Interview with ADRENICIDE

I CALL YOU UP, YOU’VE GOT NOTHING TO SAY
I GET THE HINT AND I’M BLOWN AWAY
BEEN GONE, GONE TOO LONG
I’VE BEEN GONE TOO LONG
BEEN GONE, GONE TOO LONG
I’VE BEEN GONE TOO LONG
YOU MUST SEE ME IN SOME FAR-AWAY CITY
WONDER, IS HE BLONDE? AND IS SHE PRETTY?
WHEN I’M GONE SO LONG, OUR BONDS GROW WEAK
TRUST GONE SOUR ‘CAUSE WE CAN’T SPEAK
BEEN GONE, GONE TOO LONG
I’VE BEEN GONE TOO LONG
BEEN GONE, GONE TOO LONG
I’VE BEEN GONE TOO LONG
I WAKE UP AT NIGHT DRENCHED IN SWEAT
ANOTHER NIGHTMARE I CAN’T FORGET
DRINKING AND THINKING ABOUT WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN
SMOKING AND TRYING TO LIVE WITH MY SIN
BEEN GONE, GONE TOO LONG
I’VE BEEN GONE TOO LONG
BEEN GONE, GONE TOO LONG
I’VE BEEN GONE TOO (D.R.I. “Gone too long”)

Welcome! to begin our conversation I’ll uncorked a bottle of beer, do you agree? So, what’s your beer in store for today or you will drink whiskey? Maybe milk, tea?

Nuno Evaristo and ADRENICIDE crew: I like Carlsberg or fosters best, but I prefer red wine.

What’s new with you lately? The last Adrenicide album I heard was “Natural born thrashers”,

Adrenicide

which I really liked … Can you acquaint me with the rest of the work? Describe them in detail please?

Nuno: At the moment I’m finishing the new record “Bursting Into Decadence”, which will be out next year on Denim & Leather records. Also auditioning bass players, and I just recruited a new amazing drummer, his name is Stefan Cabanus. Other than that not much else really, just the usual things all metalheads do …like going to gigs, etc. As for album releases, well up until now, we’ve released:

“Impropaganda” 2003 (demo)
All Went Black” 2004(full lenght)
We Are Not Afraid” 2005(Ep)

we also have an Ep that’s not talked about that much released just before
“Drunk With Power” 2006(full lenght) called “Crossover-dose!” 2006(Ep).
“Raging Full On” 2007(full lenght)
“Natural Born Thrashers” 2008(full lenght)
“Kill” 2009(full lenght)
“Pioneers In The Land Of The Mad” 2009(Best of / Compilation)
“War Begs No Mercy” 2010(full lenght)
“Power Shift” 2011(full lenght)

and coming up in Feb. 2012 “Bursting Into Decadence” (full lenght)

What draws you to a style of music invented by bands such as D.R.I / GANG GREEN / AGNOSTIC FRONT / CARNIVORE / MACE etc. Are some of these bands or any others what inspired ADRENICIDE?

Nuno: There is no doubt at all that Adrenicide is heavily influenced by bands like D.R.I, crossover, thrash and punk in general, but that just happened by coincidence, we didn’t sit down and say: “OK we gonna play crossover”. We just wanted to play heavy and fast music. Metal, thrash, punk whatever, as long as it was old school. However the new record will sound quite different. It’s heavier and thrashier than the albums we’ve released in the past, It’s less punk. The vocals are also alot more aggressive. I think alot of fans are in for a shock, they will hate it or they will dig it, I don’t know, but I’m loving it.

If we recall how in the mid 80’s in the magazines appeared interesting photographs of ANTHRAX and SUICIDAL TENDENCIES on skate boards …that seems to be the case with many of the new retro thrash bands… I’ve seen pictures of you guys with skate boards, too. Do you skate at all?

