Civilis - Interview - PETE'S ROCK NEWS AND VIEWS.COM

Interview with Bertrand Cape of Civilis and Pete Devine of Pete’s Rock News and Views (http://petesrocknewsandviews.com)

PD: How would you describe yourself or your band as an artist?

BC: As a band and artists we are something like rebellious nerds, focused and addicted to trying to materialize every detail of what we want in each song, we try to move a little against the current of what most bands currently do in music. , without following any fixed form , but respecting what we believe to be our roots.

PD: Can you tell us briefly about your background – i.e. where you’re from, how you came to make music, etc.

BC: My first -serious- bands so to speak started in 2004 in Venezuela , I was in a death metal groove band (ALICE IN HELL) as a guitarist, we remained active until 2018 with four albums released , and it was there that Felix and I decided to create CIVILIS, it took many years of learning But with CIVILIS everything was a little easier because of the experience we brought, this was an idea that I had been waiting for a long time. We released our first album in 2018 as a test and it turned out to be a big surprise for us, in our country. It was one of the best albums of the year, we got support from an international brands like IK MULTIMEDIA, and that served to encourage us to continue the project, then I came to live in Spain and Felix to Peru, we lived our adaptation process, and in the pandemic we resume the creative process of what is now our new record Chapter I: Epiphany.

PD: Who and what inspires you to make music, both in terms of musical and other influences? What do you like to write about in your songs?

BC: We have many musical influences, very diverse, music is something that we both brought from childhood, in terms of influences in my case, bands like Pink Floyd, Supertramp, Iron Maiden and all the NWBOHM, a lot of classic Death Metal, a lot of Blues, Felix He has very different influences but we have fused together very well, he loves modern extreme metal, things like Obscura, rings of saturn, Necrophagist, some Black metal, bands like Rhapsody and this kind of epic metal, so this is where they can see the type of cocktail where we come from. about the content of our lyrics, we really like the conceptual, we like to link some history, with personal experiences and some fiction, we like that the listener can take a trip and feel identified if possible,

PD: What are your aspirations as an artist?

BC: Our aspirations as an artist after all this time is nothing more than trying to offer some music with the greatest possible originality, logically the influences will always be present, if they can understand the message of each song and identify with some verse we can say that we are achieving what we want.

PD: What is the proudest moment in your music career so far?

BC: I have been lucky enough to have many of those moments to be proud of, managing to share the stage with big bands and a large audience in front of me, making a few records that in my country and on the continent have had a certain significance, but without a doubt What makes me most proud is this present, what we are doing with CIVILIS.

PD: Promoting one’s music is such a challenge these days, especially with so many new artists emerging from bedrooms in the day of the home studio. How is that going?

BC: I think the difficulty is understanding that you don’t have to wait for someone to come save you and give you what you need, no matter how many people there are at the moment in a professional studio or in a home studio, because there are many people in large studios. doing a lot of shit, and others in small studios doing great things, but both converge on the same mistake; bad promotion, bad promotion of themselves, and it’s useless to be the most virtuous or have a lot of good songs if you’re not on the right track with the promotion. no one is going to invest in you just because you think you’re doing it right. This is life and we must save ourselves.

PD: And how do you book and promote your live shows and tours? Any performances coming up?

BC: Our plan for now is based on being able to materialize the promotional plan for the new material, Felix may be here in Europe very soon and there it is possible that we start the plan to materialize the band live, as soon as I can say now.

PD: What do you think about downloading music online? What about streaming sites like Spotify?

BC:This theme sometimes makes me laugh a little, sometimes I think that they screwed us all by making us believe that they were doing us a favor by paying us a handout for our own songs, how did we let this happen? However, it’s not much of a difference to what a label gives you per album sold.

PD: What song do you wish you’d written and why?

BC: hahaha this is a very good question, because there are many songs that I feel have saved my life, or others that I have identified with at some point, perhaps Iron Maiden’s Wasted Years, or Pink Floyd’s Nobody Home.

PD: Is there anything you don’t like about the music industry, which you would change if you could?

BC: Maybe it’s the same collective dream of all, right? pay what our work is worth, give the artist due respect

PD: So, what are you working on at the moment?

BC: we are working on many things right now , not counting our real jobs hahaha , promote as much as we can this new material that will be out on may 24 , and what will continue in the next few months because it is a trilogy

PD: Where can we learn more about you and buy your music/merch online?

BC: https://civilisofficial.bandcamp.com/