Hello and thanks for this opportunity. My name’s Waldo Rocha and I am the rhythm guitarist and one of the founding members of Nethermost. The band started out originally as a 2 piece recording project consisting of Cinthya Rocha, my wife on lead guitars and myself in mid 2009 here in Laredo, Texas. Being so close to the border with Mexico we soon had the opportunity to jam with old time friends and members from several acts in Nuevo Laredo and we managed to maintain a solid lineup for almost a year. At that time we spent most of our time together writing songs and drinking exceptional quantities of alcohol which helped us find new ways to gather the inspiration to write material. A demo was recorded in those drunken days in Mexico but it never saw the light of day because sadly, the band needed to take a break shortly after due to several factors. It was until more than a year later, in 2011 to be more precise, that the band went back to the very basic lineup it started with and hit the studio to record “Alpha”, our first official EP but this time we contacted our long time friend John Johnston for the vocal duty. This, of course marked a new era for us not only sonically but philosophically. 

To tell you the truth, we were very, very tired of the same old blast beats in extreme music back in the day and we wanted to create sounds more appealing to the soul more than anything else and at the same time to be able to share the very same energy that dwelled in our hearts during live performances. Don’t get me wrong, I am a big fan of fast music but sometimes you need to go back to the womb only to come out with that spark that inspires your inner self to find the specific kind of sound and style your heart has been longing for. It is all about filling the void. Sometimes life is just noise upon noise and you just need a rest to think and analyze what’s happening on the inside and you always need to find clever ways to keep breathing at all costs. Nethermost is all about escaping from this false reality we live in and explore new ways to stay connected with the universe using the music and lyrics as a medium to be in a constant state of bliss. 

3. What would you consider to be the high point of your career so far? 

We still have a long way to go but we take this first release as a great accomplishment. So far being able to get together and put our consciousness in the same channel to create these soul touching melodies is what I’d consider to be the highest point or climax for Nethermost. I always say that if you are pushing yourself too much to put something together for example a piece of music, you are already staying away from what the self is dictating you to do as everything should go smooth and almost effortless to leave the spirit roam around and find the right language to speak for himself and be heard. The band goes by this doctrine with every single track we write together and it works wonderfully. 

Old, old, old... 

1.- Old Katatonia

2.- Old Amorphis

3.- Old Paradise Lost 

You could also add Cemetary, Enchantment, Tiamat, Anathema, My Dying Bride and the list goes on and on for days... 

Right now the “Alpha” EP is scheduled to be out in early 2013 through Hypnotic Dirge Records, Canada and we are very excited about it. It is always a pleasure working with dedicated individuals like Nick that put aside the monetary interest in favour of independent artists. These times the list tends to go shorter and shorter when it comes to honest labels but HDR truly follows a noble cause and I am very glad we got to seal a deal with him. 

We are also working on our full length debut album and everything is beginning to fall into place with it. We’ve got all the time in the world to shape it so we are not worried about a release date at all. There’s always constant flow of musical ideas pumping through our brains but you can only make a carbon copy of them when the mood is right. We always feel we don’t want to spoil anything by simply writing the music just for the sake of recording tracks and staying in the game. Sometimes we jam on tracks that come but never stay as we find out they have been written in the wrong state of mind. 

If you’d like to listen to a sample from our upcoming EP please feel free to visit our Bandcamp page. I hope you enjoy the ride...