Underbase is a fairly new band which is releasing their debut CD this month on September 23, 2011. I was fortunate enough to do an interview with their singer, Dominic Valecillo & it was awesome!! Thank you very much!! :) -Mikki 9/11

Dominic: Hey there, thank YOU!

DML: Your debut album, "A Lifetime for One Monment", is coming out on September 23? That must be really exciting! Can you tell us what style of music we can expect & where it will be available?

Dominic: Well... after years of doing crossover and metal I wanted to do something really else and might be something thats kinda old-fashioned. A part of the alternative music of the early 90's, which is today dubbed 'industrial rock', was my role model for this and most of the songs sound like this indeed.

It will be available in stores all over Europe - but we are added to Celldweller's FIXT Store soon and so our album will be available worldwide indeed, yeah.

DML: Sweet!! So your CD's will be in most stores in Germany? That's pretty cool but being able to get them worldwide is even better!! But you said old fashioned alternative 90's style music.. what kind of influences might we hear..

Dominic: It started when I watched the movie "Seven" with Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman. This movie is full with these sounds and I received some kind of retro-flash by watching and listening and I noticed how much I liked this music back in these days. Most of these bands never made it really big, like Gravitiy Kills or Machines of Loving Grace - who had a very remarkable track in "The Crow", for example and last, but not least, I'm a huge Fan of Filter and the Stone Temple Pilots as well.

DML: They all have their fans though..

Dominic: For sure and sometimes better late than never. hahaha.

DML: So they are your main influences then?

Dominic: Yes indeed.

DML: Cool! So I hear there will be a CD release party & the entry fee = FREE!! Tell us more!!

Dominic: Yes its starting next Saturday! - its going to be rad! We bought and made tons of new parts for our lightshow, new merchanidse and of course the cd will be sold there this evening over a week earlier than to the official release date.

DML: Nice!! What kind of merchandise? & it's somewhere in Kiel, right?

Dominic: Yes, it's in our hometown Kiel. Well we just have the usual stuff - new shirts, buttons, stickers and so on.

DML: Ok.. I'd like to know more about the band.. you've been together now for 2 years? How did you all hook up, what is everyone's musical past, well, generally, lol, AND what part do you all play in the creation of the music you play?

Dominic: Boah.. thats a long story.

okay.. Our guitarist Neverman and me were in a band called Pesticide and about to make it big but the dream was over - as fast as it began but I was not done with music yet. I planned to make a new band with a more .. mainstream sound than before that is not just noticed by a younger audience so we both together did the first three songs. Meanwhile we were looking for a complete band. Seth was selling the merchandise for Pesticide before and asked to join the band. He never played an instrument or had really serious ambitions to lead a band but he worked as a DJ before and so he was qualified to do the samples. Jona (Sir Pryce) and me were together in a band called Scars and Stripes nearly a decade ago. He is a real good guy to work with, he is complaining a lot but most of his opinions are really helpful.

DML: Haha

Dominic: TLEE (Bass) and me were classmates in school in the late 80s when he asked to join the band he was still bassplayer for the band 4tune8 but completely cancelled the band soon. Only Andy (drums) is totally new to us because he immigrated a couple of years ago from South Africa.

DML: Wow, that's cool that you all basically are all friends from a long time back.. I know you write the lyrics mostly & sing.. who writes the music? Is it collaborative or..

Dominic: Indeed I do most of the stuff. I write the lyrics, write most of the music, create the samples and I'm doing all the other stuff like the website, the artwork and the videos and the merchandise as well. You see it's a lot to do :S

DML: Wow! That IS a lot of work! Hopefully everyone else will start helping more.. I was going to ask if your various backgrounds brought you a lot of pre-made supporters but.. do you have fans from previous projects or are most of them new to you?

Dominic: Just a few - especially most of the Pesticide fans from around the area are NOT into my new music, maybe it's too different.

DML: But it isn't that different.. but ok... so you've been playing around a bit, is it mostly in your local area or have you branched out some across Germany or even further?

Dominic: Well we have a small but growing fan community from all over Germany and from the US. Of course some of the old fans who never saw us live are curious and write us. One of our most extraordinary contacts so far is from Texas with the band "Seive", which features the original bass player of FILTER for example - really interesting and nice.

DML: So could you play in Texas?????? That'd be AMAZING though crazy expensive of course..

Dominic: Unfortunately too expensive. lol. We surely could but right now this is still fiction.

DML: Shame! But where in Germany have you played? Just locally or festivals or..?

Dominic: We started in the bigger city of Hamburg, had a few shows there in different locations, made support slots for one or two bigger bands and most of the shows we did yet were here in town. Especially this year we played something about 4 times just in this city here. When the next Saturday is over it's enough to play here and then we MUST go to see other places haha

DML: Does that mean a tour? Or just a desire to promote?

Dominic: Both. Well a tour could be difficult to plan so shortly but I hope we're going to do that soon.

