Abel Cañizales is associated with several high-profile Venezuelan rock and metal bands. He played with influential doom/death metal band Stratuz during their formative years, briefly played with traditional heavy metal powerhouse Cronos, had a stint with pop-rockers Radio Clip and was the final guitarist for seminal Latin-metallers Laberinto. These days, he is a part of the Netherlands-based trio Mercenaries of Silence with two of his former Laberinto bandmates. Cañizales looks back on an eventful career in music.

“On my mother’s side of the family, I had an uncle who was about fifteen years older than me”, Cañizales explains the beginning of his journey of musical discovery. “One day, I must have been 5 or 6 years old, he left a cassette in my dad’s car with music that he likes. ‘Come Together’ was on it, a lot of rough-edged seventies music, ‘Beside You’ from the New York Rock Orchestra, all kinds of beautiful music. I wasn’t really into music yet, but I did enjoy music my mother played on the radio, and I listened to that cassette at home a lot. ‘Come Together’ especially.

One day, I was picked up by the school bus, and there was a boy who had Kiss’ ‘Alive’ double record in his hands. Coincidentally, he would later be the drummer of the very famous band Sentimiento Muerto later on, Sebastián Araujo. He is a year older than me, and he had been a music lover from a very young age. I got on the bus, and I thought: wow, what the hell is that? Those long hairs and those devilish faces?

That’s how I started listening to metal. Sebastián let me borrow the album at the time. And from there on, I quickly started listening to things like AC/DC and Black Sabbath as well.”

Truly a Rocker

“When I was around 9 years old, in the late seventies, a boy in my class had a teenage brother who listened to Arkangel. He is the one who introduced the first Arkangel album to me. So I very clearly remember listening to the first album, and I actually bought the second album with my mother. Then I bought the third album as well, and then Paul Gillman left, and I bought the first Gillman album.

Resistencia were real cool dudes, and they played rough and well. But Gillman really had the looks. You looked at him and you thought: oh yeah, that’s truly a rocker like the ones we saw in our records, with the long hair, the wrist bands, the leather pants, and stuff like that. So that’s more or less how I started listening to Venezuela’s metal bands.

It’s kind of funny that my friends ended up playing with Gillman. Many years later, he held open auditions when he was looking for a new guitarist, and I also ended up auditioning for him. They ended up going for someone else, but that someone was my friend Facundo Coral, so really, I can’t help being happy for Facundo.”

Ideas for Songs

“There were many young guys in he street and the area where I lived. We played outside, playing soccer or baseball, but musically, most of them were into what DJ’s were doing at the time, which used to be known as Minitek. People would organize parties with enormous speakers, and they would be mixing music, instead of having bands play. Basically what you see now, but then the early eighties version of it. The heaviest thing our friends would listen to were Van Halen’s singles.

The guys in Stratuz’ first line-up – Eliecer (Delgado, guitarist), Leo (Rangel, bassist) and Edwing (Merlo, drummer) – were each other’s neighbors. They used to live right across each other in apartment buildings. They were planning to form a band from when they were 14 or 15 years old. Although they didn’t own any guitars or drums or anything, they had ideas for songs, and they were very fanatic.

I got to know them when I was 14 or 15 years old. Since I was into heavy music as well, we immediately clicked, and we started hanging out and exchanging music immediately. Eliecer was a good classical guitarist, so they would meet to play on Spanish guitars, and write some music, mostly Leo and Eliecer. I was often hanging out with them while that happened. That’s when they taught me a few things, and I was able to pick them up quickly.

Eliecer ended up leaving after a while, but if I’m really honest, there wasn’t really a proper band yet. There wasn’t a singer yet, and I don’t think they ever completed a single song in that time.”

Plugging into a Stereo System

“At a certain point, Edwing saw a drum kit for sale for not a lot of money, but he simply didn’t have it at the moment. He asked me: Abel, do you think I could borrow it from your mother or something? But I suggested to him: what if I buy the drum kit and you teach me to play the drums at my place? And then, when you finished paying it off, you can take it with you? Great, let’s do it!

