When I think of Bolivia I can't seem to recall any metal bands from there. What's the metal scene like?
Guila.- Well the metal scene is small mainly because bands are made and destroyed within weeks, but the ones that are really into music survive and play often in the few places that are open to metal acts. We consider that the metal here has die hard fans and that's what is keeping the flame, besides the great support given between bands that are not the same style. The resources I think is the main problem, there is not much airplay on radio and just a few places to play.

What made you form/start Sweet Shadow and what's the significance of the name?
Well Sweet Shadow as a plan to make a band, began a few years ago. Cristina (vocals) and myself (Guila guitar) were talking for a few months about making a band based on bands we liked like Within Temptation, Nightwish, Lullacry, Epica and many more but these ones mainly. We rehearsed a few times for a few months but we finally found Erly (bass) and Miky (drums) and then the band was launched in a proper way. The bands name stands for what our music is based on: the sweet voice of Cristina and the dark and powerful side that is the style of music we play (heavy drumming, low tunings in both guitar and bass and tons of distortion).

You've only recorded one song for promo use and filme video for it, am I right? Why this approach and what kind of responses have it generated?
You are totally right, we did only one song and the video for it. The reason is pretty simple: we were already playing together for like a year by the time we decided to record the song and we wanted something to show to people so they could hear what the band is about. We were arranging other songs but they were not done and budget was another problem. That's why we took the first song that was finished and recorded it.

The response it has generated is great, most of the people is expecting to hear more from us since one song is just is not enough. Local radio stations have played the song however it's important to let you know that there are no metal radios in Bolivia, the radios that have metal shows have played the song and we are glad. We have also tested the response outside Bolivia and its been good too but I think there still a lot to be done because there are places that haven't heard our promo so we need to keep working on that.

How important is presentation to attract any kind of attention in a World of metal that has seen almost all kinds of variations?
Presentation to me is important because we want to let everybody know that we are real band, that we are not just following the trend and today we are playing metal and perhaps by tomorrow we will be playing other style. We are really committed to what we do, the way for us to let other people know how important this is to us is with a good presentation, that's why instead of just doing a cheap four demo song recorded on my pc, we went to the studio and recorded the song and do all the stuff we did, which is still not enough but is near at least.

Back in the 80s when I got into metal the only way to communicate new music was through tape trading. With technological advances we have new means of communication. How much easier has this made it for you to reach a World-wide based audience?
Its great!!!, to tell you the truth its been really helpful for us because we are exposed to the whole world, instead of knocking on every single door people just come to us. The whole internet thing is awesome. Without it we would only be exposed to radios within our city La Paz, perhaps we wouldn't be able to reach other cities, countries or continents, perhaps we wouldn't be having this interview. That's why internet and other technological tools are so important because they give the chance to do things on your own and reach millions of people. We receive messages in our myspace page (www.myspace.com/sweetshadowbo) from people everywhere and that's awesome, really inspiring.

How much time and effort do you put into Sweet Shadow?
We put as much effort and time as we can. It's tough because we need to find space between our jobs and studies to rehearse. Unfortunately we can't live from playing music, we hope one day we can but in the mean time we need to keep our day jobs so that we can pay the recording sessions. We love what we do and this makes things easier. We have currently 9 song ready and we are expecting to have some more so that we can record them and have our record out.

How important is it to have role-models/idols when you start from scratch? What importance have a band like Nightwish or Within Temptation played in the formation of the Sweet Shadow sound?
I think its very important to be a fan and then a musician because you need to feel the exicitement of hearing your favourite band new releases, going to the store, paying for it and going home play the cd while you check the booklet, pay for tickets to shows. Cristina and my self just came back from Chile, we went to a Within Temptation show!!!. I mean it's the only way to give the best in recording and producing our material so that when we put our record out people will know that it was worth paying for it. Also it's important to listen to bands so that you can get a better idea of what you want to do. When we got together with Cristina, we talked about bands we liked and what we wanted to do, that?s when Nightwish and Within Temptation came, we were not trying to be Nightwish or Within Temptation. We wanted to do something in that direction. Obviously something different came because everyone has different influences and a different approach to our instruments. In my case I love melodic death metal and the whole Gothenburg sound besides gothic bands so all this mix of bands had an impact in my playing in certain way. This applies for every Sweet Shadow member. Everyone in the band likes Nightwish and Within Temptation so it wasn't a problem finding links between us and the direction we wanted to follow.

In composing music there are certain limitations, like for example the limited number of chords you can use. How do you go about creating something that is uniquely Sweet Shadow?
That's a tough one, we have never really sat and thought about it. Perhaps the only limitation we find when doing songs is that if a part really fits in what we are trying to communicate in a song. We are aware about some patterns in our playing that lead us in certain direction but the combination of the different influences everyone has makes Sweet Shadow unique.

I assume that there's an album being planned for. What can we expect from it and more importantly what do you expect to get from it?
On the record you will hear more from what the band is about, the band has a progressive side brought by Erly and Miky who are really into Dream Theater and Symphony X so on the record you will hear the mix of all this gothic progressive thing, perhaps even some death metal riffing too. We don't know for sure but you will hear it and also we will see what applies to the music we are doing. Music is first.

We expect we can reach more people when the record is out so that we can begin playing more often and if possible visit other countries to share with more people and bands which will lead us to grow.

Where do you see Sweet Shadow in, like say, 5 years time?
I see the band playing big festivals and gigs and sharing stage with bands we admire and respect. I see the band already signed with a huge record label which will be giving us international promotion. I think 5 years is short time for my expectations but I hope one day we can make it, perhaps it won't be in 5, perhaps in 10 or 15 but we know that if we give our best we will do it so now it depends on us.