Interview: D.E.R.
by Rafael Karasu (rafael@karasukiller.com)
Photos: Daigo Oliva
originally published in DOLL (Japan) #248
2008/03

D.E.R.
Is an insane old school grindcore act, straight from São Paulo (Brasil). The band has been releasing their anger since 1997. Here, all members tell some of the band's history to the Japanese readers.

1- D.E.R., how are you?
Thiago: Everything's cool, what's up?
Renato: We're doing fine...
Feliz: Allright!
Barata: Aloha!

2- Introduce the current D.E.R. line-up to the Japanese readers.
Today we are: Thiago on vocals, Feliz on the bass, Barata on the drums and Renato on the guitar.

3- Tell us a little about the band's history, the discography, the first shows. And also, what's the meaning of the band's name?
Thiago: we started in late 1997, early 1998. At the time I was part of a self-managed project working with social inclusion for poor boys in the underserved suburb where I lived in. There I met several people who thought the same way as I did, they felt revolted like me. Everybody was fucked up and we had a strong desire of destroying everything… then we ended up meeting the people from the punk movement, got involved in gangs, fights, drinking binges, all that crazy stuff. Despite all that, the punks helped us, being a part of the project, so we ended up getting together and forming the band. We started playing eighties punk rock, something along the lines of Brazilian eighties bands like Cólera, Ratos de Porão and Olho Seco. I remember our first show was on top of a truck in a festival that happened in Capão Redondo, São Paulo. At that time, the band was called Desordem E Regresso [Disorder and Regress] and so, for a number of reasons we adopted the acronym D.E.R. From that point on we started playing in bars where punk music was being played, we did the same circuit that every punk band did at the time, and does up to this day. The only recording we have from those days is a rehearsal demo tape, where I played the drums! And our discography so far is: 2007/2008 - Quando a esperança desaba CD [When Hope Collapses]; 2004/2005 - Split w/ Morte Asceta LP/CD; 2003 - V/A - Hardcore vs Grindcore - K7; 2002 - Demo ensaio - K7 [rehearsal demo tape]; 1999 - Demo ensaio - K7 [rehearsal demo tape].

4- Tell us about the influence of grindcore on D.E.R.'s music.
Thiago: Dude, grindcore for us came very naturally, we started out listening to punk rock, do you know what I mean? And as time went by we starting connecting the dots and learning more about the genre, and at one point we realized that we were playing grindcore! I think what was essential for us were bands like Assück, Napalm Death, Carcass, Repulsion, Brutal Truth, and in Brazil: Rot and Parental Advisory. These were the bands that influenced us within the grindcore genre but we have influences coming from other genres, like Infest, Dropdead, Ripcord, Abuso Sonoro, Discharge, Cannibal Corpse, DRI, Motorhead, Gauze, Suffocation, Bathory, No Violence, Darkthrone, Eyehategod, Slayer… fuck! There are so many!

5- Do all the band members have a day job, or do you live off your music? What's the hardest thing about having a band in Brazil?
Thiago: I work with web design and development and I own a label, Cospe Fogo Gravações, Feliz works with technical support for a Pay-TV company, Renato had a tattoo studio but went bankrupt and Barata plays in Sick Terror. I think we've never thought about living off of our music here in Brazil, but I can say that it's impossible to do this here playing grindcore. Dude, there are so many adversities! We have problems with our equipment, which is only medium-quality, and real good equipment costs a lot of money. The states are large so the distance is enormous, and that makes a cross-country tour almost impossible. To tour the north and northeast of Brazil, for instance, costs the same as a European tour! Expensive airline tickets, lousy roads, expensive gasoline! And the worst part is that we don't have a sustainable income to keep the bands playing, the shows don't generate enough profit so you either pay the venue or you pay the band, you either pay the band or you pay the equipment rent, it's insane!

