Doomed Confessionary: Tomas Campos (Defunto)
Defunto is a doom/death metal band from San José, Costa Rica featuring current and former members of Necrólisis, Gutbucket, Pazuzu, Bloodsoaked Necrovoid, Morbid Funeral, Vale Picha & Repulsive Death.
Formed in 2019, Defunto consists of Milton (drums, vocals), Tomas (guitar, bass) and Marco (vocals).
Both their releases, »Demo« (Psychogrind Records / Angel Of Cemetery Records, 2021) and »El presagio« EP (Noxious Ruin, 2024), are now available as a compilation. »El presagio / Demo 2021« was released in 2024 via Unpure Records / Fallen Temple on CD, cassette and digital.
Can you say a few words about your band?
Slow Primitive Doom.
What was the biggest challenge for the band?
A big challenge right now could be me, our guitarist left the band and now I am learning how to play the guitar in a decent way you know (Yes! A bass player playing guitar, what a betrayal), to continue doing our own shit.
What can you be most proud of so far?
We are very proud of everything we have accomplished so far, everything from our music up to the support given by many different labels, friends and everyone that has supported us until this day.
What was your biggest regret?
We don’t think we have to regret for anything, things have been good and whatever is not, we just must learn from that. Things will move the way they have to move.
What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
By the time this interview is answered, Defunto has never played a gig, nor toured. This can change at some point, I hope so, and if that happens, it would be nice to play some underground shows anywhere we can. Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, USA, Denmark, Prague and many others comes to mind, they all organize sick events, so, as a band that follows things related to these, it would be killer if we ever get to play any.
What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
For Defunto it must be the very good reception, not only close friends but people and labels in general, we appreciate that. As for other bands, is a good time to mention some like Crypt Sermon, Dusk (Austria) I just came across them, they are really good, so I think is good to mention here, Friends Of Hell, Konvent, Tumble and more. A lot of bands have released excellent material, and its hard to track everything, but if you haven’t checked any of them, go for it.
What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
While doing the interview I listened to Show No Mercy, Asphyx, Brujeria, but there is also some Black Sabbath, Coven, Crypt Sermon, Candlemass, Caustic Vomit, Decomposed, Delirium, Innumerable Forms, Left Cross, Malignant Altar, Pentagram, Suffering Hour, Winter and more sick shit as you can imagine.
What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
Best advice definitively is doing your music the way you like it, the way you imagined it, take your time, have fun and get drunk in the process. But the most important is, do not ever share your ideas to “friends” until these ideas are already recorded or documented, otherwise, they will take your ideas their own and will stab you whenever they can.
What are your guilty pleasures?
I’ll speak this one into a more personal way, since I believe I am the only one that is in to it.
I constantly play, buy and collect Gangsta Rap, late 80s and early/mid 90s, there might be a few new classics also. Besides my metal collection, you can find titles from N.W.A, 2Pac, Eazy-E, Masta Ace, Czarface, Wu-Tang Clan, 2 Live Crew, GZA among others. I find this genre very deep; you read the lyrics and transports you to the situation, crude and nasty sometimes, but real most of the time, many of these started young with very little to no knowledge at all of the stuff, and they progressed, just as many bands we know. I don’t know, for me this genre has its thing, and I respect and enjoy listening to it constantly.
Can you say something more about current music scene in Costa Rica?
Costa Rica is a very small country, divided in provinces and these very close to each other. So, if we have this in consideration, and start talking about local music scene, you will encounter that there are 3 maybe 4 organizers, mostly for international bands, and they rarely include a local band on the bill. On the other hand, there are many active bands, rehearsing, playing live and recording stuff, it might depend on your music taste, but I am pretty sure that if you dig some, you’ll find good professional bands, some have been in the underground for a while and will remain so, some others are making their way to the foreign scene and gaining good reception. I’ll leave it to the reader, since I don’t want to mention some and leave others behind. Guess is the right thing to do.
Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
Defunto has never played a gig, and I don’t think that changes, at least for this year. However, it’s important to mention, that me, Milton or Marco likes to attend some local events, and some festivals outside Costa Rica, we might visit Colombia or Mexico this year for a few fests, if things line up as expected. If that happens, we will try to spread Defunto’s music by trading with bands or labels, or giving some merch to friends, basically rotate and spread as much as we can the disgusting, sick and ugly stuff we create, in any way we can.
What are your plans for the future as a band?
We think is a good time to start creating some putrid and nasty tunes, release new material.
Hopefully we will get it done sooner rather than later. In the meantime, we’ll drink whiskey and play Motörhead.
How can people best support your band?
Thanks for asking, we have a few ways in mind if anyone wants to support the band: the best way to do it, is by visiting our Bandcamp, also, you can get in touch with us via our e-mail de***********@***il.com we have some merch available. Finally, people can visit any of the websites or official pages from the labels that released our material, any purchase that is done that way, helps the labels and us at the same time.
Do you have any message for your listeners?
Means a lot that Defunto is being listened, shared, reviewed in many different places, we will remain doing our music at our own pace and putting it out there whenever we think is the right time. Go get drunk, do music and record that stuff.
Defunto no agradece…! Defunto no existe!
Links:
Bandcamp
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well