D.E.R.

It's only fitting that I follow up the Test interview with another band from Brazil that is also killing the game right now. My band got to play before D.E.R(who also share the same drummer of Test), at Obscene Extreme Mexico, and they destroyed the rain drenched crowd for over a half hour with their brand of crushing hardcore and punk influenced grindcore.

If you have not yet taken the time to look into the insanely talented group of bands coming out of today's Brazilian scene, do yourself a favor and check out D.E.R., Test, NYAB as well as other wonderful bands like Academic Worms, Expurgo, Hutt, Subcut... These are all bands that are changing the game of fast music in 2014. Thanks for reading! Grind is protest.

 I have a been a huge fan of D.E.R. for a while now, and I was very happy to have our bands play together at OEF Mexico last year! Can you give me a history of D.E.R. When did the band form? Any lineup changes? What bands influenced you to start a grindcore band? How would you describe your sound?

Yeah, thanks man. Was realy good to play there in mexico, and we where happy to see you guys playing too.

So, We started in 1998, we where (and still are) heavily influenced by early brazilian punk bands from the 1980's.  we used to hang out with some punk gangs to drink beer and cheap wine and to see other punk bands from são paulo, later we wanted to start a band as well, but we didnt know how to play anything, we learned together to start the band. in the next years we started to understand more about music, and began to listen more hardcore, fastcore and grindcore, and naturally we began to play faster. 

We started to understand the politics inside punk rock as well and that's why we changed the line up sometimes, political divergences. With two members out of the band, at this time, the line up was only me, Thiago and Renato (guitar). Latter on Feliz join us playing bass and in 2002 Barata started to play drumm for the band. When Barata joined us was when we became a grindcore band. We never saw him playing but he lived in our neighborhood, that's why we invited him. In the first pratice with Barata we realized we could play faster and we mixed the anger and urgency of the 80's brazilian punk bands with the grindcore bands that we liked, like Napalm Death, ROT, Parental Advisory, Assuck, No Violence, Larm, Infest... The last change in the line up was in 2009, when Maurício replaced (this time not for political divergences) Feliz on bass. Maurício played bass for other bands like La Revancha and I Shot Cyrus, and was a perfect mix for us.Today I think we have a particular way to play grindcore. Sometimes we want to sound a little more death metal but we're not that good on our instruments and too punk rock for it hahahaha

Barata is the only one who always says for us to stay only in grindcore. I think we should kick him out of the band hahahahaThis mixture ends up in a sound like old Napalm Death with the urgency of punk rock. I think interesting, in a world of a lot of triggers and polished sound, technical musicians and hundreds of cymbals, we sound very simple and oldschool.

What makes Brazilian grindcore so unique in your opinion? What are some of your favorite bands, past and present?

I think it's the urgency and our political influences. The grindcore in Brazil always been much more close to punk/anarchopunk and the bands keeped this raw punk thing and add other elements from death metal. My favorite bands from the past are ROT, Parental Advisory, Brigada do Ódio, Plague Rages, Subcut, Desecration, No Sense, Subtera, Are You God?, No Violence, Abuso Sonoro... From the present, we have a lot of new bands like Obitto, TEST, NOIA, Lepra, Narayama, Baixo Calão and others that are playing for some years already like Facada, Desalmado, Expurgo, Social Chaos, Meant to Suffer and Hutt.

Can you tell me what albums from Brazilian bands have influenced you to want to make music?

Many albums but few grindcore albums hahahah. Ratos de Porão is a very important band to us. We listened to Cruscificados pelo Sistema and Descanse em Paz and we wanted to sound like this records. Sepultura's Bestial Devastation, Arase and Chaos AD, Sarfocago's INRI, etc...

Racionais MC's is a hip hop band from São Paulo that we consider a liberation on the politic field. This group is responsible for educate a lot of people from the suburbs. We came from the same neighborhood as they are and we are heavily influenced by them

 I have done a few interviews already, and I see a trend in everyone's answers mentioning how the political climate in Brazil has really influenced them to want to start a grindcore band. Can you tell me about how things are where you are from, and how does it affect you personally and how does it influence the song writing in the band.

