Interview with ACARO at the Church
By Jim Slimedog
ACARO might be a metalcore band or maybe they just play aggressive heavy metal but one thing that’s for sure is they are one of the best current metal bands from Boston and are predicted, by our metal expert Andy Bang, to break out in a big way. See his review of their cd, “The Disease of Fear” reviewed elsewhere on Thrash N Bang.
Slimedog- I saw the article in the Boston Herald, Friday, that was very good to get in there. I showed it to my mother and she said, “They look very scary.” (Laughter) And I said, “I’m sure they’re nice boys.”
Chris Harrell (Vocals)- We’re only scary on stage.
Slimedog- So how did the name come about?
Felipe (Guitar)- Acaro is a Spanish word for a flesh eating parasite. It feeds off your skin, actually, you don’t realize you have it but it just lives in your skin causing you bad things like allergies, skin diseases but also cleans out all the cells in your skin. So it’s like the relationship we have with music, we feed off music and music feeds off us.
Slimedog- How did you all get started?
Chris Leblanc (Guitar)- I was in a band and we met Felipe on myspace, who came from Chile looking for a band. He came to try out for us and we ended up trying out for him. His project was “Acaro” so he’s the original, the founder, it was his material we started working on first. We went through plenty of bassists, singers, everybody till we ended up with the lineup here.
Slimedog- How does this band differ from your previous one? (Burn In Silence)
Chris H- I think Burn In Silence, great guys, but it was way more business orientated as far as the way everything went while this band really feels more like a brotherhood. And the success we’re getting from this band is coming after the friendship. We got some success in Burn In Silence before we even knew each other really well. After we got signed we got to know each other on the road while this band got to know each other before we achieved anything. But as soon as I walked into the room and we started playing- it was done! For me it was like- this is what I’m doing.
(Colin drummer from Death Ray Vision and Soul Remnants enters the room)
They all greet him cordially- Get the fuck out! Wash your hair you fuckin’ hippie! We don’t want any scumbags back here!
Chris H- So going back, I walked in, I said, “Hey guys, you don’t mind? I need to change out of my jeans,” because it gets hot while we play. I drop my jeans, I turn around Chris L. already has his pants down and he’s just sitting there. (Laughter) And I said. “Yep, that’s it.”
Slimedog- And we can’t talk about what happened after that right? (Laughter)
Chris H- No, what happens in the jam room stays in the jam room.
Slimedog- How would you guys describe your style?
Chris L- The main thing we get is metalcore, and I’ll agree with it, but it is and it’s not. It’s not one thing, we’re not going to stay with one style.
Chris H- I will agree with metalcore if you look at the term and what it’s supposed to be- the combination of the hardcore ethos, the mentality of do it yourself, working really hard and the hardcore energy. If they mean metalcore as far as a generic genre-based that people have turned that into, then I don’t want to say that I’d like to say we’re a metal band.
Chris L- Very aggressive metal.
Felipe- We like to keep it fast and show each others musicianship, not to show off but just that’s the way we feel it.
Jason (Drums)- I honestly have no idea, I couldn’t put a name on it.
Slimedog- I know this is your cd release party but do you have any recoding plans?
Chris H- We already have songs started for the next album. Felipe and Chris L are machines, I love it, they already have tons of ideas ready. We’d like to be recording in the studio, again, at least an ep by the end of the year.
Slimedog- Who writes the songs?
Chris H- It’s a group process; Felipe and Chris are the main songwriters. They bring in songs that I’d say are two thirds, three quarters done. Then we work on their ideas as a group with their vision in mind then we all add a little bit of our own spice to it to make it an actual Acaro song.
Jason- I’ve been in the band two years and it’s amazing how we’ve come along. These guys have brought me to a new level of musicianship, to where I am. The more I work the more these guys are writing and I’ve never been with a better bunch of guys.
Chris L- Someone that we knew, very close to us..
(Felipe lets loose with a fart of gigantic proportions) (Laughter)
Slimedog- I think that should go in there, whattaya think?
All- Yeah, absolutely. That’s part of Acaro, too.
Slimedog- Where do you think metal is going?
Chris L- It’s starting to get more metal again and more melodic, people want to hear songs.
Chris H- It seems like people are concentrating on songwriting rather than let’s throw a billion riffs together and let’s get brutal for brutals’ sake. That’s been done and it was done well by those who did it but if you want people to like you for a career you have to write good songs and that goes across the board for any type of music.
Slimedog- Who writes the lyrics?
Chris H- I write the lyrics but I’ll ask them where they were at while they were writing the song.
Chris L- We all do each others jobs. I write a lot of drum riffs but Jason will say what he wants out of me. Nobody in the band does their own job by themselves, we help each other and I think that’s where the great musicianship comes from. And I think that when you can comfortably let someone into your music that’s where the friendship comes form, also. He’s singing about what we’re writing about.
Slimedog- Who drinks the most in the band?
Chris L- Nobody drinks the most in the band, we take breaks, someone won’t drink for awhile and I’ll drink like a fish, than I’ll take a break.
Kevin (Bass)- We’re very collaborative in our drinking. (Laughter)
Slimedog- I see, just like the music. Who’s most likely to become a serial killer?
All- (Laughing while staring at Kevin)
Slimedog- You have to say the name.
All- Kevin!
Chris H- He’s a scientist; he’s the smartest one in the band.
Jason- He could get away with it.
Felipe- Serial killers are smart, you got to be smart.
Chris L- He’s the only one smart enough to pull it off; we’re all just as likely to be that (Laughter) but he’s the most likely to get away with it.
Slimedog- Any funny stories about the practice place?
Chris H- Somewhere there’s a video of me tossing our old drummer, Alan, a water bottle and it hits him square in the nuts and he’s doubled over in pain and we’re all falling on the floor laughing.
Chris L- There was a time Felipe was sleeping in the studio, it’s like 3 am, and we put a fan right next to his head and we took a bell and we started hitting it loud and we told him the cops were coming when he woke up and he got up and started screaming in Spanish. That was pretty cool.
