INTERVIEW: Fernanda Lira – Nervosa

Since their formation in 2010, Brazilian thrashers NERVOSA have been forging a worthy reputation in metal’s underground. Their aggressive style of thrash metal has reaped rewards both critically and from fans alike and has resulted in two solid studio efforts and countless tours under their collective belts. Intending to keep the momentum building, the band have spent the early part of this year touring across Europe and the UK with VENOM INC and SUFFOCATION as a new album looms on the horizon. Before a storming show in Manchester last month (read our review here) we caught up with vocalist/bassist Fernanda Lira to see how the tour is going alongside casting a light on their upcoming new album as well as discussing the changing attitudes towards women in heavy music and how thrash metal will always have a place in today’s musical climate.

So this is the second date of the tour with VENOM INC and SUFFOCATION. How was the first show in Bristol?

Fernanda: It was really nice! I was dying for the first show to happen because we play a lot! We’d stopped for a few months because we were recording our new album so this was our first show in like three months. I couldn’t wait to be on stage! It was our first time in Bristol ever and the crowd was really receptive!

I guess it’s good to get those first show nerves out of the way then?

Fernanda: I was not nervous or anxious but I was just dying to get on stage!

This tour package is somewhat unusual as you have VENOM INC with their classic style of heavy metal and then you have SUFFOCATION with their death metal. So where do you see NERVOSA fitting on the bill?

Fernanda: Well, I agree it’s a different lineup. The two first bands are from completely different genres but I like that! Whenever you are a metalhead you are usually very diverse on your taste, you like everything metal so this is a lot of fun for any metalhead and I like being a part of that. I really like it as well because we’re touring with friends, we’re friends with SUFFOCATION and with Tony Dolan so it’s really nice.

So in terms of the setlist for this tour, what sort of stuff can fans expect to hear?

Fernanda: We still can’t play anything from our upcoming album because we’ve just finished recording it! We just can’t play it right now, so in a couple of months we’ll release a couple of singles but right now, it’s just too recent, we have to practise it more! [laughs] It’s going to be like the other tours with a lot of Agony on it and a little bit of Victim of Yourself too, but the setlist on this tour is shorter as we have about 30-35 minutes so we’re playing the faster songs so it is a very in your face setlist. No time for talking, no time for making jokes which I make a lot, it’s just song after song.

You mentioned that most of the set is songs from Agony, that record has been out for a couple of years now so how have you found the reception for that record?

Fernanda: If you compare it to our first album, we’ve evolved a lot as a band and I think people really appreciated it. With that, we were able to achieve new stuff and play some fests and do all kinds of cool stuff. The reception was good, the feedback is awesome, people are signing our songs every night but I’m very excited about what people are going to think about our new album! I think it’s the same way as there was a evolution between Victim of Yourself and Agony, there’s going to be a big one with this!

I was just about to mention this upcoming album. I’ve seen you’ve been in the studio and you’ve said the recording is done, so what sort of direction will this new album be going?

Fernanda: Well we’ve got this baby devil here [points to Luana] who is our new drummer and she has another band which is like extreme death metal so we really felt that we should explore this extreme drumming coming from her. She contributed a lot to making this new album more aggressive. I think the songs are more mature if you compare it to the songs in Agony, they are better built, the compositions are better. It’s more aggressive, it’s darker, the whole concept of the album is different. It’s still thrash metal of course, we’re a thrash metal bands, but now you’ll be able to hear more death metal elements.

I’ve always found that with NERVOSA. Whilst you are a thrash band, you’ve always pulled from the more extreme side of metal…

Fernanda: Exactly! There’s always blast beats! So we explored this on this album even more, so with my vocals you’ll be able to notice a difference. It’s not only high pitches all the time, I explore different styles of vocals. It’s a little bit different, a bit more aggressive. We didn’t set the way we wanted to sound but naturally because of Luana‘s abilities it naturally took us to a more aggressive sound.

Which is always the best thing, it’s always good to come naturally…

Fernanda: Exactly!

