COFFIN TEXTS HAS BEEN AROUND SINCE 1994. ARE YOU PLEASED TO SEE THE BAND LAST THIS LONG? WHAT HAS BEEN THE MOTIVATION FOR YOU GUYS SINCE CREATING THIS BAND?

Yes, it has been a long time. We've been together in other bands, our vocalist/bass player Bobby Cardenas and guitarist Richard Gonzalez in Entety, and Bobby and me in Nocturnal Fear, and now it's paying off. Our motivation is doing it for METAL, and just getting behind the drum kit gets me crazy. That's my motivation. And I couldn't see myself doing this without a great couple of guys like Bobby and Richard.

IT HAS BEEN THE SAME MEMBERS OF COFFIN TEXTS SINCE THE BEGINNING. DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF MORE OF A BROTHERHOOD NOW?

Of course! We're beyond brothers. We share and think the same. Even when we were in Entety and Demolition, my other previous band, we shared the same bond. The metal that we play brings us all together. Even now that we're in Coffin Texts, it's full-throttle BRUTALITY!

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN PLAYING DRUMS FOR? WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO PLAY DRUMS RATHER THAN ANY OTHER INSTRUMENT?

Actually, I wanted to be a bass player because of John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin. A friend of the family that I've known for years, Channing Estrada (bass player for Killingfield), asked me what kind of bass I would like to play. I told him I wanted to play a Marshall bass, and he told me Marshall doesn't make basses, they make amplifiers. I didn't know any better, I was 8 years old. I have two older brothers that play percussion. Every so often, I would get behind the kit and wail on the skins. From then on John Bonham was my god. I learned how to read and write percussion music in junior high and high school, but I've been playing since I was 8 years old - about 23 years now.

YOU RECENTLY RELEASED A CD ON DWELL RECORDS. CAN YOU TELL THE VIEWERS A BIT ABOUT THIS RELEASE?

This release was actually taken from the masters we recorded in November of '95, which we also used for what people refer to as our demo, but was actually an EP released on cassette only. Due to an unexpected work injury with our guitarist Richard Gonzalez, we re-mastered our '95 recording and released it in April with two cover tunes, Slayer's "Crypts of Eternity" and Black Sabbath's "Disturbing the Priest". The nature of this album celebrates and acknowledges the unliving beyond past times, be it the ancient Egyptian or pre-Columbian eras, including the Aztec, Maya, and Inca, which we'll probably explore further.

YOUR BIO ONLY MENTIONS ONE DEMO RELEASED, AND THAT WAS BACK IN 1995. WERE THERE NO OTHER DEMOS/PROMOS RELEASED?

As I was saying, we recorded our masters in November of '95 and self-released a cassette EP in the Summer of '96, which we had available while touring the Southwest with Infamy. We made a few hundred copies and that's the only EP/demo/promo we released. We re-mastered that same recording for our debut album "Gods of Creation, Death, and Afterlife", and we did have a limited number of promo copies made, but they were mainly used for reviews. Our bio was outdated for a long time, but we've since updated it. You can check it out at www.deathmetal.com/coffin.

SPEAKING OF DEMOS, BACK IN 1995, IN MY OPINION THERE WERE MANY BANDS RELEASING DEMOS AROUND THAT TIME. HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO PUSH COFFIN TEXTS ABOVE SOME OF THOSE OTHER BANDS, WHO SADLY TO SAY AREN'T AROUND ANYMORE, OR ARE STILL STRUGGLING TO GET RECORD LABEL CONTRACTS?

We were very fortunate that Jerry Battle from Dwell Records took an interest in us. He helped us get signed and really got our name out. We also went on the independent tour with Infamy in '96 to push our music.

OK, BACK TO YOUR CD. THE COVER REMINDS ME A LOT OF WHAT NILE IS DOING ON THEIR COVERS. WHAT ARE COFFIN TEXTS LYRICS ABOUT? HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT WHAT NILE IS DOING AS FAR AS THIER STYLE, AND LYRICAL CONTENT?

We write more about the spiritual aspects of life and death, not necessarily all Egyptian. Nile writes more about war, slavery, Ramses, and things like that. Nile is a great band. I have no problem with what they do, but we do get asked a lot.

HOW HAVE THE SALES & RESPONSES BEEN FOR THE NEW CD? I'M SURE VERY GOOD, EVERYBODY I KNOW LOVES THAT FUCKIN CD!!!!

As far as I've heard, sales have been doing good. We've sold enough to cover expenses, and the response to our CD has been good. We get a lot of e-mails from Poland and the Czech Republic, but we're not licensced in Europe as of yet, but we're working on it.

RECENTLY YOU WENT ON A TOUR WITH SKINLESS & INCANTATION. HOW DID YOU GET HOOKED UP ON THAT TOUR, AND WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS OF HOW THIS TOUR WENT FOR YOU GUYS?

John McEntee from Incantation is the one who contacted Dwell Records. Originally, it was going to be Incantation, Vital Remains, and Skinless, but Vital Remains dropped out of the tour. John has seen us play in L.A. a few times, and he believed in us and thought we could fit the bill. The tour seemed promising, and we saw it as a great opportunity to promote our CD. Our music got a good response, especially at the Ohio Death Festival. The Bottleneck in Lawrence, KS was a good show too, but after a few weeks, we had to drop out due to financial reasons. Overall, it was great going out on tour, thanks to John. It was great meeting Richard Christy, who filled in on drums for Incantation. And as for Skinless, those guys are our new East Coast allies. They're great to party with and they kick ass on stage.

ARE THERE ANY MORE PLANS FOR ANOTHER TOUR?

Not right now. We're just doing shows here and there. We got a couple offers for some shows, one in New York and one in Phoenix. There are talks of us going down to Brazil, but nothing confirmed.

ONE THING THAT GOT MY ATTENTION, LIKE MY BAND, IS THAT YOU ARE ALL MEXICAN! DO YOU THINK THAT THERE ARE A LOT OF TALENTED HISPANIC PEOPLE IN THE UNDERGROUND?!?!

Oh yes, definitely. In L.A., most of the underground bands are either all Hispanic or mostly Hispanic. Infamy, Sadistic Intent, Engrave, Sepsism. I myself am half Mexican and half Navajo. The guys in Armored Saint were guys we looked up to growing up. So was Tom Araya from Slayer and Juan Garcia from Agent Steel.

DID YOU EAT ANY MEXICAN FOOD WHILE IN TEXAS? IF SO, WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FOOD IN CA TO TX?

Yeah, we did eat Mexican food in Texas. We ordered take-out Mexican food in Austin, where we stayed with our guitarist Richard's cousin, and it was pretty much the same as in California. We didn't have much choice but to eat mostly fast food or truck stop food while on the road.

OK MARCE, THAT'S ALL FOR NOW. CARE TO MAKE ANY FINAL COMMENTS....

Thanks a lot Aaron. Sorry it took so long to get the answers back to you. If anybody out there wants to get on our mailing list, e-mail your info to coffintexts2112@hotmail.com, and in the subject line please put Mailing List. We have shirts available through our website, again it's www.deathmetal.com/coffin. Our CD is available through www.dwellrecords.com. Please come check us out live, and if you see us, come talk to us. We like talking to our fans and friends. See ya and horns up!

Coffin Texts
1776 Albion St.
Los Angeles, CA 90031

coffintexts2112@hotmail.com