Nuno: I haven’t skate much for a few years now, but I still do occasionally when I have the time. To be honest I don’t really give a f@@k what other bands do, I simply do what it comes natural for me, I’m 39 years old (I was 14 years old in ’86) and those were the things I grew up seeing, so of course I’m influenced by the whole high tops, skin tight jeans, Denim cut offs covered in patches and all the rest that comes with the metal or thrash scene …Skate boarding included. That’s just how I’ve always looked like really. Those things are in fact very important to me, It’s not a trend, It’s a way of life. I knew the minute I’ve heard Maiden for the first time that I was gonna be a metalhead forever, I knew it wasn’t just a teenager cool thing to be like many, many others. metal just bounds with me like nothing else. It runs in my blood.

What do ordinary people say seeing you waking around the streets in your jacket covered with patches? How much time is spent sewing on patches? How do you feel when you see people who have jackets with ADRENICIDE patches?

Nuno: I live in Germany at the moment and here people are 100% cool with shit like that, and in England was totally the same. In fact metalheads are quite normal people in cities like London and even here in Germany. I think the whole persecution thing was back in the 80’s more than it is now. I remember when I was a kid growing up in Lisbon, it was like that. If you were a metalhead you couldn’t get a job. We were followed by police all the time, we were persecuted all the f@@king time, we couldn’t even go to a grocery store without being followed by security or the shop owner, and that just because of the way we dressed/looked whatever. Sewing patches? I spent whatever time on my vest as it’s needed, it’s gotta look good right? and you gotta always get the right patches (can’t just be any f@@king patches). I’m very proud of my vest, It’s like a relic to me, haha. We respect our fans whether they have our patches on their vests or not, it doesn’t matter, as long as our music means something to them, then our job has been done. There must be lots of Adrenicide patches out there ‘cos we sell them quite well. F@@k knows how many bootleg shit is out there to.

Tell us the best speech in front of ADRENICIDE fans … How do you want people to respond to your music under the stage? When was the last time you took part in the MOSH PIT?

Interview with Adrenicide - Pure Die Hard Metal Fanzine - Ukraine

Nuno: F@@k knows dude I just say whatever comes to my mind in that particular moment, I don’t right speeches that I leave for the politicians (haha). I just try and be honest with the crowd and go along with it. Our fans are f@@kin’ insane, pretty vicious, there’s no time for talking. For me the best thing ever when we play live is when the fans sing the choruses along with us. It’s an amazing feeling, I put alot of hours work into the song writing, so when you hear the crowd singing along with you it just pays off. I don’t take part on mosh pits that much these days, just in case I get hurt which used to happen all the f@@kin’ time. If you get hurt you can’t play, and if you can’t play the fans will be disappointed, and that ain’t good. That’s also one of the reasons nobody in this band is allowed to drink more than just 1 or 2 pints of beer before the shows. If you’re drunk you can’t play a good show and I think that’s showing disrespect towards the fans who come to see you sometimes from really f@@king long distances and freezing cold temperatures.

After your shows do you communicate with the fans and what they are likely to ask you?

Nuno: All sorts of shit really. How did you come up with that song? and what amps or guitars are you using in the studio? you know shit like that. The things that I ask the bands I like to. I play in a band but I’m a fan just like all of you. I’m still like a little kid when I go see Sodom, Kreator, Maiden or Saxon etc. So it goes without saying…I’ll spend whatever time it takes totalk with our fans, no problem at all. Without the fans you are nothing. Even when I get emails from the fans, I reply to every single one, believe it or not. It used to piss me off (when i was a kid) I wrote to bands i liked and they didn’t even bother or whatever, that ain’t cool. I understand that sometimes you need the time to do all that, but maybe they should try f@@king harder or don’t be in a band at all. I personally try and find always a little extra time to talk to fans. That’s my way of thanking them for their relentless support.

As far as I know, ADRENICIDE only have releases on CD format … Is there a desire within the band to release a record on vinyl? Your style is ideal for vinyl in my opinion.

