Interview with death metal band from United Kingdom - DECREPID.
Answered vocalist Cristhyano Bassan.
Translated and questions prepared by Duzl, thank you!
Hi Cristhyano!
You were recently playing with DECREPID in London alongside veterans of death metal scene Thanatos and Desecration. I have to say that you submit a true load of old school death metal for us and I really enjoyed your performance. How did you perceive it from a position as a band and how did you enjoy that night?
Thanks for your kind words and glad to hear that you enjoyed it, the way I see it, as long as you perform as you mean it, it makes all the difference, we make music that we love playing and please ourselves first, if other people also enjoy it, its a bonus. It was a great night and we had loads of fun, on stage for us its pure blood, sweat, neck breaking metal, heavy and loud as it should be, we occasionally have issues with some sound engineers, not intentionally, but just because we like to play it fucking loud.
DECREPID entered to the London metal scene around 2005. From that time quite a lot musicians changed, especially the drummers. You are as well not a former vocalist. The last change was last year on the position of bass player when Alex joined to the band. What is reason for this musicians fluctuation? And do you think you finally set a long-lasting line-up?
Well, back in 2005 it was only Danny and Tommy, but the band only really took off from 2009 with me(also playing in Repugnant Inebriation at the time) Danny(former Necrosadistic goat torture guitarist then)and Steve(As a session guitarist at the time and playing in Necrosadistic goat torture then) are there since the first album, also Marni( also in Repugnant Inebriation then) but he has left Decrepid recently replaced by Alex, so Alex its only our second bassist, we also had briefly another Steve on guitar, but he only play Our ever first gig, I was out of the band in 2016 for a few months for personal reasons, Tom, our drummer has been with us for over two years now, before him, drummers were our biggest problem, for different reasons we could not find someone to stick around for too long, we had loads of drummers, basically we have four releases, including A demo and a live album, recorded with four different drummers, one in each release and our next album will be with a fifth drummer, not mentioning the ones that have not recorded anything, but with Tom and Alex now it feels solid and that we are on the right direction, Tom has been our longest lasting drummer and we hope and feel that it will stay this way.
You released two full-length albums "Devoted to Death" (2011) and "Osseous Empire" (2015), both of them have a very good rating, can you compare those two recordings about the sound and production?
Two very different albums, in terms of sound and production, the first album its very raw, we've recorded it in a small studio in Margate in about a week, we wanted to sound as we sound live so nothing really fancy was used in the album, if you pay attention to my vocals for instance, there are no effects on it whatsoever, totally bare, so its the whole album. For the second album, as we got signed with Xtreem Records we decide to go up a level or two, so we've recorded it at Priory Studios with Producer Greg Chandler(Esoteric), he also mixed and mastered the album, so its a lot heavier intensive beast, with more attention to detail, we spent 10 days at the studio and we were pretty pleased with the result.
In what direction will DECREPID go forward and are you already working on new album?
We have our third album almost written, I reckon around 90% of it is ready, the intention it is to record next year, 2019, that if everything goes smoothly. The direction it has been always the same, intensive music, heavy, not following any trends.
Who is the main composer, do you write your lyrics and how is the creative process of composing new material?
There are no main composers, everybody contributes with riffs, ideas and parts, that also happens with lyrics, I probably wrote half of it all, the other half its from all other members ideas. For us, working collectively its the best way.
Do you personally like going into the studio to record music? What is the best part of doing it and also the worst?
I don't personally enjoy it, I find it boring, long hours and many attempts to try to nail a perfect take, feels like work, but I do enjoy the results afterwards. The worst thing its definitely the relentless repetition of takes, best part its when you get your parts done. Nothing beats playing live!
Originally you have Brazil roots. How was it to be an extreme metal fan living in Brazil? Was metal popular generally in Brazil and was it easy to find and buy this kind of music and merchandise there and how does it look now there, do you have some information?
Well, I have left Brazil for almost two decades now, but I lived through the metal scene of 90s there, accessibility to good sounding gigs was very precarious then for the underground scene, it was great nonetheless, lots of bands. To buy stuff was not that simple, if there was some Brazilian label releasing stuff you would find it easy, otherwise you would have to buy imports that it was not cheap to acquire, but my small salary was all spent in cd and vinil back then, interestingly enough I lived through the decline of vinil and rise of cds that were advised to be better than vinil at that time, which is bullshit but most people were lead to believe that and which it’s not the case today. T-shirts were mostly bootlegs so you could find it from most of your favourite bands, but not with great quality. Back then it was not very common for foreign underground bands to tour South America, so, to have an idea when something like that happen, like when, for instance , Napalm Death played at my city back in 1996 or 97 I cant remember for sure, it felt like a dream come true, metal fans were literally starstruck. Good, honest old times.
You are currently acting as a vocalist in the relatively new brutal death metal band KEELHAULING and you will soon release your first recording. Can you tell us a few words about this project and the ambitions you have with this band?
Indeed, the band basically formed by members of two bands, Decrepid, me(main vocals)and Tom(drums, backing vocals!) and The Sceptic (Previously based in Brazil now in London) Lander (guitar and vocals) and Jeff(bass and backing vocals)We have recorded our first EP and it is being mixed as we speak, probably due to be released at the beginning of 2019. The basic idea of Keehauling's music its intensity, speed and brutality without boundaries. We aim to spread the word about the band with the EP and hopefully to start playing live soon.
At the same time, you are also a drummer in the atmospheric black metal band NatasliveD, it is quite a jump from old school death metal or brutal death metal, isn't it? Which musical genre is closer to you?
Yes, its a project with a very close friend of mine, Carlos who lives in Brazil, we were in a death metal band together, back home in the 90s called No Blest, I have left home but always kept in touch with him, we shared this taste for the black metal scene back then and I always wanted to record something on drums, I have played in other projects in the past as a drummer, but Nataslived was an idea and chance to do something with Carlos once again, as technology allows us to do now days despite the distance. I have recorded the drums over here in the UK and send it over to Carlos whose recorded all the other instruments and vocals, the EP has been released independently about a month ago and we have been getting some good feedback about it. I have always been a black metal fan, but Nataslived explores a darker, creepier side of it, it means to sound like a constant funeral march, so no fast riffs, only sadness, sorrow and despair. I would say death metal is my favourite music genre but I listen to all kinds of metal from Sabbath to Nile if you know what I mean.
We're slowly coming to the end ...so what are your plans for DECREPID in the closest future? Seems to be a kind of your April tradition to go on Europe tour, what about 2019 are you going to repeat it?
Third album its the main focus for next year, we were hoping to keep the tour tradition, but we can not manage it next year having to take time off for recording, unfortunately we have work commitments outside the band which makes harder for us to find time to dedicate fully to the band, but its a struggle that we are happily willing to take and the intention it is never to stop.
And one "simple" question at the end. Which bands do you consider the most important in death metal history of this genre and why?
I could mention many bands, but I will simplify and say two words, Morbid Angel, it was a band that shook the underground scene with its intensity, quirkiness and brutality and personally to me changed the game, I remember the first time I ever listened to Morbid Angel back in the early 90s it shook me to the core as Struggle to make sense of the music, but that is only my humble opinion.
It‘s been a pleasure to chat with you and discover more about you and DECREPID, so thank you for your time and final words are yours, Cristhyano...
I would like to thank you for the opportunity and the interest, keep the good work that I think it’s quite important for the underground scene. Keep it old, keep it dirt and above all keep it metal ! See you all in hell!
