NERVOSA (Eng.)
– Thank you so much for answering our interview. How is the band currently doing. with the release of your album?
FERNANDA: We’ve been doing so fine! It was a long road to finish up all the production of the album and now it’s finally released worldwide, we feel there’s a lot of fulfilment inside of us! All the feedback for the album has been incredible, from the media and from our fans, so we couldn#t be any happier! Now it’s time to focus on promoting it the best way possible, so we believe this year is gonna be full of touring plans!
PRIKA – Thank you so much for the opportunity! We are promoting our new CD at the moment, we have many plans and we have many shows ahead, we want to play in all places possible, I like so much the road, and playing is my life. The release is going on, and the feed back is very positive, I’m very happy.
– Before digging into this opus, I would like you to tell us how did the band born and what has NERVOSA being doing until the recording of this effort.
FERNANDA: : In 2011 i had been Just kicked out from my previous band, and after some time away of playing metal, because i got kinda hurt, my friends and boyfriend encouraged me to move on on purusuing my dream of playing in a band. That´s when i started looking for girls to gather up na all female thrash metal trio, and when my quest was almost over, Prika got in touch with me talking about her project called Nervosa, they were looking for member for a band the same way i was, so we had a meeting and noticed that we had the same objectives and ideals, so we decided to join forces. Then when i joined it, i gave my opinions, adjustments and changes for some of the songs that were already done and composed, came with a whole plan for the bands, then, after this whole proccess, Nervosa started being na active and Professional band! Right after that, many things happened! We recorded our first demo along with the release of our first video clipe, which helped us a lot spreading the word about us and also getting important deals for us, such as the one with Napalm! We’ve had a line up change also, and our fromer drummer has been replaced by our current on, called Pitchu Ferraz! We have toured Brazil extensively and now with the album released and the line-up steady, we plan to tour a lot and soon be working in new material for a further full length!
PRIKA – I played in a death metal band in 2010, and we needed a drummer, a friend showed me a female drummer, and we began the idea for a female band. I searched by one year female members, bassists and vocals, many girls, but nobody was the ideal. In july of 2011, I found Fernanda Lira to be bassist, she is perfect for us, because she has the same idea, she suggested to make a test of vocal, and when I listened I liked very much! The band had 4 songs before Fernanda Lira, but after that she joined the band, the first show happened and we recorded our first demo, and the band began to walk on.
– You are playing Thrash Metal; did you have in mind this was the style you wanted to do? Was it easy to create a band and then finding three persons to create this music?
FERNANDA: I am a die hard fan and supporter of almost all kinds of metal, but thrash and death have always been my favourite ones! When i had my first 2 bands, i didn’t have any plans on gathering up a thrash metal band, because i was really into other metal genres cause i was too young! But when i gathered up my third band, i already had in mind i wanted to do something heavy, cause at that time i was really into thrash metal, and that’s actually one of the reasons why i had been kicked out from it, we started having musical differences. So when it was time to look for girls to gather up another band, i had it pretty clear in my mind to form an all female thrash metal trio! The quest for band members is never easy, especially if you’re looking for women, which, comparing to men, are more scarce in the metal scene. Here in Brazil we have many awesome female musicians, but if they aren’t already involved in bands, they don’t wanna take a band as seriously as i wanted, so it was pretty hard! That’s why when me and Prika got to know each other, we decided to stick up together in this new project, because we felt we were pursuing the same thing! Now i believe we have an awesome line-up: all of us are devoted to the band, all of us 3 are really focused in what we want and we also get along really well, which is really important!
PRIKA – Thrash and death metal are my favorite styles, I love double picking and thrash metal has a lot of double picking, my compositions are a mix of death and thrash, its a mix of double picking with melodies of death metal, I love macabre melodies, and I think double picking with macabre melody is the perfect combination. It was not intentional, it was natural, it is what i know how to do and its what I love. When I created Nervosa, I had 3 songs ready, that are the 3 songs from demo, I only showed for the old drummer. And after one year and a half, Fernanda Lira joined the band, and wrote the lyrics of Masked Betrayer and Invisible 
Oppression, and composed vocal lines, and it was naturally that the thrash metal incorporated our band. It was not easy building the perfect line-up, many girls played in this band, but almost all weren’t professional, its so hard to find girls that let all, to fall in the road. But now, we have the perfect line-up.-
And already talking about your release, tell us a bit how did you come up with the cover artwork and the album’s title. Whos idea was?
