Time Cero are a rock/alternative/metal band based in Lima, Peru and fronted by their creator Carlos Li Carrillo who moved to Boston USA when he was 18 years old. During his teenage years in Lima, Peru in the mid 80’s, Carlos was the bass player and co-writer of Thrash Metal band “Curriculum Mortis”. Their first material was recently released on a U.S. vinyl edition and sold out 1000+ copies in the first year of release.
During the early 90’s Carlos was in the Progressive Rock band called ‘Avispon Verde’ and recorded 2 records while gigging regularly across the Lima alternative rock scene. In the late 90’s Carlos relocated to Hong Kong where he was influenced by numerous music genres and sounds from different parts of the world delving into digital recording and electronic sounds.
In 2001 while Carlos was travelling around the world, he created Novalima an Electronic collective band. The band mixed different grooves and singers from the around the world with Afroperuvian vocals and percussions.
Novalima became a big success with its first self-titled album on the Lima music scene and they soon signed their ” Afro” album with Mr. Bongo Records based in the U.K.
The song Machete was licensed to the world famous Robert Rodriguez “Machete” movie starring Danny Trejo and Robert De Niro. Later on Novalima released the album Coba Coba which was nominated for the 10th Latin Grammy as Best Alternative Record.
It was after producing one more album in his previous band that Carlos decided to move into different directions and started his current solo project called Time Cero.
Time Cero mixes a combination of styles ranging from Industrial Metal and Rock sounds to tribal and dance percussion. The project was recorded in Lima, Peru and was mixed and mastered by Kevin Paul in London.
Kevin Paul was the head engineer of Mute records and has mixed known bands such as Nick Cave, David Bowie and Depeche Mode. In June 2016, Kevin Paul joined Carlos in Lima,Peru to mix the Surround 5.1 version of the Time Cero album which will be released worldwide on DVD a few months after the digital Stereo release this November.
The brand new single off the album is “Time Cero”.
TIME CERO INTERVIEW – Mhbox met up with the band
How would you describe your sound ?
Time Cero has a wide variety of different genres such as Rock, Pop, Metal, Industrial, Gothic and Dance combined in a unique style. The lyrics contain powerful thoughtful messages and metaphors with a dark but positive direction
What is the new single actually about ?
The single TIME CERO gave way to the album concept and band name. Time zero is really the first instant of our universe as we know it, however without really knowing the physical meaning, I wrote the song intuitively referring to a new beginning for myself; the time to start realizing my own thoughts and ideas.
What’s your songwriting method ?
Sometimes I make a lyric without planning what it is going to be about. I just let my thoughts flow into the paper, and only after that I analyse the meaning it has. At the same time I create a lot of rythms and songs without lyrics. Then I match the lyrics previously made to the rhythm depending on the vibe and meaning of the song. Some other times I compose the lyrics on top of the rhythms previously created.
What’s the full band line up ?
Coqui Tramontana – Lead Guitar
Diana Foronda – Vocals
Michel Lovon – Lead Vocals
Pier de Bernardi – Drums, Cymbals
Carlos Li Carrillo – Bass, Synths, Sequencer, Guitar
Where have you played live before ?
La Linea Festival (UK)
World Village Festival (Finland)
SOBs New York (USA)
Afro-Pfingsten (Switzerland)
Rainforest World Music Festival (Malaysia)
What’s your opinion of the world wide web and it’s infuence on new bands ?
I feel it is amazing. I am very glad Time Cero was born in these times of internet and digital music. I have seen how technological changes have affected music not only in composition and producing, but also for promotion and distribution through the last 30 years. Now with a good online promotion you can have a worldwide release and make your music available everywhere the same day. These times are also giving musicians the opportunity to be independent and be able to control more your music business and life.
What has been your biggest challenge so far ?
My biggest challenge was in a previous band when dealing with people trying to take authorship of my musical compositions and ideas.
What are the 5 things you can’t live without ?
Music
Reading
Travelling
Mathematics
Wing Chun
Facebook: www.facebook.com/TimeCeroProduction/?fref=ts
Official Website: www.timecero.com
Youtube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUDQk-JvmWI