THE BR00TAL TR00TH - CARLOS
Well, we don’t always interview people we actually like here at RiB. Check out this asshole: Carlos Ramirez. You can’t escape him…he’s everywhere. Carlos does marketing for Universal Music Group, and he writes for pretty much every music website you’ll ever read including Noisecreep, Bullz-Eye, SMN, and The Gauntlet. And would ya look at that…now he’s on here. Mr. “Famewhore” chewed our friggin’ ears off about his rockin’ 80’s childhood, giving Anvil the big thumbs down, as well as his immense love for top 10 lists. What a douchebag, eh? <3
Give us the brief rundown of how you went from cradle to music writer extraordinaire?
First off, thanks for letting me be part of your great blog. Everything from the name of it to the funny posts makes Reign In Blonde one of my favorite sites to check out daily. My gateway to a life of music geekdom was KISS. I remember being at my neighbor Steven’s apartment because his mom was babysitting me and his older sister had Double Platinum from KISS. I’m almost 35 years old so this was probably 1979 or so. I was just captivated by the way the band looked. I really thought they looked like that 24-7. It was only a few years later when I started reading magazines like Creem, Circus and Metal Edge that I learned that Gene and Paul were from Queens. Since I was born and raised there, this revelation made me very excited…haha!
In high school I put a zine together called Extremities that focused on underground death metal. At that point I was really into tape trading and all of that so I had some good contacts throughout the world. For one piece I interviewed Dave Witte when he was in the godly Human Remains. Little did I know I would be in a band with him (Black Army Jacket) 6-7 years later! So I did that zine and then wrote for the music section of my school paper in Queens College but then I just stopped around 1995 or so.
I moved out to Los Angeles around 4 years ago and I got back into the behind-the-scenes side of the music business. In my spare time I wanted to get back into the writing so I reached out to some of my old contacts and started doing stuff here and there. What really started getting me other writing gigs were these top 10 lists I was doing for IGN.com. Whenever you write one of those, people get really pissed off. But I love doing them and now I write them for Noisecreep.com. My “real job” is at Universal Music Group on the marketing side of things so my life is music through and through.
What did you want to be as a kid?
I wanted to be a bassist in a popular rock band. I wanted fantasize that I was on stage at Nassau Coliseum and doing interviews with Kerrang Magazine. The thing I couldn’t get straight was what kind of band it would be. Sometimes I would imagine it being a Bay Area styled thrash band but it would often be something more along the lines of Dokken.
Does it get frustrating to be confused with 4324698 other Carlos Ramirez’s?
I grew up in a neighborhood called Elmhurst which is in Queens. It was a few blocks from another hood called Jackson Heights. In the ‘80s both areas were mostly made up of Colombian immigrants. My dad was born in Colombia and guess what his name is….yep! Anyway, I remember one time I looked in a local phonebook and there had to have been over 100 people with my name! My wife said there’s no way in Hell that we’ll name our kid Carlos…haha!
So you like Top 10 lists? Top 10 blonde metalheads, GO!
I’m assuming you mean musicians and not who I think is hot or anything. Based on that I will say:
-David Vincent of Morbid Angel (circa 1991)
-Jeff Hanneman of Slayer (circa 1990)
-Snowy Shaw of King Diamond’s band (circa 1990)
-Vince Neil of Mötley Crüe (circa 1982)
-Warrel Dane of Nevermore and Sanctuary (circa 1989)
-Udo Dirkschneider of Accept (circa 1983)
-James Hetfield of Metallica (circa 1984)
-Michael Schenker of Scorpions, UFO and MSG (circa 1979)
-Frank Mullen of Suffocation (circa 1991)
-Julia and Elise of Reign In Blonde (circa forever)
How often do you have to write about bands that you have no interest in? How much does that suck?
In the past I never did this but lately it’s happened a few times. I don’t sweat it too much because in the end, I like helping out my fellow marketing and publicity contacts. Plus Seth at Noisecreep knows he can rely on me for a quick turnaround on a piece so he’ll pitch me stuff sometimes that he knows I probably don’t love. Luckily I love a lot of different kinds of genres so that makes it easier.