6- What can we expect from the new record, “Quando a esperança desaba”? Tell us a little about this new album, which will be released in Japan in 2008.
Renato: After the problems like the delay and the preparation, “Quando a esperança desaba” shows how the band has matured.
Thiago: This record is our debut, so we have a special affection towards it. Bernardo (from are you god?) was in charge of the production duties, he had already worked with us when we recorded the split with Morte Asceta, so he already knew the kind of vibe we had. It's an acid record, brute and hopeless; there are sixteen songs in less than fourteen minutes! We recorded this album twice (laughs)! The first time, there was a problem with the tape roll and the songs started losing speed towards the end, it sounded like a sludge band (laughs), and the worst thing was that we discovered this problem months later, when we started mixing the record. After that, we went into the studio again to re-record everything, it was fucking hard but in the end we were satisfied, we had a second chance to do it better, and that's what we did (laughs).
Feliz: I like to think that the music we're making is getting heavier, denser, I think we're becoming more metal! (laughs)

7- What are the themes in the lyrics? How's the writing process?
Thiago: We talk about things we've lived or we feel, this modern life is shit, too much information, too much pressure, you know? It makes you want to kill people, you must feel that urge too. We try to convey these feelings through our lyrics, we talk about the work that makes us slaves and sells us, we talk about the God that punishes and oppresses us, about the woman that is abused and treated like an object, about the struggle of the classes and about how human life is sometimes a torture. The process usually starts with an idea I have in my head and I try to create a scenery and from then on, I put it down on the paper.

8- And about the shows, how is the reaction of the audience? What bands have you shared the stage with? Have you ever had any kind of friction with the scene extremists?
Thiago: People like what they see, the shows are usually agitated, sometimes we manage to even shock people (laughs), we try to play a show without intermissions, thirty minutes of blast beats! Dude, we've never had any friction with the scene extremists, we play for everybody! We're friends with everybody, we play for anarcho-punks, headbangers, thrashers, punk gangs, straight edge kids, everybody invites us to play. In Brazil, the scenes are always intertwined in some way. We have shared the stage with known Brazilian bands such as Ratos de Porão, Necromancia, Violator, Mukeka di Rato, Point of no Return, Confronto, Ulster, Life is a Lie, No Violence, Armagedon, Lobotomia, DFC, ROT, Abuso Sonoro, I Shot Cyrus, Bandanos and with international bands, like Sin Dios, Napalm Death, See you in hell, Riistetyt, Hellshock, Highscore, Cochebomba, Vitamin X, Rompeprop, Isacaarum, Cathode, Idiot Savant and there must be more that I can't remember now.

9- Do you consider yourselves to be a grindcore band? Are you comfortable when you're labeled that way?
Thiago: We're a punk band that plays grindcore, that's the way I feel comfortable about it.
Renato: I only really care about making sure people know we're a punk band!! But we have the liberty to do what we like, and that's great.

10 - Grindcore bands in Brazil are well produced, are there many bands going for this kind of sonority? And organizing festivals and releasing records?
Thiago: There are many hardcore bands around here, there are bands with a lot of grind influence, but they're not strictly grindcore bands, there are a lot of people doing fucking cool things around here!! There's always a new record coming out, or a festival or a tour going on.

11- What's your opinion about the punk/hardcore scene in São Paulo and in Brazil? The way I perceive it, everyone embodies the DIY spirit.
Thiago: Yes, most people are very DIY but like anywhere else, there are always the opportunists. But generally speaking it's a very fervent scene, there's always a new wave of people doing something new and that's essential for everything to be renewed.

12- What's your view on living off of music and how has punk rock contributed to that?
Thiago: If you asked me that a few years ago, I would say that the guys would be mercenaries or something like that, but nowadays I treat and see music in two ways: music in its commercial configuration and music as a form of art. If the guy makes money with his music, that's his problem, I'd rather see a guy making money playing shows than working for a multinational corporation that's exploiting a cheap workforce. I treat music as a form of art, as a tool for liberation and change, and I can't treat it as a job, as the breadwinning, I wouldn't be honest with myself, you know what I mean?
Renato: Living off of music here in Brazil is almost a lie, at least while we're playing the way we play! It's difficult, we're the b-side.
Feliz: Of course, making a living off what you like is something extraordinary but still, it depends on many things. It would be great if punk rock here was self-sufficient.

13- What are the band members listening to nowadays?
Thiago: I'm obsessed with Agalloch, Ludicra, Death Breath, Under Pressure, Gorrilla Angreb, Muga, Subtera and I'm anxious to hear the new Gauze record!
Renato: Lately I've been listening to a lot of Ratos de Porão, Slayer, Motorhead, Cannibal Corpse and Municipal Waste.
Feliz: jazz, sixties and seventies music, a lot of metal and a lot of Slayer.
Barata: Creedence Clearwater Revival, Metallica, Exodus, Zeke, Rolling Stones and Sublime Cadaveric Decomposition.

