Mestis: Accidentally On Purpose
Over the years we have seen a lot of what can be deemed as side projects materialise, an opportunity for a musician to step away from their main hustle and collaborate with other musicians or even just head in search of their own individualistic vision. These ventures have the potential to become a huge success but there is also the chance that due to other commitments they can vanish off the face of the earth as quickly as they appeared. One particular venture which is gathering a lot of praise is the instrumental prog project known as MESTIS which is spearheaded by the incredibly talented guitarist Javier Reyes.
“MESTIS originally started as another form of creative outlet really, before joining ANIMALS AS LEADERS I was not doing anything metal,” admits Javier. “When I started trying to write prog metal or prog music I was already coming from a pretty different background and it was like ‘how do I combine what I’m comfortable with, with this new age prog world that I’m kind of all of a sudden a part of?’ Little by little I started kind of developing a style that became MESTIS and it’s still an evolving style. I think particularly with the Eikasia album, you can kind of hear a more definitive sound. Even though the songs are pretty different from one another.”
MESTIS does contain some similar traits to what we have come to know from his playing style but stands proudly as its own separate entity. Providing inviting, warm tones and infectious flair. “With ANIMALS AS LEADERS we’re obviously trying to be over the top and be like sensory overload with all the rhythms and time signatures and all sorts of stuff going on whereas with MESTIS it’s definitely more of a groovy sort of vibe,” states Javier. “I try not to go overboard and make the listener try too hard to understand what is going on. With ANIMALS AS LEADERS we’re deliberately doing that. I have some kind of formula when it comes to writing songs but I try to make sure every song has its own unique approach and form of inspiration when it comes to writing and producing it. I think I do it deliberately and it happens by accident all at the same time.”
“I kind of wait for inspiration to hit me as it’s rare for me to just sit down and all of a sudden write a whole album. It can be anything from like if I just finished going to a concert or watching TV or anything, really. If an idea comes out on the guitar that I feel strong enough then I can all of a sudden bring that to the desk if you will, to start thinking of a production form or song form of it. With Eikasia a lot of the stuff I kind of started with drum loops just to kind of create new inspirations as with the previous stuff it always stemmed from guitar ideas. I don’t like to repeat myself. I obviously have a style but I like to believe that each song has their own kind of identity so I try to come up with different approaches every time whether it’s using loops, whether it’s trying to programme drums first or using sensors or some type of variety, some type of curveball to kind of help inspire something.”
There are already four releases under the MESTIS banner stemming back to 2012, the most recent being a live album entitled En Vivo which was released last month. A release which encompasses a collection of performances from their most recent US and Canadian tour. This provided the perfect opportunity to give listeners a chance to sit back, forget about the current state of the world and the performing arts scene and embrace the vibe of live music, something which feels like a bit of a distant memory. “It was actually the idea of my sound guy who was working with us for all of those shows, he’s actually from the UK,” discusses Javier. “We were about a month into it when quarantine hit and he got in touch and said he’d mixed all the songs from the sets of that tour and we decided we should release it as an album. I hit up Sumerian Records immediately to see if they’d be interested.”
One of the most exciting aspects of MESTIS for Javier is that there is no pressure. He has the opportunity to dip in and out of the project when time allows and go at his own pace. “I think it’s kind of slowly grown up, when MESTIS first came out a small handful of people were into it,” informs Javier. “There’s still people kind of finding it and being way more stoked about it. Some people favour it over ANIMALS AS LEADERS, and others feel like it’s a perfect complement to ANIMALS AS LEADERS. Others have discovered it and not figured out it’s me right away so that’s a nice little surprise in there so for me that’s kind of great. It’s a bit of a passion project for me, ANIMALS AS LEADERS always stays the priority so I kind of just have the liberty of putting out music whenever I want and I think that’s cool. If there is enough interest in this project I’ll continue touring and creating albums.”
En Vivo is out now via Sumerian Records.
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