“WHAT I AIM TO DO IS INSPIRE OTHERS TO LOOK INTO THEIR INDIGENOUS ROOTS AND TO BE PROUD OF THE STRUGGLES OF THEIR ANCESTORS” – MT (MAQUAHUITL)

Maquahuitl executes an engaging, immersive breed of heartfelt, soul-charging Indigenous Black Metal that honours and pays homage to ancient ways and wisdom – specifically the native customs, culture and traditions that were looted and uprooted to give rise to the mighty North America of today, complete with cartoonish treasonous caricatures masquerading as chiefs and their oblivious acquiescing imbeciles. Just as well they got rid of all those ‘savages’, eh? MT, the nonconforming maverick and free spirit behind the reverential and oft-misconstrued Maquahuitl banner, discusses pride and prejudice, loss, propaganda, identity, cowardice, burying hatchets and the fine art of offering resistance and opposition filtered through an innately Black Metal lens.

Election fever grips the USA as we speak and it’s all rather distasteful, of course. Presumably you didn’t participate in this pathetic circus with two moronic controlled clowns dangled in front of the programmed public to create an illusion of choice? Is it even palatable or possible for a man with native indigenous ancestry to acknowledge or identify in any way with this corrupt-to-the-core country or its crooked constitution, not least considering that it is all built on stolen land and rivers of blood?
“You are correct in assuming that neither of the primary parties involved are any that I care about, for neither are for the best interest of the US territories and its indigenous peoples. However, it doesn’t stop other indigenous folks from being pandered towards from liberals. Which is something I’ve always said was a side effect of self-victimization in identity politics which are taught in modern educational institutions. My position, which has been more consistent as the years pass, would be in having no desire or hopes to be involved in US voting unless an indigenous dictator type gets traction. Which is also something I’m sure I’ll never see in my lifetime.”

How does modern brainwashed man, the one who gullibly cast a vote in the aforementioned charade and is now stressing over or celebrating the outcome, compare to members of the mighty native tribes who populated Mesoamerica and other territories centuries ago?  As a species, we are regressing at a frightening pace, spears and axes replaced by smartphones and biometrics, community and tribe supplanted by social media enslavement and TV addiction. We are subservient, free-range slaves unable to hunt, procreate or think for ourselves, barely human any more.
“I believe even the most connected indigenous person can say that living traditionally in the modern age is becoming increasingly difficult. This past March, 2024 I actually had this similar conversation with Finian of Ifernach. We spent much time hanging out in the days leading up to and after our performance in Los Angeles, California on Mexica New Years. I asked about his life in Canada and he made a comment on how in the bigger cities his peers sometimes see him as among the wisest and most skilled because he is from one of the most rural areas, where the average city person wouldn’t be able to survive in such an environment. However, whenever he’s back home, Finian also expressed that he feels like the dumbest one in the community, since the elders know so much more and he’s constantly learning in regards to living best off the land.”

The oppression and erasure of Native American civilisations, cultures and customs was broadly justified by a crude propaganda campaign that framed these first people as savages who needed to be tamed. Lies, obviously. If the last few years of orchestrated world events have taught us anything it’s this: if they will blatantly lie to our faces about the present, then they have almost certainly lied about the past. Were the pre-Columbian people perhaps more advanced, organised and wise than modern history (a constant diet of deceit) would have us believe?
“There has been plenty of evidence in modern discovery that supports the idea that the indigenous had some advancements that Europeans at first ignored or didn’t realize. Such as the first roads and aqueducts in the Americas being created and maintained in pre-Columbian time by the indigenous, for example. Also claims that the human sacrifices documented by Europeans were being drastically exaggerated. Which would contradict what the first Europeans saw when they entered the Mexica war capital of Tenochtitlan. A city cleaner than any city in all of Europe, which at the time was dealing with the black plague. How is this possible if human death and bodies covered the streets as drastically as the propagated European accounts say?”

