Some pictures I found in my PC

Using my cousin's Jackson.

I love it when the crowd goes wild.

Playing "I was born to lose" at Humboldt School.

Unplugged at Humboldt School.

The first concert I ever played "The Unbreakable Spirit" was at Jazz Zone.

When I still had trouble playing the guitar standing.

Singing Metallica's Seek and Destroy with my friends at school.

Yep. Singing love songs.

Unplugged at Humboldt School. I was nervous as hell.

I don't really know what to say about this pic. Very cool effect.

Improvising.

Me and my cousin.

With Sebastian.

With my friend Franco.

A zoophilic giraffe.

Love songs

Lately I've been listening to the songs on the radio and a few thoughts came to my mind.

Basically this: what is it with you people and love songs? I mean, I like them myself but I don't see the point of having to make every single song a love song.

Don't you have any other thing to say at all? Really?! C'mon! Let's be a little creative here. You can write a song about anything. And I mean ANYTHING.

It doesn't have to be about a philosofical subjetc. You can write for example about the day you bought your first yoghurt or about those voices in your head who keep telling you to fart on the bus or whatever you think that can fit in your style.

Since it's starting to be more a never-failing commercial formula, I have started to wonder how many love songs are actually inspired on a real life person.

As I said, I like love songs. I even wrote one of those for a girlfriend a few years ago and I still like it. I like it not because the song says the most romantic things ever, I like it because it is sincere and reflexes how I felt about this particular person at that particular time and THAT is the magic about those songs.

The whole idea for me, is that every person you meet is different and therefore, every song is going to be unique (if you know how to personalize it of course). Every song is going to mean something, even if it is only a past memory, your present or just a desire.

But if everything you write is going to be about romantic love just because "it sounds good, it's normal,  everybody does it or because you have no other ideas", then the whole thing becomes empty and loses it's uniqueness.

It can still be a good song, though (commercially speaking).

But I'm not saying don't write generic boring love songs. What I'm saying is don't waste an oportunity to say something with an empty and meaningless message. Take your time, think what needs to be thought and let it be. And if you decide to write about tacos or Pac-man instead of the meaning of life or the torments of your past, that's ok, because fun is also a very good reason to write your lyrics.

I actually liked this album very much. The songs need more cowbell, though.

About the guys I play with

Sebastian Mahle:

The singer, the showman, the drinking machine. I met him a few years ago when he still was a kid. He and his little friends had a rock band and played Megadeth covers. He has that 80's young hard rock voice I always wanted for my songs and knows how to get to the audience, so I must say I consider myself lucky to have him in my team.

Ivan Carranza:

My right hand. Without his assistance there wouldn't be a united band. Always remembering everybody all those things I forget and calling me to let me know the bad and good news. Punctual as a swiss clock and responsible as a japanese nerd, when he says he's gonna do something, you can consider it done. He's usually a quiet simple guy, but when we're about to play, you better shout your mouth and get out of his way if you don't want him say bad things about your mother lol.

By the way, he's got a cool bass guitar doesn't he?

Gabriel Iwasaki:

How many musician drummers do you know? I mean, you know guys who play the drums, but I'm sure most of them don't know a crap about harmonizing, song writing, musical arrangements and all that theoretical stuff. I actually know 2 of those musician drummers, and he's one of them. Good to have him around if you're up for learning something new.

Random facts about The Unbreakable Spirit album

- Back off was written when I still was at school.

- There was supposed to be an instrumental cover of somewhere over the rainbow, but it was replaced for At the Gates of madness.

- When the fairies are knocking at my door wasn't supposed to be on the record. It was just a song for my girlfriend I recorded after a fight, but she left me after that anyway so I decided to include it since it represents an important part of my past.

- At the Gates of madness was written one night I was drunk in front of a piano.

- Through the eyes of a sad man was a different song called "wake up" and had different lyrics and no chorus.

- Mr. Businessman's composition was finished one day before recording it.

- There were two songs I couldn't finish because I had no more ideas left, so I combined them in one song: The Unbreakable Spirit.

- Eternal Traveler replaced a song we couldn't finish recording because the invited singer never showed up.

- Eternal Traveler was written with all the ideas I didn't use for The Unbreakable Spirit and the lyrics were written the day before the singer recorded the vocals.

