“We’ve lived our lives in notoriously cartel related areas, where music is really an escape for us. ANNEX play with a lot of emotion and our music and lyrics define that. One of our goals has been to get our message across to people who can relate to our settings or to just expose people to this part of the U.S. which is sometimes overlooked.”
Annex is a band that I initially heard because they released a record on Mass Media Records, a highly underrated label specializing in post punk, deathrock and the like, out of Southern California. Since that label’s catalog is typically solid, I checked out Annex’s Despues de VI LP that was released in May of 2015 and was blown away instantly. The record is easily one of the best post punk records of any kind of the past five years in my opinion. Imminent Destruction Records handled the release in Europe. They followed the LP with a 7″ single titled “Silencio” on Occult Whispers in November 2015. The band hails from McAllen, Texas, a city on the southern tip of Texas in the Rio Grande Valley that is only a 15 minute drive to the US/Mexico border to the south and a four hour drive to San Antonio to the north. They play a style that combines post punk, deathrock and early 80s UK peace punk among other varied influences to create a sound all their own. This March they made it to California on their first West Coast tour and I was able to catch a flawless, intense set at Five Star Bar in Downtown LA. In early August, they will play the third annual San La Muerte Fest in San Antonio that features some of the absolute best bands going playing post punk including Brazil’s Rakta, Rhythm of Cruelty from Canada and Denmark’s Moth to name a few.
What five bands shape the Annex sound most strongly? There are certain influences that seem obvious but it would be great to get your take on it.
Migas – Hey Kris! Thanks for inviting us to be in your zine. Our influences have always been our favorite bands in this genre since the beginning. We are influenced by many post-punk, gothic rock bands from around the world. Our top influences are Killing Joke, Xmal Deutschland, Musta Paraati, The Skeletal Family and Siekiera or Vex if it’s only 5 I can list. We try to capture that sound and make it our own with a modern twist. Everything we do and everything we love comes from the late 70’s early 80’s.
Nikole– As you can tell, we are definitely influenced by the harder sounding post-punk, gothic rock. That kind of sound just attracts us more. We all come from hc punk so a harder style is something that comes naturally to us. When Migas and I started ANNEX, we knew from the beginning that we wanted to be a little rougher and more punk sounding than other bands currently doing post-punk because we wanted to differentiate ourselves and create our own sound. I really like getting influences and turning them into our own. In a way, ANNEX is in honor to the pioneers who started it all.
Does being from McAllen, Texas influence your music in any particular way? Tell me a little bit about the city. Do you have to travel 4 hours to San Antonio to plays shows usually or are there are neighboring cities in Texas or Mexico that are conducive to that?
Migas – Being born and raised in this segment of the South Texas (the Rio Grande Valley) area has had a lot of impact on our band as we are literally a 15 minute drive to the U.S./Mexico border. We’ve lived our lives in notoriously cartel related areas, where music is really an escape for us. ANNEX play with a lot of emotion and our music and lyrics define that. One of our goals has been to get our message across to people who can relate to our settings or to just expose people to this part of the U.S. which is sometimes overlooked. San Antonio, TX is about 4 hours from here and, yes of course, we need to do a little traveling to play shows outside of the South Texas because Texas is so big. Neighboring cities to play are Brownsville (still part of the Rio Grande Valley) and heading north is Corpus Christi, followed by San Antonio then Austin, Houston, Dallas/Fort Worth, etc. But all in all, we love to meet new people and travel as a band. It’s about being humble and being able to be successful no matter where you are from.
Nikole – One of my goals as a female that’s been part of the punk scene in the Rio Grande Valley for many years is to be an influence to other females in this area to go out and create music, regardless of the adversity we face being from a strong Latino/Tejano culture where we still face oppression on many levels. Now that I get to front a band, I hope I have made some sort of impact to other chicas in the area throughout the Rio Grande Valley, not just in McAllen, to make art in one way or another. Being from way down in South Texas has definitely created more of a challenge for ANNEX as opposed to other bands from larger, more well-known areas of the U.S. I think this type of difficulty has pushed us even harder and has made us closer in ANNEX. Every type of success is much more appreciated and, as Migas mentioned, we really don’t mind traveling and we realize we have to get out of our comfort zone in order to grow ANNEX. Also, South Texas has a beautifully distinct border culture and we sometimes joke that we just have that “flavor” other bands don’t!
Are there any other bands from McAllen or surrounding areas that people should take note of going these days?
Nikole – A personal favorite regional and relevant band of mine is Vivent Les Morts. They’re a 3 piece electronic darkwave band influenced by the likes of Skinny Puppy and Ministry. The guys in Vivent Les Morts have done so much for the darkwave/goth scene in the Rio Grande Valley and have really pushed to keep the scene going. They’ve always supported us and we always loves performing on the same bill with them. They even performed at last year’s San La Muerte Fest which was so rad for us to see them get some recognition that was way overdue.
