Pyramids on Mars

Pyramids on Mars is music that really sounds like it’s from Mars!!



Every once in a while there comes along a band that is so different or unique, you would think they were dropped on Earth from another planet. Pyramids on Mars, is one of those bands.

What first catches you, is that they are an instrumental band. A combination of elements such as hard rock, industrial, metal and psychedelic rock. And then... the lead guitar comes soaring in. Well crafted, beautiful, melodic phrases so catchy and memorable they will be stuck in your head the rest of the day. The guitar has become the "vocals" of the music.

As the solo project of guitarist Kevin Estrella, he wanted to do something musically different that would stand out from the crowd.

"Pyramids on Mars is the embodiment of who I am, really. My musical influences, my philosophies on life, the universe and our place in it." Kevin went on to say, “I have always been attracted to space, and a lot of my sound is influenced from my childhood growing up in the '70's. Some of my favorite TV shows back then were Star Trek and Space: 1999. Plus I am a huge Rush and Pink Floyd fan! Thus I use a lot of analog synthesizers like the Minimoog and Oberheim Polyphonic. Predominant of the '70's era and used exclusively by those bands. They are just so warm and mysterious sounding, they resonate with me."

His musical style is very similar to world renowned rock guitarist Joe Satriani. So much Kevin has nicknamed himself the "Satriani of the North."

"Of course Satriani is a huge influence on me", he says. "But he (Satriani) does more of a bluesy thing. I am more influenced by classical music. I absolutely love baroque classical composers J.S Bach and Antonio Vivaldi. They are my biggest musical influences. I spent 3 years in fact, studying classical guitar. Mix my classical influences with all the bands I grew up listening to like Rush, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Ministry, Pink Floyd for example, and bands like Meshuggah, I am a blend of it all. And much more...."

Kevin recorded, produced, engineered and mastered his first debut CD, self titled "Pyramids on Mars" released in 2013. He performed all the instruments on the album and did all the drum programming. He has been capturing music industry attention, and gaining a tremendous amount of fans worldwide on Jango Radio, Soundcloud, Reverbnation and Twitter. His goals are to continue to build a loyal fan base and bring his powerful, ambient music to the masses.

Pyramids on Mars really is music from the Mystical Red Planet.

Follow on Facebook, www.pyramidsonmars.com , and twitter @PyramidsOnMars_ -

Pyramids on Mars have released Echo Cosmic, which is easily the finest instrumental metal album since Joe Satriani’s seminal Surfing With the Alien. It is by turns inspiring, jaw dropping, progressive and uplifting. Pyramids on Mars are what metal could be, but increasingly (and sadly) is not. This is metal to banish the blues and expand the consciousness!

Pyramids on Mars mainman Kevin Estrella kindly answered my questions on all things cosmic.

Hellbound: Kevin, what are your classical musical influences?

Kevin Estrella: I am greatly influenced by Baroque classical composers J.S. Bach and Antonio Vivaldi. I was originally turned on to the classical influence coming into metal when I first heard Yngwie Malmsteen. I love Yngwie’s music and style so much that I dedicated two years of my life to listening and studying his music exclusively. Like a monk I went to the Malmsteen Monastery! I learned so much, but I did not want to become another Malmsteen clone. I wanted to learn to think like him. So I went back to his influences: Bach, Vivaldi, and Nicolò Paganini. Bach changed my life. It was like hearing music for the first time. I get all my melodic ideas from my classical influences. I hear the guitar more like a violin, and so I play violin lines on the guitar. How I organise things on the guitar comes more from a violinist’s perspective.

HB: I love the analogue sound on Echo Cosmic. What prompted that?

PyramidsOnMarsKE: That was originally influenced by the band Braintoy from Toronto. They used to rehearse in the same building as us and we could hear them using a Minimoog. It sounded so amazing how they added it to their band! So when I started writing music for Pyramids on Mars I wanted to add that sound to my music. It just adds such a warm resonance. Plus I am a huge Rush and Pink Floyd fan, and they used Moogs all the time in their earlier music. So it was natural that I wanted to have that same sound. It gives my music a real spacey sound, and an energy resonance. It sounds like something you would hear if you landed on Mars and were looking around.