- When the fairies are knocking at my door's vocals were recorded 3 different times because I was never satisfied with the sound of my voice until the sound engineer refused to do it again.

- All solos from I was born to lose were improvised in the moment I recorded them.

- The abyss of our minds is the only song I wrote in which I just sit and watch.

- I wrote The Unbreakable Spirit one night I was looking for an excuse to avoid studying for an exam.

Decalogue of the perfect musician

This is actually something that Horacio Quiroga wrote under the title of  "Decalogue of the perfect storyteller". I just changed a few words to make fit into this particular kind of art. I think it's so good and precise that he should have named it "Decalogue of the perfect artist". Anyways, here it is:

I. Believe in a master - Hendrix, Beethoven, Blackmore, B.B. King - like in God himself.

II. Believe that your art is an unreachable goal. Don't dream about dominating it. When you become good enough, you'll get it without knowing it.

III. Avoid copying as much as you can unless the influence is too strong. The development of a personality requires patience.

IV. Have blind faith - not in your skills for triumph - but in your desire to reach it. Love your art like a girlfriend giving it all your heart.

V. Don't start writing without knowing from the first melody where you go. In a well written song the first 3 notes are almost as important as the last 3.

VI. If you want to express with precision the next chord progression: "Am - G - F", there is no better way to do it than that. Once you become the owner of your musical phrases, don't worry about cheking if they are supposed to sound good or not.

VII. Don't fill your compositions with senseless solos or melodies. It's useless to reload a weak note. If you find the precise one, it will have enough weight to stand on it's own. But you have to find it.

VIII. Don't beat around the bush. A simple song is not a symphony and a symphony is not a simple song. Keep this in mind as an absolute truth, even if it isn't.

IX. Don't write under the empire of emotion. Let it die and summon it later again. If you get to recreate it exactly as it was, you have walked half of the path to your art.

X. When you write a song, don't think about your friends or what others will think about it. (I added this part: Write your songs as if the only thing that mattered was your personal opinion. If you like it, others will too).

My first album

This is my first album. It's available now.

Track list:

1. Back off! (Heavy Metal)
2. Mr. Businessman (Hard Rock)
3. When the fairies are knocking at my door (Rock Ballad)
4. Through the eyes of a sad man (Neoclassical-Heavy Metal Ballad)
5. At the Gates of madness (Instrumental Neoclassical Rock Ballad)
6. The abyss of our minds (Ballad)
7. The Unbreakable Spirit (Melodic Hard Rock)
8. I was born to lose (Rock & Roll)
9. Eternal Traveler (Melodic Hard Rock)

Click here to see youtube promo.

Speed, speed, speed

So you play a musical instrument huh? And you spend hours practicing trying to reach your goal. You realize that it's surprisingly hard and consider the idea of giving it up. In the end, for some reason you asume that the hardest things to play are necessarily the best examples of good music. That leads me to the next question:

What is music?

Well, honestly... I don't know. I can't tell you what music is. But can tell you how I understand the word.
To me, music consists (more or less) in combining sounds and silences with the purpose of creating an esthetical experience in any living organism with the capability of interpreting it as a logical structure with sense and meaning (such as melodies, rhythms, harmonies, or any kind of combination including any of those).

Feel free to share your own idea or definition with me. I'll be more than glad to read it.

To me, music has lots of avialable resources (as many as you get to imagine) for you to use (or not) that will help you in the creation of your little esthetical sound structure. I wanted to talk to you about one of those resources:

Speed.

As I said before, there's a lot of people who asume that the hardest things to play are necessarily the best examples of good music. Having said that music is probably too complex for an ordinary human being like me to define, I'll try to make my point using a simple analogy.

Picture a very intelligent and educated guy. He has a rich vocabulary and knows all kinds of complex and elaborated words. But he knows when to use them, because part of being smart is undertanding the context you're in so you know how to keep people following you.

A person who always uses complex and sophisticated words, no matter the context, is probably just someone trying to impress other people. Following this line of logic, a rich vocabulary is only one of the resources of your intelligence. To asume that someone is incredibly intelligent because he uses lots of weird words you don't understand, is as ridiculous as asuming that someone is a great musician because he can play fast.

Wow! You play so fast you must be the best musician ever!

In fact, playing slow could be even more challenging, because you are practically forced to create a melody in order to do something you or other people might want to hear again. But I'm not saying that speed is shit. I'm just saying don't get too excited about it.

