Open House: An Interview with Irving Lopez (Cognizant, Trucido, Real Life Ugly, Anomalous Mind Engineering)

    

    For the sake of the uninitiated, Irving Lopez is a talented guitarist and recording engineer living and performing out of the Dallas, Texas area. I say this as a formality because grindcore listeners and Return to the House of Grindcore readers should already be familiar with his name in at least some regards. Lopez has graced the liner notes on more albums, EP's and splits than even I am aware of—including the likes of Phobia, Noisear and PLF. Globally, he should be recognized from his work in Cognizant, his work with Takafumi Matsubara and the up-and-coming bands, Trucido and Real Life Ugly. Unofficially, he's participated in far more than that, in some form or fashion. Lopez is a genre-crossing, DIY musical jack of all trades—from one instrument to another. From one side of the mixing board to the other. For over the past decade he has been a huge helping hand in keeping the local Dallas and Fort Worth grind scene alive, as well as contributing to the DFW underground metal and punk scenes. Outside of a life dedicated to grindcore he is a devoted family man, working full-time in his family's business. I got a hold of Irving back in May before he left for tour and I was able to ask him a few questions.

 

Hey man, thank you so much for taking the time for what will hopefully not be too awkward of an interview. You're my second interview to date, so please excuse me if this is less than professional.

You've done a lot in the DFW grind scene, on both sides of the mixing board, and I have a lot of ground to cover and a lack of smooth segues to do it. Again, my apologies for the erratic interrogation. 

So first off, how are you doing? How are things? How are the parents?

    Hey, Elliott, Thanks for having me! I really love that you're keeping grindcore alive in DFW with House of Grindcore and I'm super stoked to be part of this. I am doing great! Finding the time to write and jam while running the family sign shop is a grind of its own. My pops is officially retired and my mother and I are taking it day by day to take care of my father who isn't doing so well right now. He recently had a few diabetic episodes so we are trying to look after him. I am about to go on tour so it will definitely be very tricky, but luckily I have siblings who are willing to help out.

What was your first introduction to grindcore? How did you get into the genre?

    My brother, Set Lopez. He introduced to me heavy music when I was 12 years old. It started out

with Jesse Pintado's bands, Brutal Truth, Slayer, The Locusts, Metallica, Misfits—you know a lot of the 90's and 00's introduction stuff that was floating around back then. Of course back then YouTube was a different animal before Google. I would spend most of my days sitting in front of the computer searching for the most obscure music there and Metallum Encyclopedia. I eventually found Bryan Fajardo's bands on Myspace. I didn't know him back then. I never thought that I would be jamming with him in the future. I was like 16 at the time (2007-ish). He eventually took me under his wing and exposed me to a deeper underground level of grindcore with bands such as Gride, 324, Force, Multiplex, In Disgust, Lethargy, Mule Skinner, etc.

You have a distinct yet versatile playing style. Which bands influenced your playing and have any of those influences changed?

    Eiichiro Suzuki of Force. His riffs are catchy, simple, complex and heavy; all at the same time. His approach at guitar is somewhat traditional in terms of heavy metal 2000's guitar but he still

takes it to a whole different level. Picture Jesse Pintado, but Japanese—they both have a unique style that not many can copy. That's what Force is—Japanese Terrorizer.

    Steeve Hurdle of Negativa/Gorguts. His dissonant/noise and artificial harmonic approach to guitar is just out of this world. It's heavy yet torn apart into an unhinged melody. He's not a grindcore artist, but he's definitely a crazy song writer. Negativa only released one EP and like many grindcore acts the lyrical content for the EP, I believe, is about overcoming drug addiction—which at the time, I was also struggling with a bit. His lyrics/words really touched my heart. Grind is protest and Negativa is protest against drug addiction and mental illness. 

    Erik Burke of Sulaco/Lethargy/Napalm Death(live)/Brutal Truth. Erik's fluid like riffs are a tornado of emotions and death. His old band Lethargy is very much technical without being widdly-diddly/sweep picking. It's old school 90's NJ Death Metal mixed with spastic space grind riffs. His approach to grind would probably throw off new grind kids, They would find it odd and misplaced. Which is what grind is to me—a lot of stop and go's with fast and odd bar chords. 