It’s been about a year since you released your first LP. How do you feel about it now that it has had a chance to settle in and you’ve played a bunch of shows to support it?
Migas – It’s been fun since our LP came out. Lots of new faces always coming up and telling us how they really enjoy the record. Touring has really been great to us. I haven’t heard the LP in a while but when I do it always brings great memories. We are currently writing a 2nd LP that will hopefully be as successful.
Nikole– Hearing people’s reactions to the LP has been very positive for us. Although we do write for ourselves, it’s been fun to go out and perform our songs for people from all over the U.S. One of my favorite parts about performing the LP is the feedback we get after we get off stage! I think we are just very different from a lot of bands in the U.S. post-punk/gothic rock scene and bring a bit of diversity to the table. I still love performing every single song because they are all near and dear to me, yet I know we are all ready to move forward and keep writing new material which will be a continuation of the sound from our 7″ “Silencio” which followed our LP.
Did you learn anything in the process of recording the first LP, and even subsequent EP, that you’ll take with you when it comes time to write/record the next record?
Migas – We learned quite a bit on how to deal with gathering our thoughts as a band. Basically what happened with our 7″ is that we started playing those 2 tracks live and people started saying that they wished they were on the LP. We went into the studio in August 2015 and recorded for a second release on vinyl which resulted in our 7″ “Silencio”. It’s been hectic touring, throwing shows and recording all at once. But I know when we start recording for our 2nd LP later this year, we will all have a clearer mindset as whole because we’ll have more time to concentrate on the next release. We will be taking a break from touring and playing after August to focus on writing and getting into the studio. I have written 7 of the 10 songs that will be on the new record, so everything will come together as time gets closer.
What is your favorite song lyrically on the full length and what does it mean to you?
Nikole – Ever since the music for the first track off our LP, “Nostalgia”, was written, I knew it was going to be my top track. The music is just so dark, powerful and it sounds like it creeps into your soul, where memories are suppressed but linger and never really disappear. I speak for myself when I say that even when we perform Nostalgia live, I feel like it truly kicks off our set. It just sets off that emotion in me that makes me sing with a passion that I don’t really expose to many people. I wrote the lyrics in reference to letting go of the past and allowing some things die in order for one to move one. “Assure yourself your war has passed / New comfort exists & this will last…& this will last / Forgotten those days, recollection spent, deprive your mind ‘cause you’ll never regret the ties we share – the lies – the air – death’s sometimes fair – the cross we bear.” This is really just about subduing feelings and memories…we move on, but do we ever really forget?
Mass Media is a great label. How did you get to know and start working with them and how has that gone so far?
Migas – Mass Media Records is part of our family. They’ve been a great deal of support to me and the rest of the band. We goy into contact with them because of our Tribute song of Joy Division’s “Day of the Lords”. We were featured on a compilation for CVLT Nation featuring many amazing, current bands that we all love and consider friends. Shortly after CVLT Nation released the compilation, we reached out to Mass Media Records and they really were interested in a full release for ANNEX. We were in a good spot from then on. They have pushed our LP all across the country to many record stores and different labels. It’s hard for a d.i.y. band to do that alone. Being on a record label really gets all that pressure off of you. And we knew at that point we were on the verge of doing awesome things. Nikole and Tricia (MMR) talk frequently, almost every day. Everyone in our band and the MMR family have a good relationship with one another.
Nikole – I really cannot think of a better label than Mass Media Records to work with. They worked with us really well on our LP which was a split release with Imminent Destruction Records from the U.K. I was literally overjoyed when we got the “O.K.” from Mass Media Records to move forward with an LP. MMR is just so on point with their releases, being focused on darkwave, peace punk, goth rock, post-punk bands. I feel like Migas and I relate to Cameron and Trisha on many levels and we just get along really well so we’ve just always been really thankful they gave us the opportunity that they did!
Did anything notably funny or ridiculous happen on your recent West Coast tour? I love a good tour story.
Migas – Yes! Well, on the last day of our tour, which was our 2nd time playing Portland on that leg, we had a drive to make from there all the way down to Las Vegas. The scenery was so beautiful and unlike anything we had really ever seen before. So, being that there is obviously a lot of desert in Nevada, we found ourselves on a quarter tank of gas and had a 60 mile drive to the nearest gas station. We were freaking out because it was 3am, almost pitch black outside with strange animal noises in the distance… and to top it off no one could get reception on their phones! By this time everyone who was asleep was well aware and ready to find shelter somewhere, or life, anything! We stopped at a gas station that was, of course, closed but had a house in the back yard. Everyone was trying to see if we could make noise so we could pump or ask for help. No one answered, so we knew we were going to have to make that 60 mile drive work. I don’t know how we did it, but it was crazy. We were on a race against time to fly out of Las Vegas at 12pm and we were still 10 hours out. We finally reached the gas station 60 miles out and pumped and loaded up on coffee. From that point on, it was 100 miles before the next gas station. That was insane, and I hope we don’t have to go through that again! Haha
You recently played with Modern English. How was that show and what are some bands from the 80s that you would love to play with, either realistic or unrealistic?