Grindcore for us was something that comes out naturally, we knew how crushing the life is and grindcore was the style that fits us. I remember the feel when I started to do guttural vocals and the lyrics passing by my mind and then from a suffocant feeling I start to fell more relieved.

The band started in on of the poorest and violent neighborhood of são paulo, in the begining we only have contact with punk gangs but we thought that was not very smart and could not feed what we fell at the time

Tell me about the city where D.E.R. is from..Is there a huge scene right now? What are your local show like?

We are from São Paulo, capital of the state of... São Paulo hahaha. Our scene is not that big, we have small gigs at small bars and clubs almost every weekend. Sometimes one of two gigs during the week. In the past the gigs during the week was always empty but nowadays the people are going and thats a real good thing. It's hard to have a gig with only grindcore bands, we mix other styles and the result is a line up very interesting. 

Do you feel there are any Brazilian grind bands that were overlooked by fans of extreme music in Europe or North America?

Yeah, for sure. It's very rare to see somebody talking about a band from South America. Of course, there are exceptions but I think this is a cultural problem not only for music. We have this problem too, we only know very few bands from the other countries from south america. Bands from USA when go to europe they are treated different and vice-versa. But thats ok, we're alive since the beginning of the 80's when Brigada do Ódio did blastbeats before Napalm Death hahahah

TEST

What can I say about Test? This band is one of the most original bands currently decimating my ear drums on a regular basis. I had the pleasure of sharing the stage with them at OEF Mexico and this summer they will be sharing a van with my band Disrotted for a week as we tour the Midwest. Hands down my favorite 2 piece (and there's plenty of them out there). If you are not familiar with these guys, do yourself a favor and check them out. 

1) Hi Joao, thank you for agreeing to this interview! I want to say first that I am a big fan of the band Test. While there are the elements of grindcore there, you two are able to throw in elements of sludge, black metal, hardcore, thrash and everything else into 2-3 minute songs. I love the originality of the band! Can you tell me what your influences are for Test, and what is the writing process like for your band?

João - Thank you, man!

You're right, our influences are averything you said. The classics death metal bands and grindcore, are my biggest influencies. 

Barata - I begun with punk rock and then some classic grindcore bands. Nowadays i'm very influenced by some rock n roll from the 70's.

João - We're not a band that practice a lot, most of the times I came with some riffs and the structure of the song in mind, show to Barata and he puts the drums. In one practice session the song is already done.

2) Since your style isnt as traditional grindcore, do you find it hard for Test to fit in on shows? Or is there no big difference really? I saw that you opened for Mayhem recently, can you tell me how that was?

 João - Actually it's easier, we play in all different scenes, punk, hardcore, metal, grind, crust, harshnoise and even in the experimental scene. For us it's normal to play in a punk festival  with Rattus and in the other day to play with experimental noise, such as Kevin Drum. 

About the show with Mayhem was awesome. After the show the guys went to talk with us said they really liked us, for us was an honor. You can see this entire show on youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slNot17LfhU

3) Now I am sure you have been asked this many many times, but can you tell me how the idea originated for Test to start playing these guerrilla type shows outside? There are countless videos of you guys online setting up generators in the middle of the street and playing to big crowds. Can you explain to me the process of picking where to play? What are some crazy stories you can share about playing these type of shows?

João - Here, just like the rest of the world, not so many people go to small shows, but the heavy metal shows, with bands from other countries are aways sold out, so I had this idea of playing ouside the venues before or after the shows. There always a lot of people outside! 

The people like that we bring everything and the risk of being caught by the police and support us 100%. This made Test well known in the whole country because  in these shows, a lot of metal fans come from other parts of Brazil to São Paulo, where this big bands always play. Our dream is to do this in other countries.

4) How old are you guys and how long have you been in the extreme metal and punk scene? What bands influenced you growing up to want to play in a band?

João - I have 34 yers old, I begun in the sao paulo grindcore scene in 96. The biggest influence of my life was Sepultura, right after them Napalm Death, Morbid Angel, Carcass, among others. I think it will be very difficult any new band to overcome these masters.

