One of the new sensations of Brazilian metal, the female band Nervous, It will arrive for the first time in our country and in a great way with a tour that will reach cities such as Saltillo, Monterrey, Querétaro, Puebla, Reynosa, Mérida and of course, Mexico City, where they will perform next April 29 in El Gato Skull.
In our first interview via WhatsApp, we had the pleasure of talking with guitarist Prika Amaral about the arrival of the Amazonians in our country, the creation of their second album, ‘Agony’ and even their preferences in soccer - they are Brazilian, they obviously like soccer!
[divider] BRAZIL: MUCH MORE THAN SAMBA AND FOOTBALL [/ divider]
For their second album, they decided to do production in two different cities in the United States, why do it this way?
We decided to do it this way because we were also looking to tour the American Union, so we wanted to take advantage of the trip to make the recordings [of the new album]. It was incredible. We recorded with producer Brendan Duffey, who lived for many years in Brazil and is now back in California. He was working with many bands in our country, so we already knew him and that influenced our decision to work with him. The bad thing is that his studio is very new and did not have enough space, so we had to rent another studio where we recorded the drums. It is a great production company where other artists like the Red Hot Chilli Peppers or the Deftones have worked, in addition to many other great bands. It was a magnificent experience. Everything else, like guitars and vocals if we record them in Brendan's studio.
On a production and team level, what was the big difference between recording your first album in Brazil and then working in a studio in the United States?
I don't feel there is much difference. In Brazil, in the studio we recorded ‘Victim of Yourself’ fue maravilloso y pude grabar sin ningún problema. En Estados Unidos es mucho más barato, además de que tienes más opciones de equipo. Para mi, fue una experiencia totalmente nueva, por ejemplo, usar un Kemper… que es como una pedalera, pero ya trae todos los sonidos dentro del amplificador. Es algo que casi ya todas las bandas de metal usan y a mi -casi- me permitió llegar a los sonidos que estaba buscando. Eso sin contar la experiencia de estar en otro país y sentir esa gran energía.
Undoubtedly, the US market is one of the most important on the planet for metal, if not the most. How were they received there?
La verdad es que nuestras expectativas eran muy pequeñas, pero terminó siendo buenísimo. Nuestro primer show allá fue en Los Angeles, tocamos junto a Municipal Waste y algunas otras bandas que no recuerdo ahora en un venue muy grande frente a muchas personas. Además tuvimos la oportunidad de hacer un crucero [70,000 Tons of Metal] junto a otras 60 bandas, fueron 4 días, pudimos hacer dos shows y fue increíble estar junto a bandas como Vader, Sodom, Epica, Hammerfall… El público americano fue muy bueno con nosotras, nos compraron muchas cosas, nos apoyaron mucho. Tenemos una gran disquera que es Napalm Records, que ha hecho un gran trabajo distribuyendo nuestros discos en los Estados Unidos.
Many times comparisons end up being hateful. For Americans - and for the world, in general - the name of Sepultura is the benchmark for Brazilian metal. Is this a help for the gangs in your country or does it end up being a drag?
Sepultura is a band that all musicians and all the Brazilian public respect. They are and will be the greatest Brazilian of all time. But today there are many other bands that are also having a lot of influence, such as, for example, Krisiun, who has been touring all over the world, even though Sepultura is and will continue to be the greatest Brazilian symbol of metal.
The awkward question! Do you like the new version of Sepultura better or do you miss the Cavalera?
La verdad me gusta muchísima más el antiguo Sepultura. Discos como ‘Schizophrenia’, ‘Beneath the Remains’, ‘Arise’ para mi sin los mejores. No hay manera de decir que estos discos no son buenos, pero el nuevo Sepultura es distinto, para mi es como si fueran otra banda, igual que otras bandas que cambian mucho a sus integrantes. Pero siguen siendo buenos, eh. Cavalera Conspiracy es una excelente banda y admiro mucho a su guitarrista, Marc Rizzo, que es fantástico…
South America really likes rock. But in particular, Brazil has an affair with metal. Why is the Brazilian scene so active and so great?
Brazil is the largest country in Latin America and I think that has a lot to do with it. The simple fact that it is a very large country allows many more people to live in it and with it there can be more bands and more public. Only in Sao Paulo there are about 22 million people, it is a huge city, one of the largest on the planet and having so much population, it allows the scene to be so big. It is not that our love for metal is greater than that of the rest of the Latin countries. We also have the advantage that our economy is large, so we allow ourselves to buy things that for others can be more expensive, such as musical instruments. We don't need to import everything either, but most things are made here which means they are cheaper and that also helps move the scene.
