Joad Manuel Jiménez possesses one of the strongest voices in the South American metal scene, and he has sung with the likes of progressive metal titans Sexto Sonar and heavy metal pioneers Arkangel. Jiménez looks back on his development from a young, rock-loving kid to the expressive frontman of multiple influential bands.

“There is kind of a slogan that Paul Gillman came up with that Valencia, where I am from, is the rock capital of the country”, Jiménez says. “Maybe that was true at the time, but I don’t know if it’s still valid these days. But we have this stigma. In the early nineties, I do remember a bunch of bands. If you knew ten guys, maybe eight of them weren’t just in one band, they were in two or three bands. There were even a bunch of guys who play in nearly every single band in the area.

At that time, I was impressed. I listened to a couple of bands, but I never went into the scene properly, because my focus was on my studies at university. But I did go a few shows, and we had this cultural organization called Rabo de Nube, who would project videos at the cinema on Sundays, ten o’ clock in the morning. They would project Iron Maiden’s ‘Live After Death’ or Judas Priest’s ‘British Steel’. You could buy a ticket at the cinema if you wanted to listen to that.

I was going to these things, and I met some people, and I started to dream about being in a band. I had a very good friend who lives in Europe these days, Paul Spiekermann, and we started playing with acoustic guitars, calling ourselves Caliz, saying we were a band. Paul was actually Arkangel’s guitar tech for several years.”

Never Be Let Down

“After playing in a couple of small bands, I remember listening to Paul Gillman’s radio sow, La Esencia, where he announced that Arkangel was looking for a new singer. I thought: why not? Let’s do it! So I called, and I gave him my phone number, and then a couple of my friends gave me the number of the Picozzi brothers, urging me to call them. I told them: no man, I gave my information to the radio show, and Paul Gillman is my friend. But they told me that I had to call them.

So I did, and the guys asked me: can you come tomorrow morning? Yes, I could. What’s funny is that I went to meet the guys with my vinyl records, and asked them if they could sign them. They were very surprised about that, but I told them: dude, I don’t know when I’m going to see you guys again! When I entered the studio, they pointed to the setlist on the wall: what do you know from that? Everything! So we played the songs, and I imagined myself in the living room of my home with my eyes closed.

It was a dream come true for me. I remember being a kid of 14 or 16 years old, listening to Arkangel’s records and singing along, thinking: if I were 18 years old in 1984, when the band broke up, I would join the band, and the band would never be let down. Maybe a bit too romantic, but it was my dream. And when I was 21, I was their singer.”

Not a Matter of Comparison

“After that first day, it was a Sunday morning, they asked me if I could come again next week. They had me rehearsing Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays for two or three months. One day, I came to a rehearsal on a Friday night, and they said: no, we don’t have to rehearse, we will go to Paul Gillman’s radio show. That’s where I was announced as the new Arkangel singer.

Then, in October, we did our first show in Barquisimeto, about four hours from Valencia, and it was completely nuts. People reacted very well. Then in December, there was a show in Valencia, our city, and it was madness. There’s always people who don’t like your performance, but most people were happy. Many people said I was like a younger version of Paul Gillman.

Even Paul said so. I didn’t disagree, because obviously, he was one of my vocal influences. He was my friend already, but he was also one of my inspirations. So I tried to approach it the same way that I know he always does, even today: he sings with all his heart, all his feelings.

It’s not a matter of comparison, because Arkangel always had very different singers. Paul Gillman has his own style. Then, Mickey Tedeschi with his pop approach, Arkangel trying to be a kind of REO Speedwagon or Journey. It’s pretty cool material, but obviously not metal. Then comes the best singer ever in the career of the band, Sergio Marín, an operatic tenor. Maybe not the best singer for a rock band or a metal band, but technically speaking, he is the best.

Then there is José Gregorio Spindola, and the band returned to metal. Then it was me, then Luis González with his gruffer approach, then Eduardo Pargas… Very different singers. I think that people received every singer with different opinions, but everyone has been very important to the career of the band.”