Some examples of fast and good musical pieces (according to me):

- Far Beyond The Sun (Yngwie Malmsteen)
- Child In Time (Deep Purple, Made in Japan version)
- Capriche No. 24 (Niccolò Paganini)

Some examples of slow and good musical pieces (according to me):

- Europa (Carlos Santana)
- Moonlight Sonata (Ludwig van Beethoven)
- Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Pink Floyd)

I think you should keep that in mind before you start showing off on stage with a few senseless speed excercises... but must admit it can be fun sometimes :P

So tell me now, are you a machine or a human being? Are you a reproducer or a creator? Are you a player or a musician?

About being a hard rock musician in Peru

Well, as some of you probably already know, there is a country in a far far away godforsaken wasteland called Peru. A place where girls actually dislike guys with long hair. A magical place where the word rock is used to describe poorly manufactured pop bands with meaningless lyrics and pretty but untalented band members. A bizarre dimension where names like Ronnie James Dio, Ritchie Blackmore, Jimmy Page or Randy Rhoads are simply an enormous, gigantic and palpitating question mark. I'm talking about a country where most people actually believe that hearing a skinny mobster shouting all kinds of degrading sexist insults to women is music.
A wild jungle where people who dare to like rock and roll, jazz, heavy metal, blues or classical music are reduced to, basically, morlocks.

The thing is, my friends, I happen to live there. Why? Because if there is a god, he just hates me. He hates me with the strengh of a thousand suns.

So here I am. Now what?

Well, the very first thing I should keep in mind is this:

You'll never, EVER, make big money with your hard rock music in Peru you fat ass drunken retarded bastard!

Ok, then. So if no one gives a dime for my music, should I just quit? If the reason I play would be money, then my answer should obviously be "yes".

But that's not my case.

Don't get me wrong. I need money, just like everyone else does. I need to sell my records and I need to get paid for playing because otherwise I won't be able to afford a new record, new strings, a new cable, etc.

I guess the idea is not trying to pay your bills, your food, your house, your car, your horse or whatever with the money you make with your music and you'll probably be fine. Maybe the fact that there is almost no pressure for a hard rock peruvian musician to be commertial and keep his non-existent massive audience happy, could contribute to cause that a lot of them just do it for the music and the pleasure of being artists.

My point is, I hope you understand how hard it is for us to do this and I want you to know that everything we do, we do it from the heart. Thank you for your support and keep rocking. It's all about having fun, feeling satisfied with your work and learning a few things about ourselves.


But I still can't deny that Peru is certainly a land of opportunities.

...

Could the ice cream man murder the president in YOUR country? I don't think so...

I was born to lose (But I win anyway) (Lyrics)

Music: Dieter Baethge
Lyrics: Dieter Baethge
Invited singer: Christopher Bryson (Aevum)

Verse 1:

Down in Lima city in the year 99
there was a school boy who was always at the end of the line.
His parents were on his back.
His teachers always yelling.
He had no friends his school mates made him mean jokes.
Until the day that he lost his mind they drove him insane.

Verse 2:

Working like a donkey trying to please everyone
he couldn't always carry on and he became a sad man
His girlfriend told him to change.
She wanted him to grow up.
She couldn't stand to be with such a loser.
Until the day that she left and he was all on his own.

(Yeah I gotta tell ya' man.
Ain’t it crazy how you always try to do the right thing and
nobody seems to fucking care?

It's pretty simple dude, Nobody Is gonna respect you until you start having
a little respect for yourself. Show them what you are made of and they'll
see who they're dealing with.
Shh wait, wait, wait. Here it comes!
Oh! Fuck off!)

Verse 3:

Rocking every night he found a reason to live
and now he doesn't give a shit about what people may think
He learned to live on his own.
Now he is a stronger man.
He doesn't need to be approved by others.
Cuz in the end your life is what you create for yourself.

I wanna hear you scream with me now!

Chorus:

Fighting to live on my own! (x4)
As I walk through the world, fighting to live on my own
Rock and roll!

"Without sense of humor, life would have no sense at all".

The abyss of our minds (Lyrics)

Music: Dieter Baethge
Lyrics: Dieter Baethge

Verse 1:

Where did Mother Nature, stars and universe come from?
We are a drop in the ocean
Does life have a meaning or is everything a joke?
I don't know... oh I don't know.

