
EMQ’s With STINKBRUTE
Hi everyone! Welcome to another EMQs interview, this time with Portuguese Brutal Death Metal/ Grindcore project, Stinkbrute. Huge thanks to main man, Bernardo Rebelo, for taking part.
What is your name, what do you play, and can you tell us a little bit about the history of the band?
Hello, I’m Bernardo Rebelo from Stinkbrute. The band started at the end of 2020 as a bit of a joke, I composed and recorded the first half of the first album as an EP. At the time my idea was to write the most gruesome Death Metal/Grindcore I could with the most ridiculous name I came up with in the moment and it was “Stinkbrute, The Gruesome Exchange of Bodily Fluids That Turned Into a Bile Duct Titan”, later I decided to stick with just Stinkbrute and the rest for the name of the first album.
How did you come up with your band name?
The name Stinkbrute as I mentioned before was part of the original name I had for the project, but with all my ideas coming together there was another big reason I wanted this name and it has to do with how little we think of animals, specifically farmed animals. When I think of Stink-Brute all I can imagine is a pig or a cow in horrible condition, dirty all around, with anger towards humans. And after we put them in those conditions, we have the audacity to call them dirty, disgusting or stinky.
What Country/Region are you from and what is the Metal/Rock scene like there?
I am from Trafaria, Portugal, on the south side of the river by Lisbon. There are a lot of great underground bands out here and if it weren’t for them maybe I wouldn’t have started playing music. We have bands like Analepsy, Serrabulho and Grog that are very notable influences to me. Besides those kinds of niche/underground bands, Portugal isn’t very known for having a lot of metal, or good music in general, so I usually end up listening to foreign bands. We do have a lot of underground and metal festivals which is great!
What is your latest release? (Album, EP, Single, Video)
My latest release would be Stinkbrute’s debut full length album, “The Gruesome Exchange of Bodily Fluids That Turned Into a Bile Duct Titan”. I worked a lot on that album and hope people enjoy it!
Who have been your greatest influences?
My greatest influences for the project, besides the ones mentioned earlier, would be Napalm Death, Wormrot, perhaps even Full of Hell and Aborted.
What first got you into music?
Mainly what caught my interest in music were games, one of the first I can remember was Guitar Hero Metallica, that one really made me want to play and write music of my own. As a kid every game that had an amazing soundtrack would get my undivided attention, another game that got me really into metal was Brutal Legend.
If you could collaborate with a current band or musician, who would it be?
Barney Greenway from Napalm Death! We agree on so many things that it would be awesome to write and play some songs with him, it goes without saying that his vocal performance is one of the best in metal, so he would for sure sound brutal in the kind of music that I play.
If you could play any festival in the world, which would you choose and why?
Maybe Wacken just by the sheer popularity of the festival. That and it’s relatively close to Portugal so I wouldn’t even have to switch continents. In Portugal I would love to play in Barroselas Metalfest, I think it’s the perfect festival for Stinkbrute.
What’s the weirdest gift you have ever received from a fan?
I have yet to discover that, I haven’t got anything from a fan yet!
If you had one message for your fans, what would it be?
Stop abusing and exploiting animals for your personal gain and/or taste pleasure!
If you could bring one rock star back from the dead, who would it be?
If I could only pick one, I would say The Rev from Avenged Sevenfold, I feel like he died way too early, even though he was a great musician, I know he still had an immense amount of untapped potential.
What do you enjoy the most about being a musician? And what do you hate?
This one is a tricky question for me because lately I haven’t been able to enjoy music as much as I used to. It’s very hard to reach your goals, and when all your money goes into trying to do that, it just becomes a spiral of demotivation. I’m still young but every cent I get goes straight into my music be it for strings, drum heads, cymbals (I break them a lot), cables and taking into account that my setup is fairly minimalistic and I only own drums, one bass and one guitar this adds up in ways that I couldn’t have predicted before, not to mention promotion and art costs. If that wasn’t demotivating enough, I haven’t been able to have a stable space to keep my drums and actually practice with my bands, or record and make noise, so that’s also a big struggle for me. I have also suffered from tendinitis in the past as well as gained tinnitus from playing even though I always wear ear plugs.
Bottom line, I don’t encourage people to start bands or create music, the only reason I do it is because that’s the only thing I feel like I’m a bit good at.
If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
If I had to pick one aspect, it is that the music industry has to be artistic, people label themselves artists when they haven’t got anything artistic to input, any creative vision or message they want to spread, if it’s not the musicians and artists demanding change for the world, then who will? There is a reason for this to be happening, the music industry actively shadows and censors those who want a better world or have messages that don’t align with the status quo. Obviously, people who have different ideas, make others think and aren’t afraid to speak their minds are bad for profits, but the heads of the industry and those who exploit the artists already have enough money. Regardless, I think artists should stand up for the most oppressed and biggest injustices that are happening in the world instead of doing mindless audible content that is comparable to fast food.
Name one of your all-time favourite albums?
It’s very hard to choose since I’m always changing and listening to a lot of different stuff, you could ask me this question every year and I would have a different answer. But in the last 2 years the album that I listened to the most was “Voices” by Wormrot but “Ride The Lightning” by Metallica and “Self Titled” by Slipknot are for sure some of the most influential albums of my life.
What’s best? Vinyl, Cassettes, CDs, or Downloads?
I really like CDs and own a lot of them, but I mostly listen to music on Streaming like Spotify.
What’s the best gig that you have played to date?
Not the best in terms of my personal performance but one of the biggest was with my band Crimson Bridge, I’m the drummer, we played at RCA in Lisbon, it was great being on the same stage as so many other great bands played before.
If you weren’t a musician, what else would you be doing?
I would be developing games, as I already am but in the sound design and music sector, I went to university for Video Game development, so I learned everything from Programming to 3D and Game Design.
Which five people would you invite to a dinner party?
Barney Greenway of course, the guys from Architects, those would be 6 people but I’m not leaving any man behind from Architects! I also wouldn’t leave Connie Sgarbossa from SeeYouSpaceCowboys out!
What’s next for the band?
Next, I will try to form a band for live shows, and I am working on a few splits and a second Full Length album.
What Social Media/Website links do you use to get your music out to people?
I usually promote Bandcamp or Spotify, but most of the time it’s one link with all the important stuff.
Like this one: https://linktr.ee/slaughterindustry
Jaffa Cakes! Are they a cake or a biscuit?
Honestly, I am not familiar with those, they would have to make me a vegan version for me to accurately state my position on the subject.
Thank you for your time. Is there anything else that you would like to add?
Big thanks to Ever Metal for the interview, I hope all is well with everyone involved, including the people reading these words. Finally, never stop spreading peace, love and compassion to all beings!
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