    Takanaka Masayoshi. One of many of Japan's top guitar virtuosos. His song writing and shred techniques prove that you don't need so many strings or that you need to widdly-diddly all night long on guitar. He has virtually taught me you really only need a few strings to write a powerful riff melody—one that will last for decades. 

You performed on Takafumi Matsubara's (Gridlink, Mortalized, Retortion Terror, etc.) Strange, Beautiful And Fast album. Given your playing styles and his resume, that had to be a bit of an honor. The list of guest artists on that album is impressive. How was that experience and how did that come up?

    I met Takafumi through Bryan and Dorian Rainwater of Noisear. Matsubara was already a fan of Cognizant, so when we connected we had great respect for each other. I look very much up to him. He's a mentor of mine and I learned a lot from him when we met in person. The amount of respect he has shown me brings me to tears because I feel like I should be the one praising him. He asked me to mix the whole album which was a challenge having to work with many musicians on that album. It required a lot of communication and waiting to hear back from everyone on approvals with mixes, etc. It was a lot of fun and I also had the honor of mixing Hee-Chung's (Unholy Grave) drums.

What is the current state of Cognizant? Obviously a lot of emphasis has been put on playing and traveling with Trucido. Are you and the guys in Cognizant still playing or planning to do more?

    Cognizant is actually releasing a new album next month. We recorded back in 2019, the day before Bryan's surgery. It was insane how fast we tracked those drums. Soon after tracking, Covid hit and we all kind of had to deal with a lot of family health issues at home and even today we are facing those realities especially with the amount of income and economy issues we are facing. We are glad to finally get this recording out. We are sticking to only local shows that welcome bigger bands into town. Pro Rehearsal just shut down as well so we have to find a new jam room to continue working.

Cognizant

I recently saw Trucido last month with Deterioration in Fort Worth, you guys just played a string of shows in South Texas and you have a tour planned for the Summer. How's the band doing and what plans are on the horizon?

    Trucido is actually going on tour in a few days from July 5th-11th [2023]. As well as in September we are going to be hitting up the east coast and play Necrofest. I unfortunately won't be able to tour as much since I have to keep a good eye on my folk's health. But I do plan on at least touring once a year for sure!

You and Alejandro (Trucido) just released a demo for your latest band, Real Life Ugly. How's that going and what made you guys want to start another grindcore band together? Are there more releases planned for the project?

    Real Life Ugly is a band Alejandro and I started to have an opening band for SNAGG(HTX). Bryan taught me how to spontaneously write riffs, so I tried the same approach with Alejandro and those songs came out like fluid once I was in the right headspace. I plan to do at least two more releases with the band.

Real Life Ugly

For those readers who aren't aware, you are Anomalous Mind Engineering and have recorded not only your bands, but some great grindcore bands across Texas—such as Noisear, PLF, ASADA, and BOZO. How did you get into audio engineering? What's your take on being an engineer and recording bands? Were you ever under the gun as far as deadlines?

    I went to school for audio engineering in 2010 after dropping out of high school. I originally wanted to go there and study as a technician, but ended up being an engineer because they only teach you how to use the equipment not build it. I started recording a bunch of rappers and hardcore/brocore bands in those days. Eventually, I met Bryan and he saw that I was a good engineer and musician so we started working together on different recordings and eventually started a band—Cognizant. 

    Deadlines are crucial especially when a tour is coming up and you need to have merch ready. Vinyl takes forever and artwork can take a minute, depending. Being an audio engineer requires a lot of responsibility and essentially it's like being in another band or relationship. You have to communicate sonically and transfer all the ideas as clean as possible. I've stepped down as an audio engineer so I can focus more on my bands and personal song writing, but every now and then I might record a really good band, it just depends if the stars align at the right time. 

What's your proudest moment in the studio?

    I think the feeling of having a accomplished a nice sounding mix. Everything is clean and there's no over compression or over polished drum samples. Everything is pumping like a punch and you can feel the raw energy taking over the room. 

How would you describe the current grindcore scene in the DFW metroplex?

    Every seven years or so there's always a new crowd of kids getting into heavier music. People come and go, but the "real" rawkers always stay, hahaha. People move on or move to a different state. The grindcore scene across the globe is very small, though—everyone knows everyone—everyone sees what they post and their opinions or political garbage. We're all a big happy family.

