Professor Ricardo: Hello Jose. First
off, what made you decide to become a musician? Were there any
particular bands or albums that helped you along the way?
Jose Freitas: Being the son of an orchestral music/choir conductor, I was introduced to music and particularly piano basically since I was born and went through piano/music theory/choir classical training from the age of 8 all the way til college. All the great 90's rock albums started resonating heavily in my head as I was grew up and by the early 2000's, when I was going to Design college, I was already playing bass for a few bands. I knew it was time to start my own so I bought an electric guitar and learned it all by myself, using my knowledge in piano. Of course I didn’t want to give up playing keys so I ended up being the guitar and keys player in AFTER.
Jose Freitas: Being the son of an orchestral music/choir conductor, I was introduced to music and particularly piano basically since I was born and went through piano/music theory/choir classical training from the age of 8 all the way til college. All the great 90's rock albums started resonating heavily in my head as I was grew up and by the early 2000's, when I was going to Design college, I was already playing bass for a few bands. I knew it was time to start my own so I bought an electric guitar and learned it all by myself, using my knowledge in piano. Of course I didn’t want to give up playing keys so I ended up being the guitar and keys player in AFTER.
All the great
90's albums I was referring to were Nirvana - Nevermind, Soundgarden
- Superunknown, Alice In Chains - Dirt, Pearl Jam - Vs, Red Hot Chili
Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magic, Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream,
Faith No More - Angel Dust, Beck - Mellow Gold, Bjork - Post, Massive
Attack - Mezzanine, among others. The 90's were, in my opinion, the
most prolific decade in electric music.
PR: How would you compare the recording of your most recent EP, Edges of the World, with your previous albums?
JF: Our debut album is like a younger little brother. Being our first recording and one of the first recordings of our then producer, Steven Skullr, it lacked in tone ability. Also I had no idea how to sing in a rock band. But it has a great experimental side to it, as the writing had total freedom and innocence. We spent a whole year experimenting around a studio and just being kids. Good times. But we were able to get a great album recorded with Steve in 2010, our second full length Redeye.
This recent EP was recorded with a major label producer, Barrett Yeretsian. A few years had gone by, we got more experience, went in and recorded it in a heart beat - super well rehearsed and with little time to over-think it. Definitely more time pressure than we had had before. [Edges Of The World] is a well produced, candy coated batch of songs, as Barrett has plenty of pop experience. It lacks in experimentalism and intuition, but we love this 'glossy' side of the band, and we kinda wanted to try it out. The next step is to blend intuition and experimentation with recording quality, so stay tuned.
PR: On Edges Of The World you cover the Doors' classic Riders on the Storm. What made you decide to do that song and how do you feel it went?
JF: In a world of frenetic hurry under the promise of immediate comfort, general stupidity is spreading fast. Its a total storm we have to poke through. “Take a long holiday and let your children play” couldn't be more adequate to the times we live in. Plus in melodic terms, we thought the original Doors song could project pretty well through Marshall stack decibels. It went ok. We're now making a video for it, actually.
PR: Sounds great. Coming from a DIY background what was it like to play at such famous venues as The Viper Room, The Troubadour, and The Roxy Theater?
JF: It was a nightmare of bugging our friends and family to buy tickets, last minute show cancellations because we couldn’t turn in the total pre-sale for the show, etc. But we do understand that this is the epicenter of the music industry and if we don’t take the slot on the bill, one of the other zillions of bands around will. The upside is the awesome sound quality of these clubs, and the overall demand for quality ... it makes you improve your show. Plus it was on the strip that we met our manager and investor Don Hamister, whose support made us get to this interview today. So there's definitely opportunity under all this mayhem.
PR: What is the best gig you have ever had?
JF: It was on January 15th 2012, when we released this last EP, at the Viper Room. Our best crowd to date, great energy trade between the band and the crowd, and everybody got outta there smashed. Mission accomplished.
The runner up would be back in 2005, when we went out to the Joshua Tree desert, hooked our shit up to a crappy generator, and played under the most unbelievable spread of stars, with people from other camp sites coming over to join. Pretty epic. Too bad our then bass player Omar flipped his brand new Tacoma like ten times coming down a dune and totaled it. Still epic tho, cheers Omar.
The second runner up goes back to 2003, when we played our first show at a house party. There was a pole with a chick dancing right next to me, waving her hair like crazy, and her hair got stuck in the head stock of my guitar, and somehow I was able to untangle her hair and let her free without stopping the song. And having in mind I was quite inebriated, I'm kinda proud of that one. Epic.
PR: Out of
interest, who is on your stereos at the moment?
JF: Fu Manchu - Eatin Dust (Song 'Mongoose').
PR: That's a very cool album. Fu Manchu are just about to play here in New Zealand actually. If AFTER could collaborate with anyone who would it be?
JF: We would love to collaborate with Meshuggah … on the soundtrack for the next Sex And The City season. Seriously.
PR: That would be something to hear alright. Can you give us a few details on what is in store for you guys next?
JF: afterishere.com is under construction still, so be sure to check www.facebook.com/afterishere for our tour dates. We're still working on a complete US tour, but Canada, Europe, Australia, NZ, and Japan are next. Also stay tuned for our upcoming video for “Riders On The Storm”.
PR: Finish this sentence: The best thing about going to an AFTER gig is ...
JF: Hot chicks. They're starting to show up! Come milk it and buy a beer while you're at it. Cheers.
JF: Fu Manchu - Eatin Dust (Song 'Mongoose').
PR: That's a very cool album. Fu Manchu are just about to play here in New Zealand actually. If AFTER could collaborate with anyone who would it be?
JF: We would love to collaborate with Meshuggah … on the soundtrack for the next Sex And The City season. Seriously.
PR: That would be something to hear alright. Can you give us a few details on what is in store for you guys next?
JF: afterishere.com is under construction still, so be sure to check www.facebook.com/afterishere for our tour dates. We're still working on a complete US tour, but Canada, Europe, Australia, NZ, and Japan are next. Also stay tuned for our upcoming video for “Riders On The Storm”.
PR: Finish this sentence: The best thing about going to an AFTER gig is ...
JF: Hot chicks. They're starting to show up! Come milk it and buy a beer while you're at it. Cheers.
PR: Thanks for your time Jose. You're a busy man and
I appreciate you taking a few moments to talk to me. Is there anyone
you want to give a shout-out to before we wrap up?
JF: No
problem! I want to send a BIG thanks to Don Hamister, Skullr Records
and Steven Skullr, Noho2 Studios and Mark Doty, and all our fans
worldwide, we will get to your town soon so hide your sister. You can
download our stuff at full quality over at afterishere.bandcamp.com
in the meantime. Sha-zam!
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