Ruinkrôs Interview

1.What is the name of your band and how did you come up with it?

What is your name and what do you do for the band?

The name of the band is Ruinkrôs pronounced “Ruin Cross”. The name derived from the term, "It is the cross I bear". As artists, we feel that we wear our suffering and pain around our necks and on our chest like a crucifix. We are just lucky enough to be able to express our pain through our music. So, we came up with Ruinkrôs to show the world what ruins us.

Ruinkrôs is a two-member band featuring brothers Abel “Shade” Martinez on vocals and Elias James Sworn on synths, guitar, bass, drum programming, sampling, and producing.

2.Tell us where you are based and describe the scene. How do you think where you are located influences your sound.

Ruinkrôs was conceived while Hellbound Studios was active out of Edinburg, TX but we have temporarily set up camp in Donna, Tx which is now Origin Sound Studios. We have built a place for us to conspire and create music on a much grander scale.

I think our location most definitely influences our sound via our culture's raw energy. We feel very connected to our native roots here. Our 2nd single "VVitch" was especially motivated by curandismo. We feel it in our blood.

3.Who influences your sound that would surprise people?

Oh man. This is a very hard question to answer. We are influenced by bands such as Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, Iron Maiden, Judas Preist, NIN, Depeche Mode, KMFDM, Ulver and especially early 90's Black Metal. We are inspired by film score. Several of our songs have a heavy score work woven into electronic beats. We also can't deny groups like Mazz and La Mafia who used the synth as a lead instrument.

But, to answer your question fully, what would probably surprise people the most is that people like Franco from Wizard Wolf, Joe Dan Delarosa from Severance, Jamie Martinez from Belligerency, and Robert Canales from Unholy Desecration deeply inspire us. Bands like Blast Perversion, Twin Tribes, Pantheon, and Dezorah spark something in me and every time I get to see them live I find myself in the studio right after. The list would go on and on. Visionaries like Robert Hahn too. Producers like Joshua Lopez from Widowmaker Studios and Charlie Vela from Casa Panchita Studios put me in awe each time they post something on their social media pages. It's the entire scene. I take something from everyone I involve myself with. I'm constantly learning from everyone. We have an amazing gamut of musicians evolving down here. Soon it'll be like Austin where?

4.Are you endorsed by musical companies , if so who , and if not who would you like to be endorsed by?

We are currently not endorsed by any musical companies at the moment but it would be an honor to have future endorsements from Korg, Arturia, and/or Roland. Those are the companies we’ve invested in over the last few years. A "blessing" from the keeper of the Vatican book vaults would be nice too.

5.When you started what was your ultimate goal? And how close to the goal are you now?

Well, our musical journey started about 20 years ago as a Black Metal band named Of Forsaken Divinity. Our goal at the time was just about the same as any other band. We wanted to get signed and tour. At about 5 years into our musical endeavor, Myspace came out and changed the game for us. At the time we were playing live almost every weekend. From house parties to venues like Koolie’s, Tejano Saloon, Bar Rock, and the famous Trenton Pointe. Myspace opened us up to a larger demographic and managed to reach a gentleman by the name of Dave Pybus who is the former bass player for Anathema but most notably, Cradle of Filth. He had just started a label called Six Six Six Records. We had started conversing about possibly joining his label. He featured our band on his website and added us to his radio station rotation. Then, at the height of our career, band drama caused us to falter, and all was lost. I found myself alone with the band name and had to rebuild. That’s when my brother, Abel, joined as vocalist and I took over all other instruments. We've released 5 albums together along the way as OFD. That eventually turned into Ruinkrôs. Now, our goal is to play live and bring dark electronic music to the Texas live scenes. Then, to eventually, one day, get into scoring films.

6.In today's digital environment it takes creative strategy to keep things moving. What creative ideas do you have to keep your band relevant over time?

Well, thanks to Confused Records, we’ve been accessible worldwide via streaming services like Spotify, iTunes, Tidal, and YouTube. We have 3 singles out at this time. I think that releasing singles helps get the hype going. It builds anticipation. What I personally like to do is share practice videos of us in the studio writing the songs that will be featured on the full-length album, “The Symmetry of Suffering”. This strategy allows people to get an inside view of all the work that’s going into making this album. It seems that keeping the public involved in the entire process really helps develop an emotional investment and intrigue.

7.We've all seen a terrible live band that is awesome on CD. Is that cool with you or do you lose respect for bands that cannot pull it off live?