FERNANDA: It was a mix of ideas, everything that happens in this band has both touches, mine and Prika’s, because we are the main composers and most of the initial ideas come from us! I was writing a song about a situation that happened with us, concerning to people trying to harm us and playing the victim’s role, and Prika told me that she was thinking of something similar to this to name the album! So when i named this song i was working on after Victim of Yiurself, we realized that would also be perfect to the album’s name! So Prika came with the initial ideas for the cover, about the skulls, then together we improved that, i gave ideas for the additional elements, such as the cemetery background and then we joined forces to reach what we wanted! All of our lyrics talk about bad human aspects and attitudes, so this album fits perfectly to the general idea of the album, which is if you do something good, goo d things will come your way! If you do the opposite, consequences may come and not only you, but other people can be paying for that along with you!
PRIKA – The idea was mine, to symbolize «Victim of Yourself» I thought two skulls, one skull killing the other, but both are the same skull. All of this is aggressive and true, like a mirror that confesses what you did. Andrei Buzikov could draw exactly what I thought. The reality is the main concept, the feelings are true and the music is our life, our way of expressing. The name I had the idea when some people tried to harm us for envy, talking about things that aren’t true, trying to denigrate our image, and these people have gone awry by their own attitudes, and this is «Victim of yourself», I believe that we are responsible for our attitudes, if you make evil, you will get evil. To everything there’s a way back! It Was a difficult moment and we don’t need revenge, because evil avenges itself of yourself. This album is very important for us, because this is the beginning for our history.
– I have had the chance of listening to the album and, honestly, it has been a nice surprise; old school sounding all the way. Are you girls satisfied with the final outcome?
FERNANDA: I can say i am really pleased with the final result we got from the album because if not exactly, it was pretty close to what we had in mind! We put a lot of effort and passion into our debut, because not only we were, but everyone was curious and excited about that, so we needed to do the best we could, and i believe we were successfull on achieving what we had in mind! This recording process was very enriching to me in many ways, and the result to me, personally, was awesome! Ass i have been very well produced by Marcello Pompeu on the vocals, i could explore many new things with my voice what really contributed to my vocal lines to be more mature in this album and as for the bass timbre especially, i took a long time making reasearches for me to try finding a signature sound to me in this records, and i believe i did! My bass is standing out the way i wanted, but without breaking the balance among the other instruments, it’s audible, but heavy and in its place, and i really enjoy that!
PRIKA – Yes! I’m satisfied, but I believe that the next will be better, because I’m with a better gear, I have a custom guitar made by Purkott Guitars, its a signature guitar! And I have too a custom pedal, the Nerv’o drive by Eds Mod Shop, and now, I have the sound I want. Another fact is the drummer, Pitchu Ferraz gave a new face to band, and the compositions will be different. I’m so anxious to write the next album.
– On the album I find influences from bands such as DESTRUCTION, SEPULTURA, SLAYER and EXODUS specially, due to the impressive vocals of Fernanda, whom for me has managed to blend Baloff and Souza on a same voice. Did you think of any influence when it came to record or does everythings just comes out by itself?
FERNANDA: I always say that i am really influenced by everything i listen to, and i listen to a lot of things! But thrash and death metal have always been my favourite ones, especially the old school bands, so there’s no way i can’t be influenced by all of those metal heroes you quoted! When i get to writing a song or recording, of course i do things naturally and don’t plan what i want to sound like, because deep down i just wanna be me and do my music, and not being a copy, so i try not to be think of anyone i want to sound like before i record, but naturally i have my personal heroes that will always influence me and that taught me a lot to develop my way of singing, and their influence will always be there with me! I am really inspired by guys such as Schmier, Chuck Schuldiner and John Tardy, along with the metal goddess Leather Leone!
PRIKA – These all are our influences, and this is natural. Its very rewarding this comparison for us, because they are the biggest influences. When I heard Fernanda in the first time, I remembered of Bob Blitz and Schiemir! And for me, it was perfect to complete the Nervosa.
– The album sounds demolishing from start to end, and you have made the best out of a more current production still without leaving behind the essence of older Thrash. Most times nowadays classic Thrash bands release oveproduced albums that sound powerful but too digital. How was the production process like? You had a clear idea of how you wanted it to sound, didn’t you?
FERNANDA: You are completely right in your observation, because what we look for is exactly this: to maintain our main influences, that come from the raw past and classic bands, but at the same time, enjoy all the current quality technology available. We don’t wanna sound too old but we don’t wanna also sound like a robot, because we all know that live performances will never sound the way some bands nowadays put on their records! When we record an album, we just want people to listen something similar to what they will see live: a raw aggressiveness coming from our influences, and a quality sound coming from our equipment that we try to improve day by day for a kick ass live performance!
