Last summer Mexican progressive metal band Lost Nebula was about to board a flight to Europe for a highly anticipated tour of Spain and Germany, but when the musicians arrived at the airport they learned the tickets they booked through an agency did not include the requested baggage services to accommodate instruments and sound equipment.
The error cost the group months of planning and two members left the band out of frustration. But bassist Harry Gonzalez was determined not to let the incident destroy Lost Nebula.
“When we started looking for new members we said we have to look for excellence or someone who sees music not as a hobby,” he said.
Once the new lineup was solidified, Lost Nebula – Gonzalez, vocalist Quetzalin Dominguez, drummer José Durazo and guitarists Julio Becerra and Alejandro Olea – set out to record a new single inspired by its recent brush with uncertainty and, said Gonzalez, “to say to the people, ‘We are still alive.'”
The band released the single, Time Travel Paranoia, this spring. Gonzalez said it serves as an introduction for the new members, Durazo and Olea, and the new sounds that they bring. The track is an epic, over nine minutes long, and full of technically demanding melodies and solos. The song is about a man who is fixated on a vision of the future and fears he is not living in the present.
“The reflection he has in the end is, ‘Well, this is the future, but in the present I can make something for my future.’ The future doesn’t exist; there’s nothing written. But you can write the future … and change it to something better,” Gonzalez said.
“Because that’s how we felt when we had the problem with the European tour.”
The band has since performed across northern Mexico and this month the band embarks on its first cross-Canadian tour. Gonzalez had a good impression during his last visit; years ago he came to Vancouver on a college internship.
“I had a really good time there, so if Vancouver is like the rest of Canada it has to be awesome,” he said.
The tour began in Kelowna on July 11 and wraps up in Montreal on July 29. On July 16 Lost Nebula performs at the Cambie in Nanaimo. Gonzalez said he’s looking forward to the tour.
“It’s a bigger challenge for us but we are more excited to make it because it’s something really new for us. It’s another culture, another kind of people,” Gonzalez said.
“To be honest, we are expecting the best from the people and of course I hope the people are expecting the best from us because that’s what we’re going to give to them.”
WHAT’S ON … Lost Nebula performs at the Cambie, 63 Victoria Cres. on Monday, July 16. Doors at 8 p.m. $10 admission.
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