Nuno: Yes there is, and always has been. I’ve wanted to release a vinyl for a long, long time. It will happen I’m pretty sure, but It’s not an easy thing to just go and release a vinyl. These things cost a lot of money and the record companies sometimes don’t want or don’t have the money to invest onto a vinyl, CD’s are far cheaper and not everyone such as yourself are into vinyl. I think vinyl will become more and more popular with time, but for now, it remains far to expensive for bands like us. Alot of the times record labels approach us with offers for vinyl releases but they want to make full profit …It’s of course something I’m not willing to except. Hopefully it will happen in the near future.

Who draws your album covers? … And how do you come up with the concept for the covers? Do you introduce the artist to your music before he starts working on the cover?

Nuno: It can be anyone, it doesn’t have to be a particular artist at all. Just someone who has the same vision as we do. We give the artist the album title an idea of what we want or a concept if we have one, and we just take things from there. Sometimes it turns out to be something completely different from what we had in mind. But as long as it looks cool and emphasizes what the album title is trying to transmit to the fans, we go with it. The artist doesn’t really have to know our music or even like what we do, all he needs is to draw something we will be happy with. I would like at some point to have a cover done by an Adrenicide fan, but it hasn’t happen yet. We’ve used artists from U.S.A, Indonesia, England, Serbia and I’ve done a few myself.

Nuno: There has never been a big crossover scene in England even back in the 80’s. So we don’t have a big fan base in England or better, we have quite big crowds on the live shows but when it comes to buy the albums I think the British kids in general prefer to just download the albums for free and not buying it (which ain’t cool). Our biggest fans (in terms of sales) have to be the Germans no doubt. We sell more CD’s there than elsewhere. We also have a massive fan base in South America. I don’t really know if there’s anyone that sounds closest to Adrenicide. We have many influences, from Venom to Cryptic Slaughter and so on. Probably SSS and Gama Bomb are the closest bands I can think of from the whole new revival thing. OH…! I almost forgot, Blood Sweat And Beer are crossover and an extremely amazing band.

CROSSOVER / THRASH / CROSSOVER / 80’s THRASH / THRASH Millennium? Which genre is better to describe your band? Your comment …

Nuno: Just simply old school thrash/crossover. We’re not trying and never will say we’re bringing something new to the scene, like many f@@king shit new bands do. I don’t even care if bands copy other 80’s bands, as long as they sound cool. I’m 100% supportive of such bands. To me metal is not about who brings what new to the scene, to me It’s about good fun music I can relate too and enjoy. Just be yourself. If it sounds like Kreator cool, if it sounds like D.R.I it’s cool too. A good song is a good song, who f@@king cares if it sounds like anyone else. You not gonna stop painting your house white just ‘cos you neighbours house is white right? Enjoy the f@@king music. If I’m listening to Exciter I’ll go and write a song inspired by them, and I don’t even give a f@@k what any one’s thinking about Adrenicide’s sound.

Do you think the current situation of bands performing Old school metal/thrash is a fashion display?

Interview with Adrenicide - Pure Die Hard Metal Fanzine - Ukraine

Nuno: I hope not. I see alot of passion in some of the new upcoming bands. And there are lots of them I really f@@king dig. I heard some people say that there are to many bands these days…well I say that thrash is never to much if It’s good. But fashion or not Adrenicide will keep waving the flag of thrash metal for as long as possible. I’ve been playing metal for 25 years and it was never fashion to me. As I said before metal is a way of life not a trend. It surely runs in my f@@king veins. Let there be more thrash, more metal. The trend chasers won’t last, they never do. Only true metal lives forever.

How long does it take to write an ADRENICIDE song? Do you play any cover songs of your idols? …For example D.R.I “Thrash zone”.

Nuno: We’ve never cover that particular song but we’ve covered “Gone Too Long” of the “4 Of A Kind” album. Plus done shit loads of other covers from D.R.I. to Terrorizer, Pestilence even Twisted Sister’s “I Wanna Rock” which by the way is a great f@@king song. I’ve recorded a few covers for our new album, not sure they will make it onto the record but there’s a track we recorded from TANK a band I totally f@@king love.

Do you like the work of Billy Milano? Is there a person with whom ADRENICIDE would like to perform with? Are there any bands performing ADRENICIDE songs you know of?