Taking Advantage of Experience

“Music is so natural in my family. My dad was a tenor in a polyphonic choir, and he plays cuatro, and he always sings. At birthdays, we would always sing to family members. So I was always singing. We have a traditional music style called gaita, which we used to sing songs in at Christmas. My dad told me to sing with a group of our neighbors, and I remember feeling a bit ashamed because my voice was so high. I was told to sing with the women, and I was very ashamed of that.

When I joined Arkangel in 1994, I had no singing teachers, no lessons, nothing. A couple of years later, a couple of guys I was friends with at university sang in a choir, the Voces Oscuras choir, and they asked me for some scores for Beatles songs. ‘Why don’t you come and bring them to the choir, and see if we can make some arrangements out of them’. I told them I didn’t want to sing in the choir, but they told me it was just for the scores.

I went into their rehearsal room, and the guy said: this guy sings, I brought him to audition. So I was encouraged to try, I passed their test, and then their principal, César Liendo, told me: I know you are an experienced singer, but do you like Queen? Do you like Freddie Mercury? You know that guy sings opera, right? I’m going to take advantage of your experience in the choir, and in return, I’m going to make you a better singer. You will learn techniques, and I assure you that what you learn here, you are going to use in your band.

That was nice. It was a completely different idea than I had in mind. Even Paul Gillman said: those singing teachers only tell you that you don’t know how to sing. But I sang and toured with that choir with the choir, and César Liendo was right: I tried to take everything I learned from the choir and put it into ‘El Ángel de la Muerte’ (2000) when I was recording that album.”

Very Long Rehearsals

“When we were writing ‘El Ángel de la Muerte’, I remember bringing cassettes from things like Megadeth, ‘Painkiller’ from Judas Priest, Fight’s ‘War of Words’, all that kind of stuff. Obviously, I tried to push the band. ‘Inmortal’ (1993), the cassette they made before me, was very good. The band returned to traditional heavy metal. It was cool, but it was nothing more than that. I was expecting more.

So when I was there, I was trying to push the band. That’s how we started creating ‘El Ángel de la Muerte’. We had very long rehearsals, during which I was trying to get them to listen to things like Stuck Mojo, Fight, and Dream Theater. Friday night, I came back from university in Maracay, then went to rehearsal from 4PM to 11 PM, or maybe even midnight or 1AM. Then come again on Saturday from 2PM to 10PM. Then again on Sunday from 10AM to 10PM, listening to music and rehearsing.

Long days, but they make you learn what to do and what not to do. I remember that I drank a lot of beer with the guys, and then I started to realize that the more beer I drank, I started to feel pain, and my voice started to go. Then at the same time, we had this choir discipline, and I thought: no, I’m only going to drink after rehearsals.”

Dreading the Facilities

“Obviously, we had an advantage: we had our own rehearsal room. So we didn’t have to pay for that; we could spend three full days in there if we wanted to. If we wanted to play, that was no problem either. But finding places to play, and play well, that was the difficult part. There weren’t as many gigs as we would have wanted.

When I look back today, I realize that we did very few gigs, and that was the reason. Obviously, the band wanted to play big places, not in a small bar with a poor sound. That’s really the only thing I used to dread at the time: the facilities, the places to play. Overall, though, it was a wonderful process, with its ups an downs.

I think it was the first and last time that I had the chance to record a record that way. We went into the studio at 9AM and spent the whole day in there. Same as the rehearsals, really. Every single thing I recorded after that was not the same. You would go into the studio, and the message would be: okay, you have two hours to do this.

That was another advantage we had: the studio belonged to Mickey Tedeschi, who was Arkangel’s keyboard player in 1983. He always said: okay dudes, use the studio here as if it’s your own. So it was very nice. Maybe the facilities weren’t top-of-the-line, but we did the best we could with all the tools we had at our disposal at the time.”

Starting to Feel Dissatisfied

“All this time I was in Arkangel, I studied at the university. So obviously, those two started clashing. We had situations where we would play in Venezuela, and I said: we need to start playing at 9PM, because I have an exam tomorrow. But we wouldn’t go on stage until 1AM. So I started to fail some exams, and this started to make me feel pretty uncomfortable.