HB: Indeed it does! Now that we’ve discussed your classical influences, what about your metal influences?

KE: There are so many: Rush, Iron Maiden, Metallica. Megadeth, Ministry, Meshuggah, Led Zeppelin, Fear Factory, Nine Inch Nails, Jimi Hendrix, Extreme, Dream Theater, Pantera, Tool, Ozzy, Cacophony, and Planet X.

HB: Some great influences there, particularly the mighty Rush! Now, you are the sole player on your album. Do you have musicians to play with live and would you like to have musicians to play with on your next album?

KE: When we perform live I play lead guitar and my brother Craig Estrella plays bass. The rest of the music comes off my laptop and is mixed through the sound system. I have intentions of getting a drummer in the very near future. As far as having other musicians play on the next album, it will depend on where I am at this point. On Joe Satriani’s first two albums he played on his own. He may have had some guest musicians play on those albums, but he did not start writing in a band setting until his album The Extremist, where he worked with Gregg and Matt Bissonette. If Pyramids on Mars gets to a level where I can put a band together, then yes, I would have other musicians contributing to the writing process.

HB: Who did you play with before you created Pyramids on Mars?

KE: I was in two other bands before Pyramids on Mars. I was in Shatter Instinct. We played the Toronto circuit in the early 2000s. We were very heavily influenced by Tool. In fact I played nothing but a Les Paul in Shatter Instinct, and I played very little lead guitar. We mostly focused on rhythm, groove, and the use of odd time signatures. That influence definitely comes out in the music that I write now. I was also in a band prior to Shatter Instinct called Firestorm. We had more of a Pantera sound in that band. You can still find our music on YouTube!

HB: Splendid! Now, you are clearly a fan of the mighty Iron Maiden… which is as it should be! What are your favourite Maiden albums, and have you been looking forward to their new album?

KE: I have been looking forward to the new album. My favourite Maiden albums are Powerslave, Somewhere in Time, and Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. The first self-titled album, Killers, and Number of the Beast are absolutely amazing too. I cut a lot of my teeth when those albums came out.

HB: What do you think is an important element in Iron Maiden’s sound?

KE: Adrian Smith is so important to Iron Maiden. He is the man behind their amazing guitar harmonies, and wrote some of the coolest Iron Maiden songs. Adrian Smith is to Iron Maiden what John Lennon was to The Beatles. Without his contribution, the band is not the same band.

HB: I’d have to agree, having Adrian back in Iron Maiden is great.

I was very impressed with the thrash influences on Echo Cosmic. You would be a fine asset to Megadeth! Have you ever thought of contacting Dave Mustaine, and what are your favourite Megadeth albums?

KE: I would contact him to be able to open for Megadeth. I think Pyramids on Mars would be a great opening band for Megadeth for sure. I love Megadeth. Dave Mustaine has razor-sharp technique. That’s what I like so much about them. I like his soloing too. They are more blues-based, but he plays with such aggression. His sound is very distinct. And when Marty Friedman was in the band, that was the best lineup. I have been a huge fan of Marty ever since he debuted in guitar magazines with Jason Becker in Cacophony. I never heard Marty’s first band Hawaii, but I have worshipped Martin and Jason ever since Cacophony. They are my gods! I have most of Marty’s solo albums. You will hear a huge influence in my music with the use of the Japanese scale. I use it in almost half my songs that I have written. I have also practised the Marty bending technique for years where you land on a very dissonant note and bend it into scale. It is so Marty, so cool. They are both a huge influence on my playing, and you can hear that. A lot of my melodic approach is a direct influence from listening to Marty for half my life. Most of my sweep picking technique comes from Jason Becker. He is the best sweep picker this side of the universe. It is very sad what has happened to him; he is a huge influence on me with classical music theory. Most of my sweep picking technique I learned from him.

HB: His ill health is a real tragedy.

