Billy The Kid
Hello pals, thanks for doing this interview. Please introduce yourself to the readers. Most of the information in the web is in spanish so we are not very familiar with Billy The Kid.
Hey! Thank you so much for taking the time! Well this is Manuel and I’m the drummer. There’s Pablo and Alejandro, both on guitar, Eddy on the vocals, Luna on bass and Perez throwing rhymes.
How did you choose your name? Why Billy The Kid?
Well truth is when we started this band it was just a side project, something to do on our free time so we didn’t really care all that much and at the same time we didn’t really want to go for the typical hardcore name, so Eddy said Billy The Kid and we were all cool with it. Turned out this band would become something serious to all of us and then when we thought of changing the band’s name people actually seemed to find it catchy and liked it, I guess it sticks to your mind or something.
Tell us about your releases. Do you have anything on a vinyl and what do you think about putting music on such a retro carrier? 
Well we just released our first record, it’s called ‘’Esta Ciudad Arderá’’ (This City Shall Burn) and it has been great! We had our release show with Bishop on the 14th of this past December. We’re really proud of this record, and we can’t thank everyone enough for all of the support that we’ve gotten in this short time. We just started thinking of some new songs for an EP. No actually we don’t have anything on vinyl but we have been getting a lot of requests so it’s something that we definitely plan on doing! The first ones to ask us for a vinyl record were the guys from Tri-State Music, so hopefully we’ll be doing that soon. I think it’s great! It brings back the feeling that you had before the mp3 era, where you couldn’t wait to actually hold in your hands the record of your favourite band. I also think it’s a good thing for labels, they might actually sell more of this than cds.
Do you collect records? What do you think about these hardline collectors that must have any record on all the colors, all the covers, testpresses and so on?
I personally don’t but Eddy our vocalist does and some of my friends do as well. I’ve thought of starting my own collection on multiple times but for one or another reason I never end up doing it. I think it’s awesome that people do that though, it’s a way to keep hardcore and its roots alive.
You are planning to hit Europe. How did you meet Pizza Connecting Booking? Did you play anywhere outside Central America till now? What do you expect from this tour?
Yes we do! Aldo from Pizza Connections saw us on Panama last year when we played there and then about a month ago he actually sent us a message on Myspace asking us if we wanted to tour Europe. I honestly didn’t think he was actually interested until we started talking and then I was like, yeah dude, we’re in! Let’s do it! As far as playing outside our area, no we haven’t so far, but then again we’ve only been a band for a little over a year and we only started taking it seriously since a couple of months ago, so now we’re planning to go for it all the way and tour as much as possible, everywhere. Oh man, we can’t wait for this tour, we expect the kids that show up to have some fun and hang out with us really. We also can’t wait to see a bunch of new places and cultures.
You are sxe band, right? Are you vegetarians/vegans and what do you think about being hardline?
Yes, we are straight edge band but we like to get to all kinds of kids out there, so we don’t really care if you’re straight edge or not you know. Eddy, Perez and myself, the three of us are vegetarians and love it. I think that in this life and in the hardcore scene especially there’s a need for hardline straight edge kids and hardline vegans, just as there’s a need for the positive, all fun no fights, type of kids and then the kids that don’t really care. It sort of maintains a balance. We just don’t see ourselves leaning completely towards one side, we’re more laid back in that aspect.
Pepsi or cola?
Lemonade
Tell me your top 5 bands that involved you in hardcore.
It was mainly punk rock bands that led me to hardcore, but probably the hardcore bands that actually changed my perspective of music and life were: Bane, No Innocent Victim, Shai Hulud, H2O and Strongarm, let’s squeeze Overcome in there. In no special order.
You songs sound very different one from another which is great. It seems that you have a lot of bands and artists from different musical styles that bring influence on you. Name some of them.. Actually maybe there are also other aspects from life that give you creative energy?
Oh yeah, definitely. This record is actually very personal, I mean, most of the lyrics are from specific problems inside our scene and our lives, so that made our biggest inspiration. Now as far as bands that influence us to make music… There’s a lot, Strife, Madball, xReign Of Terrorx, No Innocent Victim, Dead Prez, Bishop, Recon, etc
Correct me if I am wrong, but most or all of your songs are in spanish. Aren’t you afraid that it is possible not to be accepted in this english-speaking society?
I wouldn’t say we’re afraid but it’s something that we have thought about and talked about. I guess when we recorded this album we weren’t expecting such a good reaction and so we just sort of kept it to like our local scene and so now that we’ve, luckily, gotten this much attention we’re definitely talking about writing in English at least some of our songs, on an EP as I mentioned before. We still do want to keep some in spanish, I think we’d feel a little weird if we don’t.
Your most favorite modern bands in hardcore?
Personally Modern Life Is War, The Carrier, Have Heart, Bishop, etc.
Tell us some good bands from Costa Rica that we have to check out.
Inersia, Crimes, xEl Valor de Lucharx, A Sangre Fria, El Oponente. Bunch of other great bands.
Any other words to our readers?
Thank you so much for reading this interview, hope you like the band and talk to us on Myspace we’d love to know what you think! And definitely keep visiting www.vinyledge.com! Thanks a lot for the time bro!
Thanks for this view and take care!