Then, some other things started happening with the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle that affected the performances of some other members in the band a little. And I was quite angry about that. So problems started to arise. And I started to feel dissatisfied, even with the sound, the production from ‘El Ángel de la Muerte’. Not the music: I love the music and the arrangements, I think it’s the most complex Arkangel album to date. But I remember putting the black album from Metallica and ‘War of Words’ by Fight to in a graphic equalizer, and asking for that sound.

So in the end, I never felt happy with how the album sounded. And then we booked some tour dates, and it was a disaster. Not the gigs themselves, but the way we had to travel between cities. Also, I had the pressure from university and traveling between Maracay and Valencia. At some point, I said: either I quit now and we will continue being friends, and I continue to love this band, or I stay and I’m going to start to hate them.”

Like a Son with a Broken Heart

“Ultimately, it was unplanned. I came to rehearsal, and I felt the atmosphere was a bit tense. One of the guys said: we need to talk, because your studies are interfering with our career. I went to Spain with the choir in 2000 to combine in a global competition, and we finished in second place, and they said that they lost some gigs while I was there. Something blew up in my mind. I said: you know what, I quit. I will do any gigs you have planned until you find a new guy, but I don’t want to be here anymore.

I remember going to the car of the keyboardist Jean Puccia, my brother from another mother, and he said: now what? I said: take me to Paul Gillman’s house. So I literally went to Paul’s house like a son after his girlfriend broke up with him, like a son with his broken heart going to his dad to cry. It sounds crazy to say, but it wasn’t. That band was my dream come true, but for my own sake, I knew that I couldn’t be there anymore.

Paul gave me a big hug and said: I knew it. He was very nice to me. As always. That was a very important moment. And maybe for the next two or three years, I couldn’t listen to my music with Arkangel. Even though I knew that I loved them all, and I love them all today, I didn’t want to listen to the music, because it made me feel sad.”

Lots of Improvisations in the Studio

“The first concert I ever bought a ticket for was a Centurion concert. At the time, they made heavy metal that sounded a lot like Iron Maiden, they even played maybe three Iron Maiden songs. But after that, they started going for something that sounded closer to Pantera.

When I was in Arkangel, Paul Gillman had his TV show, and it was announced that Bruce Dickinson had returned to Iron Maiden. They wanted to have a tribute to Iron Maiden because of that, so obviously, he called Centurion. They said: okay, cool, but we don’t have a singer. Paul said: I know a singer! And he called me.

So even though I was in Arkangel, we did two or three shows with Centurion. It was awesome. When I left Arkangel, they called me to ask if I wanted to play with them. Yes, but not as Pantera. They told me they wanted to go back to their roots, but I suggested going a little bit more progressive, and more aggressive. ‘Come to our studio and we’ll see what happens’.

So I went to their studio, and that rehearsal sounded pretty good, but it missed something. We needed a keyboard player, so I suggested calling Jean Puccia from Arkangel. That’s how ‘Genetical Breakdown’ (2003) came about. Lots of improvisations in the studio. That’s the magic of music. When we created that awesome album, I felt really proud of it. Even today.

We did one gig, but we were unprepared. It wasn’t the same as on the record, because we were already testing other things. But it was great, and it was recorded in a short period of time.”

Singing with Anger

“I remember working on a different recording, and the engineer listened to that Centurion record, because he wanted to hear a little bit of my range and everything. He said: dude, why did you make this with anger? In every single song I heard, I hear an angry dude. I said: well, it’s in the lyrics… He said: no, you were singing these songs with anger. If you sang these songs in a good mood, I assure you it would sound better. It’s not bad, but it’s clear that you were angry when you did it, your mind was not clear.

I never thought about that, but then my wife told me the same. Obviously, I was angry. I was trying to make all the people who were talking about me shut up. I felt like I needed to demonstrate everything I was able to do, and I wasn’t finished yet. That was the problem with my vocals on ‘Genetical Breakdown’. I was so angry recording those, but I didn’t realize it.

