Exclusive Interview with ‘RENDER’

Would you continue living the way you do now if you could live forever? Would you take any chances to make a change? When you have nothing to lose, things are much simpler. The only way to become who you were meant to be in this world of uncertainty is to completely give up your comfort zone and plunge into the unknown. In rock ‘n’ roll, nothing is certain!

That is the driving force behind RendeR, which has now officially entered the global music market with its first big English single, “Revolution Inside”! It carries the weight of their identity and rampages through the twisted sexual fantasy of its lyrics. This is a revamped version of one of their most headbanging tracks.

The Los Angeles-based duo of Ratta on drums and Julo on vocals and guitar is back and better than ever as they redefine themselves for their next LP, which will be their first English-language release.

The “Heart” (Ratta) and the “Skull” (Julo), which are accompanied by a music video that recalls the band’s history and tours through the United States, Canada, and South America, define RendeR as a 360-degree alt-metal experience with grunge, industrial, and steampunk influences, dynamic vocals, bulldozer guitars, metaphor-heavy lyrics, thunderous drums, a hyper-energetic stage performance, and their signature relity defying philosophy. Checkout their song “Revolution Inside” and the exclusive interview below:

1. Can you tell us a bit about where you come from and how it all got started?

RENDER: (Julo) Render started in 2010 back when we lived in Reñaca, Chile. Ratta and I have been playing together for around 20 years though; we were classmates and close friends, and when I was 12, I started playing music with friends, forming my first school bands. I wanted to be a rockstar, like the ones I saw on MTV (RIP), but the situation and social pressure, at least at that time, made it look like just a child’s dream. Ratta gravitated towards the drums as if they were calling him… looking back it is weird; he was always a hyper kid and was finding outlets for his energy to burst, so he was just caught in hitting the hell out of the drums. Whenever I rehearsed or played at little school gigs, he would stay and play the drums after everything was over. I just watched, until one day I told him: “let’s make a band”. And more than 20 years later that feeling of excitement has taken us to experiences that made our lives journey unbelievably awesome!

2. Did you have any formal training or are you self-taught?

RENDER: (Ratta) Julo had formal guitar lessons with Manuel Parra, a fusion guitarist, and I asked him about drums and techniques, as Manuel knew about drums and percussion and his brother was a tutor at Music School. Yet, I never took real long-term classes. But I probably think Julo agrees that Manuel was instrumental to us feeling the music and channeling our emotions through an instrument.

3. Who were your first and strongest musical influences and why the name ‘RENDER’?

RENDER: (Julo and Ratta) Alice in Chains! (They laugh)

        (Ratta) I would say we share the same influences if we talk about bands: Guns N’ Roses, Mötley Crüe, Filter, Rush, Nine Inch Nails, Soundgarden, Iron Maiden, and Led Zeppelin… but probably the strongest influence for us is passion, just being able to be passionate about something in life enough to say “fuck you!” to the world and follow that desire with absolute conviction.

        (Julo) The name Render comes from a track a friend called Diego Carvacho was working on; he sent me this audio file that said “RENDER” and the name of the song, and I asked him if that was the name of the band and he answered “No, dude! That’s just the processing!” I secretly kept that name written down, and every time they asked me about band names, that was one of the firsts that I included. I pushed and pushed until the name got officially accepted! (laughs)

4. What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?

RENDER: (Ratta) Everything comes down to being true to yourself; the listener knows when someone is being fake and bs them, and they answer with hostility or indifference. The message needs to be clear and be something that comes from within. We are true to what we are and people value that. But…

         (Julo) But we don’t think of ourselves as just a band, we are an experience; if we talk just “music” our sound is mixing raw meat, like grunge music, with microchips and computer stuff, like Skrillex. It is deeply rooted in those terms, organic plus digital/synthetic, and that struggle is what makes us real, as we live in this paradox in which the experience requires the clash of this binary system of yes and no, life and simulation, reality and fantasy, raw and polished, reason and lust, pain and pleasure, bestiality and tranquility.

6. What’s your view on the role and function of music as political, cultural, spiritual, and/or social vehicles – and do you try and affront any of these themes in your work, or are you purely interested in music as an expression of technical artistry, personal narrative, and entertainment?

