Interview: Discarga
by Rafael Karasu (rafael@karasukiller.com)
Photos: Mauricio Santana
originally published in DOLL (Japan) #254
2008/09

Hello Discarga, how are you?
We’re very well! We’re rushing a lot at this time of the year, recording a new album and preparing everything to tour Europe.

Who is Discarga nowadays?
Daniel on the guitar and vocals, Nino on the drums and me (Juninho) on the bass.

What has driven you guys to start this band?
I’m not from the original line-up, I joined the band in the beginning of 2001, but I was at the band’s first show, I’ve always followed them in some way. The idea was to start a noisy band, drawing inspiration from Discharge, Extreme Noise Terror and Doom, in the beginning, the songs had growled vocals. But that didn’t last long, soon the vocals were cleaner and most of those early songs were re-recorded sounding the way we hear them nowadays.

What does punk/hardcore mean in your lives? Do you consider yourselves a punk/hardcore band both musically and in your posture?
Everybody in the band has an active stance within punk/hardcore. This started before Discarga was a band, going to shows, listening to music, and also having a punk posture within society. We have all been vegetarians for many years, with ideas and attitudes that go against the standard citizenship model. About music, there’s no question. A lot of punk rock, a lot of hardcore!

Discarga can be considered one of the most respected bands in the São Paulo scene. When you guys started this band, did you imagine you could receive this much response in São Paulo as well as everywhere else in the world?
Since the beginning we never had any idea of how much this would last or how much people would like it. But right there, in the beginning, Max from 625 Records heard us and made us a proposition to release a 7” in the USA. That was the first step in the whole course of the band. With the release of the 7” there, we realized we could get attention from the public outside Brazil, and things started growing from there, a lot of contacts, shows, touring.

What does Discarga think about the punk/hardcore scene in São Paulo and Brazil?
We love the Brazilian scene. From the earliest moment we were always respected, we have friends throughout the country, we have played in many places out of São Paulo, even cities that are more than 50 hours away from our houses! It’s a very big country, the only reason bands don’t have closer contacts is the distance because of the size of the country, but there are many labels, bands all over the country, people who have been in the scene for over 10 years and are still active, that’s very important.

Can you draw a comparison between hardcore when you started playing and the way it is nowadays?
We only see evolution in hardcore, there’s always a better infrastructure for shows, better equipment, better ways of promoting shows. São Paulo nowadays is a metropolis that supports having many shows in the same month, even on weekdays there are sold out shows, we can see that happening in the last few years, and we hope we’re able to see it happening in other parts of the country.

How many times has Discarga toured Europe already? Which countries have you played in?
We have toured Europe twice, once in 2003 and then in 2005, along with our friends from I Shot Cyrus. There were many countries: Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, Holland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Hungary, Austria, Italy etc...

Besides playing in Discarga, you have side projects, how do you manage to dedicate yourselves equally between all of them?
Daniel is the only that plays only in Discarga, Nino plays with M.A.C.E., and both of us play in O Inimigo and Eu Serei A Hiena. I also play in Ratos De Porão. Nino also works as a roadie for Ratos de Porão, so this is kind of a priority, but when Ratos is not playing we can rock with the other bands, we can manage it alright.

Do the band members work, or do you live off your music?
Everybody works with something else, Nino has already worked in an industry that makes auto parts, but he is now working at a body piercing and tattoo shop, Daniel works with graphic design and I don’t have anything definitive, but right now I’m working with show productions in the same office that handles Ratos.

What are you guys listening to nowadays?
Shit, it would be better if you asked that question individually, but I’ll guess a little here. To begin with, always a lot of old school punk/hardcore, that’s a common preference with everyone in the band, but after that a lot of reggae, jazz, there’s always a little something of everything to keep the brain fresh.

How do you see the current Brazilian scene? Which bands from this scene do you listen to nowadays?
The amount of bands in São Paulo and the rest of the country is huge, we only know a few of the bands that are around. When we toured the Northeast in 2003 we knew bands we had no idea existed, like Facada, LatoKaos, Triste Fim de Rosilene and more. Here in São Paulo we are always closer to shows, so I can list D.E.R., Nerds Attack!, Subtera, Justiça, Sweet Suburbia, Hurtmold and more.

What do you think are the positive and the negative aspects in the current phase of Brazilian underground? Is there support?
I think I can say that nowadays we have more positive than negative aspects, because for the past years we have only seen the scene grow and get more organized. Traveling throughout Brazil and playing, what I see is that it’s always the same people organizing shows and making things happen. Of course we have many new groups, but I still think there’s too much “audience” for too little promoting. I believe people must be more proactive. About support, there isn’t any, there are very few shows in which there’s any sort of sponsoring, most of them are totally DIY, without anyone’s help.

Nowadays, what are the main difficulties in having a band in Brazil?
Dude, I think there are many difficulties, you have to have a job, so you can earn some money to support your band, pay for rehearsals, transportation, instruments etc. The shows can only support themselves, there are very few places in which you can make some money apart from the costs. But that never stops people from wanting to have a band and always play around here, I think this difficulty brings more soul to it, it makes things more real because it’s harder, it requires more effort, so you realize bands with many years on the road really like what they’re doing and that they are real, true believers. The support and incentive of society in general is also weak, having a band, liking punk rock and being tattooed is still seen as something only irresponsible people do, that’s what people really think in this country.

What can you tell us in advance about the Discarga CD?
Our new record still doesn't have a final name. We’re still finishing it, it’ll be ready by mid-April and it should probably be released by mid-May. The CD format will be released in Brazil by three labels in a partnership, Läjä (Brazil), 625 (USA) and Karasu Killer (Japan). The vinyl will be released in Germany through Läjä (Brazil), Refuse (Poland) and Thrashbastard (Germany). This record is our biggest effort so far, it has 19 previously unreleased songs on the vinyl and 17 of these are on the CD, along with some bonus tracks from a compact we released in Spain in 2005, which was a split with a band from Barcelona called H-Zero, and it was released by a label called Mindless Mutant. This record is a general mix of everything we’ve already released, it’s very fast and there is much experimental mixing, we really liked producing it. It was recorded at Rock Together studio in São Paulo.

Thank you for your availability and patience, please leave a message from Discarga to Japanese readers.
We hope to one day play in Japan, it would be an honor for us. Our friends from Mukeka Di Rato have been there and they loved it, it must be an incredible experience. Japan is really special because of the stories of legendary punk/hardcore bands, we really enjoy all of their work! Thank you Rafael and Doll Magazine!

Contacts:
www.myspace.com/discarga 
www.fotolog.com/discarga
o_inimigo@hotmail.com