Interview: Luis Carlos of The Adversary and producer of Anti-Christ Mass fest

If you're a Houston metalhead who has been at all active (leaving the apartment) during the past decade, you're familiar with shows put on by The Adversary. At these shows, bands start on time, the sound is clear and you're guaranteed to get plenty of local bands for your entertainment dollar. We were fortunate enough to have a few moments to interview the driving force behind The Adversary, Luis Carlos.

When and why did you start The Adversary, and how did you start producing shows?

Adversary Productions started off back in 1995 after I graduated from the Art Institute of Houston with a degree in Music and Video Business. We had a different name back then and it wasn't until later that we changed it to Adversary Productions.

At the time, I was only booking shows for my band, Funeral Rites, up until about 2005 when I decided to put the band on hold and concentrate on more of the home life, allowing me to just focus on booking shows for bands that I had established relationships with through out the years, playing alongside each other and things of the sort. I started producing my own shows with the Anti-Christ Mass back in 1996 and have continued to do it ever since. We also have another annual show that we produce called The Sabbat Fest which usually takes place around Easter weekend.

Adversary Productions was started in order to help out underground bands that weren't established to play live in front of their target audience which was something that wasn't around at the time. Clubs back then didn't know what this type of music was about since it was still new, so they wouldn't book these kind of bands. I wanted to help and provide that sort of service to the extreme underground death and black metal scene that no one wanted to deal with since there was no one else around to do it.

You also co-chair a radio program on KPFK with Bill "Master" Bates. For how long have you been doing this? What kind of material do you present?

I was a usual guest on his show at KPFT up until just recently when they moved his program up to an earlier time slot. Work will be keeping me from going there now, but I've known him and his program since about the mid-90s. He would allow me to bring our demos or new releases and play them on the air for us. Now I help keep him informed with all the news and happenings on shows and local bands that I keep in touch with. We also do ticket giveaways and I help out with their fund drive since it's a listener-sponsored radio station. As far as material goes, I forward him all the music from the touring bands that contact me to book their shows here in Houston before they come through to help generate interest in them beforehand.

Do you think underground metal is doing as well as it did in the early 1990s, or has it gone another way? Is the music similar or has it evolved?

I think it's probably doing better than it was in the early 90s. Back then, all we had was tape trading, and that was via postal mail. Now, with the advanced technology of the internet, everyone has easier access to bands and their music via on-line. Not much need for a middle man as long as you're out there doing the legwork yourself, which I believe is not only necessary but crucial if you want to be noticed, or recognized, or even remembered for that matter.

The music itself has evolved from all the sub-genres that emerged from the basic death, black metal elements that we're used to. It's gotten more technical, more brutal, more intense. The possibilities now are endless as to what the music can be like. Musicians can record music on to their computer, email it out to another member across the globe, have their input, and it continues on and on until the final product is finished which is something that couldn't have been done 15-20 years ago. At least not by the average young underground kid wanting to form a band. So, yes, it has evolved, but it's still underground and metal.

Your productions are famous for being well-organized and punctual. What are the hardest aspects of putting on a metal show, and how do you work around them?

Thanks for the compliment and I would say the hardest aspect of putting on a metal show is finding the right people to work with that want to have a successful show. Luckily, we have been fortunate enough to work with bands that understand how much work goes in to having a show, which in turn is giving them an opportunity to sell themselves and their music to the audience that they have helped make possible as well. Along with that, having the right venue for the type of event we're having at the moment helps as well.

The sound guy is always the most crucial element of the show when we do this too. He usually knows what kind of sound we need, or the attitudes that new bands give is not a problem to him and he helps out with working out any kind of issues the band is having on stage or what ever. Having a good sound guy that understands the underground really helps. Aside from that, trying to find new places to post up posters and hand out flyers at is sometimes a challenge, but that's just part of being a part of the night life, which eventually becomes tiresome. Luckily there's the internet for that.

What are you listening to now? Are any of these Houston bands?

I listen to as much local music as I can, when I can. Bands hand me their demos and I listen to them and push them on the radio as much as possible. New bands that have formed here in the last year or two such as Venomous Supremacy, Sculpting Atrocity, Elder Gods, Abyssus Daedalus, Spectral Manifest, Owlwitch, Nodens, Nemontemi, Axis In Collapse, Oceans of Slumber, the list of local bands goes on and on. I try to listen to as much of it when I can. I'm a big AngelCorpse fan, so I'm keeping up with Blasphemic Cruelty, Revenge, Perdition Temple, stuff like that. Anything those guys put out I try and keep up with.

How do you fit all of this activity into a normal life schedule, with family and work and whatnot? Do you sleep at all?

Nah, I don't sleep much, really, but you definitely have to have a balance of things. First things first, and that's the home. If the home isn't taken cared of, then nothing else will be either. That's how I've always looked at. That's why I stopped the band back in '05. I had to step back from practicing and playing live with the band all the time and start seeing my family for a change. Family members were passing away and that made me realize that I had been gone for too long.

As far as a normal life schedule goes, I work a normal job. 40 hours a week, mainly at night. In the daytime I spend time with my son and we go out together putting up posters and flyers. Luckily the wife is supportive and helps out with her web skills and keeps the on-line part of the company together for me. I'm constantly on the phone talking with bands, or venues, or anyone that has something to do with what we have going on here to keep things afloat. It's a part of the normal schedule now, just like it has been for as long as I can remember. It's just another day I guess.

If you had to name the bands that started underground metal, what would they be?

When I was growing up, here in Houston, the underground consisted mainly with bands like Dead Horse, Malignant Terror, Dark Reign, Crucifixion, Imprecation. These were the bands that I knew of here that were doing their thing. Of course there was Wild Rags Records and Earache signing a lot of new up and coming bands back then, such as Nuclear Death, Morbid Angel, Suffocation, Pestilence, etc. but the real underground goes back to the 80s with Venom, Kreator, Celtic Frost, bands that I was still a bit too young for at the time but I eventually knew of them. They really laid down the foundation for all future underground metal bands that emerged and succeeded after them. Hails to them!

What makes Houston unique as a city for metalheads? It seems to have a different vibe than other cities. Are things done differently here?

I really don't know. Probably because I don't know what vibes other cities have or how things are done outside of here, I guess. But the metalheads here can't be fooled by fake poser bands. They let them know that they're not liked, that's for sure. That's why the bands that we book at Adversary Productions have to have that special "no b.s" quality because the audience knows when it's not pure metal. I think people here know what they like, and if it isn't what they want, then they don't pay attention to it at all, but if they do like it, then they return and come back begging for more. They're very loyal to the underground, just as the underground is loyal to them.

Please feel free to throw in a mention of any other projects, upcoming events, releases or activities that Houston metalheads would like to read about.

Thanks. Outside of this, I would like to add that Funeral Rites is back with two new members, Tony Rich on bass guitar, and Aldo Guerra on the drums. Lazaro Sanchez is still the vocalist and I am the only guitarist at this time. John "Hate" Ramos has a few projects bands in the works and we wish him the best. Hopefully he can find his way back to us when ever he's done doing what he has to do in life to get here. This year's Anti-Christ Mass XIV will be held on December 17th at Mango's Cafe on Westheimer with Serpentis, Goatcraft, Demonic Destruction, Legions of Hoar Frost, and Chaos Aeon. More info on all this can be found at TheAdversary.org or FuneralRites.net.