So…do you like STRYPER, or something?
I do! I’m actually going to see them live next month. Their image was definitely cartoonish in the ‘80s but they always wrote quality hard-rock and metal songs. Did they have some duds? You bet they did! But I enjoy a lot of their discography. You are probably laughing at me as you read this! Let me just say that there are tons of other bands that I love that would rank lower on the metal cool scale. Don’t even get me started on personal heavy metal favorites like Kik Tracee, Leatherwolf, Lizzy Borden, Icon, Ripping Corpse, and Savatage!
Who is your favorite Muppet?
I loved the 2 old guys who would sit in the balcony and just complain about the show. Those dudes were angrier and more in need of a good lay than the people who leave comments on Lamboat.com and Blabbermouth.net put together!
Did Baroness’ Blue Record outdo the Red Album?
I think it might have. It took repeated listens of the new album for me to really get it. For what they are trying to do musically I think they nailed it. It’s got a great vibe to it and the guitar tone is superb. Too bad so many douchebag hipsters in Silver Lake and Williamsburg like them. I won’t hold it against the band though :)
Best and worst albums of 2009 thus far?
The Scar Symmetry album disappointed me since I loved their last one so much. I was expecting this new one to be their Soul of a New Machine meets Slippery When Wet opus but it left me a bit cold. Hopefully it grows on me. I loved the Séance comeback album that Pulverised Records put out and Alice In Chains’ record was a pleasant surprise. The upcoming 3 album is a monster! The KISS album is solid throughout. In terms of album of the year, I don’t know yet but the Megadeth album is fucking great!
Whatcha drinkin’?
My weapon of choice is Jack and Coke. In terms of beers I prefer Boddington’s, Guinness, and Heineken.
It’s almost Halloween. What songs get you in the mood?
I’m actually working on a list for Noisecreep.com about this so you’ll have to tune in later :)
What’s so great about Anvil, anyway?
You have good timing! I posted this as a status update on my Facebook profile last night:
“Dear metal people, please get off the Anvil bandwagon. I grew up with a lot of fellow metalheads and NONE of us liked them. The movie is great and all that but let’s not make believe they are the second coming of Celtic Frost or something.”
Yeah, so I’m not fan of their music. I’m sure there are some people who know me who would say, “How can you say you don’t like Anvil and then turn around and love crap bands like Tora Tora and Royal Hunt?”
Who was your favorite contestant on American Idol last season?
Allison Iraheta should have easily won that shit! She’s got a great raspy quality to her delivery. They should try to do the whole Butch Walker styled bubblegum pop-punk along with some ‘80s inspired arena rock shit thing with her. If I was A&Ring her album I would have her recording songs by Butch, Desmond Child, Max Martin, Jim Vallance, Holly Knight, and my friend Jamie Woolford from The Stereo and Let Go fame. [Editor’s note: Elise agrees, and says Danny Gokey can suck it.]
My wife actually works in development at Fremantle Media and they own American Idol. Being the teenage girl that I am, we go to every finale.
On a scale from 1-10, how hot is that chick, Davey Havok?
I worked with a girl at my last job that is obsessed with him and we would always tease her about him being into guys. I don’t think he holds a candle to CC Deville on the cover to the first Poison album. I remember having to do a double-take when that record came out!
Who else in the metal community do you think we should grill?
In terms of writers I would say Finn from MetalInquisition.com, Ian Christie, Jason from TheGauntlet.com, and J. Bennet from Decibel Magazine. I think you should also do some stuff with the cool label people. I would nominate Vince from Metal Blade, Jeremy Rosen from Roadrunner, Loana from Nuclear Blast, and Betsey from Relapse Records.
If you are a metal musician, blogger, photographer, DJ/VJ, roadie, merch dude, etc. (GUY OR GAL!), and would like to get probed by two cool chicks, please send us an email at: reigninblonde@gmail.com.