The fact that the lyrics are in English might make a difference too. I think I didn’t realize that until recording ‘World in Chaos’ (2011) with Sexto Sonar, but even more than that, when I recorded the ‘Master of Reality’ Black Sabbath album tribute. My friend Marcelo Patrocinio, the drummer, was helping me with the pronunciations. I realized the color of my voice sounds a bit different when I try to sing in pretty good English.

I was surprised, because with the choir, I sang in German, in Dutch, in Latin, in Italian, in English, we even did a song in Russian. I never realized the slight differences in the color of the voice when singing in a foreign language. But it’s quite interesting!”

Not a Political Event

“Once again, Paul Gillman helped me with Centurion. At the same time, he was getting more deeply into his political thing. He started to form an alternative band, and he called it Banda Bolivariana. Jean Puccia played in that band, but as the drummer. I went to a show to see Jean play, and Paul said: hey Joad, come on stage! And I thought: why not?

So I sang a couple of songs, and some guys in the band thought: that was not convenient to us, because they are with Chávez, so people will start accusing us of being chavistas. So they decided to pull Jean Puccia and me apart, and someday after that, they didn’t answer my phone calls anymore.

First, I went to the bass player: dude, we have to rehearse, and listen to the final mix. He said: but you two are not in the band anymore. What? He said: yeah, the drummer said that you are not in the band anymore, and that you already talked about it. So when I finally got a hold of the drummer, I said: I’m coming to Valencia this weekend, please let us have a meeting.

I had to tell him: Jean and I are not chavistas. Jean Puccia is a professional musician. He lives off music, playing whatever he has to play, when he has to play it. Paul paid him good money. It wasn’t a political event, it was a gig. Why didn’t you talk to us first? We’re still good friends, but at the time, I made my point: you know that all the Centurion songs are registered for copyright, and the only member of the Society of Authors is me? If I ever hear you using these songs, we will have a problem.

That’s the reason why the album didn’t come out until 2021: I never gave the guys the opportunity to release it. We thought about releasing it online. We made a very cool album, so let’s see what it will do. The guys at the record company told me: there are already fifty bands called Centurion, you’re an artist, why don’t you call it Joad Jiménez featuring Centurion? I told the guys, and they said: no problem. I love those guys. They’re all good people, but we were young, naive kids, haha!”

Only One Problem

“Everyone believes two things. Everyone believes that I’m from Maracay, because I lived there for many years, and that I was the original singer for Sexto Sonar. But Sexto Sonar already existed, and they already had a demo withmany of the songs that ended up on ‘Enfrentando la Realidad’ (2009) in completely different versions. It was my wife, who was my girlfriend at the time, who told me about the band. At that time, I wasn’t singing with a formal band. I did a couple of gigs with Torre de Marfil, and I was singing blues in pubs. For pretty good money, I must say.

She said: have you heard about this band? She showed me a video, and I thought it was an interesting band. They had a singer, Alex Jara, who was a baritone, or maybe even a bass. My wife said: I know that if you will sing with them, they will go very, very far. I thought they were very good musicians. Then I opened my MySpace, and I found a message from them: hey can you sing with us?

They saw me at the second and last gig I did with Torre de Marfil. So I went to their studio, and it was pretty cool. I said: guys, this is pretty cool music, but I have only one problem, there are a couple of things more than similar to Dream Theater’s songs. And I had some problems with the structures of the songs themselves. They were twenty minutes long. When people know that the songs are twenty minutes long, they go to the bathroom or order a beer.

Then we changed keyboardists, and we got back to work. Sexto Sonar had its own studio, so once again, we spent hours in there. The slight difference with Arkangel was that the Picozzi brothers’ mother didn’t come knocking on the door to ask if we had already eaten. But it was awesome. Because once again: from ten o’clock in the morning until ten o’ clock in the evening, working on the songs, making changes where we had to, and once again, the music is magical.