Pre chorus:

Do we really have a will of our own?
What if your god wasn't the one to follow?

Verse 2:

Am I really here? Does this world really exist?
Or it's a dream my eyes can't see?

Pre chorus:

Our shadow's taller than the line between...
...than the line between the future and the past

Chorus:

Life is too short for us to forget.
Like snow in the wind we fall to the abyss... of our minds.

Verse 4:

Why do we have feelings? Is it only just us?
What we feel is what we are.
Does pain have a meaning? Maybe it makes us understand
how a smile can change our lives.

Pre chorus:

We don't see that life's too fragile till it's late.
We don't realize that our grave is waiting.

Verse 5:

Do my problems matter? Matters anything at all?
Do we have to live in fear?

Pre chorus:

We don't feel the years go by until we're old.
No one ever told us when to start our lives.

Chorus:

Life is too short for us to forget.
Like snow in the wind we fall to the abyss... of our minds.

(I am alive)

"To think for yourself does not make you different. It makes you unique”.

Through the eyes of a sad man (Lyrics)

Music: Dieter Baethge
Lyrics: Dieter Baethge
Main solo written and recorded by Jarot Mansilla (Aevum)

Verse 1

There you are
On your own
In the abyss of your eyes.

Verse 2

What d'you see?
Emptiness, loneliness or sadness?

Verse 3

Face the truth
You are alone
With your demons and beasts.

Chorus:

Your hope is just a ghost who couldn’t find a light to follow
Your eyes won t cry for peace cuz you learned there ain’t no mercy
You are the stone who used to be a heart

Verse 4

Time goes by.
It won’t stop
For your wounds to heal.

Verse 5

It doesn’t seem to be a way.
It doesn’t make any sense at all.

Verse 6

It's a very mean world.
Do you think you can survive?

Chorus:

Your hope is just a ghost who couldn’t find a light to follow
Your eyes won t cry for peace cuz you learned there ain’t no mercy
Ohh can't you see through the eyes of a sad man?

This is the world you have created for your kids
and all of you will live in this freezing hell

(What doesn’t kill you, makes you wanna die)

"It's foolish to be afraid of something when there's nothing else to be lost".

When the fairies are knocking at my door (Lyrics)

Music: Dieter Baethge
Lyrics: Dieter Baethge

Verse 1

There where dark times when I lost my faith
There where times when I just believed
That love was only a crazy fantasy
Only fools could dream of happiness
And my dirty life will never change

Verse 2

Like a dancing leaf about to fall
Fighting to survive in this wild world
Trying to break free from this cold dark box
Everything was so senseless and grey
Till' the day the fairies knocked at my door

Chorus:

Uhh like the sunshine in a rainy day

Verse 3

When your smile reminds me I'm alive
When I see the rainbow in your eyes
When your candy hands are holding mine
All I think about is how lucky I am
To live in this crazy fairy tale

Verse 4

Our love is like a butterfly
Colorful just flies away from here
To a world made for the two of us
Where the time won't matter anymore
Cuz you'll always be my dream come true!

Chorus:

Uhhh like the sunshine in a rainy day
Uhhh when the fairies are knocking at my door

"Love is the key that opens the gates of a new world of sensations. Although it allows us to taste happiness, it can also show us the meaning of agonizing pain as well".

Mr. Businessman (Lyrics)

Music: Dieter Baethge
Lyrics: Dieter Baethge

Verse 1:

He travels first class all around the world.
He's looking for some more minds to corrupt.

Talks through his cell phone while he's reading the news.
He signs some papers then he closes a deal.

Verse 2:

There is no mercy for the ones he will smash.
He owns your life but still's not enough.

Sits in his office while he smokes a cigar.
He's hiding something behind that smile.

Pre chorus:

Don't mess with him if you can't pay the price.
He has the power to give and take!
He’s mister

Chorus:

Businessman! He owns your life and your soul
Businessman! His will is the law
Businessman! He writes all the rules
Businessman! He already conquered the world...

Verse 3:

He doesn't care about the people he hurts.
He doesn't get that he's a stranger at home.

He works all night and day looking for more.
His greed of power has blinded his heart.

Verse 4:

He's getting older but he can keep the march.
Helped by white powders his strength doesn't go.
Behind his smile he is hiding his pain.
He's lonely and his money is all what he's got.

