Doomed Confessionary: Rubén, Roberto, Carlos & José (Vertebrae)
Photos by Luis Tejerina
Vertebrae is a four-piece extreme metal band based out of Madrid, Spain.
The band was formed in 2018 by the guitarist Roberto Macías and vocalist Rubén Ledo. Drummer José Luis García and bassist Carlos Ortiz joined the band in 2019. Influenced by the most extreme styles of metal with touches of rock, doom and stoner, Vertebrae calls their style as “Death Black N’ Roll”.
Vertebrae released their full-length debut album »Hate« indepentently on October 20th, 2023.
Can you say a few words about your band?
We are a band that try to have a good time and enjoy the music that we make, independently of what people say! We are influenced by many styles and that generated a vortex creation and ended up focusing on death black n’ roll.
What was the biggest challenge for the band?
The biggest challenge for the band has been to understand each other as people and then understand each other as friends in such a way as to reach a perfect chemistry.
What can you be most proud of so far?
We are very proud of our recent album »Hate«, self-produced and composed without any support.
What was your biggest regret?
Probably the fact that we can’t dedicate more time to our music because of our jobs.
What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
The best concert we had was in Madrid, in the Barracudas Room where we had an amazing public.
What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
Without a doubt it has been to see Gojira perform at the opening of the Olympic Games, with an impeccable staging and without changing their style or philosophy, a definite model to emulate.
What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
Hummm difficult question, we have very diverse tastes, from doom, black, stoner, death, etc. We’re trying to get a bit of all and put it in a shaker to create a really interesting sounds and transmits our energy.
What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
Be patient, nothing will be obtained overnight and especially a lot of hard work.
What are your guilty pleasures?
Sex, booze and rock n’ roll hahahahaha!!! It is a classic but it always works.
Can you say something more about the music scene in Madrid?
Now after Covid there has been an explosion of gigs, bands fighting for a place, a war for playing even in a small venue, and all this either encourages you or sinks you, for us it’s an encouragement!
Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
On October 25th in the city of Vigo, Spain and soon we will announce more upcoming gigs.
What are your plans for the future as a band?
One of our immediate plans is to play our album »Hate« live as much as we can and we have already started to compose what will be our second album.
We would also love to be in some festival and to play outside of spain somewhere else, we would love to do that!
How can people best support your band?
With money, hahahaha just kidding, listen and follow our social media and especially come to our concerts, we will see you on the road!
Do you have any message for your listeners?
We hope that we can see you soon face to face on stage and you can enjoy our music, we’ll try to do our best and bring all our energy to all of you!
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well