Doomed Confessionary: David Tatis & Esteban Rodríguez (Esquizoforia)
Esquizoforia is a doom/stoner/proto-metal duo hailing from Bogota, Colombia. The band currently consists of Esteban Rodríguez Mariño on drums and David Tatis on guitars and vocals.
Esquizoforia released their debut album »Epicurean Paradox« on August 1st, 2024. »Epicurean Paradox« is a concept album, a quest for the mid 70s extreme rock sound by navigating through early doom/proto-metal, blues, hard rock/rock & roll, gothic rock and surf/stoner/psychedelic vibes.
A manifesto in these post-modern times, with ancient questions that revolt around existential and metaphysical themes, as well as the hypnotic irony and nostalgia brought to us from our favorite musical, esoteric/philosophical and film influences that mostly encompass with the interesting, uncertain times and places in which our daily lives converge.
Can you say a few words about your band?
We are Esquizoforia, a doom/stoner/metal/rock-old school influenced band from Bogota, Colombia. The name comes from the merging of the spanish words for euphoria and schizophrenia, so english speakers could pronounce it as “Schizophoria” if they like. We formed back in the middle of 2022, but the idea of the band was somehow around by september 2019 already under a different moniquer. 2020 started with the pandemic throwing the dices and we had to cool down everything until. We like to call Doom’n roll to what we do, frankly we do not care too much about any other etiquettes. The band started as a power trio, transitioned to 4 members and currently, a duo. We are moving into being a power trio again at this moment, lol.
What was the biggest challenge for the band?
So far it revolves around having a very unstable line up and dealing with delays and bullshit from past members and people interested in joining the band. That’s why we’ve decided to be a duo by now and stop worrying too much about things we can not control. Fortunately, we found a bassist like 3 months ago who has been learning some of the songs and jamming/rehearsing with us. Very disciplined and a cool guy. He’s a good prospect for joining the band as a full member. Time will tell.
What can you be most proud of so far?
Although we have gone through some difficulties, and huge delays, we have manifested/materialized what we have proposed to do in the first place: recording the singles and our first full length was a heavy duty, which btw we did in a 95% totally by ourselves including the mixing and mastering process with the very basic music/production knowledge and hardware/software that we have. As well, looking to ourselves as something that is evolving/maturing slowly and enjoying the process so far.
What was your biggest regret?
We did many of the songs in the power trio era. When we recorded the album, we had to change and add/remove things from the original versions, thinking that we will be a 4 people band forever on. We feel we kinda lost “momentum” with that change; some good ideas were thrown into the trash bin and the album got a different vibe from what was thought in the first place. Also, we would have liked to give the album a bit of a different flavor as well, but we were limited by our recording/production knowledge and gear.
What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
We’ve not been too much live mainly due to the unstable line-up and because playing live here comes with a lot of complications, waste of money/energy plus caveats. We like to focus more on quality shows than doing a lot of them that may sound like garbage. However, we played in a local bar back in march this year and we had a really great time there. The sound was good enough and we were able to provide the public a good doomish-rock night. The bar was also kinda happy with us since they were new at the place and we kinda called the eye and ear of people that night so they were able to sell well in their very opening. It was a win-win experience.
What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
Since we published our first single »Propranolol« on Bandcamp and created our Instagram profile, we have been followed by 2 or 3 local/national bands (Autopista 40, Samán, Wartime) that we’ve never heard from before and who are somehow at the core of the ultra tiny doom/stoner scene here. They’ve been around for 10 years or more, and we were surprised to get their virtual wink for what we do. Cheers to them!
What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
Oh well we enjoy a lot of old stuff, and new old-sounding stuff haha. We went to see Lucifer live just some weeks ago and have loved the band since we listened to them many years ago. Recently we discovered an Italian band called Black Rainbows and a for our big surprise a local band called Deep Grave which is heavily influenced by Pentagram, you should check it out.
What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
The approach to music should be more from really feeling what/how you’re playing than from simply doing complicated/difficult stuff. Being able to deliver a message to the listener, to throw him/her into a feeling, an atmosphere, a situation, a thought, a question. Try to explore other genres/music. Although we do think sometimes it could be necessary, depending on the context, try to avoid the sugar coated, plastic, trivial mindset of the music industry, It’s full of shit.
What are your guilty pleasures?
Fancy imported beer/wine, caramel magic mushrooms, sex on a coffin.
Can you say something more about current music scene in your city/state/province?
If we talk about the doom/stoner-occult heavy rock scene here, it’s scarce, almost nonexistent except for a few local bands (as mentioned before) that remain underground like us. The main stuff here for “metalheads/rockers” goes around punk, HxC, metalcore stuff, thrash, death and black metal. Some don’t even have a clue what a doom/stoner band sounds like and don’t even know about Electric Wizard nor have listened to old Pentagram or Black Sabbath in their whole, colorful lives. People enjoy a lot moshing here, so traditionally, most tend to automatically link it to heavy music; it’s like a big deal for them when it comes to “extreme” music, but it’s never been for us. Just personal taste we guess, not to mention we do somehow enjoy many of the other genres as well (except for metalcore/rap-new metal). So bands like us are rare and unexpected here, which makes us walk through a difficult, solitary but somehow exciting road. On the other hand, we really dislike the fact that many so-called supporters of extreme music still want everything to be free in 2024. Being in a band is a shit load of work, if you do it our way, the old school way (yes, no AI friends help, no 8 producers behind writing the songs/lyrics, no autotune/plugins to help you out because because you missed recording something well, not playing only covers to be instantly loved) and this should be recognized. Another impresion for us is that many bands here may sound/play really good but there’s always some emptiness feeling when it comes to the lack of artistic, aesthetical perspective/background/ideology and the search for unique elements. Clearly there is an oversaturated market/ideas. Also, dealing with the very stereotypical chaos, fanatic, ignorant, narco/rockstar/diva complex personalities of the music scene, if not from the vast majority of Colombian society itself already, is somehow very frustrating, as well as fun sometimes. Gives us ideas to write lyrics at least.
Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
Sadly, nothing planned for this year, as we are still rehearsing to fit into the pocket with our new bassist and arranging the songs to perform as a power trio live. Hopefully 2025 will be a different story.
What are your plans for the future as a band?
We are currently summoning ideas for new material, and some songs are almost done for what will be our second full length. If everything goes well, a new single will be recorded in december and show its face by new year’s eve. This single will mark the standpoint for our next work.
How can people best support your band?
By now, you can support us by simply listening to our work on the mainstream platforms, or buying the digital copy on Bandcamp. Also, go ahead and follow us on Instagram, Facebook and all that stuff. We would definitely like to release physical copies of the full-lenght, however, this may take some time since there’s nobody financing us. It’s all done by ourselves, we don’t even have a record label. Sadly, we are not in the current position of spending some money that won’t even return half of what we invested (it’s the guts of an alltime corrupt 3rd world country and we are doing something very rare/non-commercial here. Not to mention our local currency is almost toilet paper compared to other places). However, if more people start asking for it, of course we may accelerate the process for you all.
Do you have any message for your listeners?
Doom’n fuckin roll!!!
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well