So I started drumming at home, but that resulted in the guys constantly being at my place to rehearse. In the meantime, they had all gotten basses and guitars, so they could plug into my stereo system at home. Meanwhile, Eliecer taught me more and more guitar, because he was always at my place. That’s how they ended up asking me to join. They said: Abel, shouldn’t you just become our guitarist? Sure, why not? How do I do that? Haha!

From nothing, I went to playing guitar in a band. That’s how we started composing. They had two or three songs. Later, Franklin Zambrano joined us as a singer, but he ended up quitting, because he wanted a band in which he could play guitar as well, which became Baphometh. After that, we asked Franklin Berroterán to join, and he has been with the band ever since.

If I’m being honest, we weren’t very good. Well, Franklin was very good. He was very creative, and he could come up with vocal parts quite quickly. Edwing was a good drummer as well. I was the one who was behind a little bit, but Leo and Eliecer were able to lift me up.”

Gradually Upgrading Guitars

“There wasn’t really an instrument market in Venezuela at the time. You had to have guitars delivered to you. The import duties were so high that it was cheaper to buy a plane ticket, fly to Miami, and buy a guitar there. It wasn’t unusual for someone to go to Miami for a weekend to buy instruments. Or you knew someone who was going there, and they could pick something up for you.

Everything was ridiculously expensive. If a cable broke, we would cut two wires and try to repair it that way. And we weren’t necessarily poor, but we really had to be careful with money. I was a little better off, because I am an only child. I had a brother on my dad’s side, but I am my mother’s only child. But it wasn’t like: I want a guitar now, and there would be a guitar. It was more: okay, you want a guitar, but you are going to actually play it. And: why do you want one?

My mother noticed that I was doing well musically, so she got me some things as a kid. Also, you could sell second-hand instruments for more money than new ones, as long as you got them in Miami. They were so expensive in music stores that you could buy an Ibanez with a case for 600 dollars, and you could sell it for 650 or 700 dollars, because you had to buy a plane ticket and everything. But in stores, it would maybe cost over a thousand.

So someone would be more inclined to take over your old guitar than buy a new one. That’s how I could gradually upgrade my guitars and equipment. I started with something really bad in Stratuz, and would get something better each time. But I didn’t switch to Ibanez until I quit Stratuz.”

A Core of Extreme Metal Bands

“Our first show with Stratuz was actually an arena show. It was a festival that I think was organized by the municipal council. They were looking for young bands. Cronos played there as well. I think it was their third or fourth show. It was our very first one, so it was absolutely unbelievable to suddenly be playing on such a large stage.

There was no extreme metal scene whatsoever in Caracas, where we were from. At about a six-hour drive from us, there was a core of extreme metal bands on the west coast of Venezuela, in towns like Coro and Barquisimeto. That’s where they had a few bands, and we all became friends. Necrosis and SS were from Barquisimeto. We played there once, because people heard about us, and they asked us to come play at an event they were organizing.

In the end, I recorded one demo with Stratuz, and that was a really long time ago. It wasn’t really all that good, as it was recorded maybe within a year after we started. The quality was really, really bad, but it was just for us. I don’t even know if I still have those recordings. However, most of the things that were traded back then were rehearsal tapes. Stratuz didn’t start properly recording until after I left the band.”

The Context of a Guitar in a Song

“Stratuz and Cronos would perform together, hang out, go to concerts… We would be together every weekend, at a bar or at someone else’s rehearsal, just to drink beers and talk. We were really good friends. Our mothers used to call each others just to say hello or congratulate each other. They still are great friends of mine.

Edwing quit Stratuz because he got a kind of scholarship from an uncle who said: I want to pay for your education, but you have to go for it for 100 percent, no more music. That’s what I have been told, at least. So we were suddenly without a drummer, and we weren’t sure about how to carry on. Around the same time, I became friends with guys who played in cover bands. They were playing The Cars, Led Zeppelin, Duran Duran, and similar artists.