Pre chorus:

Don't mess with him if you can't pay the price.
He has the power to give and take!
He’s mister.

Chorus:

Businessman! He owns your life and your soul.
Businessman! His will is the law.
Businessman! He writes all the rules.
Businessman! Everyone has a price.

Let's talk about business

SOLO

Chorus:

Businessman! He owns your life and your soul.
Businessman! His will is the law.
Businessman! He writes all the rules.
Businessman! He already conquered the world...

Businessman! Where does he go now?
Businessman! He can't buy more time.
Businessman! He can't afford a friend.
Businessman! Even rich men bleed...

"A dog with money is addressed as Mister Dog." (Arabic proverb)

Back off! (Lyrics)

Music: Dieter Baethge & Daniel Campos
Lyrics: Dieter Baethge
Solo: Daniel Campos

Verse 1

So you think you're pretty though.
You’re too stupid to realize.
Fucking others just for fun.
You don't know who you're messing with.

Pre chorus:

You just can't understand the consequences. You are too blind.

Verse 2

You laugh while you hear me cry
All I learned is how to hate
I'm the monster you created
Vengeance is all you'll get from me

Pre chorus:

You just can't understand the consequences. You are too blind.

Chorus:

And I say back off!

Back off!
(And I mean you)
Back off!
(I'm talking to you)
Back off!
(You better run)

Bridge:

(Guess who's coming for you now?)

SOLO

Verse 3

You're you just simple minded fools
You are so empty on the inside
Wearing always the mask of a clown
You hide your fear to be yourself.

Pre chorus:

You just can't understand the consequences.

Chorus:

And I say back off!

Back off!
(And I mean you)
Back off!
(I'm talking to you)
Back off!
(You better run)

(You're not even worth it)

“Sometimes it looks like the world has been created just to piss you off”.

Eternal Traveler (Lyrics)

Music: Dieter Baethge
Lyrics: Dieter Baethge

Verse 1

Walking down a lonely path
Searching for all those dreams.
I leave behind all my worries
and I take my life in my hands

Verse 2

You know well what I mean
Money can't buy a life
You can't hold me here anymore

You know I went through hell
It's the price that we pay
for the freedom of body and mind

Bridge:

It's alright
it's the taste of heavy metal!

Chorus:

Far beyond the sky the boarders disappear
Finding new horizons
Eternal traveler

Verse 3

It's not about having everything
All you need is your will
My life's a song and with this guitar
I'll do what I can do best

Verse 4

I walk to my own fate
I'm a poet of rock
I'm alive while I'm on my way

You know I'm like a fist
I can shine in the night
And I'm strong enough to carry on

Bridge:

It's now or never
I will have to do it my way!

Chorus:

Far beyond the sky the boarders disappear
Finding new horizons
Eternal traveler

Your deepest desires will live as long you fight
Try to find your answers
Eternal traveler

SOLO

Far beyond the sky the boarders disappear
Finding new horizons
Eternal traveler

Your deepest desires will live as long you fight
Try to find your answers
Eternal traveler!

“In journeys, the child only thinks about the beginning, the adult in the why, and the elder in the return". (Anonymous)

The Unbreakable Spirit (Lyrics)

Music: Dieter Baethge
Lyrics: Dieter Baethge


Verse 1:


All through the night you seek the light
You lost the will n' gave up again
Listen to me there's no time to waste
Cuz there is more than black n' white


Verse 2


Just look around cuz all you need
is a new perspective of the world
Just hear the rain and feel the wind
Now raise your fist and shout with us!


Chorus:


Like the sun I'll prevail!
I will fight till' the end
Like the Phoenix I'll rise
From my ashes again


Verse 3:


It's time for you to claim the crown
and rule your life the way you feel
Devour the demons of your heart
Unleash the power of your will


Verse 4:


Your spirit's now unbreakable
Your flaming eyes burn like your mind
The unstoppable hunger for more
desires of breaking the chains!


Chorus:


Like the sun I'll prevail!
I will fight till' the end
Like the Phoenix I'll rise
from my ashes again


No more fear anymore
No more ghosts in my mind
It's the unbreakable spirit
of life in my heart!


"The real fight begins when you realize that the very first enemy you must defeat is your common sense”.