Speaking of your new album, what did you look for as an evolution and inspiration for this second material?
Cada una en la banda tiene inspiraciones e influencias distintas, pero en mi caso tengo mucha influencia del Death Metal, pero eso viene desde los inicios de la banda. Me gusta experimentar con ese tipo de escalas y usar también escalas más “macabras” y combinarlas con algunas técnicas de thrash, eso musicalmente.
In terms of the lyrics, the inspiration comes from the things that make us uncomfortable, that we don't like, for example, corruption in Brazil, that's why I get a lot of hatred. Metal needs rage to create, to be aggressive.
Hablando especificamente de bandas, puedo nombrar a Sepultura, Vader, Metallica, Exodus, Pantera, Destruction… Me gusta mucho el guitarrista de Testament, Alex Skolnick es para mi una gran referencia, igual que Dimebag Darrell, Kerry King, Jeff Hanemann, Jeff Waters de Annihilator…
You guys are a, let's say, recent band. They are growing and have an increasing number of fans. What are your expectations as a band for the future? Where do you hope to get with Nervosa?
Queremos tocar en muchísimos lugares. En Europa, en Estados Unidos, en America Latina… si podemos en África, Indonesia… Oceanía, donde sea. Tocar en grandes festivales, aunque también conservar los shows pequeños que nos gustan mucho pues tienen otro tipo de energía. Nosotra queremos vivir de esto por mucho tiempo.
What if they can live on this?
Nervosa lives on his music. Not from the sale of records, but we live from the shows we give, from the tours. Living on tour is very possible. I live exclusively from the music I have been doing with the band for two years and I hope to continue doing it for the rest of my life.
So if the bands can no longer live on the sale of records, what do you think of the new digital platforms like Apple Music or Spotify? Have they become a support for the bands in the promotional sense or are they a hindrance?
Yes. Spotify, Apple Music and the others have supported the musicians. But I think on the metal scene, people still prefer the physical, like CDs and vinyl, which is very good. I really like buying records and vinyl, unfortunately I can't do it very often because I don't have space or a record player, but if someday I have the opportunity to buy a house -I live in an apartment- I will surely buy a lot of vinyl.
Por ahí leí que la venta de viniles en 2015 superó a la venta de música digital…
Si, las personas están comprando mucho ese formato. ¡Cuando estemos en México llevaré algunos! Y de colores distintos… negro, amarillo… y se que a la gente les gustará mucho.
We are a few days away from your first time in Mexico, do you have expectations about the tour in our country?
Sure, very big. Musicians friends of ours have always told us that Mexico is an excellent place to play, that people get very crazy and their scene is very wide. We have the highest expectations you can imagine. For many years we have been waiting to play in your country, we tried many times and it was until now that we did it. We are anxious. We are not even going to play yet, but we already want to return in the future.
México y Brasil comparten muchas cosas, pero hay una especifico que destaca: El futból. ¿Les gusta? Supongo que sí…
Yes, we all like it. But in a particular way I especially enjoy the World Cup, the big championships. I see all the World Cup games. Everyone. Mexico is getting better, huh. I'm scared of the Mexican National Team [laughs] They play very well and each time they have a stronger team.
Recientemente un músico mexicano declaró que el rock ya es un “cuchillo sin filo”. ¿El rock ya perdió todo sentimiento de rebeldía y un medio de expresión “contra el sistema”? Simplemente, ¿ya no es lo que solía ser?
La escena musical mutó mucho en los últimos años, especialmente con la internet, las descargas y las redes sociales. Por un lado, es mejor pues una banda puede figurar con muy poco dinero a través de la red. Por ejemplo, nosotras conseguimos un contrato con nuestra disquera con un video que subimos a YouTube. Podemos compartir nuestra música mucho más rápido. La escena del rock mundial ya no depende más de los medios, de la televisión o de la radio, somos independientes, nos mandamos a nosotros mismos…. sobre si el rock ha dejado de ser lo que era, creo que es un asunto individual. Depende de cada persona y de cada banda. De manera personal, nosotros hacemos lo mismo que solían hacer las bandas que nos inspiraron. Hablamos de la corrupción, de aquello que nos incomoda y eso es una parte modular del rock desde su surgimiento.
