We love a bit of international relations here at Moshville Times and today we have a band with members from three different countries who met in a fourth…
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
We all are originally from different countries, our singer and bass player Gabe is from Italy, our drummer Dave is from Israel and I’m from Argentina, my name is Diego and I’m the guitarist in the band.
How did you meet?
We all met in London, I first met Gabe around 2014 when Die Ego was only a bunch of guitar riffs in my head. We both were playing in different bands at the time and wanting to go in a different music direction so we started to hang out and write songs together, connection was instant and very organic I would say. A couple of years ago we met Dave and after a few months jamming, writing new songs and arranging old ones things started to take off.
How long have you been playing as a band?
We started writing together in 2018 so not so long ago actually, bit more than 2 years I would say.
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
I’m happy you asked about it as many people think the band’s name is my name, well… it’s not!
It comes from the idea that we believe our society sadly has become egocentric and self-centred, not everybody is willing to give a hand or be there when is needed, for instance many people spend plenty of time in social media pretending to be something they are not, boosting their ego, looking for attention. This does not apply to everybody of course, don’t get me wrong, but is an issue we all experience and see in different levels.
Die Ego means the death of the ego, to stop caring only about yourself and pay attention to what’s going on around you, be more grounded.
Initially we came up with different names that represented this idea but funnily enough if you split my name in two ways the result is Die Ego, is a bit of a wordplay and it sounded good to us.
What are your influences?
All of us have our roots in heavy metal and rock music, all types of genres within it. While Gabe is into death metal and thrash, Dave gravitated more towards grunge and progressive metal. I like bands from those genres too but I’m more of a classic metal head. Our style is influenced by bands like Pantera, Black Sabbath, Death, Slayer, Alice in Chains, Carcass, and the list goes on forever.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
Having such a ample range of influences and musical background, the challenge for us is always how to blend all those styles and write music that speaks to all of us. We think of our sound as a mix of thrash, classic metal, death and doom, everything with a modern approach and sound. It’s interesting to see how any idea, riff or song grows when everyone put their input into it, the result of all that mixture is what defines our sound.
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
Our lyrics space around modern society problems, life conflicts, 20th century horror novels and dystopian realities. Gabe has a different approach comparing to mine when it comes to write lyrics, he is very creative and has the ability to come out with stories or adapt things he reads into lyrics, for me it is easier to write about personal experiences.
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
There’s a lot of sweat and headbang going on for sure, our main goal is to transmit our music and energy to the audience and get them to be part of the whole experience, we like interacting with our fans as much as possible during the shows to create a connection. Sometimes is easier than others but that’s how it is, it feels great when you see people in the audience who never heard our music before and they stick around for the whole set.
To be honest I don’t really know how many shows we played so far but we did quite a few since we started gigging. We try to play as many cities as we can to spread the word and get people to know our music.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
Stage dive a bunch of times, smash a few microphones, but those things happen in the heat of the moment and is never planned.
Gabe once broke his nose doing stage dive but that was with a different band, I didn’t get to see that… unfortunately! Dave has a weird story with his previous band, a person from the crowd won a competition where the price was to go on stage and play with his beard… I have no comment on this!
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
Gabe has a custom made bass with a set of Seymour Duncan on it, he worked on this bass a lot to get it to sound how he likes and fit the band’s tone, mission accomplished I have to say, it’s a tinny bass with a huge sound! Dave plays a Pearl drum kit , Sabian cymbals, DW9000 pedals and Vic firth sticks. I’m a Blackstar endorsee artist, I currently play with a Blackstar HD Metal 100 head and a couple of Jackson guitars with different sets of pickups on them. We are always searching for new gear and equipment to develop and improve our live sound but at this particular moment this is what we use , we are open to hear offers from any brands out there!
What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?
Our debut album CULTO is due to come out on the 12 of June, until then we are going to put out 3 singles, one per month, to promote the release. These singles will have music videos and be available on our Youtube channel, all major streaming platforms and also in our Bandcamp where you can either stream or buy the tracks.
What are your plans for 2020?
Play as many shows as we can to promote the album and engage with more fans.
If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be supporting and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before!
We have been playing with loads of great bands recently maybe you haven’t heard of, to name a few at the top of my head A new Tomorrow, Slave Steel, Lost Gravity, Ygodeh (who we are going on tour with), Godthrymm , always happy to play with them no matter the order on the bill. Maybe the music style is not the same but there’re are amazing musicians and good people to be around with.
Now, if I can dream big, we would love to open for a band like Down or Lamb of God. We love their music and they are a big influence on us!