RENDER:

(Julo) I hate preachers; I believe the most miserable thing you can do is pretend to be a preacher, life coach, politician, or savior, and impose your vision to others as the solution for their issues. That’s the trash of society, useless pieces of vanity and shit.  I don’t respect the messenger, the message, and the people who follow these rules, that’s for the feeble-minded. Render is rooted in freedom, we are aggression, defiance, conviction, and a call to liberation. There are no rules when you are unchained, you just roam and seek that which you are looking for. Answers are within you, not in a book or a seminar, as much as they may be interesting: you are the only one who can sort your life, you are the fucking protagonist of it, and if you don’t want to assume that role, you’re probably going to be the bitch of the person you want to be. As Chris Cornell said on the Audioslave track “Be Yourself is all that you can do!”. It is important to put your money where your mouth is and we don’t invest in wannabes or pretenders, followers or parasites, just in ourselves and our will. If you want to live like that, do it, but it is something that I find pathetic and, as you can see, in Render we don’t give a damn about what others think, it is about our will to overcome our reality and prevail.

7. Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it or are you expecting something more, or different in the future?

RENDER:

(Ratta) It is a process; as I said, it is not only about the music, is the cathartic experience where we defy a reality that tried to deny us the chance to live our lives and be passionate about something that was not a safe route to what is considered being successful. Us still playing against all odds is proof that the fulfillment, the chills our music gives us is worth every single sacrifice we’ve done. I believe that people notice that when we play live and I’m kicking the shit out of the drums because I want to share that thrill with them, it is our communion, our real, and the way we make good use of the frustration or anger that builds up in our daily lives. We turn these emotions into euphoria.

8. Could you describe your creative processes? How do usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song? Do you usually start with a tune, a beat, or a narrative in your head? And do you collaborate with others in this process?

RENDER:

(Julo) I’ve been driving Render’s music and lyrics since the beginning, and I’m involved in everything even though I might not come up with the idea, not for ego or some other reason, but because it has to be personal. Even fictitious narratives need to come from a sense of belief and an elaborate foundation, otherwise, you are just a wannabe who tries too hard to look cool or do something for others to approve. I usually come up with a guitar riff or melody and I record it on my phone, then build everything from that following what it evokes. This last part is key to the process, “what comes to mind when I listen to this?” “Does it look like something?” “What’s its smell?” “How does it feel?” “Does it taste good?”. That’s how our songs are made. Now, we have evolved into a two-piece band, thankfully, and Ratta is bringing some ideas to the table for the first time too, which are more acoustic-based and more folk rock, so we’ve been working on those too. These initiatives have made these last years more interesting, as we don’t have limits to what we can do, we just do as we please! And we are learning from our mistakes: our message is important, so we started doing everything in English to connect with audiences all around through the most universal language. Music is abstract, so lyrics enhance the experience, as they guide the emotions of the audience in the way we want them to experience Render.

9. What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?

RENDER: (Ratta) We had to endure a lot of hostility from everyone around us, as we wanted to work on our music professionally. We lived under the eye of a small town, where we tried to fit in by studying conventional careers and complying with what the rest wanted from us. I thought of quitting sometimes, but Julo always pushed me into questioning my reality and breaking the mold, living my life how I wanted and trying to make the things that made me complete work. Not having the support of your family and close ones sucks, but not even trying to achieve something you dream of is way worst. And Julo had things really bad on other levels, as he was consumed by the pressure and exploded, left college, and became the talk of the town, the joke that teachers talked about when they wanted to make an example of someone wasting his life. With loving life sometimes comes hating what you’ve made with it, and I was worried sick about the high probability of him being dead, getting the call, you know. But we made it work in our favor, we survived all that and became the ones who broke the wall, we earned the privilege of telling everyone “Fuck you, we did it!”

10. On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?

RENDER: (Julo) Thanks to Render we’ve accomplished things that we had never even been close to dreaming about: touring the US and Canada, sharing the stage or events with Papa Roach or Rush, meeting people from all over the world who share the same passion and convictions. Our music videos became legendary and were featured on MTV, which made all those conservative bitches go crazy! We pushed ourselves and we became what we wanted to be; against all odds, we defeated our reality and became the opportunity we never had, as others saw us and were like “this is a real band!”: There were no real bands, real artists, or ambitious creatives that seemed to be immune to the lack of opportunities. We created our path, earned the respect we deserved without asking for it, and I am thankful for Ratta sticking with me in this insane endeavor, and being able to have the privilege of waking up every day having done what we did and are still doing. I know that if I had chosen to escape, I wouldn’t be here to share this story and to have lived all those beautiful moments, so I’m thankful for choosing to defy my reality and embrace life, but how I wanted it to be.

(Ratta) I agree: Render took our dreams to another level, and our lives became a fantastic story because we were able to make sacrifices and see face-to-face with our fears and insecurities. It is a constant battle, but so far what we’ve won has surpassed by far everything we’ve ever wanted. The thrill of it is sacred to be, probably the only thing that can stand after we are gone. And to whoever is reading: Render is about living on your terms, so embrace it motherfuckers!

Render wants to thank their families, wives and children, and all the people that supported them when the world wanted to destroy them. They also thank Illustrate Magazine for sharing Render’s story.

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