Jadran "Conan" Gonzalez - Talks EXMORTUS, BONDED BY BLOOD, Guitar Solos and Becoming a Member of DEICIDE.

“So if I like that a crowd’s really into it. I might be like tonight I’m going to kind of improvise a solo. I do it a little differently because you know for me the improv is fun. I love doing that because my favorite guitarists were Ozzy guitarists like Jake E. Lee or Randy Rhoads and they always kind of went off and did their own thing every performance. If you listen to them, they don’t play the same song the same way ever.”

I’m always amazed when I transcribe an interview and realize what I missed. Sometimes its follow up question or a connection I failed to make. Perhaps they name drop another artist and I neglect to see the significance of that relationship in the moment. Occasionally, it’s a vital piece of information that truly makes that artist tick.

I’ve known Jadran “Conan” Gonzalez since Exmortus released Slave To The Sword back in 2014. I’ve interviewed “Conan” multiple times over the years, but I never knew the impact Jadran’s Uncle made on his musical career until we spoke during Deicide’s support of Behemoth for the Godless IV Tour. A confidant, mentor and artist himself, who ironically opened for Deicide numerous times back in the day, was undoubtedly one the catalysts that helped propel the career of one of the premier guitarists of our age. Please enjoy some excerpts of my 4/25/2026 interview with Conan as a member of the mighty Deicide!

David Halbe – What can you tell me about the new Exmortus material and your relationship with Nuclear Blast?

Jadran ‘Conan’ Gonzalez – Yea, you know what happened there. They dropped us. It was a couple of years ago; I’ve already moved on from it. We are looking for new deal but need some new material. We’re always kind of working on new ideas but you know we always have stuff in the works, writing lyrics, riffing stages, things like that. I’m in the process of trying to put it all together, but I’m kind of everywhere. I don’t really have a formula. Usually, I write the music first and kind of reflect on that afterwards. Then I’ll fill in the gaps. Like this sounds cool with this kind of phrase.

Dave – So bits and pieces you’re recording and holding onto for later?

Conan – Pretty much yeah. I still write with Guitar Pro. So, I’ll just write down some ideas and then start to piece them together and record them with my software. I use Cubase, I just record all my ideas that way. I never go the same route. It could be lyric ideas first or maybe a chorus. Then later I’ll decide if this rhythm fits these lyrics or this chorus better, it’s never the same.

Dave – Would it be fair to say you’re doing melody and lyrics exclusively?

Conan – Basically or it’s more. It’s here and there. It’s kind everywhere.

Dave – Fair enough so how’s Mario doing? (Mario Moreno – Drums Exmortus 2003-2017, Conan’s cousin)

Conan – He’s doing Great! When I’m at home, I help him print shirts, so it’s been great. I don’t know if he’s out of the scene for good or not. I mean, he has been playing a lot lately and we’ve jammed a bit and that’s been really cool. It’s been a long time and he still has it! Yeah, it’s been good.

Dave – How about David Rivera? (David Rivera – Guitars Exmortus 2012-2017)

Conan – I haven’t spoken to him in a long time, but I hope he’s doing well, I mean I’ve heard from other friends that he’s doing all right so that’s good.

Dave – How about Chase Becker, (Guitars Exmortus 2018-Present) is he still in Exmortus? Are you still sharing him with Warbringer?

Conan – I haven’t heard from him in a while but yeah. We’re still sharing him with Warbringer. They (Warbringer) do have a fill in right now so I’m not sure exactly where they stand but yeah.

Dave – How about Bonded By Blood, is there anything happening there?

Conan – Yeah! We just recorded an album. It’s a brand-new album and it’s being mixed and mastered right now. We expect it to be released this year at some point.

Dave – What record label?

Conan – I think we’re just going to be doing it ourselves

Dave – So independently?

Conan – Yeah independent.

Dave – Do you think you might set up a touring schedule or something like that?

Conan – Maybe not touring but a couple of good shows, local shows. Whatever we can get, anything we can get. Just talking to the other guys, I don’t know if they’re down or not. So, I’m not sure about touring yet but I would love to tour, you know. I mean, I’m always on the road. I love to be on the road.

Dave – Yeah, I know, you’re a fucking road dog!

Conan – (Laughs)

Dave – So, how did you land the Deicide gig?