That is my biggest fear right now. Transposing Ruinkrôs from a studio band to a live act will be a challenging task. We have multiple layers of synths, drum triggering, and intricate looping on the songs. I’m having to condense my entire studio into several synths to play live. It’ll still be a large rig on stage, but still, I’m a little worried about replicating so much sound at once. So, I have respect for ambitious bands that go all out on an album and have to hire extra live members to help. As of right now, even though there are other local musicians interested in playing live with us, it’ll only be my brother and I pulling everything off.

8.Tell us your “core” are you Metal , Rock , Punk , Pop etc because people just have to categorize these days you know?’

Well, we like to call our style of music “KVLT WAVE”. We are a dark electronic group influenced by Metal. I don’t know how to begin to even categorize ourselves, to be honest. We are sonic nomads, wandering the musical spectrum, lurking in the dark. We are free of any genre constrictions.

9.This is a tough question but a very real reality, Is your band actually talented or just popular? Many bands make it with a cliche or publicity stunts etc. Would you accept fame even if it was just because of being the “ in” thing or is it actually important to you that you gain favor with talent?

This is a great question. Both my brother and I are multi-instrumentalists with at least 25 years of experience under our belts. Not to mention that we produce our own albums as well as create most of the artwork for our releases. Talent is subjective to me personally, but I’d like to think we’ve managed to stay relevant in the scene, considering we don’t play live, because of our dedication to our respective craft. We’ve gone as far as to adding hidden images into our music that when played through a Spectrogram, you can see the hidden messages we’ve woven into the track. We take our music very seriously and strive to put out quality and original work. What we’re doing with Ruinkrôs is definitely not “in” right now because I strongly believe we are breaking ground on a new subgenre of music. We are unkown. We don’t fit perfectly on any musical spectrum yet. I don’t favor bands that make it big solely based on imagery or controversy unless their music overshadows the hoopla. Idk, my brother and I like to make music. It's as simple as that. We don't aspire to be the next big thing. We only want to be able to continue doing what we love doing and to share it with like-minded individuals.

10.Tell us what to expect from you live. Nothing is more boring than watching bands stare at the floor and bob their heads to music nobody but the band knows. What can your band offer in a live setting that people will remember?

Our live rig consists of about 13 synths and several percussion modules, visual graphics that will coincide with our playlist, drone & score work like orchestral movements, horror movie samples, and operatic vocals with some black metal implementations. Idk, I hope we can make people dance too!

11. What releases have you put out , When will we see something new?

We have 3 singles out at the moment via Confused Records on Spotify, iTunes, and Tidal. “No Safe Passage”, “VVitch”, and “Necromachina”. These songs, although having their own individual meaning lyrically, they also explore the aspects of mental illness such as anxiety, depression, and PTSD. We are strong advocates for mental illness awareness.

Our full-length album, "The Symmetry of Suffering" will feature all 3 singles plus an additional 6 tracks. I think last time I checked we clocked it at bout 42 minutes and 42 seconds. It will be relased by Confused Records.

12. If you have videos where can we see them?

 

We have some DIY videos on Youtube and are in pre-production planning on filming an official music video / mini-film that’ll be used as a live intro.

13.Everybody has Bandcamp , ReverbNation , Soundcloud , etc

Why do you think this is so important? Doesn't it seem like everyone is giving everything out for free?

It’s a tough industry right now. It seems that almost everyone has a band these days. It’s a sign of the times. Due to that, I have no issue with giving out music for free in hopes of them buying the full album when available. It’s also a great way to connect with people from all over the world. I’m all for it.

14.Best moment of your career so far?

This right here. Having our music reach a huge amount of listeners on the Q94.5 is honestly one of the most amazing feelings and opportunities we've ever had. We've spent so many years under the radar, making music deep in the underground. We are excited to bring something new to our scene. It's time.

15.Your message to the fans?

First off I’d like to say that we appreciate the overwhelming response towards Ruinkrôs. When we decided to step outside of the Black Metal realm, we expected some backlash from those who have been following us. To our surprise, it’s been a hit with many metalheads throughout Texas and we look forward to crossing over into the Goth / Industrial scene as well. Secondly, I’d like to dedicate these songs to all the RAZA out there fighting the good fight. To those that are echando le ganas surviving this crazy world. Self-care and seek help if you find yourself going down that dark path of suicidal ideations. We're loosing too many loved ones to desparity.

Bonus Question who do you bring back

Dime , Cliff , Dio , Lemmy , Randy

Lol, only DIO is real.