Six Magics Interview
Doctor T of the Sonic Cathedral staff talks with members of Six Magics about their music and the events surrounding the terrible earthquakes in Chile in early 2010. 
Doctor T: Well, before we get to the music, I think our readers would like to know a little about events in Chile, how is everything since the quake, how are you getting along?
Erick: All the things are getting better, but some aftershocks continue appearing. This is a little bit psychotic, because every time you feel the earth moves, you think in another big earthquake; and this is very unpleasant because you remember this horrible event all the time.
Doctor T: How did the events effect people in the band personally, I know several of you are teachers, they mush have had an effect on you and the children you work with.
Erick: Well I’m a teacher at the university and Elizabeth teaches teenagers but yes, in the band we had a very strong feeling of gratitude to be alive, and with no damage. I think all of us stopped our normal life trying to understand what we had just lived through. It was terrible to see all the people suffering and that makes you change your mind. As a band this made us to feel closer, we had lived through another tragedy recently when Elizabeth was detected with cancer we supported each other everyday...it was a tragedy for us…we suffered a lot for her...Now she’s fine and to live another event like this, obviously where the country is affected makes us feel closer again.
Doctor T: I understand you returned from Germany just a few hours before the quake. That must have been quite an experience.
Erick: Yeah! It was awful, we returned from the paradise directly to the hell!! I thought that this day could be the last day of my life. I live in a 7th floor. Could you imagine how I experienced this event? I still don’t know how my apartment could resist after that. But the most important thing was all the people that I know are fine. My family, friends, Chilean fans of Six Magics, etc.
Doctor T: I have a close friend who was there during the earthquake. He says things were much worse in other parts of the country. He had friends and business activities in Concepcione, for instance. How did events in those locations effect you, or did they?
Elizabeth: It was really hard. At the beginning we didn’t know the dimension of the tragedy and when we saw the damage it had caused, it was absolutely terrifying...we have played in those areas and immediately you think about the fans and friends you have there...so we started trying to contact them and see how they were then… Now we know the government id supporting the area but it’s never enough I think…the country is going better and I’m sure good things will come soon..
Doctor T: Are you involved in any of the activities to work with those who suffered from the quakes, either personally or as a band?
Erick: Well, we collaborated with donations to all damage people. We made all that we could! In fact, this month Six Magics will play in a concert, where the audience has to bring food and goods to collect and donate them to the affected cities.
Doctor T: A worthy cause indeed. Well, let’s get to the music. Could you go into a little about what musical directions drive Six Magics?
Erick: Well, we are always improving our music knowledge!! And we use this knowledge in our band. All of us are professional musicians, even Mauricio (bass player) and me are music teachers . In the past, I always wrote all my music in a score and always thought in harmony rules, theory rules, guitar’s technique, etc… but now I compose my music in the other way: I don’t think the music, I feel the music. I learned this specially with David Prater (our American producer) who works with the sensibility of the music. Now Six Magics makes music in that direction.
Doctor T: How about lyrics, how do those evolve?
Erick: Elizabeth has been responsible of the lyrics since we were teenagers! I asked her ”please write lyrics about this or that...and she did it”. Sometimes I feel ashamed about what I asked her to write hahaha (I’m kidding!) and for this album she works directly with David, she had some ideas about a topic she wanted to talked about and then Elizabeth and David wrote the lyrics. No time to Grieve is a song that talks about Elizabeth’s illness and Animal about her feelings about animals and human race...I think she has a special capability of saying the same things we want to but with better words ;-)
Doctor T: What prompted the band to move to a female fronted direction?
Mauricio-Erick: When our last front man decided to leave Six magics, we agreed we needed not only a singer, but also a strong person capable to lead and guide Six Magics to new horizons, a person who knows our sacrifice and efforts that we have made all these years. We needed to complete a “wall” and Ely was the stone that we needed for making Six Magics unstoppable. Also, Ely speaks English perfectly, and she has a special voice too...a voice you are not used to hear in female fronted bands.
Doctor T: The opening song (Run) on Behind the Sorrow is an interesting production. It talks about the 9/11 events in the US. Could you talk a little about that song.
