CLOSE TO MY HOUSE THERE ARE PEOPLE STARVING

Well, first of all. I would like to congratulate you for the release of your fist album. Now: How has been the response to “One Step behind Anger”?

Very good until now. We are in the beginning of the promotion process, but the reviews published were very positive, which is great for us. Now we are very excited to see how it is gonna work on stage. 

Which bands have influenced your sound?

As a huge 80´s metal fans, almost every band from that period have influenced us, but  I would say that Thrash bands like Slayer, Testament, Sepultura and Machine Head besides Hardcore bands like Sick of it All, Discharge etc, are the main influences in our sound.

How would you describe the Brazilian metal scene?

From a band’s point of view, it is very difficult to keep the band alive. Besides few exceptions, everybody has to have their daily job to survive. We have an army of metal fans in Brazil, but the country’s economic situation reflects in the music scene, difficulting the progress of a band. But on the other hand this situation works like an energy source for us.

Which countries have you tour? Which tour did you enjoy the most and why?

We haven’t played overseas yet. We really hope that this can be true; it would be amazing to have the chance to play our music around the globe.

Have you ever thought about moving to Europe or the U.S.? Why?

  As mentioned before, it’s almost impossible for a Brazilian band survive here, so I believe that almost 100% of the bands here think about that possibility. There is another reality in the US and in Europe. The competition is more ferocious, the moving process is really difficult and can be traumatic, but at least there is a real chance for a band to survive.

I really enjoy the drums in your album (kind of raw). Was that the sound you were looking for?

Due to some limitations, I think that the drums could sound better. But in this raw atmosphere, I really don’t like this 100% triggered sound that is very usual nowadays, so I looked for the most natural sound as possible. I’m preparing myself to some eventual fights with some producers in the future, because I intend to keep this kind of sound.

Your disk features great guitar work and excellent song structure. How is the composition process?

Our composition scheme is very free. We do the music in the studio, so there is a mutual influence. Most of times the guitar riff comes first, but it can happen that some drum pattern brings some idea, and there something coming from jams. For the song’s structure, most of times Fernando has great ideas for it, but generally our process is very democratic.

For Fernando and Danilo: Your lyrics portrait our world as chaotic and hopeless. What motivates you to choose this lyrical approach?

It’s not easy to write a lyric for metal music. Sometimes it seems impossible to write a lyric without saying what millions of bands have already said. There is nothing new in the lyrics we write, but they are representing our feelings about the world’s situation. I know that close to my house there are a lot of people starving, children without any kind of education losing their innocence so young, and men killing the world to feed their vanity.... Definitively I can’t agree with this kind of life.

Your disk features great artwork and design. What can you tell me about it?

We gave Vanderley Perna, the guy who did the job, general ideas about the lyrics and asked him to make some aggressive stuff. He was free to do what he wanted, and the final result was a very positive surprise, we liked it a lot. It’s a dark cover, and you can find a lot of details when you pay attention, this is something that we like very much. We think that it is a killer work!

How can we buy your disk? Is there a chance of make it available outside Brazil?

Right now, to buy a copy of album from another country, you have to contact us. We are searching for some distributors that can make the album available around the world, but there is nothing solid yet.

Are you planning to shot a video to promote the album?

We don’t think that this will be possible. We know that a video is a very good way to promote the band, but it’s very expensive to be produced. Right now we have some priorities, and we believe that a video will happen only in the future.

What are the band future plans?

As a band it could not be different – we want to play everywhere we can to promote our album. We have already started to write new songs, and to resume we want to keep on playing the music we like.

Our last question is the typical Gryphonmetal question: The Game. The bands we interview are invited to the Game of the tower. Ok. There’s a very high tower and on the top there are three guitarists. And you have to push down 2 of them saving just one… the guitarist are: Steve Vai , Zak Wylde andScott Ian.

That’s difficult!! We feel our consciousness burning, but we have to kill Steve Vai and Zak  Wylde !!! That doesn’t sounds good, but how could we live without Scott´s riffs ???

Thank you very much for your time. And lots of luck with your band.

We would like to thank everybody in Gryphonmetal for the support, this space is very important to us. See you !!