Migas – It was a great show with Modern English. Very good, solid people. They put on a great show, their Mesh and Lace material is always the best for me personally. So to hear it in its entirety was beyond rad! Oh gosh, bands that I would definitely want to play with would be Paralisis Permanente with Eduardo in the band. Musta Paraati with Jore in the band and def Killing Joke 1979-1982 era. Those are dream shows that would be the best for me!
Nikole – Opening for Modern English was a pivotal moment for me in ANNEX being in the post-punk revival genre that we are in. It really opened my eyes and even though we had toured and had releases, things just got a lot more serious for me at that moment. Needless to say, Modern English was really, really amazing. One of the best memories from the Modern English show was watching their guitar player manipulate his guitar sound with his pedal board. Main reason being is that it really reminded me of Migas and his own pedal board which I know intrigues people when we perform live. Haha, while opening for Modern English, the power went out mid-song during out set! It was hilarious. The show went on and Modern was perfect that night. If had to choose a band to perform on the same stage with, it would definitely be Xmal Deutschland. Anja is my girl for life!
What are some places you would love to place that you haven’t been able to yet?
Migas – There are many people from around the world that have offered to host us if we play in their countries. Right now we are still trying to figure that out. However, Puerto Rico, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile are areas we are planning on this coming year 2017. We are already in talks. It’s so hard to try and do everything all at once. We will eventually play other areas but as Latinos, we do want to visit other people who feel and love what we do and share our similarities. We want to give back to the people in countries that don’t have the resources to come out and see us play over here. We are grateful for anywhere we are able to perform and, to me in d.i.y., that is one of the things that keeps me writing and going in this band.
If you had to start a music project completely different than Annex, what influences would you like to explore?
Migas – Nikole and I have talked about doing a Synth wave/Dark wave project together as a duo. I am also a producer so a lot of my writing ranges from everything to Killing Joke to dance-y music. I’ve written a song or 2 as melodies for different stuff. For now, our main focus is to continue with this band and once we finish doing what we need to do with ANNEX, I’m sure Nikole and I will do something that is just about us.
Nikole – As musicians in the punk scene, we have kind of already done it all collectively so starting ANNEX was that next project and next influence we decided to delve into. I guess we’ll see what the upcoming years bring us.
I know you said you have a new drummer. Has the lineup of Annex remained fairly consistent since inception or has there been many member changes?
Migas – We do have a new addition to the band with Omar on drums now! There hasn’t been many line-up changes but basically, Arnold, our drummer for our LP and EP didn’t really have time to tour. And we knew it was going to be an issue, especially with the plans we see later this year—recording a new LP then touring in 2017 to promote. We felt like Omar was the right decision because he has been a longtime friend of ours, he already knew the songs and he’s a talented, dedicated musician. Having Omar in the band has made it much simpler for all of us. We are all on good terms with Arnold and he does wish us the best.
San La Muerte Fest is coming up soon and has a killer lineup. Who are you most excited to see and do you expect that to be one of the best shows you play this year?
Migas – San La Muerte does have a great line-up full of talent. I am most excited so see and finally meet MOTH (Denmark)! We are record label mates on Mass Media Records, so we have talked about meeting and performing together before. And not to mention, San La Muerte Fest will be their last show ever. I also want to see Masses (Australia) which is another band on Mass Media Records. They had asked us to tour together for this summer leading up to SLM Fest but plans fell through due to scheduling. Overall, there are a lot of good bands on SLM and should be a fun night to party and hangout
Nikole – This year’s San La Muerte Fest lineup is so amazing that is it kind of overwhelming! I feel like I could list every band as a band that I am anticipating to see but I will narrow down my list to Dead Cult (looong time fan), MOTH of course, Cold Complex, Rhythm of Cruelty, Masses, Otzi, and Slimy Member (TX represent!). & I REALLY want to dance to DJ Goth Mommy’s set… SLM 2016 will for sure be one for the books.
Do you have any new releases or tours planned at this point? What’s next for Annex?
Nikole & Migas – After SLM, we will take a break to continue writing and record our 2nd LP this year. We don’t plan on touring again until after we record and hope for our new LP to be out before we go to Puerto Rico in Spring/Summer of 2017. It’s really hard to play long distance places without merch especially since we keep selling out of everything. We might have another label re-press our first LP but that might take some time. We look forward to an even better year in 2017 and can’t wait to see how everything plays out! Thanks again for chatting with us, cheers Kris!
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