Sunday, April 16, 2017

Grog Interview done by Patrick posted on 4-16-17


Hello
Here  is  a  new  interview with  Portugal's  long running  death  metal  band Grog  who  also  have some  grind elements  within  their  music.If you  are a fan  of  well written  and  performed  old-school  brutal  death  then  be  sure to  check  out  Grog's newest  release  today.
Regards
Patrick
fiendformetal@live.com
https://twitter.com/PDeathrasher
https://plus.google.com/110515263288050247357?hl=en




Interview   with  Pedra   vocalist  of  Grog  done  by   Patrick

1.Hello Pedra  please  introduce  yourself to  the  readers   and  at  what  age  did you  discover  metal  music?
 
Hi Patrick, first up thanks a lot for giving us the chance to promote Grog and our new album "Ablutionary Rituals".
I am the band vocalist since its origin and we started in 1991 so it has been a long ride till today. We are from Portugal and play what you could say death grind. 
My path into metal begun 31 years ago, yes I am that old, so I was a teenager with 16 years old eager to discover the music of my life.
 
 
2.Who  were  some  of  the first  bands  you   listened  to  and  who  are  some  of your  current  favorite  bands?
 
Well I started with some hard rock bands back then like AC/DC, Bon Jovi, Ratt, Europe, Motley Crue but with time I went on discovering Iron Maiden, Wasp and Motorhead 
  for example. In the 80's we had a lot of metal radio shows so as I discovered then I begun listening speed, thrash, black, grindcore and death metal bands form that  time. Many of them still currently exist so it's easy for me to say that I went down to the bottom of almost everything heavy metal had to offer. Nowadays I still love to hear the classics from that time like Immolation, Suffocation, Napalm Death, Autopsy, Agathocles, Deranged, Sinister, Avulsed but also new bands like 
   Benighted, Unfathomable Ruination, Defeated Sanity, Wormed and so on...
 
 
 
3.Grog  was  formed  back  in  1991   what  gave you  all  the  idea  to  start  this  band?What  is  the  current  line up  of  the  band?
 
 The idea came from a group of friends that were also into metal and punk actually. There's always that time that you want to learn how to play and create your own  music I guess so we talked and decided to try our shot at doing our own musical vision. I never thought I would be involved in it to be honest but here I am after 26  years as the only active founding member. The current line-up is pretty solid since many years and along with me we have Ivo on guitar, Rolando playing drums and Alex  filling the bass.
 
 
4.How  would you  say  Grog's  music  has  changed  over  the years  and  who  are  some  of the  bands  that  influenced  Grog's  sound?
 
When we started we were more into grindcore but then we begun to include death metal influences and from that moment till the present we still do it. We try to evolve  and reach new ideas and levels of intensity within our sound every time we work on a new release. This is what motivates us to keep on going since we don't want to  sound the same every time we release a new record. The first two albums we released have different line ups so naturally they sound different. There a lot of ideas 
 that belong to the previous members that define the style of music we did. After those releases we managed to stabilize the line up and begun to grow more as a  collective and each time we work in new ideas we try to surpass the previous ones never the less we are able to sound like Grog and have our own identity as a band.   The influences are obvious I think since death metal and grindcore have their icons very well defined still we aren't interested on copy then but instead creating our  own music so if you wanna relate us with the bands I spoke before it's ok for us.
 
 
5.Grog   is  getting  ready to  release  their  fourth  full-length  "Ablutionary  Rituals" how  long  did it take  the  band to  write  the  music for  the  new   songs? Does  the  whole  band  work on the  music  or does  one  member  usually  write  everything?

The new album took us 4 years to write and we work as team though the songs are brought mostly by Ivo and Alex. When the ideas are presented to the rest of the band  myself and Rolando give our contribution and then we decide if it's a clean go or if we improve or remove what doesn't make sense.
 
 
6.Who   usually  takes  care  of  writing the  lyrics  and  what  are  some  topics you  all wrote  about  on the  new  release?

I handle all lyrics in the band since ever. The new album reaches a new approach on the theme we always explored which is the dark side of the human mind. The main  difference within "Ablutionary Rituals" was that we begun to focus on the personal aspects related with the human shadow instead of dwelling on the external  deviations and sickness/gore of the behavior itself. On this record we try to explain the origin of human darkness, why does it exists, what influences have for us  and what are the possible lessons that we can take from its presence in our soul, body and ethereal dimensions.
 