Barata - I'm 32 and I joined my first grindcore band, D.E.R., in 2002. I started playing drums in 1996 because of the Ramones, and they're my biggest influence in everything. In extreme metal and punk, my influences are Napalm Death, Terrorizer, Brutal Truth, Repulsion, Yacopsae. 

5) What I love about Brazilian extreme music is that you have bands like Test, Subcut, New York Against the Belzebu, Academic Worms etc etc and they all sound different and unique in their own way. What are some of your favorite current bands that you play with that people who dont live in Brazil should know about? What does Brazilian grindcore mean to you, and what makes Brazil unique and different than the bands in say Sweden or England?

João - The Death/Grind scene in Brazil is fucking awesome! We have Rot, Facada, D.E.R., Hutt, Subcut, Infamous Glory among other. It's a shame these bands don't tour much...

Barata - Also Baixo Calão, O Cúmplice, Cruel Face, Terror Revolucionário, Unfit Scum.

The people who are into grindcore in Brazil, they trully love grindcore and even if they live in one of the poorest and forgotten parts of the country they will love to receive any band in their houses, give you the best food they have and make sure you're havin fun. One of the reasons why I love brazilian grindcore scene.

I think what makes us different is that we have some serious shitty equipment hahahah

6) What is the scene like in your city?

João - A lot of goodwill, a lot of bands, a lot of places to play, and a lot of people only complaining. It's a very active scene.

7) What can we expect next from Test?

João - We will release a split EP with D.E.R. (Barata also plays in D.E.R.). On this split, Test and D.E.R. share the same drum track in different songs. You have to listen each channel (L and R) separately to listen to each band. You can listen the first two songs in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDpXPWPzVdQ 

Besides that we are doing shows with special guests and this will result in a "Test Big Band", with the release of a record and some special shows with more them 15 people on stage.

 

Barata - And next mounth we will release two songs in a flexi disc. We have a vídeo of the first song on youtube, check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1XajmAqrhw

8) I remember being in high school and spending every hour of every day after school dubbing tapes, writing letters and going to the post office. What is the tape trading scene like right now in Brazil? I notice here more kids would rather download music and pay for the download than buy a physical copy of music. Is it the same there?

João - Here the tape trading scene is praticaly over, the old friends still send cds or tapes to each other but thsi is not what moves the scene. Happily there is a growth on cds, and mainly on, vinyl sales of underground bands.

Barata - Here I don't know any kid who paid for download music. Some friends paid to listen music on streaming on Rdio, but there are really few underground bands there.

9) How do you feel about the World Cup coming to Brazil? 

João - Everybody is talking about the Wold Cup here because there is so much inequality in Brazil, a lot of people don't have food, house, or school and the government spending billion to make everything looking perfect for this cup. 

A lot of people are very angry about this and will be a lot of demonstrations during the World Cup. But I'm sure, if Brazil win the cup, people will forget about everything and be happy about it.

NEW YORK AGAINST THE BELZEBU

Nelson is a member of NYAB and one hell of a nice guy! I am happy to be in contact with him as NYAB was one of the first noisecore bands I heard many years ago. They are continuing their assault in 2014 and have no indication of slowing down anytime soon. Enjoy!

Can you give me a little history lesson about NYAB. How long has the band been around? What lineup changes have there been throughout the years? What are some of the band's influences when recording?

Nelson: We started in June 1994 and still grinding. Only me is from the original line-up. We have some changes of members, not a lot if you think we are in 2014 now. But I always invited friends to play in NYAB, so, we had a lot of different people from varied styles playing in NYAB since 1994.   Its makes NYAB sounds great.

Our influences are very varied, but we tried not to be influenced when recording. This way is necessary to not sounds as another band.  Lyrics influences are our day-to-day life. 

But we like noie core and grind core in general… and metal and other styles also…   Some influences us to goodness, some influences us to hate…

What city does NYAB live in? Can you tell me about the scene there? How were things when NYAB first started, and how is it now?