Nuno: Yeah Billy Milano as recorded some great music trough out his career and I’ve been a big M.O.D and S.O.D fan for many, many years. A person I would like to perform with? That’s extremely difficult to answer dude…I mean I love lots of different bands. Chris Holmes from W.A.S.P would defo be one, Mille Petrozza, Tom Angelripper, Cronos, I don’t know It’s to hard to pick one and there are so many. But I guess if that was gonna be a one time event then I would have to say Saxon, anyone of the original line up.

In ordinary life, what activities/jobs ADRENICIDE members do? Would you like financial freedom and fully engage on ADRENICIDE’s music only?

Nuno: I am personally very lucky I can do this shit only, That’s one of the reasons Adrenicide has been able to release an album each year. I also love to paint It’s something I’ve been doing for a long time and It plays a big role in my life. But the other guys are not so lucky, they have jobs like anyone else. When you play thrash metal there’s not alot of money to be made. So you gotta do something else to make a living and to pay for your bills.

Your attitude to Internet sites where the music is laid out in MP3 / Flack etc.?

Nuno: I don’t really know what you mean but if you mean people downloading our music for free or others for that matter …well It’s cool and It’s shit. It’s cool ‘cos alot of people can get to know your music alot quicker without having to spend a penny. It’s bad ‘cos making records costs alot of money/time and you get nothing at the end of all that work. How many of you would work for free? None I bet you. Downloading music without a band’s permission It’s stilling. It becomes very hard for a band to survive and make an album if they make no money. Don’t get me wrong I download shit to, but just to listen to it and I’ll buy the album as soon as I find it. I tend to also trade with alot of the bands I like. What I would like to say is: buy the albums if you like the bands. Most bands are forced to quit ‘cos they can’t afford to travel or make records, and when that happens you will have no albums to download, no band to go see. Right?

Do you have another beer to continue the conversation …? You write alot of songs about beer drinking just as TANKARD do. Have you listen to their latest album, “Volume 14”? You listen to old THRASH METAL from 80’s right?

Nuno: Well Tankard is a classic band from the 80’s I’ve always loved their music. You can’t get any better than “ZOMBIE ATTACK”, “Morning After” or Chemical Invasion”. Yeah the new album is pretty cool…Thrash metal from the 80’s It’s what Adrenicide is all about. We wouldn’t even exist if it weren’t for the 80’s metal scene. I breathe 80’s metal ever sense I came across it. It just doesn’t get and never will get any better.

A bit of fantasy … Do you think ADRENICIDE’s music will still be relevant, say 20-30 years from now?

Nuno: F@@k knows dude, I don’t care about shit like that at all. I make music and people seem to dig it, that’s all I need to know for now. But if in 3o years from now people still dig our shit I’d be happy…no doubt. Just don’t have time to think about shit like that. There are a lot of bands that were hated or even totally obscure back in the 80’s and now everyone loves them. Anvil is a good example of that. If you make honest music you will always prevail.

You have pets? Family and children? How does your family/kids react to your music? Do they like it? Do they show any desire for you to quit ADRENICIDE?

Nuno: I had pests before but not at the moment unfortunately, as I’m a big dog lover. I was married to the biggest bitch on earth for 10 years, but divorced 12 years ago (thank f@@k). I have an 18 year old daughter but we don’t get in touch that much. She lives in Portugal I live in Germany so It’s complicated. We chat on Facebook though. Now I’m in a great relationship with the best girlfriend a man can ask for. She helps a lot in the business side of things, and is very supportive. I have nothing to complain about. It’s all good dude.

For what football team you’re sick about? Or do you prefer skateboarding to football?

Nuno: Benfica from Lisbon always…

When can I hear your new album? When will it be released?

Nuno: The new album will be released next year FEB 2012 via Denim & Leather records. However there will be some sample track available on our website soon.

Thanx for interview and final words from Adrenicide…

Nuno: Keep thrashin’ and stay f@@king true, follow no trends.