Hammerheart Records in 2013 remastered Crime Against Humanity and the sound is amazing with a nice little booklet to go along with it.  This is a band that started up the grind movement on the west coast back in the 80’s folks and they still are kicking it and taking names all over the place and punishing the masses. Much respect.  Buy their cds and here is my interview with  drummer Eric Castro.

Who am I speaking to and please tell me your role in Nausea?

Hello Frank and many thanks for having Nausea featured in your zine. My name Is Eric Castro and I’ve been the drummer since 1988, the birth of Nausea.

So after all these years, how come you’ve only released two full-length albums and are you working on a third album, to get it out maybe in the next two years?

Well, the reason for only releasing two full albums would probably be the past lack of interest in searching for the right label. Also, it felt like no one even bothered to give us a chance to show what we had to offer. We did release a few demos in between, I would say around 4 or 5 of them to be exact. They were Breed, Absence Of War/Control, Who Would Surrender?, Images Of Abuse and a split 7” with Unholy Grave, plus a couple of others from ‘88-89.

Condemned To The System was my pick for grind album of the year in 2013. It destroys! Explain to us the album concept and what went into the recording?

Thank you! I am so glad to hear you dig it as far as the concept of the album goes. All around I would say it just remained the same from the beginning, dealing with current life issues and struggles. We recorded the album in roughly two weeks, with a few days off in between. Drum parts took three days with 3-hour sessions. It was a bit rough on my end as I don’t think we really prepared ourselves enough with rehearsals. Also, we have 9-to-5 jobs so it was after hours of work and then right into the studio, but I’m glad it got done. I think the guitars got done in a few days and vocals, I must say after many years of working with Oscar, it just comes out naturally for him as he did them in two short sessions.

After all these years, you guys still know how to write a riff, like a groove part, that goes into a blast, kind of like the album opener, “Freedom of Religion”. How do you write such kick-ass memorable parts?

I can’t and refuse to comment much on this one since Oscar is the guy that brings the riff to the table and we take it from there. He would play a riff and ask or suggest what drumbeat goes best on it and we mold it from there. I must say the entire album consists of older songs from our previous rough sounding demos that we recorded. I was a bit worried with what the outcome would be, thinking the songs might be ruined by the new technological sound, but we managed to direct Alejandro who did the final mix down on what sound we wanted to work with from vocals to drum sound.

You guys have still retained your crust punk edge that was evident on Crime Against Humanity. How do you feel the addition of this style helps your overall sound?

We have refused to change our style and sound through the years. I would say I’d give that once again to Oscar, maybe that’s because we eat, drink and shit old school grindcore bands. To me, it’s a bit hard to get into some of the new school bands. There are a lot of better, newer sounding musicians and bands but it really doesn’t amaze me at all. I kind of find them boring as the first song sounds exactly like the twelfth song but this is just my own personal opinion.

Crime Against Humanity was recently reissued, without any bonus tracks, from Hammerheart Records. They said it was not remastered and nothing in the liners says anything about it, but it most certainly is remastered. I put it side by side to my original Wild Rags CD and the reissue sounds punishing. It’s louder, crisper and is killer. So, what’s the deal and why didn’t they include the lyrics to “Blind” in the layout? Regardless, I am happy with the improved sound!

Yes, Crimes Against Humanity was remastered, I’m not sure why Hammerheart Records didn’t include that important fact, and the lyrics to “Blind” just wasn’t included. Sorry.

Crime Against Humanity was raw, in your face grind. It may not have been the tightest, but it goes down, for me as one of the best pieces of grind from that time period. What went into the recording process of the album and you releasing it through Wild Rags? How did Richard C. treat you all?

Crimes Against Humanity was released many decades ago. I still remember walking into the studio and it was not what I expected. The engineer guy was not at all familiar with grind/death at all. I remember seeing R&B pictures of bands he had recorded in the past so I blame that for not having the full sound. We also didn’t have enough cash to pay for a decent mix down as we where all unemployed at that time with bad equipment. And as far as the treatment we got from Wildrags and Richard, we had NONE! That guy was just a rip-off. No tour support at all or royalties. I think we only had one check and that was all we got. And of course, every time we would walk into his huge store, all he would ask is for MORE, MORE recordings like demos and stuff. He wanted to release more Nausea but I clearly recall telling Oscar we should NOT give him more material because he was just into making his own profit. Also, I was never content signing with this Wild Rags label from the start. It was this guitar player we had that suggested it and he talked Oscar into going with Wild Rags. In the past, I feel I’ve been very over-protective with our music, not sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing.

Condemned To The System has a strong Terrorizer, and at times Repulsion, sound to it. Explain to the readers your influences and how do you guys still sound as angry and pissed off after all these years?

Another one addressed to Oscar so I won’t comment on it but I must say we do get that a lot from people. It’s like a shadow that has always followed us from the start, “Nausea sounds a lot like Terrorizer” but if you think again, Terrorizer World Downfall was Oscar so there is the answer. And we loved and love Repulsion, Death Strike and Doom. We wanted to be like them so that’s why the major sounding influence comes from!

How long is the Willowtip Records deal for, just one album or would you like to release your next CD with them?

We have an agreement with Willowtip for one release only. It’s an open contract.

Any plans to release the 2013 demo series World Struggle on CD through them, since it was only released on vinyl and since I no longer have my record player hooked up, I would like it on CD. Maybe you can do this favor for a brother?

I have great news…the World Struggle demos did so well that FOAD Records requested and asked to reprint them on CD so that will happen hopefully by summer 2014.

What equipment did you use on the album and how did Oscar still get such an amazing guitar tone on the album? For me, this is one of the reasons the album is my grind pick for the year. The production is perfect, still has the old school feel to it, but all the instruments come through perfectly with the bass adding that bottom end to it nicely.

I can’t speak on the behalf of guitar sound/equipment, but with this new technology it can all be possible. Sean at Architeuthis Sound did an amazing job making it possible and Alejandro did a great job over all.

I love the Terrorizer “Corporation Pull-In” cover on the new album. It’s fucking intense and the Mr. Eric Castro did a phenomenal job on the grind parts. What made you guys choose this tune to cover?

“Corporation Pull-In” was one of the few original Nausea songs that ended up on the World Downfall album. The original version had high and low vocals on it so Oscar wanted to re-record it the original way, so NO it was not a cover.

Oscar, Why when Terrorizer reformed, were you not a part of the reunion? Your vocals are undeniable and helped make World Downfall the amazing album that it still is today. You would have made the Terrorizer reunion albums, sound so much better, due to your dynamic vocals.

Call 1-800 Oscar on this one, Haha.

Any shows planned or mini West Coast tours? What about heading on over here to the East Coast?

We do have a few local shows lined up here at home, we head out to Mexico for a weekend in late May for 2 shows lined up, We also have a festival sometime up in Northern California, then we head to New York for Death Fest 2 in late July and a few more shows that have not been confirmed yet as of right now.

Any final comments for our readers?

Cheers to you Frank for your patience and interest in the band! We also have a Facebook page where we try to keep our fans informed with events and updates. We are working on our next release with more pissed off old school Los Angeles grindcore. Good luck to you and to Teeth Of The Divine!

http://nausea.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/nauseala

http://www.last.fm/music/Nausea

http://www.metal-archives.com/labels/Willowtip/129