| Don Juan Matus is a major character in the series of books by Carlos Castaneda. ("Don" is a common, polite, term of deference for males in Spanish) |
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In Castaneda's books, Don Juan Matus was a Yaqui Indian whom he met during anthropological field work around the U.S.-Mexico border beginning in the early 1960s. On subsequent visits, Don Juan revealed himself to Castaneda as a brujo (Spanish for warlock), which is a sort of healer, sorcerer, or shaman who had inherited (through a lineage of teachers) an ancient Central American practice for refining one's awareness of the universe. |
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Don Juan was an expert in the cultivation and use of various hallucinogenic plants (specifically, psychedelic mushrooms, Datura, and Peyote) that can be found in the Mexican deserts, which are used as aids to reach states of non-ordinary reality in the philosophy he conveyed to Castaneda. |
| The actual existence of Don Juan is a matter of some dispute between Castaneda's supporters and critics. If Don Juan were a real person, his real name was apparently changed to maintain his anonymity. |
| ABOUT US: |
| Don Juan Matus was formed as a studio project in Lima, Perú, in late 2005 by Joaquín Cuadra and Richard Nossar. |
| After several months of sporadic jam sessions as a duo (drums - guitar), Cuadra met bassist Hugo Elías through a mutual friend and invited him to join. |
| With the arrival of Elías, rehearsals became more frequent and the band started to be taken seriously. It was around this time that Nossar suggested changing the name to Don Juan Matus (the band was already operating under the moniker Los Brujos del Bosque Encantado (The Wizards from the Enchanted Woods)) and recording as soon as possible, with the goal of self-producing a 7” single or EP. After a while, it became clear that Elías wasn’t too enthusiastic about recording. Musical and ideological differences led the band to a period of inactivity towards the end of year. |
| After a few phone conversations, Cuadra and Nossar got together again in January 2007 and decided to search for a new bass player. Nossar asked Oscar Reategui B., who plays guitar in the HC band Dios Hastío, to come and jam with them. He came to one rehearsal but things didn’t work out due to a lack of chemistry. |
| The definitive replacement for Elías came in the shape of Richard’s long-time friend Manolo Garfias, who joined the band a couple of weeks prior to the recording of Superzarza at Fonola Mobile Studios on February 20th 2007. |
| Don Juan Matus’ eponymous debut full-lenght was recorded between late February (starting with the above-mentioned recording) and mid-August 2007. With only a couple of songs rehearsed, most of the album material was written in the studio and produced by the trio with the assistance (in the final phase) of brothers Saúl and Manuel Cornejo of New Juggler Sound/Laghonia/We All Together fame. Guest musicians included Félix Varvarande, Saúl Cornejo, guitar hero Javier Mosquera, singer Alex Rojas and Carlos Torres, with the participation of recording engineer Miguel Yance. |
| By September, the band had been approached by José Morón (Dios Hastío’s singer and owner of Impulso Ruin Records) who was looking for a group to start a new label (Espíritus Inmundos) with. Morón became interested in Don Juan Matus after hearing a couple of samples and offered to release the album on CD as soon as the mastering was finished. A modest limited edition of 300 copies was released through Espíritus Inmundos in mid-October. |
| At the end of October the band decided to accept a deal with Nasoni Records from Berlin, Germany. The disc was remastered by Eroc of Grobschnitt fame and scheduled for a mid-January 2008 release. |
| In December, the band entered the studio once more to cut a track for a split 7” with Germany’s Angel of Damnation, to be released in early 2008 through Golden Procession (Japan) and Espíritus Inmundos (Perú). After the recording was finished, Alex Rojas was invited to join the band as a full-time member and he accepted. |
| In late January 2008, Nasoni Records released the band’s debut album on LP and CD to widespread critical acclaim. |
| In early February the group returned to MCA Studios to record their second album, which was produced by Garfias and Nossar and finished on May 3th. During the recording process, personal problems arose again between founder members Joaquín Cuadra and Richard Nossar, ending with the departure of Cuadra from the band. The album was completed with Garfias and recording engineer Miguel Yance sharing drumming duties (Yance also played tabla on one track). Guest musicians included Javier Mosquera on guitar, Manuel Cornejo on piano and Piero Chávez-Velando on farfisa organ. |
| A couple of weeks prior to the end of the recording sessions, the band recruited Veronik as singer, flautist, guitarrist and thereminist, giving a new dimension to their already unique sound. The new line-up was completed with the addition of drummer Alfonso Vargas, which Nossar met through graphic artist Pablo Goto in late 2007. |
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On September 6th Visiones Paganas (Pagan Visions) was released in Lima through Espíritus Inmundos. |
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After a long delay, the split 7” with Angel of Damnation was finally released on October 12th. For more info on this release, please check out the Golden Procession page: |
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http://goldenprocession.web.fc2.com/ |
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Built upon a couple of drum patterns recorded by Vargas around August 2008, the band's third album was finished in May 2009 after recording sporadically due to the studio's tight schedule. |
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Más Allá Del Sol Poniente (Beyond The Setting Sun), recorded entirely at Fonola Studios, is a darker, more electric and eclectic affair than Visiones Paganas. |
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Don Juan Matus is on the verge of finishing an additional experimental album entitled Espejismos (Mirages) that will include three re-recordings of old titles as bonus tracks. |
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Keep an eye open for these releases. |
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