I also got more passionate about guitar solos and the context of a guitar in a song, which made me play a bit more melodically. When I started hanging out with these cover band musicians, I started to learn more about that, and that’s when I started taking lessons from a guitarist, Eduard Jack. He taught me everything I know: harmony, guitar theory, actually learning to understand music. Especially within a rock and pop context.”

Doing a Cronos Revival

“Around that same time, I was in a cover band with Facundo, Gregorio (Rangel, later Laberinto bassist) and Rodrigo Pereira, who was in Excalibur, a band that kind of sounded like Iron Maiden. Gregorio was the singer and bassist in that band. That wasn’t a pop cover band, by the way. We played stuff from bands like Metallica and Anthrax.

At that time, Facundo had the idea to do a Cronos revival with Eduardo (Sáez, drummer). So to play another show together, with Nicky Font as their bass player. Because I was already playing more melodic things at the time, the transition to the more Iron Maiden-ish or Judas Priest-ish sound of Cronos was very smooth for me. After doing one or two concerts, the idea of doing the ‘Al Fin Una Victoria’ EP came up.

Shortly after that, Cronos entered a bit of a break, because Eduardo had emigrated to Miami. We didn’t do anything in those years, because we were without a drummer. That’s basically how Cronos completely fizzled out at the time.”

Gravitating Towards Rock Music

“After Cronos, I studied communication sciences at university, specializing in journalism, and Félix Duque, Radio Clip’ s singer, was in the same class as me, as was Rafael Cadavieco, the drummer of his hardcore band Holocausto. Radio Clip had different singers before Félix, but they became very well-known with him.

He told me Kako (guitarist Carlos Guzmán) was leaving, and asked me to audition. Radio Clip was a pop band. At some point, they played Depech Mode-ish synth-pop, and that’s how I got familiar with them. I was really impressed when I saw them live. Later on, they gravitated more towards rock music, and that’s when I joined the band. Honestly, I really felt like I had found my place playing with Radio Clip at the time.

In the meantime, Facundo had auditioned for Gillman and became their new guitarist. After I had joined Radio Clip, the other guitarist left Gillman, and Facundo approached me. Honestly, I would have loved to have done it. There was a time when I dreamed of playing with Gillman, especially with Facundo. Maybe if Facundo had approached me while they were still playing synth-pop, I would have done it. But I enjoyed playing the more rocky stuff with Radio Clip.”

Remaining First-Class

“We did a lot of cool things with Radio Clip. But at some points, things started to go downhill a bit. First, we got a new singer in the band. That worked out quite well, and we recorded a great album (‘Desde Cero’, 1995). But then there was a takeover at the record company, and this was at a time when everything depended greatly on the record companies. Including touring.

Radio Clip was a band that wasn’t going to do things for less. Once you get used to flying to concerts and sleeping in hotels, you’re not suddenly going to switch back to a ten-hour bus ride to get back those same ten hours with the same bus. That’s when it stopped making sense to go on for the guys. That is something I admired at the time, and I still have that philosophy. That’s something that stayed with me from the Radio Clip days.

We talked about it, and our bassist and manager Arturo (Torres) said: once it starts going downhill, and they want you to play for less money, you can never go back to asking more money for it. If you are first-class, you will remain first-class, let’s quit. And that’s what we did. We did a farewell concert, which I seem to remember was an acoustic concert, as everyone had an MTV Unplugged show at the time.

After that, I played in the band of a very famous singer called Guillermo Dávila for a year, maybe a year and a half. We toured Ecuador and Venezuela. It was funny to play with him, because he was a very famous actor in telenovelas as well. If you were my age, your mother would have watched those, so you would have seen him on TV all your life. So to suddenly play those songs – a lot of ballads, very poppy – was something else. He’s a really cool guy. Funny guy too.

It was Beatlemania levels of crazy. The first twenty, thirty minutes, we would hear nothing but screaming on stage. No guitars, no drums, absolutely nothing else. What an experience!”

