGONAUTA bassist) Martin (Mendez), who was playing with (DRAGONAUTA drummer) Ariel (Solito) in an acid/southern rock band called PATA DE ELEFANTE. I asked if he would like to form a band in the line of the first BLACK SABBATH—a "hippy/satanic" band I told him. I said we would see what happens with me as singer. "Yes," he told me, "But I come in a combo with the best drummer of this country!" So Daniel and I hooked up with them, and that was the beginning of DRAGONAUTA. This was in July of 1999.

When we formed SUPERNALIA, I didn't know about bands such as the VITUS and PENTAGRAM. I just knew the BLACK SABBATH, as Doom bands here were known to be MY DYNG BRIDE, PARADISE LOST, ANATHEMA and the Gothic ones. One day, I saw a VITUS CD. Someone told me that they played a very heavy, slow, very hippie and downer rock, so I bought it. Then I found COUNT RAVEN, IRON MAN and all the Hell Hound bands, as well as groups like CATHEDRAL, SLEEP and others. We found that we were playing in the same line as these bands—the same kind of riffs. When Martin and Ariel joined, we played other kinds of heavy rock, but the feeling and the spirit was still the same. We listened to and talked about a lot of the old heavy and funeral bands such as ATOMIC ROOSTER, BLACK WIDOW, MONUMENT, PENTAGRAM, NECROMANDUS, HORSE, and of course BLACK SABBATH and the Doom bands. [As a result], I think that our music has some elements that are not present in other Doom bands, especially in Ariel's work. His influences are not the Doom bands. He plays more in a Paice/Bonham line, and that gives a kind of fresh twist to our music.

SR: It sounds like most of your influences are from Europe and the United States. Are there any Argentinian bands or South American bands that you look up to or have been influenced by?

FW: There are a lot! We are still discovering a lot of bands. Most of them we got from collectionist friends that bought them in Europe. Here in the late Sixties and early Seventies there were lot of heavy prog bands such as EL RELOJ, ORION'S BEETHOVEN,VOX DEI, MONTES, CRUCIS, CONTRALUZ, ESPIRITU, PAPO'S BLUES, INVISIBLE—and many others. We were also very into a lot of bands from Peru, such as TARKUS, PAX and TRAFFIC SOUND. From Mexico we liked the DUG DUGS. And from Chile, there was AGUATURBIA. They played a heavy/psych rock in the line of BLUE CHEER with female vocals. Most of these bands are still completely unknown by the people here, but they were all really great bands.

SR: Can you buy any releases by the bands you mentioned? Because I'm sure some of the more rabid record collectors out there will try and track some of this stuff down.

FW: Some of the Argentinean bands are available on CD. Others, no. They are just in vinyl, and they are really expensive and very difficult to get. Some people here buy these vinyls and sell them in Europe at very high prices. EL RELOJ, PAPPO'S BLUES, VOX DEI, INVISIBLE, etc. are cheap CDs here when they are in stock. Other bands aren't known by many people, so they have never been edited or reedited in CDs. About the bands of the rest of South America, here they are very difficult to get and really expensive if you try to get them in any records shop. Usually, they don't have them here. I don't know what happens with these albums in their original countries. I think that most of them are re-released by small labels in Europe.

SR: One name I didn't hear in your list was the band NATAS, who is probably the most well-known South American 'stoner/heavy rock' band here right now. I noticed that Sergio of NATAS produced your demo. How did that all come about?

FW: We love the NATAS music, but when I talked about our influences from this side of the world, I think that they come from the old bands that I have mentioned. When we began playing our stuff without knowing about the NATAS, we knew them just by their name. I think that although NATAS and DRAGONAUTA music is inspired probably in the same things, both bands have very different sounds and structures. As for the demo, one day the NATAS were going to play, we went there and we told them that we wanted to play in our debut show with them. After that, we become very good friends and when we were going to record our demo, Sergio told me that he would like to be there to help in anything that we needed. So we asked him to produce our demo. He gave us a great help, not only with the demo, but also with our web site.

SW: In a lot of ways, DRAGONAUTA reminds me of the Japanese Doom band CHURCH OF MISERY. You both play a very grooved-out, psychedelic sort of Doom, and you are both bands who come from countries that aren't normally associated with Doom. Do you think it helps or hurts being based in a country that is so far away from where the so-called 'Doom' scene is happening?

