Interview: Infected
by Rafael Karasu (rafael@karasukiller.com)
Photo: Adriane Marangoni
originally published in EL ZINE (Japan) Cross the border Vol.0
2009/08

It's just pure thrash metal, fast and agressive.

THRASH TILL DEATH !!!! 

1.Could you tell us about Infected's history,when and how the band was formed.What was the reason for you guys to start the band? 
Rodrigo Costa: Infected was formed in 2002 by the old members of the band and me. I put an ad in two rock magazines looking for musicians to start a band with influences of 80's thrash metal.

At the beginning Infected was Emerson ( Massive Lust) on drums , my good friend Eduardo on bass and me as guitarist . I've always been an old-thrash metal fan and I admire a lot of Megadeth's music . My desire was to start a band with similar sounding style , at that time Bywar was a great influence for me to keep going with this wish ! 

2.Why did you choose the name Infected and what does it mean? 
Rodrigo Costa: Well,this name wasn't picked up by me . The band decided to write few names that would be chosen to give to the band , we wrote a long list ! One of the names was Violator  (hahahaha).My idea was to name the band Psyco Terror that was suggested by Emerson,but the name Infected won the battle , even though we know that there are number of bands called Infected around the world ! Spreading the plague " Thrash Metal" !!!! 

3.What has Infected released so far? And how has the distribution of "Who is Not"been? 
Rodrigo Costa: We recorded 7 songs at the beginning of 2007 to release one EP by Force Majeur , but unfortunatelly it didn't happen ! After that we started making some copies of these  songs and send to magazines and webzines to see what they would think about it. We were also selling this demo at our gigs .

We sent our material to many labels intending to be signed with one of them.Sergio Tutula from Mutilation Records contacted us , we signed with him and the album came out! We had to go back to the studio to record 2 more songs to complete the tracks for "Who is Not?".

The distribution of this album has only been done in Brazil,but we're open to negociate with other labels from South America and Europe.Tutula is doing a great job ! We had some copies landed in Japan through Rafael Karasu our great friend , they were distributed to Rock Stakk store from Osaka. I would like to thank Rafael, Miki and Cris from Bandanos ( the best Brazilian band from the Brazil's underground scene ) for making this happen! 

4.Can you give us a brief definition about the band's music for our Japanese readers ? 
Hugo: It's just pure thrash metal, fast and agressive. 
Rodrigo Costa: We are just doing what we love ! I can define Infected as a band that makes music from metal fans to metal fans . 

5.What message do you wanna pass to the headbangers through your lyrics? 
Rodrigo Costa: This album has politicized lyrics and crictical views about we have seen today around the world, such as poverty , violence, wars, greediness and mass manipulation.We are not being so original with these themes but it is what we see around us, if humans don't change their life styles , actions and points of view now, I think that our grandkids will have a life much worse than the one we are having nowadays.There's also one lyric about one assassin possessed by a demon ( hahahaha ), Hugo and I are addicted to horror movies.  

6.What are the main influences on Infected's music? Besides thrash metal, is there any other type of music that also influences the band? 
Henrique Perestrelo: The main influence for us is 80's thrash metal bands from the Bay Area, Germany and old school Brazilian bands like MX and Dorsal Atlantica. I think besides these styles ,we are a little bit influenced by Heavy Metal and Hardcore. 
Hugo: I listen to many types of music, from AOR to Grindcore, but with Infected the main influence is thrash metal. 
Rodrigo Costa: I love music, music is my life I am totally influenced by good music no matter what its style is like. I can give you some names of bands that I really like, besides thrash metal ,such as A-ha, Depeche Mode, Erasure, Duran Duran, Lorenna Mackennit,  but Thrash Metal is the main influence. In my opinion the best guitar riffs were made by thrash metal bands! 

7.How is the Brazilian Thrash Metal scene?What are the best bands from the new thrash metal generation? 
Bruno Tarelov: Well,there's a strong scene now in Brazil. It is like a revival, many new bands working hard to reach their goals. Nowadays with all the technology it's easy to release a demo - cd with good quality and bring it out to people via internet .Myspace has been the best way to publicize these bands,it is fast and easy!  We can contact people from all over the world to show what we are doing here in South America. I think that the best bands in the scene now are Blasthash, Kremate, JackHammer, Hellgard, Madhouser, Mercilless, Invisible Order and Braindeath.They all can be contacted through Infected's Myspace page. 
Hugo: The scene has grown up a lot recently, new bands arising everyday, more and more people at the shows...It is a great moment for all of us here in Brazil! I would say that Killing Fields, Storm Blood, Exorcismo, Warbiff, Bomb Threat, Criminal Mosh and Nekroskinner are the ones that have been the favorites for the crowds in general. But there's many more that could take up the whole page! 
Rodrigo Costa: Bruno and Hugo have told everything about the scene and bands, but I wanna mention some of my favorite bands too ; Bywar, Violator, Em Ruinas, Bandanos, Hate your Fate, Alcoholicoma, Breakdown, Farscape and Apocalyptic Dead. I have also been listening to a band from Sweden called Dr. Living Dead lately, they're awesome!! 
 
8.What are the bad things and good things about the underground scene in Brazil now?Is there any support for the bands? 
Bruno Tarelov: It is complicated to answer this question, the scene now has space lots of types of bands: for bands that want to make history, for some opportunist's bands and the one's that are there just because it's going to be a stage of their life. It's good because people will notice your work somehow. The bad part is that some people among the crowd think we don't work hard to make things happen! There is support here, but isn't the support we need sometimes.Support in some cases means just let us play in some live house with no structure, to make a good show. It makes us learn how to deal with different situations and keep working hard. 