I have noticed that grind shows after Covid are very different from the grind shows before Covid. A lot of bands and people aren't around anymore and I noticed a ton of young, new faces in the audience. Do you think the DFW grind scene has found a new audience or are people just wanting to go to live shows again—any live shows?

    It is strange to see MCR Black Parade kids wear grind shirts, but also not surprising because it's a reflection that has been going on for years—an endless cycle. I love seeing the pioneers of grindcore still blasting. I'm glad I am in a era where I can still see these mentors show us how it's done. I have a lot of respect for those originators. Some of them might be haters, but I don't blame them. A lot of these young kids have attitudes that stem from misplaced rebellion and don't know yet how to solve problems. They also act like they've been doing this for years when they were just born yesterday. But I don't want anyone to get it twisted, anybody can come out and support the bands if you're old, young, green, blue or whatever. Just keep your hands to yourself and leave the shitty weird creepy attitude at home. Dance and have fun and buy some merch.

Do you have any crazy stories of playing shows or touring that stick out?

    I try to avoid crazy shit on the road. I try to make sure everyone is safe. We all want to just rawk and then get home safe back to our chicks. It can be hella weird out there. Getting robbed, gear flying out the van, running into cops, running into sketchy people trying to be your friend only to get robbed. I usually try to make sure we all have a good place to stay and hot meal to have at the end of the night.

I am aware that this next question is controversial and we can cut it out if you don't feel comfortable answering it—but if I'm not mistaken, you were an engineer working at EMP Studios or the Rechordamantium or whatever it's called now in Arlington, correct? And probably about ten years ago Kill The Client was recording an album there—allegedly—before they spontaneously broke up. Does this mean there is an unreleased Kill The Client album somewhere out there? Did any of that turn into Triage? I've always wondered. 

    I know a few songs ended up being on the Triage recording. It was a super fun time recording both of those albums. Sadly, the KTC album didn't make it out. I think there was some legal paperwork about samples that needed to be filled out, but so-and-so couldn't put it together and it never made it out into the real world. But I'm not really sure honestly. I do remember getting paid from Relapse [Records] for the first time. That really made me feel like an official audio engineer. I was proud of myself. But yes I used to work at EMP a long time ago. I was up there about fourteen hours a day making zero money for them and myself. I like that my parents traveled to risk everything just so that I can record broke musicians!! Haha, but making the Morbosidad, PLF, Phobia, Noisear recordings there was awesome.

What grindcore bands are you currently listening to?

    The latest Triac and Shitstorm album is nuts!

What are your top grindcore bands or albums that you would consider essential listening?

    I am a gatekeeper, but I'm willing to show everyone my list, hahaha: 

Mule Skinner - Abuse 

324 - Customized Circle

Parlamentarisk Sodomi - De Anarkistiske An(n)aler

and of course Terrorizer - World Downfall

I'm always curious about people's hobbies and levels of nerdom. Do you collect vinyl, music equipment, Ninja Turtles or anything? 

    I collect anything Japanese from 80's-00's, guitar weaponry. Usually Jackson or Ibanez guitars. I'm really getting into ESP guitars, as well now. I recently met Toshi Hayakawa at a guitar festival and we talked about maybe getting a guitar built for me, but he builds more so Teles and Strats. I really want him to build me a Super Strat since he used to work at ESP. His shop is named Hayakawa Guitarworks. 

I also love Gundams, Batman: The Animated Series and of course Ninja Turtles! Hoarder status!

What's next for you and your many projects?

    Currently have a few songs in my head that I want to transfer onto vinyl. A lot of it being more dissonant metal than grind. But there are grind riffs and I do want to prep all this like a guitar jazz album—no band name, just our musician names and have it be treated as a musicianship collectors item.

Any last words?

    Love yourself and research your goals!

Thank you again for your time and for allowing me the opportunity to pick your brain. I really appreciate it.

Here are some handy links to some of Irving's more relevant projects:

https://anomalousmindengineering.bandcamp.com/

https://cognizant.bandcamp.com/

https://trucidogrind.bandcamp.com/

https://reallifeugly.bandcamp.com/