Conan – Well, last year when we did the Blast Beats and Brews Festival in Atlanta as Exmortus. One of my friends put it up and we played it. So, I’m there and I get a call from Taylor (Taylor Nordberg – Guitars Deicide 2022-Present) and I’ve known him and Jeremy (Jeramie Kling – Drums: Inhuman Condition, The Absence, Overkill) for a while. We did a tour with The Absence in 2018. We all got along well and everything so when he called me I was like ‘Hey is everything ok?’ because we usually just text but he called, so I thought it was something serious, an emergency, but no he’s like ‘Hey how do you feel about jamming with Deicide?’

Dave – Holy shit!

Conan – Yeah, I’m like are you kidding me? That sounds really freaking cool so pretty much that’s how it worked out.

Dave – Did they fly you out to Florida?

Conan – No, I flew myself out. I was like ‘Let me learn the live set’. ‘Show me the set list’ That’s how I learned a lot of the songs. I showed them videos, so they could see my progress.

Dave – That’s a good idea.

Conan – Within a few days, Jeremy and Taylor started to pushed me. They said, ‘What if you just fly out?’ So, I did. A week later or so we all got together and played the whole set.

Dave – Hell yeah.

Conan – I learned a lot of songs. That was pretty much it. They were stoked after that, you know? They made their offer, I said yeah, and they were like welcome aboard pretty much after that last jam session.

Dave – So what does the family think about you joining Deicide? Knowing the history of the band with the whole Satanism, bomb threats and shit like that?

Conan – You know it’s funny you mentioned that because my parents have always supported me. I mean, I don’t know if they love that (whole Satanic thing) but they’re cool with it but my uncle used to open for Deicide back in the 90s. There was a band called Specimen 32, they were one of the lesser-known bands, you probably never heard of them, but you know he changed the name to the Violator at some point. I was kid back then but yeah, he opened for them a lot of times, so he was super stoked. I called them (my parents) first and then I called him immediately afterwards.

Dave – That’s cool.

Conan – My uncle was super stoked about it and everything but, my parents already knew that that my uncle opened up for them (Deicide) but it’s good to have their support. My parents have always supported me.

Dave – Awesome!

Conan – My parents were never religious to begin with anyway (laughs) so they weren’t put off by anything. So, I guess for a lack of a better way of saying it, none of the spiritual stuff or history bothered them. That’s a good thing, ironic, isn’t it?

Dave – Sure but completely understandable. So, with you and California them (Deicide) in Florida how did you guys meet up to practice for this current tour?

Conan – Yeah, I just fly out. I usually fly out a week before and we get in a few rehearsals or however many we need to feel good about the set.

Dave – This is something we talked about years ago. Regarding your first two Exmortus albums: In Hatred’s Flame and Beyond The Fall Of Time you had mentioned you were going to get the rights back to those two albums and were thinking about re-recording some of those songs. Is that still in the works?

Conan – It’s funny you mention that because I was thinking about that just recently. I don’t know if I’ll execute it anytime soon, but it’d be fun to do.

Dave: I think it makes sense to consider revamping some of those songs absolutely knowing how you’ve progressed over the years.

Conan – Right! We’ve actually have done that, practiced a few ‘Hatred Songs’, to use as potential, what do you call it? Special releases, bonus tracks or whatever but it didn’t work out on the last release for whatever reason but yeah, we still have them. I kind of feel like some people would want to hear them but there’s always people out there that are like ‘no your original recordings are better!’ Whatever, I mean, I don’t really care I personally.

Dave- Understood.

Conan – I hate that recording (In Hatred’s Flame) I personally don’t like the vocals. It has nothing to do with Balmore (Balmore Lemus – Exmortus 2005-2009). He did the vocals on that one.

Dave – I think your vocals are better now, anyway, the way you’ve progressed as a vocalist.

Conan – Right, I really appreciate that. I think no matter what you do now, old fans are just stuck with that original release. I get it because I kind of feel that way myself with some records myself. It’s always that first impression that sticks.

Dave – Agreed.

