Interview with Mike Cortes, drummer of the American Thrash metal band, Aggravator.
Salutations Mike, how things are going?
Hello Carla, things are pretty awesome. Thanks for asking!
Tell me the little history about Aggravator, when was the band formed.
The band formed in 2008 by me and Derek. We met as skate buddies skating everyday from sun up to sun down. Derek came over one time and saw my drums set up at my house and the rest is history. Started out just messing around, jamming when we could, not really writing material, then it gradually grew into piecing together songs. Eventually the band became more important than skateboarding and that’s all we wanted to do was jam. So eager to start playing live shows, we started out playing gigs as a two piece for a while. Went through a couple of bass players until picking up Jesse and Tristan from another local band, securing the band’s line-up.
The debut album, ”Populace Destructor” was released last year, how the recordings were going?
”Populace Destructor” was recorded last year, however it isn’t our debut album. ”Age of Combat” is actually our debut album that came out in 2012. We initially released it as an EP just to get our music out there, then shortly after Dead Center Productions hit us up and wanted to make it an official release as is. A lot of people think that Populace Destructor is our debut, but ”Age of Combat” is our first official album. A bit confusing I know.
Have you got nice reviews about the album?
Populace Destructor has been getting a lot of great reviews. It has been received very well in the metal community throughout the world. The album was actually included in a “top releases of the week” in Revolver Magazine.
Did you start writing materials for a new album?
Yeah, we actually have the whole new album written, just working on completing guitar leads and bass lines, but the structure with drums and rhythms are complete.
Any influences that inspires you for Aggravator?
I would say that our major influences are Kreator and Slayer, definitely lean more towards the German thrash sound.
Who mainly writes the music and what are the lyrical themes?
Derek writes the structure to all the songs. He comes up with all rhythm guitar and vocal parts which make up the skeleton and main parts of the song. He brings them into the jam room one by one and me and him work on each song adding drums and tweaking things if need be. Then Jesse lays down leads and Tristan adds bass, still tweaking things until the song is complete.
What about concerts? Will you be on stage soon?
Yeah, we are planning some tours to support Populace Destructor soon, including plans to return overseas. We will actually be playing the Housecore Horror Festival coming up November 12th in San Antonio.
And to end this interview, do you have a message for the Aggravator fans?
Keep an eye out for the new album, coming sooner than you think. Thanks for all the continued support, keep banging your head, and we will see you soon!
Cheers Mike and thank you for your time. All the best!
Thnak you. Cheers!
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