Tapias de Pilatos/Interview with Elkin

Interview by Jay Parker

Hi this Jason reporting from The band started in 1995 in Bogota, Colombia... Today I'll be talking to Elkin from Tapias de Pilatos a Bogota based Black metal band, deeply influenced by the darker side of Colombian culture and history... thanks for taking the time to talk to our readers Elkin...

1 - Tell us about Tapias de Pilatos... when and where was the band formed?

Greetings. Thanks for this space. The band started in 1995 in the city of Bogotá, together with my brother Adolfo and two friends, Cristian and Nelson. We really liked Nordic black metal, at that time Dimmu Borgir, Satyricon, Mayhem, Immortal. Also what Ancient Rites and Amon Goeth, from Colombia Nameless and Massacre, did. We had a special taste for Iron Maiden and I think for this reason the band varies so much in rhythms. We weren't looking to keep a line, we played what we liked, but always with the intention of sounding dark and aggressive.

2 - Who is in the band?

The band is made up of my brother Daniel and I, my cousin Fabian and Andres support us live.

3 - Describe your music in 5 words.

Darkness, death, reality, history, rawness.

4 - Tell us about your records, from the first to the last.

The first recording we made was in 1999, it contains 4 songs, with a great variety of rhythms, you can hear black, death, thrash, punk and some heavy. We recorded it with the guitarist’s computer. Each of us had these songs, but they had not been released in a physical format, over time I wanted to have this work in some format, I uploaded them to YouTube and some people began to ask me about the material. David Davila de la Caverna records suggested that I take them out on tape, and so it was, I found just 66 black tapes, I designed the arts and started recording them at home, I took them out in 2019, 20 years later, I sold them in two months, it reached countries such as Spain and Ecuador, which encouraged me to continue promoting Tapias de Pilatos by generating content on social networks with a gloomy and dark concept. Living Metal released the reissue of this work in which I added a live song recorded in 2000. For the year 2022 we are going to launch the second production called “Cemetery of Excommunicated», which contains 8 cuts of black metal.

5 - What is the inspiration behind the band’s lyrics? Your art on the covers is impressive, very abstract and dark at the same time... as if it were telling a story.

The art of the cover is the last photo that exists of the Tapias de Pilatos cemetery, this place was on the slopes of the Cerro de Guadalupe in Bogota; Suicides and those sentenced to death were buried there in colonial times, until 1861, they could not be buried in churches because they were excommunicated beings, for this reason the place was also known as the cemetery of the excommunicated. The inspiration of the lyrics is the dark history of Bogota and Colombia, telling how evil is generated by the human being, towards himself and towards other living beings, it is the only being that creates evil, since nature itself she cannot do it herself. Death is a very strong inspiration, like the end of everything, the end of the senses, total inertia.

We draw on stories such as the suicides of the Salto del Tequendama, the executions of the Plaza de Bolivar, the dark devotees of the dead in the Central Cemetery of Bogota, the Tapias de Pilatos cemetery, the Black Christmas of Pasto, the Mutilated Christ of Bojaya, always talking about the dark, but on a real plane.

6 - Who writes the music and the lyrics?

The music is composed by my brothers Daniel, Adolfo and me, the lyrics are written by me.

7 - Tell us about your plans for the future...

Finish the recording of the album Cementerio de Excomulgados and be able to press it with a stamp that gives us the possibility of reaching other countries. Hopefully fruits of this album.

8 - Do you have any other projects?

Daniel, Fabian and Andres participate in the Spectral Tales band, totally recommended, it’s brutal. I am only in Tapias de Pilatos.

9 - If you could play with a band or musician, alive or dead, who would it be and why?

I would like to play with Typhon, Inquisition, Nameless and Grimorium Verum from Ecuador, they are bands that I admire a lot.

10 - What is your favorite album of all time and why?

Uff, what a question, I think Emperor - Anthems to the welking at dusk, the creativity and composition are impressive, very innovative and brutal.

11 - Tell us about the metal scene here in Colombia --- recommend some bands for our readers...

It is a scene with the imprint of darkness and rawness, I think that due to the same violence that we have experienced and seen, it is implicitly reflected in the music, it has a unique color. I recommend: Spectral tales, Satanic Supremacy, Crocell, Zaqum, Templa in Cinere, Horncrowned, Nosferatu, Satanic, Murmur, there are too many, in truth whenever they choose some Colombian metal they will be surprised, guaranteed.

12 - What has been your best and worst experience playing as a band?

We have only had two concerts and they have been excellent experienc es, especially playing in Medellin and knowing that we had fans, that surprised me.

13 - Do you have something else to tell the readers?

Thank you very much for this space, I extend the invitation to listen to our funeral hymns and be aware of our new production.

Thank you for your time.