DML: Really?? Nice!! Is Coast Rock paying for some of that? I forgot to ask how you got together with them in the first place.. & I never understood how people with jobs go on tour.. lol

Dominic: Haha, no I dont think that our label has the 'firepower' to pay for that.

Well getting onboard there was funny. I made a very short demo before, wrote them a mail and told who I am and what I did before and that I'm in need of a label. They were interested and a few months later, when we had a first demo with 4 tracks, we met again, talked about what's possible and what's not and we were in.

So.. we had two years to write a complete album and to record it which was not easy and now its done :))

DML: That reminds me of when you first started - you had an idea to make a darkly themed album called "The Mothman Prophecy" & it never came to pass.. what changed your mind on that & do you still plan on making something like that for the future?

Dominic: Yes, it was planned to be a kind of concept album and I wanted to finish it very fast, somewhen in late 2009. A few tracks on the album we have today were made for this former storyline - for example the songs "Lost in Space", "Seize the Day" and "Duster" but doing a concept album took so much freedom of the writing progress - so I abandoned this idea.

DML: So why did you give up on it?

Dominic: I did not really give up - I just changed the story. Most of the tracks are still about death though, haha

DML: Nothing wrong with that!! But that does conveniently bring me to my next question.. the video for "Duster".. what does the word "duster" mean in relation to the song & who is that woman supposed to be & is that really an octopus because, if it is, shouldn't it be in water?

Dominic: HAHAHA Duster is a wordgame.

Duster is the German word for darkness and the song just sounds a little bit 'dusty', the humming flies and so on. When we wrote the track we always talked about the song that is so 'duster' in comparison to the other tracks and so we stayed with this name. The woman in the video is supposed to be a ghost, wearing a squid on top lol - no I'm just kidding. She is a ghost that is haunting the band a little.

DML: She's a very dark & visible ghost.

Dominic: Not visible for the band.

DML: But how is she haunting them & why?? Ok, just why?

Dominic: Lol, well the song is about someone who is reading the obituary and learns about the death of someone he/she knew..

DML: "Reading the lines they talk about you"...

Dominic: What kind of relationship ever has been before between them both. Yes, exactly.

DML: And the octopus??

Dominic: You and your octopus. lol.

DML: Am I mistaken? Ok, guess there was no octopus then.. moving on.. lol

Having been together for 2 years.. what are some of your best & worst experiences?

Dominic: Worst experience was playing with Ektomorf.

DML: Why?

Dominic: the bandmembers were okay so far but their crew treated us like shit. I experienced nearly the same when supporting Exilia from Italy, but that's business :/

DML: What'd they do?

Dominic: Ah, just the usual stuff.

DML: I don't know what the the usual stuff is..lol

Dominic: Keeping us out from backstage area, don't sharing the band-food.

DML: Even if you're playing??

Dominic: Telling us to get out of the concert hall and so on.

DML: Wow & why do they do this??

Dominic: Well we were just a support act. I think its pretty normal. A bad but precious experience.

DML: Hmm.. ok.. sounds kind of lame though..

Dominic: Yes, that's true. Best experience.. hmm, let me think about it. I think the whole excitement that comes with making a new band is the best experience at all

DML: When all the music starts to feel right?

Dominic: Exactly

DML: Yeah.. I imagine it is actually quite hard to have a band.. is this working pretty well for everyone & do you have thoughts for the future or just living it day by day?

Dominic: No, it's all good and we're really going to get it on now! :)

DML: Gonna get it on? What are you already working on?

Dominic: Doing a second album. We have tons of new material

DML: Awesome!! I really can't wait for the 23'rd.. will the album be out then everywhere or just in Germany?

Dominic: I'm not sure but i think Germany first

DML: Ok!! I'll wait as long as it takes & the t-shirt looks awesome too!! Great job!! I think I'm out of questions though.. do you have anything to add? & many thanks!! :)

Dominic: Just that I am really proud not to have created another overrated EMO-Metalcore Band. hahahaha Thank you so much! :)

DML: Haha!! You weren't overrated before.. You're great! Keep being awesome & listen to you soon!! :)

Dominic: I'll give my best. Wish me a lil portion of luck and everything will be fine.

DML: I wish you a lot of luck, just don't let it get wasted.

The mystery of the octopus was eventually solved, btw!!

Dominic: Ah, it's no octopus - it's the Pesticide doll the artist from Los angeles made. A red baby-like figurine with goggle eyes and screws in its head.

DML: It's way bigger than I thought.. I thought she just made like little voodoo type doll things.. lol

Dominic: You can see it more clearly in the end of the video. No it's really large.

DML: Thank you for clearing that up & thanx for the interview!! It was very fun :) If you live in Germany please go look for "A Lifetime for one Moment" by Under[base] on September 23, 2011 & the rest of us should go to Celldweller's FIXT Store & get it there but definitely buy it! It's going to be awesome!!!! :)

More at:

• Official
• Under[base] on Facebook