Nelson:  We live in São Paulo, Brazil.  Now the scene here is almost dead, but in 90s scene was very active with a lot of bands and gigs. There´s just a few  bands from that time still grinding….   nothing compared to golden 90´s. When we started, scene was in ebullition, we born in the middle of storm. I was already in scene with my zine Rotthenness since 1990.

Over the many years, what are some essential Brazilian bands and releases that people should check out? Of course, there are famous bands like Rot, but what are some bands that people might have missed out on.

Nelson and Adilson: Well, talking only in noise/grind bands, there´s a lot of interesting bands as POLLUTIO SONAX, SCARRHOUS, SONIC TORMENT, T.D.N., PUTREFAÇÃO HUMANA, FECALOID, BAPHORIZATION, EXTREMA AFLIÇÃO CRUEL, SCOURGE SYSTEM, DISHARMONIC NOISE, MUSICAL ENEMIES, EREBO, just to mention a few underground Brazilian bands…Most of releases of these bands are tapes in limited copies. I couldn´t mention name of releases, sorry.  

 Do you have any favorite venues that NYAB has played? What shows have you played or seen that stick out in your mind?

Nelson: We open a show to DORSAL ATLANTICA in Rio de Janeiro back in 98. re  For irony, I was sick and a friend of mine used to play drums. We open a show to KRISIUN back in 1997 or 2000 (I don´t remember now – I need to check the flyer show).  Our show in a Festival in Portuguesa Stadium in 1999 was very good also, 10 minutes of show, but people asking for songs, its unforgettable to me.     

What makes Brazilian grindcore and noisecore unique and different than anywhere else in the world? What make you want to keep playing noisecore after all these years?

Nelson: I think that all difficulties in Brazil to do anything influences the bands to be angry most of others in the world. I mean difficulties in musical equipment, political corruption etc.. all of this makes us  angry a lot !!!!   I think I still making noise because it´s on my heart…  It’s running in my veins together with my blood.  Today morning, for example, I woke up at 5:00 a.m. thinking in a NYAB new release idea.  Its moving my life and helps me to forget the useless meaning of our boring life in this world.  I want to think in NYAB in bad moments in my life… it helps me in my every day life. 

Rotthenness zine has been around since the 90s. Can you tell me about the zine? Is it paper or online? How many issues have there been? Where can fans get a copy of this?

Nelson - I started the zine back in 1987 and stopped in 1991. It was 4 issues. In that time all was paper, never online.. Rottthenness zine dealed more with metal thing than punk/hc stuff.   First and second issues was xerocopied and other issues was made in official graphic.  Unfortunately its is available since years…   I have just the original “master”, not any copies….

Are there any record stores in Sao Paulo right now where fans can easily get copies of grindcore tapes and records? Or do people still rely on tape trading right now? With postage prices being so damn expensive, I imagine it is hard to get import albums most of the time.

Nelson -  There are so record stores as EXTREME NOISE where you can find this stuff, but tapes and tape trading now is very rare….  Brazil is not producing tapes anymore.  Shipping price always was expensive, but now is increased a lot. But who want the stuff, must pay and get the stuff. We are into this for the feeling, not for money.  If its expensive, let´s work more and buy… its what I think…

 Is there a problem with police and punk shows in Sao Paulo? Do police ever shut down shows or cause violence at shows? 

Nelson: In nowadays, not….   But in the 80´s and 90´s there were a lot of violence at the shows.   But now ther´s just some shows here and there….   In 80´s a lot of people came to the shows. Nowadays I think the scene is very down…  But we are here and we will put scene active again !!!

What can we expect from NYAB in the next year?

Nelson: Well, we intend to make 20 releases this year, to celebrate the 20 years of NYAB.  You can expect, for shure, NYAB/Deche Charge split EP, NYAB/Oral Protection split tape, NYAB/Psycho Sin split EP, NYAB – tribute to Kenny G, NYAB/Sposa in Alto Mare split cd and NYAB – a new cd, called BOM DIA BRASIL.  All this stuff is 100% sure you will get..