The level on which we connected making music in Sexto Sonar was just like that: magical. I remember ‘Olvidando de Ayer’ being recorded, and the intro reminding me of Pink Floyd. There was a lot of ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’ in it. We were rehearsing that song, and we heard that Rick Wright had died, and then the keyboardist and the guitarist added those notes from ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’. Then we knew: this is the intro we need for that song.”

Nothing Like Playing in a Theater

“We used to record the rehearsals. We used to take time. That level of practice: it was absolutely magical. We went to Colombia, we did some interviews, we made some awesomevideos too. The video for ‘Visiones’ is actually a funny story. I remember planning that. Because sorry for all my friends who like metal, but I really hate playing in bars. If we must play in a bar, I will do it, but I love playing in theaters. There’s nothing like playing in a theater.

I suggested to make something big out of the release show for ‘Enfrentando la Realidad’ (2009). Everyone at the time said that we were ‘Joad Jiménez’ new band’. I said: no, this is Sexto Sonar, we are a band. So we needed to present ourselves. We needed to play in a theater. But we alone were not going to fill this theater, so why not make it a festival? So we contacted Adra, we contacted Antes del Eclipse – the guitarist in Antes del Eclipse was the cousin of the guitarist in Sexto Sonar – and there was a band called Rock Sur, who were friends of them.

Then I suggested: let’s invite Arkangel for this. Let’s play with the expectations of an audience: the new band of the former singer of Arkangel, and Arkangel with a new singer, with their new album ‘MMVII’ (2008), let’s play with that. So I contacted the guys, and they thought it was cool. It was a huge audience, but mostly because of them. I think the key was everything we offered to the audience: four or five bands, a DVD, two bands releasing a new album, so it was very attractive. Many people couldn’t enter because it was sold out. It was complete madness.

It’s a pity that in the end, we couldn’t release the DVD, because the computer that the guys used broke down, and we lost around seventy percent of the material. There is something that we recovered, but we don’t know if it can be released. But it was awesome. Carlos José Ruiz, a very good friend of mine, put up the cameras, and he arranged everything, and he came with that video of ‘Visiones’. He’s a genius. He made all of our official videos.”

Moving in Opposite Directions

“Obviously, the guys in Sexto Sonar were very young people. I was the only one with a formal job, with duties, almost getting married, and all the other guys could just do what they wanted. And at some point, it started to affect our relationships, and we started disagreeing with each other. I’m not totally innocent, I must say. My grandmother always said: two people won’t fight if one doesn’t want to. So I’m not totally innocent. Not in this case, not with Arkangel, and not with Centurion.

And the same thing happened. One day, I realized I wasn’t happy anymore, and I started to feel bad. So I went to rehearsal, and I said: guys, I don’t want to be here anymore. What was different than with Arkangel, however, is that the guys said it was the right thing to do. We all agreed. So we did a final show, and that was it.

We couldn’t even agree on what direction to follow. I remember that my dear friend Santiago (Rodríguez), our guitarist, wanted to play something similar to Meshuggah, while I wanted to do something similar to Arch Enemy. So we were moving in opposite directions. Obviously, I would try to find alternatives, but it didn’t work out.

Nowadays, the guys are spread out all over the world. Alberto (Briceño), our last drummer, is in Chile. Héctor (Rivas, bassist) and Yeffry (Marval, keyboard player) are in China. Santiago is in Panama. Santiago has a pretty cool job. He test cameras, and he’s kind of an influencer. I think he’s coming to Buenos Aires soon. We are all in contact. We talk a lot. We’re even talking about doing a couple of things together someday. But nothing concrete.

We did a lot of things in a really short period of time, and I felt very, very proud of everything that we made. I’m happy that we can even remain in contact as friends.”

Time Just Went Back Twenty Years

“Three or four months later, I was chatting to Giancarlo Picozzi from Arkangel, and he asked me what I was doing at that moment, and if I wanted to join them again. It sounded like a pretty good opportunity, but we already knew that I was going to leave the country, I just didn’t know when. So I told the guys: let’s have a meeting, then let’s rehearse, and let’s see if the magic is still there.

