Interview With "Santa Obscuridad" Of Texas | Metalheads Forever Magazine

Santa Oscuridad is a blend of hard rock and metal en Español. The band was founded in December of 2017 by an unlikely duo of musicians, Texas metal legend Larry Barragán of Helstar and 2-Time Grammy nominated Tejano legend Rudy Rocha of La Fiebre. The two guitarists are long time friends and Santa Oscuridad began innocently enough over a few drinks. Things snowballed quickly and the services of veteran musicians, Juan Ramirez of Electric Love Temple & Gigante on vocals, Ray Soliz of Love and War on bass, and Jaime Recio of Mindcrime & Shadoworld on drums, were brought in to form Santa Oscuridad. The thought of doing all the songs in Spanish with all the turmoil over immigration and language barriers may seem like an insane concept. To Santa Oscuridad it makes perfect sense. Music trancends all boundaries of race and language and with a full head of steam Santa Oscuridad is spearheading that movement in their hometown of Houston, Texas. There is also a sense of cultural pride as all of the members are Mexican American. The band is finishing up recording a full length 11 song album. Santa Oscuridad is looking to secure a deal and hope to have their first release by year’s end. Look for Santa Oscuridad to deliver their high powered live show at a venue near you.

Tracklist:

Bandera Negra
Padre Nuestro
Destrozado
Reina De La Oscuridad
Esto Es Miedo

Tracklist

El Matador
Lagrimas De Sangre
La Tormenta Viene
La Llorana
Puno Al Aire
El Ultimo Respiro

Greetings from Metalheads Forever Magazine, I’m Keith Clement the Head of the magazine, how are you guys doing today?

Guitarist Larry Barragan: Doing great! Nice to meet you and thanks for the interview.

Your EP “II” was out on June 2021. Can you tell me about the songwriting and production behind the album?

Yeah, we basically never stopped writing from the time we put out the first EP. We recorded it here at my studio, Hombre Malo Studios. I engineered and produced and mixed it just like the first one. I guess more out of necessity than anything else. We’re self-funded, self-managed currently so we have to keep everything in house to keep the costs down.

Was there any concept behind the EP?

Not really, we just wanted it to be a straight up in your face heavy rock metal type of EP. Still trying to establish our sound and persona.

You were also working on a full length album. How is it coming and when is it expected to be out?

Basically, we’re going to put all the EPs together as one cohesive album. So, we’ll release the 3^rd EP and then combine everything together. We went back and actually re-recorded all the rhythm guitar tracks and redid some bass tracks even some drum tracks from the first two EPs. I’ll remix everything to sound like one full album. The songs will be a bit different from the original recordings.

The band was formed in 2017 with two EPs and an album in the works. How has the musical journey been for the band?

It started out great. ou know, we’re all friends and so that makes it easy. Everyone in the band has been doing it professionally for a long time. When you get together with players that have that much experience it definitely makes things flow much easier. Our number one pitfall was out of our control and that was Covid. We had some momentum going into the release of the Dos EP and then the shutdown happened and all the gigs we had lined up were cancelled. That was really a hard pill to swallow. Basically, we’re almost starting over and getting out there and playing and getting the name of Santa Oscuridad out there again. That part is frustrating but I’m sure there were a lot of bands in the same predicament.

Can you tell me how Santa Oscuridad started?

Rudy Rocha and I have been friends for many years now and we go out from time to time. Our wives are friends and you know, we like to hang out. We went out to see a tribute to Rock en Español that our friends were in and Rudy and I started talking about putting a band together but with a harder edge, more of a hard rock metal type of band but in Spanish. The funny thing was the bass player of that band was Ray Soliz who is our bass player now. He walked off the stage and we approached him and asked him if he wanted to be in our band that we were starting. Mind you we were drunk but Ray took us seriously and was all in without even hearing a single song. Juan Ramirez was the singer in that tribute band as well, so we asked if he’d be interested as well. It all came together pretty fast. Ray approached our drummer Jaime Recio and he said he was in. Within a month of saying let’s put a band together, we actually put the band together. I went home after the first night and wrote a couple of songs. Rudy actually had a couple of songs written that just needed some producing. It all came together pretty fast.

The band being from Texas and you are making music in Spanish. Do you guys plan to make songs in English in the future?

We do have one new song in English that we’ve been playing live. I don’t see us doing a lot of songs in English but I’m sure we’ll do a couple. It’s not really what the band is about though but depending on the mood we’ll see what happens.

Making amazing songs and EPS since the beginning, how has the reach been in America and worldwide?

We’re getting some recognition here and there but we’d like it to spread far and wide obviously. Every time we play people dig what we’re doing. It goes to show that music transcends. Spanish is the number two language in the US. It’s ripe for the taking. We’re hoping a label will see that and take us on.

Would you like to share some great moments that you had over the years?

My favorite moment with Santa Oscuridad was when we opened for Saxon. It was a big crowd of mostly English-speaking fans. They had no idea who we were or what we were about. I don’t think they even knew we only sang in Spanish. We hit the stage and won them over. I mean like big roar when we finished playing. It was amazing!

How does the future look for the band?

We’re going to keep pushing, man. I mean look, you’re talking to me, so something is happening. We just need 30 minutes of your time to make you a believer.

Would you be interested to tour in South America in the Spanish speaking world or in United States and Europe?

Of course, that’s what it’s all about. That’s how you grow your fan base by playing. Right now, I’ll play on a fucking bookshelf.

Finally what would be the message for the fans and readers of the magazine?

Thank you guys that have given us the chance and have come away being fans. Like I said, we just need 30 minutes of your time. If you don’t mind getting punched in the face by our music, we don’t mind doing the swinging. Go out and stream us on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music. We’re on all the major platforms. Spread the word. Find us on Instagram and Facebook:

https://www.instagram.com/santaoscuridadofficial/
https://www.facebook.com/Santa.Oscuridad.rock/