9.What are the things that make it hard having a band in Brazil? 
Bruno Tarelov: It's hard to describe how hard you have to work to get any prestige or to be noticed here in a country where people are used to see girls dancing on tv, rich kids using their parent's money to produce and release material and have them published in major medias.

We cannot complain about our lives, we've been working hard and we are happy to see that people like our music. Every show we feel that more people become fans of Infected and we just want to thank everyone who has supported us in the scene. 

10. All of you have a job on the side,how do you deal with the band's schedule and work? 
Bruno Tarelov: Well, I guess it happens with every band in the underground scene. It is very difficult to make a living being just a musician. At the moment as musicians, we are spending more than we earn being in a band. We play because we like it and it's good to get the stress out of our bodies.

It would be great to have the band as our job. It is the dream of many bands ,but it's not so simple as we wish it was. 
Hugo: I have my job and I take a day off or quit, if it 's necessary to play with Infected! 
Rodrigo Costa: As we always have our gigs scheduled for the weekends ,it becomes easier to work with the band, but after releasing Who is Not? we can't hide the wish to play as much as we can all over Brazil. We are thinking of touring in the north and northeast , just like Violator did in the past. We know it's gonna be hard, but the will to be on stage is bigger than anything now. We're still young we can find new jobs later, HAHAHAHA...

We would like to tour in Europe and Japan,too .If any producer or organizer is reading this now, please contact us! 

11. Brazil is a big country, has Infected played outside Sao Paulo state? What is the crowd reaction in each place? Is there any difference? What are the best shows that Infected have  played so far? 
Hugo: Unfortunatelly ,Infected hasn't toured outside Sao Paulo yet. I did a mini tour with Toxic Holocaust before which had a dvd released by Mutilation/Unsilent Records. It is amazing playing in other parts of Brazil,the crowd is insane, lots of circle pits and stage divings. 
Rodrigo Costa: Hugo is the only one who had the opportunity to play outside Sao Paulo State ,so I cannot make any comments about it. The best shows I remember now were in Itu ( about 2 hous away from Sao Paulo city ), when we played with Violator, Lobotomia, Blasthrash and Criminal Mosh.The other one was a Fest called Night of Living Thrashers organized by Cris  (Bandanos ) and Thiago ( D.E.R ). 
 
12.The Brazilian culture is very different than the Japanese, besides Godzilla what else do you know about Japan?What do you admire? 
Bruno Tarelov: I've always admired the orient's culture, the perfectionism, the dedication to every little thing they do, the language. I grew up watching Japanese anime and reading manga. Here in Sao Paulo there is a Japanese town called Liberdade where we can learn about Japanese culture. 
Hugo: I admire the Japanese people for being hard workers, intelligent and creative. I am a great fan of Japanese art in general, but what I like most are the old TV series like Ultra-Seven, Spectremen...Horror movies, I really like All Night Long  from Guinea Pig. 
Henrique Perestelo: I like Japanese anime, mangas, and  the food are delicious! There is a Metal Fest in Japan called Loud Park, a lot of classic bands have played there .I hope Infected plays in this fest one day. 
Rodrigo Costa: I really admire Japan's culture too.But what amazes me is the technology of electronic goods.In my childhood I watched many Japanese TV series ,such as Jiraya, Black Kamem Rider, Jaspion ... 

13.What do you know about Japanese bands?
Bruno Tarelov: I know so many bands from Japan, it's hard to tell about all of them. I will give you few names like Sabbat, Metalucifer, Fastkill, Abigail, Animetal, Barbatos, Ritual Carnage, Vrain, Wired, Paranoia, AION, Gargoyle and many more that I've found on MySpace.
Henrique Perestrelo: There are so many good Japanese bands, such as, Loudness and X-Japan.

From the underground scene I know S.O.B and Idol Punch! King's Evil is cool too! 

Hugo: I am a big fan of Loudness, especially the album " Thunder in the East". Akira Takasaki is great! I also know Anthem and EZO. After those bands I got to know S.O.B , Sabbat, Metalucifer, Ritual Carnage and from the new generation Fastkill. 

14. As a Brazilian,what is your point of view about the Japanese Metal scene? 
Henrique Perestrelo: Actually I have a friend in Japan and he has told me that the scene is pretty intense there, they are just as crazy about metal as we are here in Brazil. I guess the Japanese scene is similar to ours. 
Bruno Tarelov: Besides what Henrique has said, what I have in mind now is that image about Japanese headbangers watching shows in their seats with everything well organized. This is what I heard from some famous bands that has played in Japan. But I know that it is not really like this, a lot of things have changed and the headbangers go crazy in the moshpits in Japan now. It fascinates me to see some bands in their Kei Visual style! 
Hugo: I don't know about the scene there very much, as I said I know Fastkill ! 

15.What are the plans for the future? 
Henrique Perestrelo: I sincerly, hope that Japanese people like our music because we would like to play there someday. 
Hugo: Keep playing thrash metal, releasing albums frequently and playing on tours as much as we can! 
Rodrigo Costa: Hugo has said everything ! 

16.Thank very much for letting me interview you guys.Could you leave a message for the Japanese readers? 
Henrique Perestrelo: We would like to thank you for the opportunity to have us in your magazine and let the Japanese people know about our work. The thrash metal scene is in a state of development now , we hope that this scene becomes bigger and the Brazilian bands go play in Japan and the Japanese come to play here in Brazil. 
Hugo: Thank you very much for supporting us,we hope we can play shows there someday ! We have heard so many good things about Japan and of course support Doll Mag, this magazine is f** cool! 
Rodrigo Costa: First of all I would like to thanx Rafael Karasu, If he hadn't helped us we would never had this interview done and some of our cds selling there in Japan. Sending my best regards to Mikki and Rock Stakk and all the Japanese headbangers! 

Contact:
www.myspace.com/infectedthrashmetal