Dead Rhetoric: The final song “Wayfarer” is quite a contrast for Nervosa, featuring a number of slower, bluesy elements and clean vocal parts to contrast against your normal thrash/death oriented style. How did this particular song come about?
Lira: Myself and Prika, we listen to a lot of blues – we are blues fans and it’s been awhile that we’ve wanted to make a bluesy metal style song. When the label said it would be cool to have a bonus track we figured it was cool to do this now. When you have a bonus track it’s cool to have something different- nothing could be more different for Nervosa than to record a bluesy metal song with clean singer. I am a clean singer too, but I only sing clean usually when I am in the shower (laughs), I’ve never recorded anything like that. I am very influenced by blues and soul singers as well, I studied a lot of divas to improve my technique. When we did this blues song, Prika thought it would be good to put some clean singing on there, and of course I was super shy about doing that. We decided to explore- it was a bonus track so we decided to do what we have to do. The clean singing, the a cappella (part) by the end of the album, it’s a weird way to end a thrash album for sure but it was cool. It’s not something we will do again- it’s another school for us but a good experience for a bonus track. Something different, something crazy, something curious. When we first rehearsed this song, it didn’t even sound like the same band- we really like the song though.
Dead Rhetoric: Would you consider Sepultura from your home country one of the benchmarks or mentors because of their international success and proof that a heavier Brazilian metal band can have a life-long career as musicians?
Lira: Absolutely – I always mention when people ask about my main influences, I always say Sepultura. Look at Schizophrenia, Beneath the Remains, and Arise – just awesome. It’s not only about the albums – the importance of Sepultura not only to us but for many Brazilian musicians and Brazilian thrash metal bands, their importance is much bigger in this sense. They were the ones that showed us that you can be Brazilian, poor and fucked up and you can play thrash metal and you can succeed. They are a real inspiration to many bands and people around here. They were the ones that showed us that yes we can do it. I am a personal friend of Andreas Kisser, I know him and we talk sometimes and I always thank him for making us believe it’s possible.
Dead Rhetoric: You spent a lot of time on tour over the past couple of years all across the globe – what have been some of your standout memories, and how would you describe Nervosa in a live setting versus the studio work?
Lira: First question- the highlights of the tours, everything is pretty much new for us. This was our first time in the US, last year was our first time in Europe so we simply were amazed easily. It’s like touring another planet, the whole system works differently, not only like socially but musically. We really got the chance to walk around and see things- when we were in the United States, we visited the Grand Canyon, and I never would have expected to do that. Getting to know different cultures is the coolest thing, but also we managed to save some time to walk around. When we were in Europe we visited Stonehenge, these are the highlights because we treat our tours like vacations so we don’t get stressed. We work hard but then we enjoy ourselves, it’s refreshing and re-energizing.
The differences… especially with the new album this time it’s super aggressive. When people are watching us live, we are living our dream so every time I hit the stage it’s like the climax, the moment we live for every night. I do my best, I get totally crazy on stage, scream, headbang and everything and do that. The energy is different – I’m saying this based on what people tell us, because they listen to the records but the show is a lot more energetic and aggressive. The whole vibe is different, every time I hit the stage I think about when I was a fan and go to the shows, I would be there to forget about my problems for a while and I do my best to have fun, make people forget about their problems and enjoy themselves. I think people can feel that. In a live set, you send energy to the audience, the audience sends you energy back, it’s super cool.
Dead Rhetoric: I understand that you are an English teacher as a profession. Does this help in terms of expressing yourself well with your lyrics, or do you develop thoughts in Portuguese and then transcribe them into English?
Lira: I totally write in English and that’s awesome actually. I’ve been teaching and speaking English for a long time- also listening to metal sung in English for a long time. It’s super natural for me to think in English with the rhymes and everything, the proper words. It’s easier to me- it helps me to express myself about what I want to say. We always have at least one song in Portuguese on our albums, and it’s a challenge to have to write that way because I think it sounds weird, because I’m very used to listening to metal in English. It’s super hard to write in Portuguese, you need to be careful to use the right words. I know it’s my mother language – but having this occupation helps me for all the business and communication with the people that go to our shows. I want to play, then I want to have drinks with the audience, talk about our favorite bands, talk about metal, or what they like to do. Speaking English helps a lot in every way.
Part II of Matt Coe’s interview with Fernanda Lira will post tomorrow night, June 13th.