FW: We are in contact with the guys of Church of Misery. They are terrific! I think that in some little way, it helps we are from here, because we can be seen as a sort of exotic band—even more so because of our Spanish lyrics. But in another way it hurts. First, because as I told you before, there is no scene here, the people don't understand what we are doing, there are no Doom bands to play with, and it's a kind of frustrating when your music is more recognized by people that don't understand your language than the ones that do. Also, it is more difficult to get a deal with labels outside the country. I think that our language could play against us. As was told to us by a friend from Sweden, in Doom the lyrics play an important role in the music. And it's true, the lyrics put you more deeply in the voyage of the song, and ours are not understood for the most part by the people of Doom. Here, Things don't go by the "normal" process, where you play, the people listen to you, and then you can get a deal. The only way for us is to send our material outside Argentina to the places where there is a strong Doom scene, and keep playing here—or where we can—trying to make our own scene, and growing as a band. When we play, the most important thing for us is to have a great time, between us and with the people. And usually the people that comes to our shows have a real good one.

SR: Actually, I kind of like that your songs are in Spanish. And the titles to your songs—"Asrofierno," "Profeta del Mar", etc.—sound very mystical because they are in a language other than English. At the same time, though, it would be cool to understand what you are saying. My Spanish is pretty weak. I know you've written at least one song in English called "SuperChrist." Are you going to be writing more songs in English?

FW: I think that yes, we will. But at the moment, not all our songs can be written in English. Our English is very limited and we can't say all the things that we want to say. The "SuperChrist" was written in a very simple English, but it is the first thing that we have written in English that really reflects the story that we wanted to tell. It is about a SuperChrist, a very dark and lysergic one, who drinks cosmic nectars and flies to the most Sabbathly skies! Our Spanish songs are really mystical, as well. We talk about psychedelic trips, sometimes to hell, sometimes to the most ethereal skies. Other ones are about the human instinct under magical situations. I don't know, the songs are mostly inspired in visions and images that come to our minds, inspired in the voyage lead by the music.

SR: You're music is indeed very trippy. Which begs the question: Do you guys trip or dabble with other chemical substances? If so, does it have a direct impact on your music?

FW: We can say that some of us experiment with the psychedelic drugs, the drugs that really expand your mind. Our lyrics, I think, are definitively influenced by these substances. But the music, I don't know. I think that probably no, the music just flows spontaneously. We have never smoked or ate acid to be in a "super creation state" at the time we are writing a lyric for a song. We just get the inspiration from the music, or from something else—a vision or a feeling related with a state of mind left over from a previous voyage. But we never have trips to get inspiration. We have them looking for a real kind of knowledge, for a "cosmic or astral" state of mind, soul and body.

SR: A couple more questions, and we'll wrap it up. You've already said you plan on writing more songs in English in the future. Do you foresee any musical changes in your songs in the near future? In other words, do you see your sound progressing into other directions?

FW: I think we will be changing always. Besides this, we have very well defined our Doomy roots. Our new compositions are a bit more complex than the ones on our demo, but without losing the groove, the heaviness and the obscurity. We are making some progressive arrangements, probably inspired in bands such as EL RELOJ and ORION'S BEETHOVEN. But our most important influence is, and I think that will be forever, the original Black Sabbath stuff! They will always be there.

SR: From what I gather, you guys won't be touring up North anytime soon. So if somebody is in Buenos Aries and wants to get in touch with you, how would they go about it?

FW: Everybody can contact us at dragonauta@hotmail.com. I hope in the future we have the possibility of playing in the USA or in Europe. But here, the economic situation is really horrible. You never know, though...

SR: Anything you'd like to add before we wrap it up?

FW: Millions of thanks to the people of Slow Ride! And we invite every Child of Doom to visit our web site at www.rocking.to/dragonauta, and to get in contact with us at dragonauta@hotmail.com. Also, we are glad to tell you and to the people that we are going to be present in the Saint Vitus Tribute with a super-Dragonauta version of "Living Backwards." And sorry for my poor English. I hope everyone will to understand it.

SR: It's all good. Take care. We'll talk to you later.

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