THE
VOICE OF HEAVY METAL
Wisdom, Understanding, and Business Vision
Alakran marked a golden era and pioneered an aesthetic within Argentine hard rock. Looking back on those years, he values most the passion they had and the many hours they spent rehearsing each day.
“The passion that existed. The dedication
to music, the fact that we rehearsed for four or five hours a day. A show was
the most important thing in life. Everything was focused on that, rehearsing so
we could get to that show. It was a time when it was easy to be original. If
you had something truly original, you could do it. And Alakran, at that moment,
had been very original, both musically and in terms of image. We were often
compared to a Californian band, but our musical vibe had a lot of English influence.”
“Around that time in Argentina, Alakran
was very powerful. Unfortunately, what we lacked of was wisdom and
understanding—something Rata Blanca did have. Walter had, and still has, a much
stronger business vision than we did. We were all over the place. We generated
a lot, but we didn’t have that business mindset.”
Alakran
performed at Vélez Sarsfield Stadium as the opening act for Bon Jovi in
Buenos Aires in February 1990. Mario believes that, at that moment, his mindset
should have been different and that he should have looked at his band with a
different understanding—with the kind of business wisdom he was unable to see
during his early steps in music. He rejects the idea of having gone home by bus
with his mother after playing for 60,000 people, arguing that this was not being humble, but rather a lack of business preparation.
Mario Ian’s
time with Rata Blanca left behind an enormously powerful album: Entre
el Cielo y el Infierno. Mario
recalls it as a very special time, when the band needed a change, new atmosphere, leaving behind the massive success of “Mujer Amante” to focus more
on heavy metal. He highlights Walter Giardino’s business vision, the importance
of being part of that live-show circuits, and how they experienced the rise of
metal and grunge in the 1990s, when rock had started to make a strong comeback.
“When I joined the band, they no longer
wanted to play ‘Mujer Amante.’ They didn’t want to keep playing at dance halls
or appearing on TV with Tinelli. Things began to
happen because, in the early 1990s, very strong heavy metal, grunge, and
related bands had emerged: Megadeth, Metallica, Pantera, Faith No More, Linkin
Park, Stone Temple Pilots, Soundgarden… So the band had a real opportunity to
bring heavy metal back, and that’s exactly what happened.”
“Right from the start on the first show, 3,000 heavy metal fans
showed up. Before that, I went to Rata Blanca’s last show with Adrián Barilari,
which was attended by around 800 people, even though Obras Stadium had a
capacity for 6,000. At that point, Adrián left—almost as if he were arguing
with Walter onstage, which was incredible. I'm not saying it disrespectfully;
that’s just how things happened. And that’s how I joined, and we recorded the
album Entre el Cielo y el Infierno.”
“The record company put up the money; we
took part in international cultural festivals, toured, had the best of
everything—total success. And Gustavo (Rowek) and I talked about the songwriting, and he said it was an incredible work. Then, in 2000, Adrián came
back, they recorded the acoustic version of ‘Mujer Amante,’ and sold it to the
new generations.”
The musical career of Mario Ian is
extensive. He speaks with conviction about his journey, conveys emotion, and
speaks proudly of his creations—especially the songwriting in Devenir, when
they first released an EP and then the album Red Hipnótica.
“It is an amazing album, really. If you ask me, it is
one of the best things I feel I have done in my career—because of the lyrics,
the music, everything. Devenir was a challenge for me: a compositional
songwriting challenge, and a challenge in terms of how to sing. I formed that
band and developed that project until each of the members went their own way
and I went mine. Then I returned to heavy metal and began composing and writing
a heavy metal album. I was writing it on my own; in fact, I created the entire
record. I was quite alone. When I finished the songwriting process and listened
to all the songs, I said, ‘No, who am I going to call? These are the only guys
who will be able to play this at this level. When I show it to them, they’re
going to lose their minds, because I know this is what they like and what they
will want to play’—Rowek and Berdichevsky. So I went to their studio and said,
‘Look, guys, I need to make these songs, make the demos. If you feel like
playing them and recording, tell me how much it is and I’ll pay for the
studio.’”
“And well, they listened to the songs and I played it
cool, (laughs), but while they were listening, they were blown away. I knew
their heads had exploded. So we recorded the demo, and later a record label
came along, liked the vibe of how they played, and proposed that they perform
on the album. And that’s how we started the band.”
“We recorded Tiempo de Redención, which was an album
that truly made a strong impact. We worked with that record for three years,
and it sold very well; I lived off the sales of that album for three years. And
well, that is the work, right? Then we kept going and composed Nuevo Orden,
which I also thought was a very good work. It moved me deeply to sing it, I am
very proud of it, and the guys played spectacularly as well. It was a moment of
great inspiration—I would say as much as, or even more than, Entre el Cielo y
el Infierno.”
“Those two albums were recorded with them, and they
were outstanding records. Later, Rowek felt he needed to have his own band; he
did not want to be in a band under someone else’s name. He preferred to follow
his own path, which I respected and understood. And since he and Sergio do
everything together, they both left. I kept going with new members, recorded
five songs and five music videos. The truth is, I am very proud of all the
songs we composed with Ian as well; I still play them and enjoy them. And with
Devenir, I also play several of Ian’s songs.”
Mario says he learned to take responsibility for his
frustrations and mistakes. One day he said, “I don’t want this anymore,”
and stopped blaming the country, the president, the producers, the managers,
Giardino, or anyone else. He understood that people who fail often blame others
instead of looking at their own mistakes. Once he acknowledged his own, he was
able to better understand what he had lived through, forgiving many things
including forgiving himself. That is when his learning process in financial
coaching began, and he understood that it is not about learning how to “make
money,” but about changing one’s mindset. A person can have a prosperity
mindset even while earning little. Many musicians live with a scarcity mindset
that prevents them from growing—not out of bad intentions, but because of
accumulated frustrations that end up creating resentment. He was able to
overcome that: he studied, read, worked on changing the way he thinks, and today
he has much more freedom and peace.
“It is not about money giving you
freedom, but about knowing how to generate it and manage it.”
Mario Ian will be
performing with the band Entre
el Cielo y el Infierno,
together with Gustavo Rowek and Sergio Berdichevsky, at Uniclub on August 22.Doors open at 7:30 PM.Guardia
Vieja 3360,CABA.
THANK YOU MARIO IAN !!!
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