A Dirty Dozen with GABRIEL CASTRO from YUREI – September 2019
According to a recent press release: “Yurei is the solo project of composer & guitarist Gabriel Castro from Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Started in Ontario, Canada in 2014, Yurei is a balance of dense video game-inspired soundscapes and heavy grooves. With a strong focus on melody and emotion, Yurei mixes traditional progressive metal with elements of jazz/fusion, ambient/experimental and even latin.” We get Gabriel to discuss new music, influences, and much more…
1. Tell us a little about your latest release. What might a fan or listener not grab the first or second time they listen through? Are there any hidden nuggets the band put in the material or that only diehard fans might find?
“Dark Matter” started off as a jam session between my drummer Nate and I, and then I took a lot of the grooves he played and figured out a way to make it a full song. I wanted to make this track mark a difficult stage of the main characters journey throughout the album and also wanted it to sound like a boss theme. Eventually I reached out to Scott from Fallujah to do a guest solo. He also played an ambient part near the end of the track, which people may not catch right away.
2. What got you into music, and can you tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to be a musician?
I grew up playing video games a lot. I always loved the soundtracks of RPG games like Final Fantasy so I used to sit on the piano and try to learn songs from the games. Eventually when I got a computer I started writing video game music, and then Prog corrupted me so I try to mix them together haha. I think the moment that made me realize that I wanted to be a musician was when I released my first EP. It was such a crazy experience working with people that inspired me to do what I do so I want to chase that feeling.
3. Building on that, is there a specific song, album, performer, or live show that guided your musical taste?
Final Fantasy soundtracks, there is so much emotion in that stuff and its hard to imagine being a musician if it wasn’t for that. I also remember hearing Eddie Van Halen’s solo in “Beat It” when I was a kid and being blown away by it, it made me want to do something like that.
4. Who would be your main five musical influences?
Nobuo Uematsu, Animals as Leaders, Meshuggah, Masashi Hamauzu, and Junya Nakano.
5. If you could call in any one collaborator to do a song with, who would it be, and why?
Would be awesome to do collaboration with Plini. He’s insane at telling stories through his music and his tremolo use inspired my playing a lot.
6. How would you describe your music to someone who’d never listened to you before? What is the one comparison a reviewer or fan has made that made you cringe or you disagreed with?
A Prog metal video game soundtrack. Someone said I sound like a Rush rip off which I don’t see at all haha.
7. What’s the best thing about being a musician?
I think being able to create something from nothing is a surreal thing. I also love that it is a never-ending journey, the moment you’re happy with your own writing, you realize how much more you have to learn.
8. When the band are all hanging out together, who cooks; who gets the drinks in; and who is first to crack out the acoustic guitars for a singalong?
Well, maybe one day I can have a full band so I can actually have people to hang out with haha.
9. When was the last time you were star struck and who was it?
While recording this record with Evan Sammons, I had worked with him before but actually meeting him and Last Chance To Reason in person was a kick ass experience.
10. If you weren’t a musician, what would be your dream job?
If I weren’t a musician, my dream would be to direct video games. Or a professional video game player, since I tend to spend a lot of time doing that.
11. Looking back over your career, is there a single moment or situation you feel was a misstep or you would like to have a “do over”, even if it didn’t change your current situation?
I would not have compromised my vision for people that joined the band a while back for live shows. At one point I dropped the quality of my work a lot because of people that were around me because I felt I was being selfish for having a specific idea for how things should be, but it just made me lose a lot of time where I could have been working on actually getting better; not trying to cater to other people to not let them down.
12. If you could magically go back in time and be a part of the recording sessions for any one record in history, which would you choose – and what does that record mean to you?
I would want to be part of the composers for the Final Fantasy X soundtrack. That game and soundtrack in specific really inspired me and became part of me so if I were a part of that, I would love to have my name in there with my idols.
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Category: Interviews