1.Hello Sergio how are you doing this week?Please introduce yourself to the readers?
I'm Sergio, from Santiago, Chile, I play all string instruments and vocals at Rise to the Sky.
2.When did you first become interested in writing and performing music?
I have always had an interest from music.Since I was a kid,I was always experimenting and recording stuff. However, I started to do it seriously when I found out about one-person bands such as Unreqvited, Violet Cold and A Fall of Every Season. When I learned about them,I knew that great music could be done as a solo project.
3.What was the first instrument you learned to play?Were you self taught or did you take lessons when first starting out?
I started with guitar. I learned the basics on my own, took some lessons and then studied classical music formally for a couple of years. I've always had a big interest in music, and I've always been involved in some way, as a listener or performer.
4.What are the instruments that you currently play and are there any that you would like to learn one day?
I play guitar, bass, synths, and vocals. I know how to play the drums but it's the instrument in which I have less experience.
More than learning a specific instrument I want to further my understanding of how instruments work and what their capabilities are, in order to improve my compositions.
5.Sergio you started Rise To The Sky 2019 what gave you the idea to start this band? How did you choose Rise To The Sky as the name of the band?
I started this band because I just needed to express a lot of emotions I had in me, and I found in music the best way to do it. The name Rise to the Sky makes sense to me in many different ways, but the most obvious one is the idea of death. I have an image in my head of death being the rising of the soul to the sky.
6.Who would you say are the bands biggest influenes?And for the readers who have never heard the band how would you best describe the bands musicial style?
There are so many bands that have inspired me, My Dying Bride, Type on Negative, Shape of Despair, Celestial Season, Altars of Grief, Before the Rain, just to name a few. It´s very difficult to categorize this music for me because I just make the music I want to hear, and I don’t worry about the genre too much. Rise to the Sky’s music has been labeled Atmospheric Death/Doom metal, which I think is sufficiently broad to incorporate some of the funeral and melodic doom elements. However, the definition I like the most was made by a reviewer who described it as “grief death doom”.
7.Every Day,A Funeral is the latest full length release how long did it take you to compose the songs for the new release? How long would you say it usually takes to complete one song?
I composed this album in 2021 a while after my father died. The worst part was over but I had a lot of ideas about loss that I wanted to talk about in the music. The time it takes to compose a song is variable, it can take a few weeks for some of them and others I can do in three or four full days. It depends a lot on the mood and the available time I have. I usually like working nonstop on a song and then going back and making little adjustments here and there. Also, the vocals are the last part I do, since I think to get the most expression out of that part, the whole instrumentation needs to be ready.
8.Where do you draw inspiration for the lyrics and what are some subjects written about on the new release?
Inspiration comes from every situation I am living at the moment. I don’t invent anything, but just try to express something that I am thinking about at that moment, so lyrics flow really natural. For example, “Let Me Drown with You” talks about depression and sticking with your loved one through those tough times. “Per Aspera ad Astra” is an album I wrote for my father when he died last year. In the new album “Every Day, A Funeral”, I talk about loss and grief in general, these are some of my thoughts and reflections after going through some of these issues. Almost everyone will suffer the loss of a loved one at some point, I think it´s an important issue to address, and I usually don´t talk about this in any other place than my music.
9.Besides the upcoming Every Day,A Funeral release are the bands previous releases still availible for the readers to purchase?Besides physical releases does the band have any other merchandise currently availible?
Releases are available now at: Risetothesky.bandcamp.com or at the label’s website www.meusemusicrecords.eu
I always include some stickers or postcards in CDs I ship. I’m planning to have some T-shirts available soon in my Bandcamp.
10.I believe you are the sole member of the band Sergio would you like to find some new musicians to work with and make a full line-up or do you prefer working alone?
For the composition part I prefer to work alone, just because I have my own method and I invest a lot of time and effort into very specific areas of the songs. However, in my new album “Every Day, A Funeral” I have incorporated a drummer. Emidio Alexandre Ramos, he is a fantastic musician with a lot of experience in other bands. I think listeners will appreciate a big difference in the drums with this album.
11.If you ever had the opportunity to work with any musicians who are some that you would like the opportunity to work with?
I would love to work with the musicians from Celestial Season, and especially now that they are back to their doom metal era. I really like the people I am working with now, Emidio Alexandre Ramos on the drums, this guy is pure talent and Filippos Koliopanos on production, he has been with me since the beginning and we have a very solid working relashionship.
12.Rise To The Sky comes out of Chile's atmospheric death doom metal what are your thoughts of the scene in Chile over the years?
Chile has a lot of well-known doom metal bands such as Poema Arcanus and Mar de Grises, they are awesome bands and I have nothing but respect for them. Times have changed, making music is more accessible nowadays and Chile has not been behind this trend. I think there a lot of new bands out there, many of which started during the pandemic, since people went back to arts during lockdown.
13.Who are your all-time favorite bands coming out of Chile?And are their any new bands you could recomend to the readers?
I really like a one-person Chilean band called “Lascar”, it’s very raw atmospheric black metal yet melodic and incredibly expressive. I really recommend listening to that band. “Sol Sistere” is also a black metal band that has been making great music, they released a new album not so long ago, I definitely recommend checking them out too.
14.When you need to take a break from working on new music or band business what do you like to do in your free time?
I enjoy watching movies and series a lot, especially weird and mysterious stuff. Also, I do sports regularly, like jogging or just going to the gym, during those times the mind works in a strange way and many good ideas can come around.
15.Besides working in Rise To The Sky do you currently work with any other bands or solo projects? If yes please tell the readers a little about them?
Yeah, I have a side project called Winds of Tragedy, it's atmospheric black metal incorporating some of the melodies and vocals I like. The debut album of this project is coming up in June this year under the Spanish label Belfry records.
16.Thank you Sergio for taking the time to fill this interview out do you have any final comments for the readers?
Thank you for letting me share my thoughts on all these topics. And to readers and listeners please feel free to reach out to me in social media, I am always available to answer your questions or talk about music for a a while. Band Contacts https://risetothesky.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/RisetotheSkyBand/