PRIKA – We recorded in the best studio here in Brazil, the lords of thrash metal for years, they are two member from the band Korzus, they are for more than 30 years on the road, Pompeu (producer) and Heros (Engineer) they are the pure thrash metal! Heros is a guitarist and it was easy to build the ideal sound. For me it was a bit difficult, because in the middle of the recording I had tendonitis, and my arm was plastered, I recorded with a lot of pain, but in the end itl was pleasurable to listen to the result. I was happy.
– The albums constains 12 songs. Did all the tracks you have make it to the album or did you have to turn away a few ones?
FERNANDA: We were actually running against time when we were writing our last songs, so all the songs we wrote ended up being in the album! We had settled a number of songs we wanted to have in an album, and when we naturally felt it was ok, we stopped writing! But of course there were stillf many udeas for songs left out, but we will definitely use them in a near future when we start writing songs for the new album, which i can’t wait, actually!
PRIKA – 12 songs is all what we created for this album. For me each song is like a son, and I can’t exclude a child!…hahahaha
– What are the tunes you feel have ended up the best? I personally enjoyed a lot the whole album, but «Wake up and Fight» has riffs, a mid tempo and tempo changes worthy of good Thrash, and specially «Death», which I think is the definition of how I like my Thrash Metal.
FERNANDA: For me it’s always hard to pick up my favourite ones among all the songs, because it’s like choosing only one son among your children, it’s just TOO hard! Haha But my fave ones must be Justice Be Done, Victim of Yourself and probably Envious, because all of them have the essential aspects and characteristics you will find in Nervosa’s songs: catchy riffs and choruses, thrash metal drum beats and blast beats, a lot of variation, so i think all of them 3 end up fitting into my favourite ones!
PRIKA – Yes! The double picking is the essence for me, I’m addicted in the double picking….hahahaha «Death» shows very well the feeling of old school thrash metal, and of course, the vocals from Fernand are old school, and this gives a special touch. For me, each song is special, each one has a history and a different importance. I can’t choose only one.But I can say some things about each one. «Nasty injury» for me is the richest song, because the riffs have a lot of technique, the melodies are very rich, «Envious» is the song that moves me, because of the heavy and furious riffs, «Deep misery» because of the energy and because I liked very much of my backing vocals, «Death» because there are the best double picking and the lyrics I wrote with a lot of hate, «uranio em nós» because this song shows my death metal and grind core style, and «Justice be done» and «Nasty injury» are the best solos that I already did. But I love all songs, all songs mean a lot for me.
– If I had to look for an «objection», maybe if the album would have had more background vocals in the songs, it would have sounded way 
better. I say so in line with the previous question, as in «Death» those background vocals give the whole track a bestial strength. This is just a personal appreciation. What are your thoughts on this?
FERNANDA: I always like when Prika joins me on singing, but we have to remember that these special appearances during one songo r another are exactly what makes it stand out! If they were in all the songs, i think it would become a Little common and wouldn’t have the same appeal they have the way they are in the songs now! I’m very satisfied with the way this backing vocals are placed and we will certainly be always adding them into the songs, especially when there’s a need of more aggressive vocal lines, just as in Death, for example!
PRIKA – A taste of wanting more, its good! I’m only one guitar, and I need to focus on guitar, so some backing vocals only are perfect. Fernanda is the principal vocal, I can’t divide with her, I only complete and primp. But I’m very happy that you want more vocals!
– Another curiosity is that there isn’t any cover version. Do you use to play cover on stage? If so, which ones?
FERNANDA: We did some time ago, but only in the beginning of the band, once we were already playing live, but we didn’t have enough songs for a long set list, so we played some of Slayer, Suicidal Tendencies and Napalm Death, but our main focus right now is working on our songs, cover songs are not interesting at the momento, because it is time now to show what we are and how we sound like, maybe in a near future we can get back to this kind of stuff, but right now we are really focused on showing who we are!
PRIKA – We are an authorial band, and cover isn’t our objective, we want to create new songs, its easy to make success with music of other people, hard is making success with your own songs. We are more excited with creations, writing our own album is a lot cooler for us.
– Prior this album you released the «Time of Death» EP. How do you think has the evolution from this EP to this full-length album has been? Do you already have something in mind for a next release?
FERNANDA: I think this release is way more mature tan our EP, because when i joined the band, the songs were ready, of course i made a lot of adjustments concerning to some beats, vocal lines and lyrics, but i wasn’t there when the song’s basis were being written, but this time it was different, now people can really listen what Nervosa sounds like nowadays, because the new álbum is the perfect mix of my ideas and Prika’s, who are the main composers! All of the songs have both of our ideas, so i think it now represents what we sound like! I actually can’t wait to start recording a new álbum, because we are living a the best vive and phase in the band right now, so i’m sure all of this cool energy will enrich the new songs a lot!