 
7.Besides  the  new  release  "Ablutionary  Rituals"  are  any  of the  bands  past  releases  still  available  for the  readers  to  buy? Besides  the  releases   does the  band  have  any  other  merchandise  available  and  if yes  what  is  available and  where can the readers  buy  it?

We have all our releases available for digital download at our bandcamp but the older ones are if not almost sold out. Concerning merch we have new items available  for the new album. I advise all to check us up at our bandcamp and facebook pages to get more information. I leave you the addresses grogpt.bandcamp.com/ and  facebook.com/grogpt/.
 
 
8.As  mentioned  Grog  has  been  active  in  the  scene  since  the early  90's  what  have  been  the  bands  most  memorable  shows  over the  years  and  who  have  been  some  of  the  bands you  have  shared  the  stage  with?

Quiet difficult to answer that one you know since all gigs are different and have their own kind of magic. Also as you can image we played a great amount of shows  since we started so I consider all shows important even the one that weren't so great at the end. We played with almost Portuguese bands like Decayed, Holocausto  Canibal, Analepsy, Raw Decimating Brutality and so on like we also shared stage with Cannibal Corpse, Immolation, Broken Hope, Disgorge, Suffocation, Avulsed, 
 Sinister, Dead Infection, Benighted for instance.
 
 
9.Are  their  any  upcoming  shows  or  tours  in  support  of the  new  release? If  yes  where  will the  band  be  playing?

We are booking some shows mainly for Portugal and we also have a gig in Austria this year. 

 
10.Pedra  you  and the  band  have  been  active  in the  underground  since the early  90's   were you  ever  into  tape-trading  back  then?
 
Sure I did a lot of tape trading back in the days and I still keep all letters with me. It's like the 80's/90's underground milestone and I have the most special  memories from those days when you had to handwrite every single letter you received. I knew a lot of people and bands that way and also the feeling of receiving mail   at home was tremendously exciting.
 
11.Besides  tape trading  did you  read  a lot  of  fanzines  back  in the  day  what  were  some  of your  favorite  fanzines to  read? In your  eyes  what  made  a   good fanzine?

I was a teen back then so there wasn't much income to buy zines but we shared a lot information between friends and along that came the fanzines especially Portuguese  ones. For a young kid finding new bands was enough so all fanzines mattered because I would devour them letter by letter.
 
12.Grog  comes  out  of  Portugal's  death  metal  scene   what  is your  opinion  of  the  metal  scene  in  Portugal  over  the  years?

We have evolved a lot. Today we have a healthy scene in all genres and I should say that Portuguese bands aren't inferior to the rest of bands in the world.

13.Who  are your  all time  favorite  bands  from  Portugal? And  are their  any  new  bands  coming  out  of  Portugal   that you  feel  the  readers  should  check   out  soon?

 Decayed, Evisceration, Desire, Thormenthor, Namek, Sacred Sin for example on the oldschool side. New ones I should recomend Switchtense, Vai-te Foder, Analepsy,  Grunt...
 
 
14.Besides  bands  are  their  any  honest  and reliable  labels  or  distro's  you  can  recommend  to  the  readers?
 
Yes, absolutely, we have Helldprod Records, Altare Productions, Raging Planet, Chaosphere Records, Signal Rex, Caverna Abismal, Vomit Your Shirt, Larvae Productions,  Lusitania, Rastilho among others.
 
 
15.What  does  underground   metal  mean  to  you?

Underground is not being mainstream, this is the easiest way to explain it. Underground has a lot of DIY attitude and fuck the rest although you can find also some examples in major music industry but in a completely different approach.

16.When  not   working  on  new   music  or  band  business   what  do you  enjoy  doing  in  your  free  time?

Play with my kid, to rest, being with friends, going to shows...
 
 
 
17.Thank  you   Pedra  for  taking the  time  to  fill  this   interview  out  do you  have  any  final  comments  for the  readers before  we  end  this   interview?

Thanks once again for your support Patrick and to all your readers check us out in grogpt.bandcamp.com/ and facebook.com/grogpt/. Grind Up!
 
 
                                                              Band   Contacts
                                                         https://grogpt.bandcamp.com/
                                                        https://www.facebook.com/grogpt/