One of the best newcomer bands within the doom scene; Procession from Chile. With a 12” vinyl EP and MCD, called “The Cult of Disease”, out on the market the scene was buzzing as this is simply one of the best releases of a new doom metal act. Reason enough to get in touch, although it took a while to get this interview done. No problem for me though as this band deserves your attention. Singer/guitarist Felipe kindly answered our questions.

Hey Felipe, how are you doing?
Hey Pim, thanks for the interest and sorry for the delay on this. Well, we’re actually taking a rest with the band until September, the 2 weeks of touring were really exhausting and I decided to stay in Europe for a while, so… but we actually have at least 4 songs in process for the full length to be recorded by the end of the year.

First let’s start with a short introduction. Can you tell us how Procession was formed and what your intentions are with this band?
Well, there’s a little story about it. Daniel and I have been friends for at least 8 years now, with a lot of beer and metal involved. At some point we had the chance of working together at a bar by the coast of Chile and we started rehearsing after work at the same place, just guitar, bass, loads of beer and loud music. Some structured songs started to see the light and we started looking for a drummer, but none of the ones we tried was the right one. Anyway, after one year of rehearsing I was supposed to get fired and one night, totally drunk, I called Daniel and said “I’m moving to the city in 3 days…we need to record tomorrow, I’ll play the drums” and that’s how we decided to put an end to all this process of not knowing if we were a band or not, we just wanted to make the songs to transcend, at least for us at that point. We already had the name for it; we put the songs on a CD-r and started making copies for friends and stuff. That’s how it reached Carlos from Kuravilu records who finally released the songs on a tape limited to 200 copies. Intentions? Having fun on stage and playing slow, dark and heavy metal music.

What are your main influences when it comes to other bands?
Well, the other side of the story is that, with Daniel, we had the chance in 2006 of organizing the first and only Candlemass gig in Santiago, Chile. It was a small gig, just for 200 fans and I must say that he wasn’t that much into doom metal, but I think that something changed his mind that night haha. I would say that our main influences when composing for Procession are Black Sabbath, Candlemass, Count Raven and all the old doom metal monsters mixed with the structures and melodies of Iron Maiden and the classic NWOBHM bands.

Your first release was the “Burn” demo. What can you tell about those recordings?
As I said before, it was more about conviction and drunkenness haha. I mean, if I had been working at that place for one more month, maybe we would have never recorded the material. The thing is that the morning after the call, we went to the studio with 54 cans of beer and 2 fried chickens and we started rehearsing the songs at the studio, for the first time with drums. It was a good thing that we both had everything pretty clear about the songs, so after 3 hours, we started recording. We made all the strings and drums in one day and, the morning after, we started with the vocals, finishing some lyrics at the same studio, etc. The next day we mixed and mastered everything and that’s it.

There’s a limited edition of that demo on CD-r that has a cover of Ozzy’s ‘Crazy Train’. I guess it’s hard to get now, so will it be made available in any other form in the future?
Yes, a friend of us offered to re-release the tape on a deluxe Digipack CD-r version that contained a T-Shirt, Sticker and Pin (50 copies only!). For that, we went back to the same studio we used for the demo songs and tried to come up with a cover version of something…we were trying our drummer Francisco for the first time, but we hadn’t discussed yet what we were about to record haha. Anyway, I had this song in my head for years as a favourite and I was always trying to make it sound a little bit different when playing it, by changing the scale to a minor one, etc. So I just showed the riffs to the guys, started jamming and by the afternoon we started recording. We made everything in just one day. Sorry, but by now we just prefer to keep it as an exclusive thing for the people who contacted us at that moment. It was our first contact with nice guys from Ireland, UK, Belgium, etc…so that’s for them!

Together with 3 new songs the demo was re-released on a vinyl 12” and CD through Germany’s Iron Kodex. Tell us a bit how you got in touch with them and how the cooperation is so far?
Well, our first demo tape had a really good distribution. Kuravilu was selling/trading it with a lot of underground distros and zines and I think one of those reached Iron Kodex at some point. They offered us a 2 years deal for an EP and a full-length, to be released early next year. Also, they were the ones who organized our first European tour this year and it worked pretty well. All hail the Kodex!

The sales of the 12” went really well, it was sold out quite fast. I guess the CD version is selling well too?
Yes, that was really impressing somehow and was also the cause for them to offer a CD version of it that it’s also selling really well and with pretty good distribution in Europe.

You recently came over to Europe to play at Keep It True and Doom Shall Rise as well as some other shows, some of them in Ireland. How do you look back on those shows?
The highlights were definitely DSR, KIT and the shows in Lille (France) and Dublin/Cork (Ireland). On the festivals, the feedback was amazing and is far the biggest crowds we have played for. Also the chance of sharing beers with some cool guys of the bands that you love and respect is a chance not to be dismissed! And also really inspiring to keep on going with all this…. For the other smaller shows, it was all about having fun, getting to know great people, and drinking cider!

You’ve got a full-length planned as well. Any news on the progress? When can we expect it?
Exactly, in October we start working hard on the demos and stuff. We will probably use another drummer on this one. It is supposed to be released in February 2010. What to expect? Well, we wanted to record the best Epic Doom Metal album of the year, but as far as While Heaven Wept is recording again, it will be difficult hahaha.

Felipe, you are also involved in a new band called Capilla Ardiente. What can you tell about that act? Is there already some material available?
Well, it is a project I have with a good old friend of mine, Claudio Botarro (ex- Poema Arcanus). I can tell you that CA is even older than Procession, I used to work as roadie with his old band and when travelling and stuff we used to listen to Candlemass, Witchfinder General and Solitude Aeturnus while getting drunk haha. Anyway, we had a lot of problems finding members for it so we just asked some friends for cooperation on the drums and the guitar solos. I just play rhythm guitars and vocals on it and Claudio is the composer/bassist. We wanted to create something really epic and obscure, based on an alchemic spiritual concept that Claudio had been working on for a while. 2 songs were recorded in March this year and we made 30 promo copies with a T Shirt that I was spreading like the pest while touring with Procession. The thing is that nothing certain has happened yet, so we are still looking for someone to release that material. Check www.myspace.com/thesecretsoffire

Another band you’re in is Mourners Lament, great doom/death as far as I’m concerned. Is there anything to tell concerning future happenings with that band?
ML is dead. There were always a lot of problems to arrange rehearsals, we didn’t have a stable line up, it was difficult to get good gigs, etc. We started with it in 2003 and an EP was recorded in 2006, released by Descent Productions (Netherlands).

Both Daniel and Francisco are also involved in other bands, any news to tell about those acts?
Daniel was playing for two years with a  band called Dark Templar, they recorded a full-length that was self released in 2006 I guess…he quit the band one year after that. Francisco is actually the drummer and leader in Battlerage, the best Chilean Heavy Metal band. You can get their stuff on Metal On Metal Recs (Germany).

Since you’re from Chile you probably know quite well what’s going on in the scene over there? Any bands we should check out or keep an eye on?
Yes, well I think that Atomic Aggressor has reputation enough on the underground scene. I could name some great bands that have been releasing stuff from some years ago like Unaussprechlichen Kulten, Force Of Darkness, Hades Archer, Communion and Demonic Rage by the most extreme side. Then, I could say Battlerage and Thunder Lord raising the True heavy Metal Flag. And you should also check the new Poema Arcanus stuff, I’m sure it fits your taste!

Okay Felipe, that’s it from my side. Anything else you’d like to add?
Thanks for your support and see you again at the chapel next year, hopefully with more time and less beer in the body. CHEERS!

Yeah, Cheers!