So Mario, do you still recall how did you discover metal music? What were the records, that helped you discovering metal?
I discoverd metal when I was a little kid in 1980 or so. My first metal album I ever bought was AC/DC's Let There Be Rock. At age 12 I loved Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest, Kiss, Black Sabbath, AC/DC, Motorhead, Iron Maiden, Anvil, Triumph....ETC.
My favourite albums back then were We Sold Our Souls For Rock n Roll, All AC/DC albums, Blizzard of Oz, Scream Dream.

When did you decide becoming a musician? Do you play on any instrument(s)?
I do not play any instruments. I am a metal/hardcore/punk singer. I started out with MarkWatts and other friends in 1984 just for fun and created Massacre. After that I've been the lead singer in several bands like New World Distortion and Los Goblynz, which I am presently recording an album.

How do you view or what do you think about, that bands, such as RUSH, HELIX ANVIL, RAPID TEARS, KILLER DWARFS, VOIVOD, EXCITER (known earlier as HELL RAZOR), BREAKER, IRON HEAD, RECKLESS etc. were the earliest Canadian bands and the put the country on the map of metal?
I love Canadian bands. Anvil, Slaughter, Triumph, Rush...and many punk bands too. BFG, Direct Action, Chronic Submission, Nunfuckers, Dayglo Abortions, DOA, and many more.

At which point and how did the Canadian metal scenes, such as Quebec, Toronto, Ottawa etc. come into being? Were there any competition among the bands or everybody has down his own thing or did you rather support each other?
We all support one another. If there was ever a problem within bands it was personal shit. VOIVOD was a great Montreal band by the way.

Let we stay by Toronto because you are from the city of the Maple Leafs, what do you recall of the late ’70s/early ’80s Toronto scene? Did bands such as ANVIL, INFERNAL MAJESTY, SACRIFICE etc. open the doors for younger outfits and had a great effect on them?
I liked Anvil, Rapid Tears, Sacrifice, Slaughter, Haggath, and Razor of course...close enough to Toronto. lol

To which extent were you familiar with the underground scene? How deeply were you involved in the underground scene?
I was a demo collector. It was like my religion back then. I loved it all. It was my life.

What about the clubs and venues, that they existed at this time? Which clubs/venues were into metal? Was it easy getting shows for new, young outfits?
Larry's Hideaway, The Bridge, Lee's Palace, Concert Hall, the Horseshoe Tavern, Sneaky Dee's, and many more. Yes it wasn't too hard to get shows for new bands....we just opened up for each other. We helped our own. Lol.

What about the fanzine/tapetrading network? Were there much fanzines in Toronto?
There was tons of tape trading going own and the same goes for fanzines. Me and a friend interviewed Celtic Frost, Possessed, Overkill, Destruction, and Nasty Savage for a friend's fanzine once.

How did the whole MASSACRE story start exactly? How did you get together?
It was all just for fun. I never sang before and no one really knew how to play anything, but we all made some noise and then we had a band. Ha!

Was it the very first act that you were involved in, was it your first experience as musicians or did you play in something else?
Massacre was the first band for all of us.

What was the line up of the band exactly? From what I know, that guitarists Mark Faria and Mark Watts were in the band…
Yes it was Mark Faria, Mark Watts, me and Paul Pizzo. I don't know what happened to him.

Mark Faria joined the band, after he left DEATH MILITIA? Mark Watts is the brother of SACRIFICE’s bassist Scott Watts, isn’t he?
No Mark Faria joined Death Militia after Massacre, and yes Mark is Scott Watts' brother.

Who came up with the band name?
I came up with the name. 

Were you aware of the existence of other outfits with the name of MASSACRE, that were coming from the States, Germany and Brazil?
No I did not at the time. We were just kids in 1984.

The logo of the band was drawn by Rob Urbinati of SACRIFICE fame, how did that happen? Were familiar, good friends with this band?
Sacrifice jammed in Scott's place so we saw them all the time. Mark lived there of course. Yes we were all friends.

Did you start writing originals or were you jamming on covers? What bands would you mention as your most important influences?
We did all originals and our influences was Metallica, Venom, Hellhammer, Slayer and then a ton more of metal and hardcore bands.

In 1985 you recorded a demo, but I haven’t any information.
I have no idea what happened to any recordings, but will look for it.

At this time a lot of thrash bands were popping up in Toronto, such as BEYOND, DARK LEGION, DEATH MILITIA etc. would you say, that in Toronto was a strong, but healthy underground scene at this point? Were you familiar with these outfits?
I knew everybody back then. We were all friends. It was a small scene in those days long ago. LOL

Your second effort was the rehearsal demo „Creepy crawler” in 1987, but what happened with you between the releasing of the two demos? Did  you go thru some line up changes or…?
Yes we did go through some changes and then broke up.

How would you describe the demo compared to the first one? How did the recording sessions go with this second material?
The second was the better one cause the members got a little more experience.

How did the demo sound like?
NOISE

Was the demo shopped around back in the day? Was it distributed thru the fanzine/tapetrading network? Did it succeed in drawing more fans attention in the band?
It was free to some people and that was it.

Were you known locally or also in other parts of Canada or perhaps outside of Canada?
Not really, just in Toronto ....I moved on to new projects after that.

Have you ever gigged with MASSACRE? Did you have the opportunity becoming an opener acts before bigger bands, such as SACRIFICE, INFERNAL MAJESTY etc.?
We were gonna play with Slaughter once, but it never happened. We never played ever...haha

Did you consider yourselves talented, experienced musicians?
No at that time. We sucked, but were funny and noisy.

In 2006 Evil Legend Records released „You can’t kill what’s already dead: Anthology 1985 – 1988” of DEATH MILITIA, did you never think about to re-release the „Creepy Crawler” demo with live recordings and unreleased materials? Have you ever got an offer considering the re-releasing of your materials?
No we were all doing other projects. Massacre was forgotten.

At which point and why did the band’s story come to an end? Did you take part on a friendly term at the end?
It was just that we went on our different paths. We all stayed friends.

Are you still in touch with each other? What about Mark Watts and Mark Faria these days?
I am recording an album with Mark Watts - Los Goblynz. I have no idea what happened to Mark Faria.

Do you still follow what’s going on in the underground scene or did you get out of the music business/industry? How do you view the comeback album of SACRIFICE titled „The once I condemn” and the RUSH cover „Anthem”, that was released as a single and came out in 2009? The single was released as a split Ep with PROPAGANDHI also in 2010. How would you sum up MASSACRE’s career? Are you proud of being the member of the band? How would you see MASSACRE to be remembered?
Yes I am  active in the music scene. I love Sacrifice. They rock!

Mario, thanks a lot for the answers, anything to add what wasn’t covered?
I will send you the Los Goblynz album when it is finished and let me know what you think....it was a pleasure. Cheers!!!

Interview with Mario Caceres (voc.) by Leslie David

February 2015