Has the endless erosion and loss of ancient or indigenous cultures – and wisdom – left the world an emptier and less magical place, devoid of spirit, ritual, intuition and meaning? What will happen if we continue to allow (or facilitate) the dumbing down of society and the surrender of innate natural connections to our land, blood and ancestors?
“If we continue to move away from spiritual accountability we will be disconnected from the environment around us. Sure, we have lost much in regards to this, but you still have the indigenous who practise and teach these customs. Indigenous traditions, like many ancient ones, are oral so of course this is the best and only way to continue.
“The only way that man would be able to save itself would be to return to tradition and learn to live off the land again. Many indigenous prophecies and teachings express such sentiments. I don’t think it’s really an issue that’s isolated to just indigenous peoples. The system has us all relying on it like an artificial vital artery that, once ruptured, will fail and that would be the end of us all.”Expressions of patriotism or nationalism are virtually forbidden these days (hate speech, thought crime, far right, blah, blah, blah). It’s incredible how it can be deemed offensive to take pride in one’s unique culture, heritage, ancestry or ethnicity, something which literally shapes who and what we are. Is there a deliberate misunderstanding of the nature and legitimacy of this pride? A concerted effort to erase all cultures?
“Pride in anything can lead toward extremisms. Pride in race or pride in degeneracy, with the latter being pushed the hardest by those who are opposed to patriotism or any sense of nationalism. Once you remove pride, you remove identity. Once you remove identity, you lose the duty of obligation to love and protect your own people and the homeland that has nurtured you. If you remove all cultures, you give the global elite a free pass to destroy land and its people for wealth and financial gain.”

As well as disease, bloodshed and displacement, another abomination the colonisers introduced was Christianity – a chronic plague across the land which still prevails today, with around two-thirds of Americans unashamedly identifying as Christian. How utterly absurd is it for North Americans to venerate millennia-old fairytales imported from the Cave of Hira or Garden of Gethsemane rather than exploring the original beliefs and faith of their homeland?
“Well, to be fair, the Europeans had the Christian infestation before us on this side of the pond. Pagan Europe has suffered greatly so, just as European ancestors had to give up the old gods for the new Abrahamic one, the same of course happened in the ‘new world’ with indoctrination. The Christian god has been intertwined with traditionalism, not only in Europe but in Mexico as well. Mexican Catholicism can very much be compared to Eastern Orthodox in how family tradition is paramount.”

You mentioned pureblood Finian earlier and it just so happens that your most recent release under the Maquahuitl banner is a split album with Ifernach called ‘Awaken Spirit’. What can you tell me about this honourable conspiracy; the two Maquahuitl songs composed specifically for this release (‘Tlanextli’ and ‘Yolitia’) and also the over-riding concept or theme of the record? What is the nature of the spirit you yearn to awaken?
“Finian and I had been speaking about doing a potential split after years of networking and trading emails back and forth. ‘Awaken Spirit’ was what I suggested as the title and we both agreed it was the best from the potential names discussed. The artwork was solidified prior to naming and the title is partially the overall feeling of the art piece and being influenced by that. The other meaning for the title is what I can say Ifernach and Maquahuitl wish to evoke in others of an indigenous background with this split. Personally, with this split or any releases of Maquahuitl, what I aim to do is inspire others to look into their indigenous roots and to be proud of the struggles of their ancestors.”

This is your fourth split and, while Metztli and Ifernach are aligned with pre-Hispanic or Native American themes, Vöedtæmhtëhactått and Mass Kontrol Genocide are comparative curveballs and certainly aren’t. What criteria do you use to determine which bands you are prepared to collaborate with? Is there more to it than the music – do they also need to be like-minded people in some respect?
“With Vöedtæmhtëhactått and Mass Kontrol Genocide, it was a relationship of mutual respect for each other’s music. With most splits I tend to be approached first by the interested project. However, for the Mass Kontrol Genocide split, I was approached by Goatowarex to do a split with one of their black metal entities. Respectfully, I didn’t think any that they presented would have been a good fit and being a personal fan of MKG and knowing he was a fan of Maquahuitl from networking, I asked Mai if he would agree to do a split and he enthusiastically said ‘of course!!!’
“It truly just depends on the interested party, band or label and if I feel a collaboration would make a good release or, as with the ‘Hellfire Deathcult’ split, allows me to do something ‘outside of the norm’ of what Maquahuitl has done. If you pay attention to some of these most recent splits and EPs, you’ll find I tend to try to broaden my repertoire in style. To offer something different to the listener from me while giving them something familiar to identify with so they unmistakably know that it’s Maquahuitl. I sometimes enjoy these challenges. It allows me to express ideas that I’ve had that didn’t work in its original context.”

