Ankla (Ramon Ortiz)
Interview December 2006

Matthew Hoffman: I wanted to get a chance to talk to you because after listening to more then a 150 cds this year I heard yours and freaked out. Very few CDs are really good. Even fewer are unique. Yours was both dude. It's fucking crazy, Latin flavored heavy metal that includes really original lead guitar work. You see I was a HUGE Bay area thrash metal lover. Megadeth, Metallica Slayer, Exodus, Suicidal Tendencies. What was really great about those bands was their excellent guitarists. In that vein I have been fortunate to have interviewed some of the top guitarists of the last 25 years. Guys like Freidman, Malmsteen, Poland, Skolnick and more. I even wrote a feature story for the Web site naming the top 25 axe slingers of the last 25 years. Lead guitar and solos are my whole life

Ramon Ortiz: First of all I wanted to tell you, I just read your review of our band's CD, and I wanted to thank you for the kind words
You are a man of knowledge about the guitar and especially the electric guitar scene,and I appreciate your words and your opinions. You really are on it. You really seem to get it.

Hoffman: Also I wanted to tell you I really respect you guys thanking "God" first on your albums liner notes? I am a Christian and really have to review a lot of pure satanic death metal on a monthly bases. It gets a little old. Not to mention the bands that are just pretending to be evil for better PR. I will however say if the music is good or not objectively, but also comment negatively about the devil worshipping crap too.

Ortiz: People of the world call God by different names. Muslims say Allah, right? I try to believe that we all are worshipping the same thing just with different names. And in the album I do point out some of the hypocrisies of religion. I am glad that while you do not agree with those band's position you still can judge their music objectively. It's funny, right after I auditioned the drummer of our band and told him he had the job, he said he was a Christian and did not want to play if there were satanic lyrics in our songs. I told him there weren't but he needed to be open minded cause of the bands we may be teamed with on tour may use those lyrics. And wouldn't you know the first tour we did together we were with Brujeria. You know the Fear Factory guitarist's side project. It was whacked out satanic metal. Everything was super morbid, including a human head on the bass drum.

Hoffman: The song writing was super crazy, every time I listen to the disc I hear more wild stuff. "Do you pray 'cause he exists / does he exist 'cause you pray?" That's GENIUS dude, pure genius.

Ortiz: Yeah, questions like that will take you to a different level, questions of the human psyche. I have to tell you that the George Lynch comment was the favorite of the review, though. Cause I emulated George Lynch and Warren DeMartini approach to the solo more then anyone's.

Hoffman: Yeah Demartini was a bad man too. Probably still is.

Ortiz: Did you see the VH1 Beyond The Music. Warren's talent was undeniable.

Hoffman: I studied for a year straight to see who the World's fastest guitarist was. It was cool but some of the guys are playing fast with no feel or melody to their playing, not songs just repeated single note flurries.

Ortiz: Speed is a weird thing when it comes to the guitar ... one is for no sake it has no soul or then you can play fast with the song make it as fast for songs it needs to be, not just back and forth on the fret board.

Hoffman: Saw Yngwie in concert last year and it was a spiritual experience.

Ortiz: Malmsteen is incredible he plays fast with a lot of pace not just senseless rambling. Quality that way will always be in style, people that know anything about it

Hoffman: When did you start playing the instrument?

Ortiz: I picked up a guitar at 7 or 8. My father was a folk music player from P.R but he hated rock, he played "trio music" which was mostly romantic music with lots of chord changes. It's pretty cool but I was young and wanted to go out and play. So when I was 13 or 14, a friend of the family brought me two vinyl albums Ted Nugent's Weekend Warriors, and Van Halen I from the States. That's when I really started wanting to play. I took lessons for a while even went to school for a little (2 years in conservatory of PR). I took part in lots of jamming, and when top bands would come to town I would approach some of the guitarists and strike deals with them for lessons.

Hoffman: Yours is different than most, see some guys play from the ear, others worked really hard and others were classically trained. You seemed to have a bit of all the styles of learning to play. Eric Petersen took lessons from a guy that played guitar in Desi Arnaz's band and would smack his fingers whenever he tried to play rock n' roll.

Ortiz: That guy is amazing.

Hoffman: Tell me about it I call him the great American riffmeister. Had a chance to interview him then party with his crazy ass. Lots of people like Bill Kelliher of Mastodon for example, he told me he started playing on his own and still does not think he is very good. He still talks of constantly learning.