So is there a release date in mind for this new record?

Fernanda: We’re going to release it in June!

Just before festival season!

Fernanda: Exactly! [laughs] It’s why we were rushing so much in delivering everything on time. Also, with our minds we wanted to be calm for the tour, we didn’t want to mix any feelings, like tour feeling/album feeling. But also with a June release, we’re coming back to Europe in mid-July so people will be used to the album so that was the plan!

This upcoming album will be NERVOSA’s third album. For a lot of bands, the third record is either make or break, and with the evolution you’ve gone under, do you feel that this upcoming record is the finished product of what NERVOSA will be?

Fernanda: I think you’re right. Usually the third album is where a band finds themselves musically, we pretty much like what has been done on this new album. Don’t get me wrong, we love Victim of Yourself and Agony, we love the material we wrote and the songs, but I think on this album we found ourselves. We found how we would like to sound. Of course we will always, at least I hope so, we’ll always be evolving as a band and always adding new elements but yeah, this third album has set our identity as a band.

With thrash metal, it seems that is rises in popularity and then falls away but it seems at the moment that it is coming back again. What is your view on thrash metal at the moment, do you feel it has come back and ready to make a big impact?

Fernanda: That’s the thing with thrash metal. Everyone always loves thrash metal and sometimes it is more popular and sometimes it’s not. I think in the last few years death metal was more in the spotlight and metalcore/deathcore, but I can feel that thrash metal is coming back again and I would love to be part of this wave!

There are so many genres and sub-genres now but with thrash, it was really one of the first styles to take metal to a more extreme place. With that, do you think it always will have a place in today’s musical climate?

Fernanda: Definitely! I think that’s the cool thing about metal in a general way. There’s always metalheads willing to be hearing whatever metal is out there!

When we last spoke a few years ago we spoke about the attitudes towards being a woman in a metal band, the last few years has seen those attitudes become more positive. As a woman in a metal band, I’m interested to see your perspective on it. Do you feel that the attitude is changing and becoming more positive?

Fernanda: Definitely! I think it is changing, not only because it’s changing in metal, but politically and socially it is changing. Women are getting more empowered and at some point it will happen even more in the metal scene too but I think what’s happening is something natural. I’ve always expected it to happen. In Latin American countries it has been happening for a while but now I can see it happening everywhere and I think people are noticing. Being a woman in metal is being like a man in metal, we have the same metalhead blood in our veins. Girls are in bands because they like it and they want to pursue their dreams, it’s natural and I like that. I think bands like us and many other bands are making girls feel represented and empowered.

There is a band I spoke to a few months ago, a British band called BLACK MOTH and their vocalist told me as this movement has started gaining pace she is taking her role as a woman in a metal band more seriously. Has this happened with you? Are you seeing yourself differently and more as a inspiration for girls who may want to join a band?

Fernanda: Definitely! When we started I didn’t want to brag and say that we inspire people because I was shy! Now though, I see girls in the crowd every night and I feel like I have a bit of responsibility on this and I like that.

So would you say that is the best achievement of being a musician? That you can inspire people?

Fernanda: Yeah, and I love that. In our shows there are always a lot of girls and I love to see them smiling. It feels good.

So just to round up, we know you’ve got this album coming later this year and you’ve got the rest of this tour to do. So, what else in store for NERVOSA for the rest of the year?

Fernanda: This year we decided we wanted to calm down a bit. In 2016 we did like 160 gigs and last year we did like 130 gigs, it’s just too much. We decided we wanted to take a break, so we spent the first two months writing and recording the album, now we’re doing this tour, then we’ll go home and do a couple of dates in Latin America but not tours. Then in June we’ll release the album and do one show in Brazil and then in July and August we’ll be back in Europe and then maybe North America in October. We wanted a more chill year, it gets very tiring!

Well thank you and good for luck for tonight’s show and the rest of the tour!

Fernanda: Thank you so much.

Downfall of Mankind is set for release on June 1st via Napalm Records.

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