Felipe Fraga, the musician behind Naahorus has been interviewed by Affliction Records! Read the interview on:
http://www.multitechstudios.com/naa/intaffliction.htm
Or here:
Can you tell a bit of the history of Naahorus?
Naahorus dates back to 2005 when I started writing and playing music. I always had this project in mind but back then I didn't have the means to put everything toghether and create the music I wanted. So I sort of gave up after writing some concepts and songs. 2006 came and I released "Into the stars of a blazing sky" which is a 2 track demo. These songs were written in july 2006 and I felt like releasing them because it was pretty much the sound I wanted to create. The year of 2007 was a very tough year for me and I didn't do anything artistic besides the "Overdose Reality" side-project album. Even though I was having a hard time, I managed to write a concept and a couple of very deep emotional songs. In April 2008 I released them in the "Ena" EP. Now I am working on the new album "Solus Ipse" which will be the my greatest endeavor so far.
In my opinion you can really sense a dark mood on the Ena EP, how do you think of this yourself? did it turn out the way you wanted?
I think this EP turned out almost exactly as I wanted it to be. I don't see it as "dark". What I wanted to create with this EP and with my music as a whole is a kind of neutral sound which intensifies what you are feeling. I don't want it to be sad or happy. I want it to be whatever the listener wants it to be. But I think I understand what you mean about the dark mood: there is some sort of heavy fog and mystery around the music and this creates great atmosphere.
Putting a label on Naahorus is quite a hard thing to do, those who are familiar with your work will certainly agree that it has a very experimental sound. do you work with any genre in mind, or do you just fire away and see what label is to be placed on them by people who prefer music labeled to a specific genre?
I have no boundaries when it comes to writing my music. I believe people who like labeling music will certaily relate Naahorus to "Depressive Black Metal" which is something I don't really agree. There are no songs with lyrics released yet but the new songs which are being written will be about how to deal with the issues of life and how to be happy. I believe no one wants to be sad. At least I don't so I'm making a portrait of my expectations and feelings regarding life in my music. As for the "label" albeit I don't have a certain genre in mind I like to call Naahorus "Avant Garde Draugen Music". The atmosphere I create is a trademark of "draugen music" and as I don't have boundaries the "Avant Garde" part is great to make it clear that I have no restrictions.
Since you came up with it, what is your idea of depressive and/or suicidal black metal? does this name really give a good idea of the message in your opinion, or should it adopt the name once created by one of the early bands in this genre, Dark metal?
To be honest, I think there is a huge stigma atached to everything related to black metal. I have great respect for all depressive black metal bands and it's a style I have great admiration for. But you see, I don't feel like it's of any help to sink into sadness. Well, Metal has always had this "dark aura" around it so I don't think it would give a good idea of what Depressive Black Metal is. I don't see Bethlehem as the pioneers in this kind of music. I believe Burzum started it in the "Filosofem" album.
Opinions differ, but i think we can agree on that Bethlehem was together with burzum an early bird in the genre. So which bands give you inspiration when writing music?
No doubt they were. I have many influences so I'll name the most important ones. I am inspired by bands like Amesoeurs, Abyssic Hate, Brian Eno, Pain of Salvation, Nazgul and also many pop bands from the 80's and Melodic Trance music. Oh, I couldn't forget Ulver, Entheogenic and Luc Ferrari which are my favourite Avant Garde artists.
So what do you think of the metal scene in your home country? does it offer anything worthwile listening to?
The scene here is deceasing. We once had lots of live performances and a strong circle of bands but it all started to decline a few years ago. I don't know why but it's happening. We can't forget that Brazil is a huge country so I don't know what's going on on other regions. I have great proud in knowing the musicians behind some of the best brazilian metal bands. And yes you can find some nice stuff here.
So what do you think of fellow Brazilian Paolo Bruno and his Thy Light, or is this a name you have never heared before? alongside naahorus i think that Thy Light is one of the few bands an outsider can take seriously, mainly because of the abscence of such cliché things as corpse-paint and lyrics about satanism.
I'm surprised you mentioned him! I thought about mentioning him in my influences. I think he does a great job. He took a step ahead leaving the corpse paint stuff behind and this shows great progress since this kind of thing is getting ridiculous. I have great admiration for his music and I agree with you that it's probably among the greatest brazilian projects in this genre.
You mentioned your upcoming work "Solus Ipse" in the beginning. Can you tell us more about this?
Sure. I can't really describe everything because the album concept and plan is 15 pages long but I'll try to give you an idea haha. This album will be like a movie and I'll tell a real story about two characters. One of them will be me. Solus Ipse means solipsism and this is what I thought would best describe the idea of the album. It's about my search for reality and my current state of mind. The story won't have an end. I will leave everything vague so you can really get into the mind of the characters and feel their emotions. The two characters are completely opposite so this offers a wide range of thoughts to be explored in this work. I can say that the story will have many different versions: I want to create a universal kind of music. I will use many different methods to tell this story such as symbols from cultures worldwide and speech quotations from movies. I'm also planning to use some audio recordings from conversations between me and my friends. It will be and adventure to understand what's going on because there will be songs in portuguese, latin, english and french. I have invited some brazilian musicians and some friends from Europe and USA to work with me and write lyrics or sing some lines. The recording of this album will be a wild ride.
This definitely sounds like something to look out for!
so how far has your experience been with your current label?
I am really satisfied. Until now Affliction Records has managed to be very caring and nice to me so all I can say is that I'm very happy with the partnership!
I hope to be hearing Solus Ipse soon!
any last words before we end this interview?
I'd like to thank everyone who has been around helping me with my project and also warn you all to stay tuned because "Solus Ipse" is coming.