Ortiz: We as musicians have a duty to always keep the mentality as a student. If you think you already know it all you wont get any better. Same thing with music tastes. You always have to be listening to different styles. Because you never know how you will be influenced.

Hoffman: I agree one hundred percent. When did you come to the States?

Ortiz: I went to Florida in 1992, with what was an embryonic version of Puya, playing a whacked out jazzy funky rock. You see we already had a crowd in P.R, but when we moved to Florida we were surrounded by a big death metal scene. Eventually we started getting heavier, as Puya, we played the scene for 6 years, label started noticing us. In 1999 we released Fundamental then we started touring outside of the Florida area. We went to Mexico on a tour with Pantera. Then we released Union in 2001. At that point I wanted to take the band even heavier. We were touring with Sepultura, Fear Factory and Hatebreed. It was hard to compete with those guys cause we were not as brutal. It was not natural for the other members of the band to get harder and heavier. And a band needs to be on the same page. So I started toying with the idea of Ankla, before eventually breaking out and doing it.

Hoffman: How does the creative process work for you? Which comes first the music or the lyrics?

Ortiz: Process is always the music first, and I start with the riffs. Then I work with the other musicians in the band. I will have already built up the rhythms of the song when I bring in the other guys.

Hoffman: What's with your lead singer's name, hes got like 33 names right? Ikaro Antonio Sanchez Eduardo, Rivera chavez, Banderas (laughing).

Ortiz: Yeah ha ha ha

Hoffman: With those glasses on the album picture he looks like a Spanish Henry Rollins.

Ortiz: Yeah he does a little.

Hoffman: Dude, make sure to tell him I said he was a bad mother fucker. His performance on this album is crucial to its success, as he blends styles and really has a command over the material.

Ortiz: Yes I agree he is a talented singer and did a great job! He is into all that NYC HC shit and really brings a lot to the band.

Hoffman: Where is this studio it was created at?

Ortiz: Henson Studios is in Hollywood, and then it went to the producer's house. He has his own recording studio it's called The Blue Room. He is the guy that did The Black Sabbath Reunion album; he also did records for Tony Iommi and El Nino among others.

Hoffman: What was it like when you toured with Sepultura, I just reviewed a concert of theirs driving 222 miles round trip to see them. His way of playing is so damn unique. The riff in "Refuse Resist," na na na- na na na na na na na na na na- na na na, is insane in its brilliance and yet it is so simple.

Ortiz: Well I never got a chance to jam with him unfortunately. But I watched his every night and he really has a sound of his own. He is a great player.

Hoffman: Who else did you tour with or really get influenced by or you simply like?

Ortiz: Michael Romeo of Symphony X. He is a lot like Malmsteen except he chooses much different notes to play. While Yngwie chooses mostly diminished minor melodic notes, Romeo chooses almost Cacophony like notes. I also studied Paul Gilbert as well. I actually bought a DVD and learned how to play faster but still being clean. Gilbert's style was amazing; he could play 100 M.P.H but not miss a single note. Another guy I loved was Dime. Seriously Matt, he was the one guy that did the best job of mixing the riffing of thrash metal and the 80's guitar hero styles together. It was as if he sounded like Hetfield mixed with Van Halen. Seriously, he was truly amazing. I did not know him personally only having met him once but, when we toured with them I watched him and he was great. Another guy that is known as one of the greatest Flamenco guitarist of the 20th Century was Paco DeLucia. My father took me to see him play when I was a kid in PR and he played Flamenco with the passion of a metal performer. It really made an impression on me.

Ortiz: Matt, you have got to check deeper into Demartini as well as with Gilbert and Nuno Betancourt, they are all amazing.

Hoffman: Are you familiar with Impelliterri, he is rocket fast but also has a lot of beauty and melody to his solo work. What about Joe Stump or Jon Donais from Shadows Fall or Chris Broderick of Jag Panzer? You should check them all out; I think you would really like some of these guys' styles and approaches to their lead work. What about Zakk Wylde. What's your take on him?

Ortiz: That's crazy you just said that. My buddy just showed up at my door this second and we are going to see BLS play tonight here in L.A. Ha ha.

Hoffman: Thank you for being so generous with your time, 75 minutes talking guitar BS is crazy. I had a Fucking blast. Good luck with Ankla. Seriously, I hope you guys get huge.

Ortiz: Thanks. Good luck with your family.