Conan – But I’m still going do it just for fun. It’s always worthwhile to revisit a new interpretation because we literally do a new interpretation every show. We never sound the same as the record. We hardly ever play with a metronome. Sometimes our drummer Adrian (Adrian Aguilar – Drums Exmortus 2018 to present) did on the first tour he did and we followed him. He liked it at first and then he didn’t, it’s never going to be perfect, it’s just rock’n’roll.

Dave – I agree 100%.

Conan – We’ve tended to prefer the rock’n’roll way because something about it is lost in a lot of modern music and a lot of modern performances. That’s no less common in the metal world so answer me this, can the intensity of a crowd pump you up even more?

Dave – Absolutely.

Conan – So if I like that a crowd’s really into it. I might be like tonight I’m going to kind of improvise a solo. I do it a little differently because you know for me the improv is fun. I love doing that because my favorite guitarists were Ozzy guitarists like Jake E. Lee or Randy Rhoads and they always kind of went off and did their own thing every performance. If you listen to them, they don’t play the same song the same way ever.

Dave – Man, I never thought of it like that but that’s so damn interesting!

Conan – Believe it or not Glenn (Glenn Benton – Bass / Vocals Deicide) is cool with that.

Dave – Really?

Conan – Yeah, he actually encouraged me to do something, add something, one time. I didn’t know if he was joking or maybe he was just in the mood but he’s like ‘Hey do something with “Lunatic Of God’s Creation”

Dave – Holy Fuck!

Conan – You know, I’d love it because there’s no solo in there. It’s really kind of amazing we never done it.

Dave – Such a classic song, that would be so wild.

Conan – I know, and I don’t I don’t want to take away from the song either because people expected a certain way. So, I was kind of reluctant to do it which is why I haven’t done it yet.

Dave – Makes me think of that Slayer “Criminally Insane” remix, you know with the solo at the opening?

Conan – Right! You know it all depends on my mood, but Glenn has never said anything bad. Maybe he said something about my guitar tone because I used a pretty tone. I kind of knew ahead of time. He was like, “you should probably come into this with a different sound, because if you find yourself asking a question, you should probably just do it’.

Dave – Sounds like he trusts your judgement.

Conan – I think so. I’m using a Fender Tone Master, so I changed it all the time trying to match Taylor’s (Taylor Nordberg – Guitars Deicide) tone so our rhythms are tight and sound similar enough. There will be some differences which are good but at least we’re close enough to sound together. Same thing with our lead at times. We want to make sure they sound good and complementary versus out of out of place. But yeah, you know when he (Taylor) hasn’t said anything about it that’s probably a good thing. Because it means I’ll follow you. I know the basic idea of what’s already on the record.

Dave – Ok but even to begin with like all those solos are pretty wild. So as long as you capture that essence, that’s enough, right?

Conan – You know it gives me some freedom which is fun for some solos. I stick to it especially if we play a lot of new songs. I’ll follow Kevin‘s (Kevin Quirion – Guitars Deicide 2008-2025) solos a lot closer because he’s way more constructed, a very methodical player. I feel like if I go out of structure then it sounds very different. I feel like I’m not doing that song enough service.

Dave – How about your contributions to new Deicide material?

Conan – Well, it’s out there now but there’s no real rush yet. I’m sure it’ll happen, so I’ve already been working on ideas, and he (Glenn Benton) did ask, you know, just be prepared. You know, just write some songs. They’ve never really pressured me, but you’ve got to write songs. There’s always a possibility. It’s like if you have ideas, you know, feel free to present them and I’ve been like, ok cool.

Dave – Awesome!

Conan – The same thing applies to riffing. If you come across something that you know is more of a designated riff, then you want to keep that separate and hold on to it. Now that I’ve gotten the feel what the expectations are for that band. I know what’s in our repertoire, I’m familiar with the setlists so I have a good idea now of not just what is expected but what the standard would be.

Dave – It’s so awesome to hear you say that!

Conan – You know of course, I’m a typical artist and I’m not gonna be happy with every idea but you know I’ll show the guys regardless, so we’ll see what happens.

Dave – That’s really cool. Hopefully, some new stuff will be coming out soon. I mean a lot of people when they come off tour feel really tight. They’re itching to continue playing together.

Conan – I guess we’ll see what happens after this tour. All and all, it’ll be two months with the guys. It’s been awesome, great turnouts every night.

Dave – Awesome man, can’t wait to see you again and hear how this all shakes out!