Let’s talk about your affinity for Black Metal. What first drew you to this cacophonous, primal, adversarial and majestic artform – was it the music, the ideologies or both? Which bands were the first to turn your head and was the Black Twilight Circle collective a major influence in the early days? Do you identify closely with other bands / individuals producing indigenous Black Metal or follow your own path in terms of incorporating indigenous sounds and concepts into a BM framework?
“I’ve always been a fan of black metal from being in high school in the United States and having friends show me different extreme genres and vice versa. I would say it wasn’t until 2007 that I started to truly fall in love with the genre and by 2009 it was all I was obsessed with. I was more into death metal and grindcore early on. However, the more I got interested in indigenous cultural history and that of ‘raza’, the more I got into black metal. Especially the pagan side of it, with the Eastern European scene being among my favorite at this period. Early-day favorites would be Hammer and Nattfog from Finland and Antimessiah’s work in Totale Vernichtung specifically. Wolfnacht and Moonblood have also been long-time favorites of mine that really left an impression.
“I had first heard BTC back in 2011 with the release of ‘Bloodflowers’ from Blue Hummingbird on The Left. Which was a moment that would change the course of my musical journey in future endeavors. I was familiar with the ONSP Mexican bands and also Xibalba from Mexico. BTC was something different in regards that it was in my home state, in my own backyard, so to speak. It was through mutual friends that I ended up meeting the singer of BHL and we became best friends essentially. I found myself being invited to BTC rehearsals and gatherings to the point that the singer had asked me to be a live member of Blue Hummingbird on The Left. It was an honor that I still hold dear. The Hellfire Deathcult split material is in fact mainly material of Blue Hummingbird on The Left that I was never able to use in my brief moment in the band and BTC collective. I won’t say much more since I’m sure many know of our bad falling out and drama around Maquahuitl and the Black Twilight Circle, but it’s been almost ten years now and I have other things that I wish to focus on and wish what remains of BTC the best, especially my old friend.”

Do you ever tire of the soap-opera-like drama around Black Metal these days? This is a genre that – going back to those explosive days of the early 1990s – owes its existence to fanaticism, extremity and nonconformity yet today there is constant vilification and name-throwing not for crimes like murder or arson but for sharing a stage with X, listening to Y or releasing a record on Z. While the circus is almost to be expected as it is a microcosm of the hysterical woke times we live in, when you are in the midst of it all, it must be as exhausting as it is ironic?
“It’s very exhausting – not just with the scene police but it also goes for the perks of the modern age. The most casual or die-hard fans can be expected to find their favorite black metal bands and their live members’ personal profiles on social media and will try to pry any detail they can out of their personal lives. It truly destroyed the mystique of black metal, in my opinion.”One of the saddest sagas was that surrounding Steelfest 2022, where a number of bands withdrew in a feeble effort to safeguard their careers once the keyboard warriors started kicking off. Meanwhile, Maquahuitl moved manfully in the opposite direction and accepted an invitation to join the bill for what was your first performance on European shores. You even released that historic show as a live album earlier this year, so I take it there were no regrets?
“One’s moment of cowardice is another’s chance of changing their stars. Once I saw all the bands dropping like flies, I knew that the fest would need bands and also, knowing that I had fans in Europe who had been asking me for years to play, I figured ‘what the hell’ and sent them an official inquiry. After much discussion and negotiations with Steelfest, Maquahuitl played in 2022 and it was a pivotal moment for myself and this project. Truly was a privilege and I’m thankful to the Steelfest staff and eagerly await our return!”

You have been pleasingly prolific over the past decade, swiftly amassing an impressive discography of quality material. Do you still feel as inspired and motivated as ever to create new art and is there much more Maquahuitl music either recorded or written that has yet to be released? What does the future potentially hold for Maquahuitl – have you already achieved most of what you set out to achieve on this journey or is there more resistance to be offered?
“I will admit that I have been coming to terms with ending Maquahuitl soon, only in regards to any new full-lengths, of course. I’ll always be willing to play live if the opportunity arises and the logistics make sense. However, I do have one good full-length album and possibly a few EPs / splits in me to complete. I don’t have much more to offer with integrity. While I could of course choose to be like many other musical entities and release mid/sub-par albums with fillers just to keep the name going, I’m very proud that each release of mine has been a progression and never a stalemate. Some may disagree and prefer older works, but there’s no mistaking that each respective album, single, split, etc. has been a step up in terms of writing and arrangements.”