A Kind of Puzzle

“I said my goodbyes to Guillermo’s band when I moved to the Netherlands. The Laberinto guys moved to Netherlands in various phases. First, Rubén (Sposito), the original bass player, moved to Amsterdam with his then-girlfriend. That’s when he said to the others: we have to come and play live here, because a lot is happening in the Dutch music scene. That’s how he convinced the rest of the band to give the Netherlands a try.

That’s how Raimundo (Ceballos, singer) and his wife came to the Netherlands, and then Marco (Toro, drummer) and both guitarists. But it went in phases. First a different guitarist, Richard (Rodríguez), but the left the band in the early nineties, and Pablo (Minoli, guitarist) was in Uruguay. He actually went back to Uruguay, where his parents are from, but the Laberinto guys convinced him to come to the Netherlands as well.

A couple of years later, Gregorio went as well, but more as a Laberinto sidekick, with the idea: I’m just going to make some music with my friends, that’s nice. That’s also how I ended up going to the Netherlands. At some point, Rubén left Laberinto, because he was leaving the Netherlands, and Gregorio ended up joining the band. And when Pablo left Laberinto in 2004, I ended up joining. It’s a bit of a game of chess, a kind of puzzle.”

Trying to Create a New Sound

“What I liked about Laberinto before I joined them, with the original line-up, is that the Afro-Caribbean music that specifically comes from the coastal region of Venezuela, was truly woven in to their music seamlessly. It wasn’t just: okay, let’s do a salsa bit here. So much happened with percussion! Because Laberinto had an actual percussionist, who played things like the conga and the timbales, plus a drummer, and a singer who played bongos and other instruments. Those just kept going in the songs.

To be able to play Laberinto songs, you had to actually be able with that kind of music. A few bands tried something similar when Sepultura broke through with their combination of metal and Brazilian tribal music. But at that point, Laberinto had been doing their own, typically Venezuelan thing, for a long time already, which had nothing to do with that tribal thing. It was something I always greatly admired in them.

In the end, I only recorded ‘Mask of a Thousand Faces’ (2010) with them, though I did produce the compilation album ‘De Colección’ (2012) as well. We did try to create a new sound with Ronny (Tuinman, final Laberinto singer) in the band. Because we felt we couldn’t do the same things we had done for three albums with the other guys. So with a new guitarist, and a different singer, we tried to find that in incorporating the percussion into the songs even more, and trying out different lyrics, a little more personal perhaps.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t get more out of it than that one record. It’s unfortunate, but everybody was working on their own fun things already. So everyone went their own way.”

Swing in Loud Music

“Marco and I started setting up what eventually became Mercenaries of Silence around 2011 or 2012. Gregorio didn’t want to join us at the time. He was very busy with various other projects. Marco and I were quite busy as well, and we decided that if Gregorio couldn’t do it, we wouldn’t do it at all. Until Gregorio said: let’s just go ahead and do this.

That was around 2018 or 2019. Marco and I had tried jamming and even recording with two other guys before, but that didn’t really work out. For Mercenaries of Silence, we decided: let’s just go into the rehearsal room, just the three of us, and literally start jamming. Let’s start with a groove, and build on that. So we started jamming and recording, and we picked the best parts out of those jams, and that became the basis for our songs, which we later fine-tuned and wrote lyrics to. We also did a few covers we completely deformed.

Gregorio had some issues. His son has died, and before that, he was ill for a very long time, so Gregorio literally had to take care of his son. And he had his own health issues as well, which has quite an impact. He still has some problems with that, in fact. We’re not young men anymore either. And you have to keep working. So getting together to make music can sometimes be difficult.

Still, we’re making music we love, and in the end, that’s what counts. Marco is very groovy. He has this swing, even though he plays loud music. That’s a part of his style. Mercenaries of Silence isn’t necessarily something with Latin music, however, though we have covered a Latin classic called ‘Cumbanchero’, which we completely metaled up.”