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/
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.
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/
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.
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