.jpg)
Vulgar Disease is the power electronics and harsh noise project from Mario Umberto Quiroga, who lives and works in Guanajuato, Mexico. Here he talks about how he started making noise, his numerous side-projects, influences and much more.JM: First of all, What does your project Vulgar Disease stand for and what do you want to say with this project, and what are the themes of your albums?
VD: “REAL MUSIC, FOR REAL PEOPLE THAT MAKE REAL SHIT HAPPEN”.
Jared Russell [ex- Headless Rapist]
Vulgar Disease is a very personal project that contains a great deal of introspection; it is a portrayal of my entire personal debauchery, focusing on a general sense of delirium/”fantasies” However, I do not wish to make general statements about the recurring themes in VD or to declare that it deals with topics that are morally unacceptable or politically incorrect, or even to directly categorize it as something to be filed under the taboo/forbidden/censored/deviant section. For VD, all of this is a day-to-day, exciting flirtation, an ebb and flow of intrinsically normal parameters.
“THE JOY OF BEING VULGAR”
JM: When did you start making music/sounds, and was it always one particular genre you were involved in?
VD: I started in the year 2000. My mother gave me an electric guitar on the condition that I performed my military service duties. That lovely guitar still exist but i never made my word regarding to military issues. I have been involved in several genres, as well as in several bands, playing guitar, voice, bass, pre-Hispanic instruments, keyboards, and synthesizers. But my search for something beyond conventional melody/harmony hugely increased in 2002; this was the year in which I started flirting with noise/ambient textures. Working along only with an effects processor.
I landed some gigs in universities, sometimes I played at friends’ parties (houses, garages or backyards), not much really came out of it. When my father died in 2004, I decided to take shelter in music even more, and I moved to Puebla that same year to receive “music education”—which I would leave after 3 years. It was in that city where I decided to stop using my birth name and instead replaced it with a project moniker, and VULGAR DISEASE officially started in July 29th of 2009. As a listener, I have not been able since my childhood to spend a day without music; it was and still is an addiction. I have a somewhat eclectic taste, I can spend all day listening to pop music, and then move to power electronics, or some grunge, blues, slowcore, shoegaze, industrial, metal, all the different “–waves”, or something from the neo-indie scene, etc.
JM: How are your tracks created and how is your working method?
VD: PLUG & PLAY CABRÓN!!!
There are no methods or structures; it’s a spontaneous form -ad-libbed, all recorded in one take with no post-production. It’s something very instinctive, just get into the brawl, vato–, I’ve always relied on instinct in that way. Brings me to head a quote by the good old dog Steve Bagman to specify my response: “Shit is played live, in one take, by one man”.
JM: Aside from Vulgar Disease, are there any other projects or bands you are/were involved with?
VD: I am currently active in several projects: AJOLOTE (formerly Vertex Germ), with EDWIN ARCE, is one of them. We decided to change the name of the project after using it for 4 years. The decision was mostly based on the huge ancestral connotation of this amphibian (MEXICAN SALAMANDER), which is now in risk of extinction, and also (why hide it) because of
its impressively psychedelic morphology.
AJOLOTE is perhaps the most “relaxed” of my projects, possibly because of the focus on hallucinogenic plants, which has led us to create albums in relation with magical mushrooms and peyote (available in RUIDO HORRIBLE as Vertex Germ), as well as a small tribute to this mythical fish (available in INFRA EDICIONES, our formal debut as AJOLOTE).
DOPAMINE LARVAE is a project that has evolved in a blacker, colder way. At first, most of the content was strongly related to Satanism and synthetic drugs. In time, I moved on to topics like genetics and medical experiments. Perhaps some of my childhood mental whirlwinds are reflected in DL (possibly in the somewhat fantastic tone and a certain degree of “utopia”, which I believe can actually take place). I recently finished a work that finally explains quite well what DOPAMINE LARVAE has been so far, and possibly what this project will deal with for some more time. This release, called “SONIC COMPENDIUM”, is a collection of 3 works, 3 installations and 1 bridge (#1. FULL TRILOGY a. ENDANGERED SPECIES b. NOT A HIDDEN PLACE c. SONIC PRAYERS FOR THE END OF YOUR EXISTENCE #2. SWEET VICES (BRIDGE) #3. UOMO NUOVO #4. PAREIDOLIC NATION).
Right now, I am working in a new concept, similar to “SONIC COMPENDIUM”. The first part is now available in free download format from TORN FLESH RECORDS: TRANSMITTERS I “SPIRAL STANCE”.
P13/PRISIONERO13 is the most militaristic of my projects; originally VULGAR DISEASE handled most of this topic, but I felt the need to create an exclusive project bound to the topics of political violence and its nature. With a heavy dose of nationalism, narrating & protesting what happens in this spiral of violence that has been swiftly unleashed in my country. But it must be said that this is nothing new, it has been going on for centuries…
“Those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it.”
Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás
The name PRISIONERO13 is taken from a Fernando de Fuentes Carrau film from 1933, which mainly deals with the corruption of the military elite and its conduct codes. As a project, P13 is the voice of just another citizen that joins the revolt against the role of the army in the infamous and failed war on drugs.
¡NO PASARÁN!