Do you feel that not having a vocalist is an advantage or disadvantage? And would you consider working with one in the future?

KE: A band with a singer is very different from what I do. The problem I have with it is that it is melodically limiting. Singers can’t do or focus on melody in the same way as a guitar or violin can. For Pyramids on Mars, my focus is on melody. Creating memorable melodies is what I work on. It is a real art. I listen to pretty much just classical music. Most of my melodic ideas come from classical music, particularly violin lines. And there are patterns that just sound good to the human ear. The repetitions of patterns are ear friendly and familiar. Thus I write more for a violin. There is a lot of thought behind what I write. In fact I have studied books on creating great melody. In one review I got the writer said I was soloing throughout the song. That is definitely not the case. That may be an impression to someone with an untrained ear, or someone who listens to bands with singers exclusively. But in my music, there are verses and chorus and pre-chorus. I believe a person should be able to walk away from the first listen and be able to hum the melody.

HB: That is indeed as it should be. If you were to embark on an extensive tour in support of this album, what bands would you like to play with?

KE: I would love to tour with Joe Satriani or Steve Vai. I could see myself touring with Animals as Leaders, or even Devin Townsend.

HB: On to lyrical themes and inspirations. The cosmos and all therein is obviously a huge inspiration to you, and I believe your personal experiences play a part in this! Would you care to share them with the readers?

KE: The question I have been asked many times is, do I think that aliens are real?

The answer is 100% yes. How do I know this? Because I have been contacted directly by them. I am an alien contactee.

On August 21, 2014 I saw a large orange-red two-dimensional disc covered in plasma fly over our city. It flew right behind my backyard. It made no sound. I reported the sighting to MUFON. They did a complete investigation. Later this year I met up with them at the Alien Cosmic Exhibition in Brantford, Ontario. They were excited to see me. They told me they were doing a presentation of my sighting. It was deemed an authentic sighting. However, I was the only one who saw it. I later found through other reports that it was verified, but there is no record for a sighting in Hamilton for that night. I was freaked out by this point. It is impossible in a city of 500,000 that I am the only one to see this large object fly over the city.

I met with world-respected Ufologist Grant Cameron. He is an expert on UFO/musician connection. His research had found that many musicians are experiencers and have come forward with their alien contacts or abduction stories. The aliens are communicating their message to the world through musicians. Grant told me that what happened to me, my being the only one to see the alien craft, is not uncommon. The same thing happened to John Lennon in New York City.

Grant has concluded that the aliens are in direct contact with me. I am part of this special selected group of musicians chosen to raise consciousness of the alien presence on our planet. We as a species are on the horizon of a higher state of consciousness of spirituality, ESP, and possibly telepathy. Just like the aliens. My goal is to raise people to a new state of consciousness through my music.

HB: I find your music is of a very positive bent. As a long-term metal fan, do you feel metal has become more negative and extreme as time progresses, and do you feel that this reflects the world around us, or at least what people see on the news every day? After all, reality and our perception of it is not one and the same.

KE: I think metal has gotten a lot darker. Metal is still aggressive and a lot of bands are playing really fast stuff. Which is fine, whatever people dig, they dig. For me, I have always been attracted to metal bands that groove. Listen to Pantera. They were not a fast band, they were a power metal groove band. You could move your body to their music. Same with Meshuggah. They don’t focus on speed. It is groove. Going to a Meshuggah concert is probably one of the most amazing concert experiences, for the one fact that you can look around the room and everybody will be banging their head to a different beat! And they are all correct!

There is a lot of dark metal out there, and it probably does reflect the times. These are pretty dark times. But you are right; my energy is not dark. It is uplifting. Almost euphoric. I love the heaviness and aggressiveness, but my energy comes from a different energy source, close to what Pantera, Meshuggah and what Ministry are doing!

HB: What inspired you to call your band Pyramids on Mars? Do you think there was ever intelligent life on Mars?

KE: I called myself Pyramids on Mars after hearing a song off Virgil Donati’s solo album Serious Insects called “Pyramids on Mars.” But I already knew they existed. There are five-sided pentagonal pyramids a few miles from the “face” on Mars in the Cydonia region, known as the D&M pyramids. There are many more pyramids on Mars. In fact, NASA made the announcement less than a month ago of a pyramid that was photographed by Mars Rover. Mars is covered in artifacts and ruins. There are entire cities still up there. Check out the Gale Crater on the ESA website. If you darken the resolution, you will see the remains of huge cities. Some sceptics have called this JPEG anomalies, but this has proven to be false. Those cities are real.

HB: What science fiction films do you rate highly?

KE: 2001: A Space Odyssey is very important to understanding. This may look like a work of fiction, but there is a lot of truth hidden in it. The Monolith in this movie is very important in hyper-dimensional physics and the properties that are found on planets like Saturn, Jupiter and Mars. There is also a Monolith that has been found on the Martian moon of Phobos.

As a note, many of the Marvel movies are written by the same writer who has been in direct contact with extraterrestrials, and they have taken him to their solar system. The messages in these movies are messages that have been given to him by these beings, and he has been asked to communicate them to our world. I am not making this up.

HB: Have you ever seen the Tom Baker Doctor Who series, “Pyramids of Mars”?

KE: I probably have, perhaps twenty years ago, but I need to watch it again. Every time I search for myself on Youtube I have to sift through a lot of Dr. Who “Pyramids of Mars.” That series made a real impact on people.

HB: Indeed it did. For instance, I’m sure the people that made Stargate had seen it, so it is very influential!

Finally, is there anything you would like to add?

KE: You can find my music at www.pyramidsonmars.com . Follow me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PyramidsonMars . Follow me on Twitter @PyramidsOnMars_.

You can purchase Echo Cosmic and my debut CD off the website in digital or physical CD. Visit the store. There are t-shirts, posters, hats, and even the custom Double Helix Alien DNA removable guitar neck graphic. Neckillusions.com and myself worked together to create a very cool custom neck graphic design, that was given to me in a dream. It is based on a crop circle formation from 1986.

Finally… keep your eyes to the skies. THEY are watching. - Hellbound.ca

"Echo Cosmic" by Pyramids on Mars... sounds a little spacey right? Well for an entire instrumental album based off the idea of life outside our planet, I think the title of this debut album fits just right. As a musician I always enjoy listening to an artist who can make a song really hit home without any words to convince me to stay clinging on to that over used guitar riff or constant use of an open string. When you have a band that can keep your attention on music alone with such amazing talent you know you have something special going on.

Now if that wasn't enough for you to get excited then you have to know that this is ONE PERSON. Can you believe that shit? Well it's true. Ontario Canada's own Kevin Estrella is a one man progressive/metal shredding machine with music that comes to him from his dreams to our ears. He has documented an UFO sighting and has met with highly known and accredited ufologists over the years and uses his encounter as motivation for his music. Now I don't want to get in a debate about if life exists outside of this planet because the only thing out of this world I am certain about is this music.

So lets get back into this gnarly riffage covered in silky creamy leads called "Echo Cosmic." This album is best described in my mind as a nice aged bourbon. It has the right amount of kick to soothe your mood and that nice smooth flow that burns just right. It's both enjoyable and gets the job done. Your getting Joe Satriani and Steve Vai with Jimmi Hendrix all mixed in nicely with the progressive/spacey style of Rush, plus the raw drive of Metallica. This artist showcases his knowledge of music theory kneaded tightly within the infrastructure of these songs while still maintaing the essential balance to keep it about the music and not just one instrument. While I believe mostly musicians or people "in the industry" would appreciate this album, I think that anyone who listens to this album will be back for more. - Two Guys Metal Reviews

Pyramids On Mars – “Battle For Rome” – Single Review

Well…I mean all I’m saying is you just go ahead and TRY to find me music that sounds more like pyramids on Mars than Pyramids On Mars do! I’m also fully willing to admit I’ve never really heard the sounds of ANY pyramid before…or seen one for that matter…but I’ve got an overactive imagination that tells me this new single “Battle For Rome,” would be exactly what pyramids WOULD sound like if they could make noise or communicate through music. At the very least, definitely the ones on Mars…

Starting off with ominous tones, it’s not long before we end up on a guitar-trip straight out into the stratosphere. Pyramids On Mars have modernized the guitar shredder’s sound and given it a bit of an update here with the “Battle For Rome,” single. Comparable surely to giants like Joe Satriani and Steve Vai; the guitar remains rooted in respect to this instrumental genre in a true display of skill and scales.

Alright…time to find out who’s responsible for this….

Now you gotta love that! Even though I barely consider myself as having an allegiance to any one country as a true world-citizen…I suppose it still makes me smile to see that an artist comes from Canada when I look it up. To be truthful…and I think you’ll agree Canada (YEP – I’m talking to ALL of you), we just don’t have a lot of this style of skilled-instrumental music in our midst as of late. Here we are now though…finding out that basically ONE MAN from Hamilton, ON – a one Kevin Estrella is in fact responsible for every instrument being played on this single.

That’s impressive to say the very least. With the standout sound, tones and elements coming out of each instrument whether drums, bass or keys…there are no noticeable flaws of any kind here on “Battle For Rome;” so again, to simply say it’s impressive would be like calling Superman Clark Kent to his face. This guy IS Superman…at least the musical version…

And even though each instrument stands out in its own special way, it is of course the guitar-work that is completely thrust into the limelight here. With unbelievable precision, Kevin absolutely nails his main-part here on “Battle For Rome” and leaves zero doubt about the intensity of his skills after a single listening to this song. Around the two-and-a-half minute mark, he rips up and down the fret-board like his fingers want to make sure he’s touched the tips of every section on his guitar. The sound is crystal-clear, the production is fantastic and it all serves to truly highlight the skill he possess above all the rest in his guitar-work.

I’ve always loved this genre of music…it’s one of the first real ‘switches’ I ever had thrown on me that allowed me to open the door to another type of music. I had tickets to the infamous G3 concert here in Vancouver; a line-up stocked full of what was undoubtedly an entire concert full of people Kevin Estrella has been influenced by. The show’s official line-up included Satriani and Vai, and though Eric Johnson was on tour for the U.S.A. portion, in Canada we got Kenny Wayne Shepherd who was kicking all kinds of ass at the time…and as an extreme bonus of sorts, legendary King Crimson-alumni Robert Fripp opened the entire show. Fripp bored me to tears with his ‘Frippertronics’ experiments of playing a single guitar note for about a half hour faced away from the crowd and simply manipulating the ongoing tones and frequencies. Yawn. Legend or not…don’t bore me. Watching Shepherd kill it out there was an awesome switch in the energy…but it was Vai and Satriani that truly changed my life that night.

The reason why…is much like that you’ll find here from the Pyramids On Mars “Battle For Rome” single. Kevin Estrella, much like Vai, much like Satriani, can make this instrument truly communicate and display emotion. That’s NOT a skill that comes along with practice, I don’t care who you are. That comes purely from a connection established between a musician and their instrument that is nearly akin to what we know as ‘true-love;’ like the fairy-tale kind. Only better…and with music.

There’s a real passion that Kevin plays with that only comes along every so often…a real magic; the kind that allows a person to communicate their thoughts, feelings and emotions completely through a musical instrument. Big fan of what he’s put on display here through Pyramids On Mars…I’ll always find myself wishing there was a whole lot more of this kind of music…especially when it’s played this well.

But I suppose that’s just what makes an artist like this so rare and special. There could be a complete saturation with this type of instrumentally-driven music one day…who knows, maybe this will become a dominant style we all love in the future? I have the feeling that even IF this was to happen one day, an artist displaying the true heart, skill and passion that Kevin Estrella does here through his project Pyramids On Mars would STILL stand out miles from the rest and be one of the best investments your ears could make.

Find out more about this guitar-hero at: https://www.facebook.com/PyramidsonMars - Sleepingbagstudios