Basalt | Interview
Formed in 2015, in the riff metropolis of São Paulo, Brazil, Basalt unify elements of doom, black metal and dark experimental tones, subverting musical archetypes and create new extreme audio terrains. Harkening to the dense low-end, cavernous and intense depths of the heavy sonic, the band fuse this fury with extraordinary ambient and atmospheric scope, incorporating a unique channelling of influences and sounds. Melding rawness and discordance with progressive and expansive breadth, Basalt truly wield aural transgression and transformation.
How are you dealing with the current pandemic?
Marcelo Fonseca: Respecting social distancing. Looking for reliable information, since we don’t have the best news outlets in Brazil. The same goes for the local politicians, a bunch of demagogues and reckless murderers that are giving terrible examples to the people. The numbers are getting bigger and bigger and thousands are dying because of this. I am going out only when it’s extremely necessary. I’ve been working at my home office for about six months. I work with e-learning, which is an industry that grew during the last months. On the other hand, this affects me in the sense that I’ve been working too much – with longer hours, more controlled and tiring workload. It’s been a difficult time to deal with the mind. People close to me who are bipolar, anxious and depressed are having a hard time with everything that is happening. To deal with all this I’m reading more and I have cut the use of social media. I’m talking more to my friends through message apps to try to have a better quality of life amidst the current situation.
Luiz Mazetto: Before the pandemic we used to rehearse every week on Monday nights. It was, at least for me, a really important part of my routine – to be able to play and create with my friends, but also as a way to start the week in a good place. All of that changed with the pandemic. The last time we played and saw each other in person was on March 1st, when we opened for Amenra in São Paulo and played probably one of our best shows. Even though we haven’t seen each other since then, we talk almost daily through message apps, whether to talk about the band and related subjects, exchange music ideas, recommend new and old records that we’re listening to or just laugh at each other’s jokes.
Would you like to talk a bit about your background? You’re coming from the São Paulo’s underground scene from bands such as Constrito, O Cúmplice, Surra, Magzilla and Meant to Suffer.
Marcelo: São Paulo is a huge place and a lot of people that live in the city are not originally from here. Since it’s a big city, the biggest one in Brazil, it has a lot of companies and job opportunities. There’s even this silly tradition to kind of be proud of this “city job” thing. On the other hand, the flow of people coming from different parts of Brazil and the world transformed the city into a very interesting social, racial and cultural cauldron. In the mid 1980s, after around 20 years of military dictatorship, democracy was reestablished in the country. With redemocratization, young people could finally experiment with music that was theirs, to have a style – that’s when the big music festivals happened for the first time. Culturally speaking, this fed an entire generation committed to live the alternative music experience. In this sense, heavy metal, punk, hardcore, and hip-hop are really important movements over here. Personally, I’m involved with the hardcore/punk and alternative metal scene since 1996. Constrito was my first band, to gain more attention our record was released through Crimethinc. The band ended in 2003, but we had great moments and were able to see the growth and transformation of the scene from a privileged spot. After that, I played in other bands like O Cúmplice, that released various records and toured a lot in Brazil – the band went on a hiatus some years ago.
Are any of you involved in any other bands at this point?
Marcelo: I sing in another band called Áspero, we have 10 songs finished and we were about to record our first record, but we delayed because of the pandemic.
Luiz: Victor also plays drums in Surra, and he plays with Pedro in Dor.
Can you share some further details how your latest album, ‘Silêncio Como Respiração’, was recorded?
Marcelo: It was a long and criterious process. After we recorded our first album, and now being more comfortable with each other as a band, we wanted to make an upgrade in terms of production. I really like the first record and I think it works really well with the structure of those first songs, they were the first tracks we wrote together right after we started to play together. After the debut, we did a split with a Portuguese band called Redemptus and played a good number of concerts. The new songs present new complexities in terms of guitar riffs, bass, and drums, that justified our search for the production that resulted on ‘Silêncio Como Respiração’.
Luiz: The biggest part of the new album is all the instruments were recorded at Dissenso Studio, which is a really great studio located in São Paulo and is owned by Erick Cruxen and Muriel Curi from Labirinto, a great post-metal band. Since we were already good friends with them, the recording process was very smooth – which certainly contributed to the final result of the record.
How do you usually approach music making?
Marcelo: I write frequently, so I have various notebooks for my lyrics. When the riffs are presented, I usually turn to them to think about the “themes”. I always think in a previous “melody” when I decide which words will be used and when I have access to the main riffs of the song. Besides that, when we’re rehearsing and writing I usually record all our rehearsals. This way, I can follow the organic evolution of the song and make adjustments in my parts.
“The only answer that came to my mind was to stop and “breathe”.”
How would you compare it to your debut release, ‘O Coração Negro da Terra’’?
Marcelo: Thematically, ‘O Coração Negro da Terra’ is a more outward record. The lyrics talk a lot about the external issues of the world and the impact of our existential relation with them. It’s also a perfect snapshot of a then newly formed band that was searching for its path, and the record production really highlights that, everything is raw and visceral. The new album, ‘Silêncio Como Respiração’, is more introspective in terms of lyrics – it’s a more inward album.
It was written in the midst of a whole social political process, which undermined and crushed several social achievements in Brazil. It is a record that was born out of the anger and impotence of seeing the setback being praised as an advance. And the record exhales this hopelessness, of trying to find a meaning. And the only answer that came to my mind was to stop and “breathe”. To absorb the “silence” as a reflection, in a self-care movement, to me and my close ones. Because of the time we were already together and the level of refinement of the songs, it was a record that demanded a more elaborate production.
What are some future plans?
Marcelo: Survive! To get through this difficult moment. To be able to go out on the street without worries, to rehearse again, play again. Meet my friends in person. Before the pandemic, we had just written two new songs that were very interesting and pointed to different music directions that we haven’t yet explored – this is something that gives me hope.
How strong is the underground scene in your city? What are some other bands you would like to recommend?
Leonardo Saldiva: São Paulo is a place where there are always new bands coming up from a wide range of genres. It’s quite an exciting time to see what’s being released and not just in our city but all over Brazil. It’s really hard to single out specific bands but personally I’ve been listening a lot to Vazio, Institution and Jupiterian new releases, Mandibulla, as well as bands from different cities that have released great stuff recently such as Absent, Sangue de Bode, Wargore, Espectro, Never Again and many more.
Thank you. Last word is yours.
Luiz: Thanks a lot for the opportunity and congrats on the magazine, it’s a great source for me to discover different bands! It was a great surprise for us to be invited. Even though it’s not present in all our songs, there’s definitely a psychedelic influence in some of our songs, especially the longer ones.
Klemen Breznikar
Basalt Facebook / Instagram / Bandcamp
Ritual Productions Official Website / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Bandcamp / YouTube