The first time we rehearsed after twelve years or so, it was absolutely magical. It was as if we had rehearsed yesterday. Everyone was impressed. My wife had made some video recordings, and she said it was like time just went back twenty years. Less than a year after I left Sexto Sonar, I was back with Arkangel, and we did a tour.

They showed me the new material they were working on. The songs were created for a singer with a different register, even with a different approach. But I didn’t know if I was going to have the time to record the album anyway. They said: don’t worry, let’s just go some places and tour, and then, if you have to leave, let’s see if we can make the record.

I recorded two older songs – ‘Justicia y Poder’ from ‘El Ángel de la Muerte’ and ‘Castillo Sobre el Mar’ – for a compilation album. Then they told me they thought it was better to record the album with a different singer. I had no problems with that at all. I was trying to learn about a new city, learn about life, trying to rebuild my own life, so I would not even have the time to concentrate and give proper feeling to those songs.

They found a singer, made the record, and called the record ‘Theātrum Timorem’. Pretty cool record! One of their better albums. And what I was happy about: finally one with a good production.”

Participating in Songs

“Since I moved to Buenos Aires in 2015, I have not recorded any original music from myself. But I have recorded many things. For example: Zendas from Colombia contacted me when I still lived in Venezuela to invite me to record a song called ‘El Caudillo’ for their album ‘Días de Furia’ (2011). Then, Elkin Ramírez from Kraken died. He was a good friend of mine. We were so affected by it. So when the Zendas guys asked me if I wanted to participate in a song written in his memory, obviously, I said yes. It’s called ‘Titán’, and it’s on their album ‘Inquebrantable’ (2018).

Another Colombian band called Agamez recorded a song called ‘La Duda’, which was pretty fun and emotional, because that song was originally recorded by Elkin. The guy wanted to make an acoustic version with Elkin and me, and then Elkin died. But then maybe three years ago, they said: what if we made this record? He sent me the arrangement, and they already had Elkin’s voice, which they put on alongside my voice. That was awesome. It’s on their album ‘Libre y Sin Afán’ (2022).

There’s a couple of other small things. I recorded a song called ‘Evolution’ on the album ‘Humanity’ with the Argentinian band Beto Vasquez Infinity (2018). When I recorded ‘Los Sueños de la Doncella’ and ‘Nuestro Pequeño Mundo’ with Animas Negras, I still lived in Venezuela.

Recently, I recorded with a Peruvian band called Apu Rumi. They make an interesting mix of Spanish and Quechua. I recorded my parts, but I’m still waiting for the final results. And I’m doing some Arkangel stuff, for another compilation they want to do, and some bands of friends who are recording ‘El Ángel de la Muerte’ songs.”

Still in the Precambrian Era

“I’m keeping busy one way or another. Music is always going to be a part of my life. Recently, I started making something of my own, but if we try to put this in geological eras, I am still in the Precambrian era with it, haha! I never tried to find a band again, because I’m concentrating on living and trying to understand the new country, and trying to do things for a living.

In my opinion, having a band is like a company. It’s expensive. So that’s why I decided that maybe I don’t have the proper time to do it. And if I want to do something only for fun, my friend Facundo Coral and I play blues in a bar from time to time. That’s just for fun. It doesn’t matter: tomorrow we’re going to play, are there five people? Cool. Seven hundred people? Also cool. We’ll be playing, having a good time.

To me, having a good time with a band is important, but it also needs to be serious. It’s like a company. Everything demands time and money. I don’t know if I’m in the mental position to dedicate most of my time to doing that at the moment. At least at the level I always did it at. That doesn’t mean that I don’t want to do it anymore. I really want to. But I feel happy and at peace with all of this.

Recently, I went to São Paulo in Brazil, because a producer is recording a tribute to the ‘El Ángel de la Muerte’ album, as it’s twenty-five years since it was released, and he wanted me to sing a song for it. They paid for everything, and I forgot how that felt, haha! That made me think about how good it is to do all this. I enjoy making records with people. Maybe I will work something on my own more seriously soon.”