WHITE STONES - Martin Mendez interview!

From Martin Mendez, bassist of the ubiquitous OPETH comes WHITE STONES, a solo death metal project. Recently, they announced that their debut album named “Kuarahy” (pronounced Kwa-Ra-Hee) will be released on March 13th and today, Martin Mendez reveals more about the band's background and how it all came to be in a detailed statement. "The name WHITE STONES is taken from the place where I grew up in Montevideo, Uruguay," Martin explains. "I lived there until I moved to Sweden in 1996, when I was 17 years old. During that period of time, at that young age, you kind of form a base for yourself as an individual. A foundation for the person you will be the rest of your life. So I have many important moments and memories from my life that happened in this place. Now, having been away and living in completely different places for almost 24 years, forming my life and my family far away from there, I can still feel the connection and the weight this place has in my soul. It was there where I discovered heavy music, something that I remember making an impact in my life. I loved music already, ever since I was a kid, I grew up in a place where the radio was on all day. But the first time I heard metal it was special, I was around 11 years old.. it was like I’d been possessed by the sound and at that time I knew It would be part of me the rest of my life. It was there where I started playing the bass, around the same age. I’d spend hours and hours in a room practising and dreaming about how great it would be to record an album one day or something… My goal was never to became a rockstar or be in a famous band at all. To be part of a record was absolutely the most extravagant idea I could dream about. But I do remember how much I did enjoy playing music, I had it inside me. Like a major force that I couldn’t control. When I started playing music I kind of lost interest in everything else that I was doing at the moment. Specially 2 or 3 years later, when I started playing in bands, the first of which I started with my cousins. We used to rehearse inside my grandfather’s workplace which was next to our house, it was a carpenters workshop. I was working there too, until I moved, 4 hours every morning. So I’d spend lots of hours surrounded by the smell of wood during those years. It’s a place that’s full of memories for me, and this is a nostalgic record. That’s why I named the band WHITE STONES. A tribute to my memories. To the place where I learned the most important of my values. The next album might be different, but this is something that I feel like I needed and wanted to do, and I feel very privileged to be able to reflect on those times in this way." Recently, WHITE STONES also kicked off the pre-order for "Kuarahy". The album will be available on CD, LP and digitally. Pre-order your copy here: https://nblast.de/WhiteStonesKuarahy