14- From 2003 on, we've been seeing a new wave of grindcore bands in Brazil. How do you see this renewal? Which bands do you like?
Thiago: I'm glad this happens! It's always good to have new blood, they bring new ideas and new life to grindcore. I would say that there are the highlights in the south, like Deranged Insane and Facada, also Maharishi and INRIsório from the northeast, Lastima from Rio de Janeiro, Forbidden Ideas and Dispepsiaa from São Paulo, there are many more out there doing good stuff.

15- What would you be if you didn't have punk/hardcore in your lives?
Thiago: I would be fucked up. An ordinary boy with a boring life.
Renato: I have never thought about that, I don't even want to imagine such a thing, punk made me change a lot of conceptions about what can be considered character, dignity, respect, self-esteem. It made me who I am, free, happy in spite of all the adversities, it gave me the strength to fight and move on, it made me see the truth, and be true!!
Feliz: A loser!
Barata: I don't know what I would be, but I would definitely have money! (laughs)

16- Besides being the lead vocalist in D.E.R. you have your own label, Cospe Fogo Gravações. Tell us a little bit about it, how's your relationship with the bands?
Thiago: Cospe Fogo Gravações exists since the beginning of the nineties and it was owned by Ruy Fernando (No Violence). In early 2002 Ruy was very busy with his professional life and to avoid the end of the label he asked me to help him. Months later he “gave” me the label with everything that had already been released, I guess it was the best present I got in my life! (laughs) Since then I've been trying to keep the label alive, releasing new bands and exploring new formats like the book releases. I work in a sincere and transparent way with the bands, I do only what I'm able to do, so far the bands seem to be very satisfied with my work, and that's a positive thing! We already have new projects for 2008! A book, and a Brazilian death metal band! I'm excited about 2008.

17- More and more we talk about corruption, violence and unemployment in Brazil. What do you see in the future for the country?
Thiago: The worst possible future! The ones who are poor will continue poor and working their asses off to live, and the ones who are rich will continue getting richer and richer, that's how things have always worked since Colonization and I can't see improvement in the future.

18- What's it like, living in this concrete jungle that is São Paulo?
Thiago: We end up getting used to living in this chaos, it's like in any large city in the world, there are several problems. Today São Paulo is ruled by a mad right-wing mayor who decided to ban all kinds of outdoors advertising, such as billboards and banners, and wants to make street vendors disappear, among other things.

19- It would be very nice to one day have the band come to Japan to tour, do you think that's possible?
Thiago: Yes, it's possible, it's something very difficult but if we organize everything properly it can happen, it would be a dream! If it happens, we can even end the band right after. (laughs)

20- I know you're a huge Japanese food lover. What do you know about Japan? What do you admire about this country?
Thiago: I've always been crazy about Japan, since I was a kid. At that time, my mother used to say that if I dug very deep I would get to Japan (because it was under Brazil), so every time I dug a hole in the sand or in the soil I thought I would get there or a Japanese person would come out of the hole! (laughs) I like horror movies, Japanese design, the drawings, but what I like the most are the music and the food. When it came to music, I and my friends always used to say that “if the band comes from Japan, go ahead and listen to it, because it will be good”. I only know good bands from Japan! Now let's talk about food (laughs): you have the best food in the world, every week I eat something from Japan, actually, yesterday I ate kapamaki and shimeji temaki. (laughs)

21- What do you know about the Japanese punk/hardcore scene? Which bands do you like best and what impresses you about them?
Thiago: The way I see it, it's a huge scene and it seems to be well-organized and functional. What impresses me is the energy and sincerity coming from the bands, when we watched Gauze playing at YouTube™ we were in awe, it's perfect, you don't need anything else! We like Gauze, GISM, DSB, Battle of Disarm, Bastard, DISCLOSE, Corrupted, Exclaim, Flash Gordon, Forward, Fuck on the Beach, G-anx, Gouka, Jellyroll Rockheads, Lipcream, Nightmare, Paintbox, Real Reggae, SxOxB, Vivisick, Death Side and 324.

22- Leave a message to Japanese Doll readers.
We would like to thank everyone at Doll and our Japanese friends! Much love to you all! We hope one day we are able to meet and we also hope to one day have the chance to see Gauze live. (laughs) Much love.

Related links:
www.myspace.com/derpunk
www.cospefogo.com