PRIKA – Yes! The evolution is clear! The road bring experiences, and this make evolve us. The full-length was composed 50% by me and 50% by Fernanda and was a good experience. For the next album will be bit different, because Pitchu (drummer) is new in the band, but it is very good, Pitchu is a wonderful drummer, We are very anxious for compose the new album, because we are in a good vibe.
– You are hailing from Brazil, a country that has given birth to good cult bands for Metal since part of the 80’s, as SEPULTURA, SARCOFAGO, RATOS DE PORAO, MX or DORSAL ATLANTICA and during these last years acts like VIOLATOR, FLAMES OF POWER or youself for instance. What do you know of that period? And how do you see right now the Brazilian scene?
FERNANDA: : The scene here is very wide and rich, wherever you go here in this continental country you will find very solid local scenes, especially what it concerns to bands! Fans are very passionate here and also very supportive, and this is the main fuel to keep the awesome bands we have here to move on believing in their music! There are many I could list here, but my favorites nowadays seem to be Torture Squad, Claustrofobia, MX, Sinaya, Necromesis, Vocífera, Leatherfaces, Jackdevil, Woslom and many many more! I am very proud of all the bands that were born here, because all of them showed the world that Brazil is also capable of making quality metal! I’m very proud also to be part of such an awesome scene!
PRIKA – There is an infinity of good bands here, Brazil is a wide country, so its possible to make a tour for a whole year here, there are many local scenes, and all is underground, but its an organized scene. Brazil is a very corrupt country, and to be better, our country needs to reduce the tax for enabling low costs to shows, 
thus our scene will be larger. Very good bands are: Krisiun, Korzus, Lacerated and Carbonized, Krow, Executer, Anthares, Panndora, Yekun, Chakal, etc..
– And about tours; how’s the live situation to support the album live? Do you already have dates? Would you like to come over to Europe to fetivals such as Keep ot True, for instance, or of the same underground style?
FERNANDA: We plan everything really carefully so we don’t rush anything, because we respect the band’s natural development, so we believe every step must be taken at once! We firstly had in mind to make our name solid in our country, so that’s why we have never left Brazil for gigs, before, but now we feel we are steady here, we are already working in plans and negotiating South American and European tours, and a Little ahead, if everything Works out fine, we plan to be heading over North America to promote our álbum, but we will have many cool news to announce soon about this!
PRIKA – Nervosa never played out of Brazil, but in the next month We’ll play in Colombia and Bolivia, and we have a tour confirmed in South America and Central America, but we are negotiating to USA, Canadá and Europe! We are very anxious to play around the world.
– In line with the previous questions; which bands would you like to play with in a show or festival?
FENRANDA: Wow, there would be tonz i would like to have the honor of sharing the stage with, by i guess a teenage headbanger dream, would be top lay along with Slayer, that would really make me feel accomplished! Also Coroner would be a good pick
PRIKA – There are many bands, its a hard choice. Can it be all? hahahaha… I would like to play with Slayer, Sepultura, Sodom, Vader, Napalm Death, Cannibal Corpses, etc…We played with Exodus, Destruction, Artillery, Exumer, Exciter, Legion of the Damned, etc.. and it was a dream come true!
– And as curiosity; which 5 albums would you pick as the foundings of Thrash Metal, or the ones that you like or have influenced you the most?
FERNANDA: I will stick up with the second question, it’s gonna be a Little easier to me because i really suck on making this kind of lists! Haha The most influential extreme metal albums to me would be i guess Nuclear Assault – Game Over/The Plague, Slayer – Reign in Blood, Death – Individual Thought Patterns, Coroner – Punishment for Decadence and Sadus – Illusions!
Prika – Wow, this question is so hard! Bonded by blood (Exodus) – Back to the blind (Vader) – Raining Blood (Slayer) – Kill’em all (Metallica) and Altars of madness (Morbid angel)… many others are missing…
– That’s all from our side, it’s been a pleasure to itnerview you, and ocngratulations on your album, hope you could play someday in Spain or to see you over Europe. Good luck and lots of thanks.
FERNANDA: Thanks a lot for providing us this opportunity of talking about us and about our music, hope you have enjoyed all answers and keep up the good work! Me, you and all the headbangers are the only ones resposible keep the metal legacy to survive ever and ever
PRIKA – Thank you very much for the opportunity! I’m descendant of spanish, and I really want to go Spain!!! I hope to see you soon!!!