I am currently in the process of creating a project using field recordings in a more industrial (strict/pure) way, the details are not still fully realized. There are currently two P13 albums about to be released: PATRIOTA SUPREMO (L.WHITE RECORDS) SEMBRANDO TERRORISMO (OBRERO, formerly CRIMES AGAINST SKIN)
XIUHCOATL, where I play along with Edwin Arce, Alejandra Fuentes, Héctor Sánchez, Juan Manuel Castillo, Israel Xchell, means FIRE SERPENT in the ancient Náhuatl language. "Xiuhcoatl" was formed in 2008, and it was started with the purpose of fusing organic, experimental and pre-Hispanic American sounds, along with research on different ethnic groups in order to revalue folkloric traditions and languages/dialects. Therefore, by experimenting and using contemporary techniques, Xiuhcoatl was born in order to achieve our own original and histrionic sound. In order to reinforce the performance aspect, we utilize real-time projection of visuals, as well as pre-Hispanic masks and instruments. XIUHCOATL is recording new pieces and also presenting live performances in several parts of the country. Xiuhcoatl as band is generally associated with the folk/ethno genres, and to describe its sound I leave you the link of some home-made demos…
DOOMBOX, with SASCHA ALEXANDER PLEIN, also has a huge “political” content, more focused on “global” situations. Sometimes the degree of “sarcasm” (produced by videos) is so terribly much that it can be taken as a joke…
”A BRUTAL JOKE, JUST LIKE LIFE ITSELF…”
JM: Are there other artists that you feel related to, or which inspire you as an artist?
VD: I do not see myself as being related/involved with the other artists that converge in this scene.
I can say though that I have met great people, my “hermanos del ruido”, people that I have collaborated with or that I have had deep conversations with about noise or art. I mention most of these people in my blog. RESPECT! In terms of inspiration, it’s a very subjective issue. My mind is full of shit, to the degree that a simple conversation or a hard-hitting quote can detonate an entire album. I prefer to feel a personal experience, although I obviously never cease to become moved by other disciplines apart from music. For instance, the SERIAL album, released on 412 Recordings (which was the first physical release)aside from the personal issues, is also greatly based on the film DEAD MAN’S SHOES from SHANE MEADOWS, and it also portrays some of the life of the Mexican serial killer GREGORIO “EL GOYO” CÁRDENAS / “THE TACUBA STRANGLER”. For me the most important thing is not the “subject” of the inspiration per se, but how linked I am to that “subject”, in a personal/delirium-based level.
JM: Any other influences beside music (books, art...)?
VD: Personally, I am much more moved by artists that do not belong to the religion of sound.
Mostly my influences come through films and books, but also through the ancestral sculpture and architecture (MAYAN, AZTEC, BALINESE, EGYPTIAN, etc.), as well as some contemporary styles. Zoophilia/bestiality, sports (common or extreme), serial killers, body modification, natural disasters combined with sexual acts, among others, are key influences as well. “SIN CORRUPCIÓN NO HAY INSPIRACIÓN” / “NO CORRUPTION NO INSPIRATION”
JM: Can you tell me a bit about the equipment you like to use with Vulgar Disease?
VD: I try to keep it simple: My sound movements are destroyed digitally (laptop) o analogically, or a combination of both. I do not reject any “technique”. Everything is done live and in real time. I do not sit down in a chair to “retouch” or perform post-production work. I use second-hand keyboards, a small amplifier, a midi controller, microphones, hammers, oil drums and plastic bins, drills, pieces of metal I find in industrial landfills and a nice pair of balls.
JM: What can you tell me about the artwork you used for your releases (any personal favorites)?
VD: Honestly, all of the artwork from the VD releases is my favorite. I could personally choose the GANGLAND artwork, a photography that my friend Christina Viet took in the Czech Republic. The artwork for ODIO, CAOS Y DESTRUCCIÓN, handmade by Nicola Vinciguerra, it`s a killer. Likewise, the artwork for the ALARMA! album, a collage of the crime tabloid magazine in question, on MURDERABILIA RECORDS. Finally, another good artwork was used in the SERIAL album (412 Recs), the shovel that GREGORIO CÁRDENAS used to bury his victims, a picture taken from an exhibition dedicated to him.I am anxiously waiting for MANUEL PEREIRA’s (NARCOLEPSIA RECS) new artwork for the TESTOSTERONA album; Also the artwork for MÁS CONTAGIOSO QUE EL PECADO, which was carried out by a French brutist (FRANCOISE DUVIVIER/FULBERT DUPONT aka The Damaged Corpse Corporation)… It has several cover/cards shaped like post cards.
JM: You have made quite some releases already, how much time do you spend on making sounds or being an artist and is it your life or just a small part of it?
VD: I see it as my whole life. I dedicate a great amount of time to sound (from production to the ideas that detonate in my head). I have had some personal situations in the past 2 years that have affected my production, and especially my live performance work has greatly diminished as compared to when I originally started. But this has not stopped me. This year marked the fifth anniversary of VD, which pushes me forward to keep harvesting vulgarity for 5 more years. ¡HASTA LA MUERTE CABRONES!
JM: What are the future plans of Vulgar Disease and is there any goal you would like to achieve with this project?
VD: My album “TESTOSTERONA” will be released soon on NARCOLEPSIA. “MÁS CONTAGIOSO QUE EL PECADO” will be released in 2015 on LENGUA DE LAVA.
“GENDERCIDE”, a split album I am working on with EGOGOD, will be self-released. We have invested our time in order to collaborate as a unit in the disc production (artwork design, t-shirts, booklet). This project will be released in 2015. There are also several splits in the works. Some Live dates to perform on my country are on the target. I have also been thinking about playing outside of Mexico, and to play with some noise brothers , preferably the ones i have already collaborated
with, playing in the moon, in the sun, in a cage full of hungry lions… So many goals to achieve yet…
JM: Any last words?
VD: Thanks to Jan Meiner at conflict & Gerardo Alejos at Lengua de Lava [translation].
“TODAY I’M DIRTY, BUT TOMORROW I’LL JUST BE DIRT“
Carl Panzram