Elizabeth: Mmm well, like we discussed before!!! Hahaha...so here you have the same answer,, we talk about things we really believe in, that’s a song we wanted to write but we didn’t know how, then the idea of making something related to this topic was very strong, what really motivated to do this was that all of us think we shouldn’t believe everything we are told. Sometimes we can lie and make other people believe we are the victims but we are not. We wanted to talk about different topics we strongly believe, we had the opportunity to record 2 previous albums where we didn’t want to do it, but talk about a fantastic world or mythological being from our country, this time, as a natural process in life, we wanted to do something different. It was also motivating cause we had David Prater with us and we could share a lot of experiences about this topic, his feelings and thoughts, so it was really nice to share the ideas of an American guy with our own beliefs!
Doctor T: As I mentioned above, you had just returned from touring in Germany when the quake hit. Is touring in Western Europe a big part of Six Magics or was that a singular event?
Pablo (drummer): We were in Germany promoting the band in may ways: interviews, album reviews, release parties, and some gigs too...our main objectives was prepare the upcoming tour we would have...it arrives in October-November...so we were all together having fun in Germany and when we arrived home everything was a total disaster.
Doctor T: How is performing in Western Europe different than performing in South America?
Erick: It was a really good experience, because you play to people with another idiosyncrasy. Here in Chile when we play live, we know what our fans want, and we have a very special relation with them. We are always very kind to them when they want our signature in their Six Magics cd-booklets, or when they go to my house to buy merch…for example. In Germany we shared our art with other people, but the feeling was the same like in Chile, and the sensations were very beautiful to me.
Doctor T: And now, I understand, you’re going back again to Germany this fall. Is Germany going to become a second home to Six Magics, and if so, why? What’s the attraction there?
Elizabeth: Yes!!! Well we will be there in October again...and we are very excited about the concerts we will have there, too. Germany is a beautiful country, and we love German people...specially metal heads...they are so friendly and respectful...we really value that...we were in Germany in 2004 and then we met a lot of cool people, since then, we have had a special relationship with the country...our manager is German and in Chile we have a big German colony, too...any place can be your home if you feel you can do something for the country...We have had just good experiences traveling and Spain, France and Germany are very special for us, too..
Doctor T: Keyboards seem to be a big part of Behind the Sorrow but you said your keyboard player had left. Do you expect to continue with keyboards or will they be a lesser part of the Six Magics sound now?
Mauricio: We are five, and we are very comfortable with that. All the arrangements with keyboards or symphonic instruments are backgrounds, and live we trigger them with samplers, like many bands do it live. In the songs where the keyboard is more present, we arranged them for playing without keyboards.
Doctor T: There seem to be some really good metal bands coming out of South America, and a number are female fronted. Is that a direction that is catching on in that part of the world?
Erick: In South America exist a lot of good musicians, but it’s very difficult to make metal music here. The countries have other priorities here, like education, health, etc... In other places, like USA or Europe, these things are already solved, we think. But we always fight for our dreams anyway and many times we have to do more things than only play live, like the business thing, producing concerts, etc. This makes us stronger.
Doctor T: How has the female fronted sound been working out in Chile? I can anticipate that it’s probably nothing new in Europe, but is South America different?
Elizabeth: It’s hard to answer that...in Chile you can find women making different kind of music...Unfortunately, I’ve seen a lot of tribute bands...so women seem to be just trying to do the same their favorite bands do...it’s sad cause some of them could do something very interesting. We don’t have a big amount of female fronted bands either...I think I know just 3 or 4, maybe there are more but I don’t know them..
Doctor T: Have the events in Chile affected your activities as a band, how will things be different for a while and when do you expect to return to normal activities.
Mauricio: Yes of course, after those events, everything was changed; but we are slowly getting better. But as long as the aftershocks are still appearing, we notice everything is hard to forget.
Doctor T: Any plans in the near future our readers might be interested in, tours, future recordings, etc.
Erick: Yes, we want to return to Europe this year. And we are working very hard with our label “Coroner records”. Our album will be launched in Japan soon (april-28) and we hope to go to Japan in the future, too. And why not USA!!! I love your country… When I was a child, I went there and I really loved the people and the cities, very kind people and the places are very beautiful too!!
Doctor T: Well, I’m in favor of that. Any final thoughts before we close?
Elizabeth: Yes...we are seriously thinking about visiting USA soon!!! So maybe we will be there very, very soon...Thanx so much for your time and I hope to be in touch again..
Doctor T: Thanks to the members of Six Magics for sharing their thoughts with us. We wish you, and everyone in Chile, the best, and know that our thoughts are with you.
Please be sure to visit Six Magics at their online sites:
