Guitarist Anthony Esparza Announces Solo Project and The Dissolution of Thirty 30

Over the weekend, I had the chance to get on the phone with former Thirty 30 guitarist/keyboardist, Anthony Esparza, to discuss his many upcoming projects. We talked about his solo project, The Black Order, and his upcoming Ep, Last Letters From Earth, due out this Spring. We also talked a little bit about his new band, podcasting, and the end of his previous band, Thirty 30.

What is The Black Order?

Anthony: It's a solo project that I am developing. I'm a big fan of film composers like Hans Zimmer, James Horner, John Williams, and I've been experimenting with the mindset of a film composer for a few years now. When I was writing the keys and strings for "House Of Plagues" (the first album from Anthony's former band, Thirty 30), I approached it with the idea that the overall music was a movie, and the keys and strings became the actual score of the movie, if that makes any sense. Kind of like the 'metal, aggressive' parts of the music were scenes in a movie and the added layers we did with keys, programming, strings, etc., became the score for the movie in my head.

Is this going to be a guitar project or are you striving for something different?

Anthony: There's going to be very little guitar in this project. I meant there's going to be some rhythm guitar things here and some leads there, but I'm mainly focusing on pianos, strings, drums, and electronic elements. I really wanted to do something that was similar to what I did in Thirty 30 but at the same time, make it as different from my previous work as possible.

What does the name "The Black Order" mean?

Anthony: This is going to sound stupid but I'm a big fan of Marvel. Like anything Marvel. For my 27th birthday, I treated myself and subscribed to Marvel Unlimited, which is basically Netflix for Marvel comic books. I haven't had time the last couple years to visit a comic book store so this really helped me read up on new Marvel stories and go back to read some of my favorite from when I was a kid. I recently read "Thanos Rising", which is an amazing origin story of my favorite villain, Thanos. His posse, or his crew, are called The Black Order. I just found the name fitting.Originally, The Black Order was going to be the title of a song on the second Thirty 30 album that I was writing at the time, but since that's never going to happen, I just kind of kept with it.

Speaking of Thirty 30, do you think there will ever be a reunion with the band?

Anthony: No, I don't think so. I was so disappointed with how things ended with that band, I would not be interested in revisiting that project anytime soon. And, not to discredit anyone who was in 30, but if I were to be interested in a reunion, which lineup would it be with? We had several lineup changes throughout our releases so even if that were to be discussed on a serious level, I don't think it would be something every person from whatever lineup is chosen would be interested in. That's like Megadeth breaking up and then asking Dave Mustaine if he would be interested in a Megadeth reunion. I don't know. It's weird. (laughs) But it is my band so if I ever really want to bring back the name and those songs, I could see what's up. But there are no plans and I don't have any plans to make plans anytime soon, if that makes sense! (laughs)

Are there any members from any of the multiple Thirty 30 lineups which you would be interested in working with again?

Anthony: There's a few. I would love to work with Daen again. I'm a big fan of his playing and his music. He was our guitarist on the Inventing Ghosts and Dawn Eps. Stacey, who was our singer for 3 years and sang on our album "House Of Plagues", would also be someone I would love to write some songs with again, maybe on some solo stuff. I've also had some discussions with Roger (Alvarez, drums, 2014-2016) on producing some stuff for me in the future. But nothing has been set in stone yet. And obviously, Alberto (Lafarga, Bass, 2008-2016) is playing bass for my new band, and that's been in the works for a while.

Let's talk about your new band. Can you talk about anything regarding this new project and how does it differ from The Black Order?

Anthony: Um, I don't really want to say anything right now. What I will say is Alberto is in the band, and we are in the final phase of writing before we hit the studio. We just solidified our lineup and are prepping our launch. What I will say is that it is much heavier than what Thirty 30 was, and although there will be some similarities, I'm really focused on whatever I bring to the table be different from my previous projects. For example, we're using seven strings and are playing in drop A, whereas Thirty 30 played in drop C. Plus, unlike in 30, I'm not the only songwriter. There's several awesome songwriters in this new project and it adds an interesting dynamic to the whole thing. But you guys will know what I'm talking about in the coming months. We're already talking about studio time.

Getting back to your solo project, will you be adding vocals to your material?

Anthony: I'm thinking about it. I've had several discussions with a few people about having guest spots, both vocals and guitars. As for my own voice, time will tell I guess. It's not something I'm ruling out.

What was the inspiration behind the first track, "I Am Become Death"?

Anthony: I guess I'm a very visual person, so when I write, I always have to have a movie or show in the background, not really inspire, but to keep that inspiration moving. Something that could set a tone or idea while I write and try to emulate that feeling. With The Black Order, there's no lyrics, so I had to approach the concept on a different way.I've always had a fascination with Japanese Kaiju monsters, so while I was coming up with the idea, I googled monsters like Godzilla, Mothra, and others and would grab some photos of them and put them on my laptop while I would write. And everything else just kind of fell into place. A lot of Guillermo Del Toro's imagery is also very inspirational to this new project as well. It's kind of like I'm trying to write a soundtrack for his monsters! (laughs)

Are there plans for an entire release or are you just going put out single songs?

Anthony: As my main project progresses, I'll have less and less time to work on solo music, so the idea is to work on a small, 4 or 5 song Ep now and put it out soon. And then from there, it would probably be appropriate to release a song here and there, but I know that I want to release a grip of songs before I put all my focus and energy into my main project. I'm working on the Ep now so hopefully I'll have it out sometime in March or April.

Will listeners be able to find it on other streaming platforms or will it just be available on SoundCloud?

Anthony: I do have plans to release the Ep on Spotify and iTunes, but just for now, I have "I Am Become Death" on SoundCloud.

Will you be playing any shows to promote "Last Letters From Earth"?

Anthony: Nope. Nope, nope. This is just a fun little project were I can express myself outside of metal and away from guitar. Just a small studio project. I've never considered myself a metal head. I just like playing metal because it's fun and challenging and there's a whole different emotion behind it.

Speaking of projects, aside from music, you currently have not one but two podcast shows. Tell me a little about those.

Anthony: Well, my main podcast show is called Rock & Comics and it's basically like a little magazine style show were I discuss music, movies, and comics. My other podcast is called Cloud Radio. We had a great first couple episodes but due to scheduling conflicts, we're having to rework it. Hopefully we'll be able to pull it together soon. But both shows are available on iTunes.

Listen to the first single from Anthony's new project, The Black Order, here:"I Am Become Death" https://soundcloud.com/theblackorder1/i-am-become-death

Follow Anthony on Twitterwww.twitter.com/anthonythirty30