Every now and then someone comes along playing the type of music that, until you'd heard it, thought was exclusively in your head. Rio native Victor Whipstriker must be related to Freddy Kruger, in that case, as all his bands rule and everything he touches kills me. The first band of his I heard was
Diabolic Force and they are still my favourite, but with each release
Whipstriker is gathering pace,
Atomic Roar not far behind, with
Farscape still tickling my thrash sensibilities. With musical styles ranging from straight-up rock 'n' roll on the full-length, to a more blackened crust sound on the most recent demo, to say Victor is prolific would be a grave understatement. His hard-working attitude translated over to his interview too—I sent him an email asking for an interview and less than 24 hours later it was done. And here it is.
AFITFOG: Hey Victor. Can you give me some background info on yourself and your relationship with metal - how you got into it, who you grew up worshipping, and how it all made you go out and start playing music.Victor: Firstly I would like to say thanks. I support all the zines, blogs, and all underground stuff. Well, I started to hear heavy music when I was 8 years old. My cousin showed me stuff like Venom, Motörhead, Iron Maiden, and Metallica, so I said: I like it. Since then I've been completely into heavy metal, rock 'n' roll, and punk music. I knew the guys from Farscape in our Christian school. We were friends and we decided to form a band to play heavy and thrash metal in 1998, when we were 12 and 13 years old. It was then that we started Farscape.
I read on CVLT Nation that you were once a pretty good football player. What happened to playing football?Yeah, indeed. I knew the Farscape guys because all of us liked football and we played together in the streets. Here, it is normal play football everywhere, including on the streets. We were neighbours, studying in the same school and liking the same music. I was a professional football player until I was 14 years old. I played in some official championships here in Brazil. But when we formed the band I started to walk the other way: long hair, tattoos, alcohol, drugs, rehearsals, etc. Then I kicked the football life. My father stopped talking to me for two weeks because he wanted a son that was a football player and not a dirty headbanger.
Whipstriker seems to be a band of many faces, incorporating rock 'n' roll, crust, and black metal into its sound. Does Whipstriker transcend genres, more fitting the feeling of the time, or is more calculated than that?I like many kinds of heavy music. I like bands from 60s and 70s like The Beatles, Thin Lizzy, Grand Funk Railroad, UFO, Kiss, Free, Bad Company, Black Sabbath, Wishbone Ash, and I like punk/crust, NWOBHM, death, thrash, heavy, and black metal too. So I try to mix all the influences in Whipstriker's music. I don't want to be restricted to play only one style. On the next album I'll try to mix all the influences together.
Can you tell me the release order of your demos and LPs with Whipstriker. It is kinda hard to keep up.The releases until now are:
- (2010)
Metalpunk's Not Dead: 7" EP split with Iron Fist (USA) released by Bestial Invasion Records (Scotland)
- (2010)
Crude Rock 'N' Roll: CD, LP, tape album released by Deathrash Armageddon (Japan), Iron Bonehead (Germany), Deathstrike Records (Germany), Bestial Invasion Records (Scotland), Morbid Tales Records (Brazil), Cutthroat Records (USA), and Herege Warfare Records (Portugal)
- (2010)
Midnight Crust: Demo tape release in “do it your self way” and a second version released in a split tape with Germ Bomb (Sweden). Dying Victims Productions (Germany)
- (2011)
À Porta, A Guerra Civil: Demo tape released by Heavy Steel Recs from Portugal.
- (2011) 7" EP Split with Germ Bomb again. Released by Hellrocker Records from Austria.
- (2011)
Tribute to Discharge: Released on CD by many Brazilian labels.
- (2011)
Tribute to Hellhammer: Tape released by Morbid Hammer Productions From Colombia
- (2011)
Nuclear Death: 7" EP split with Los Rezios from Peru. It's coming soon and will be released by some South American labels.
Whoa, impressive. I know many of the lyrics on the demos are a fightback against the corruption from both the government and the church in Brazil, how have things improved since you were younger and where do you see things going?Yeah, on Whipstriker I prefer to talk about this themes because it's part of my reality. The civil war in Rio de Janeiro is so fucking sad. This war (State against the drug dealers) killed and kill many people day after day. The police is absolutely corrupt and kill innocent people, dealers, and anybody in the way. Rio is very, very beautiful, but it's a violent city. Children holding guns is normal here in the poor areas. Some things are changing now because the football World Cup will take place here in 2014, so the state is trying to get the dealers out of the tourist areas, but it will not solve the problems. About the church, you know all about it - it's the same everywhere.
Do you have any more plans to tour Europe?
We played 26 gigs in Europe last winter. I don't know when we'll back. Maybe in 2013, I think. In 2012 we´ll play a Brazilian tour, 15 gigs from south to north Brazil.
Are you working on a new release?Yeah. I'm always working on new releases. I have 24 songs ready to record here. But I have no money at the moment to record them. So I think I'll record a new album and some EPs in mid-2012.
I read somewhere that you are embarking on another release with Farscape, what can you tell me about that right now?Me and the Farscape guys play in many bands: Whipstriker, Atomic Roar, Diabolic Force, Hellkommander, Sodomizer, Apokalyptic Raids, Discenary. So we recorded nothing with Farscape since 2007, but from 2007 to now we've been releasing a lot of stuff with our other bands. We're composing the new songs to record with Farscape in the beginning of 2012. I think the album will be different to our other stuff. I think it's gonna be more death metal. The album will be released by Bestial Invasion Records from Scotland on CD and LP in 2012.
Sounds killer. I see you released a new record with Atomic Roar this year [very cool, btw], can you give some background info on the band and where it is headed?
The album was recorded here in Rio in the same studio that I recorded with Diabolic Force and Whipstriker—HR Studio. I like this album. The line-up is almost the same of Farscape, like Whipstriker. Bestial Invasion Records released it on CD and will release it on LP very soon.
How is the scene there in Rio and Brazil? Which bands do you rate that you don't play in.The scene in Rio is very good, I think. We have few venues to play, but no problems. We do the possible. We have good bands in Rio: Flagelador, Apokalyptic Raids, Hellkommander, Grave Desecrator, Thrasheira, Cold Blood, Corpo Sem Órgãos, Deaf Kids and many more. I think the scene is good nowadays because we have more unity between headbangers and punks. In the past it was not possible. So the gigs mix both styles nowadays.
How was touring with Toxic Holocaust a few years back? How did that union come to pass? Have you been a long-time correspondent with Joel Grind?I had a good experience with Toxic Holocaust. We played some gigs together here and we recorded an official DVD release some time after. I already liked the band since 2002 when me and Joel traded stuff—demos, t-shirts, etc. I really appreciate Toxic's work and Joel Grind works hard, he plays very well, plays many gigs, records a lot of stuff etc. I'm happy for him! But now he doesn't answer my emails any more, ha ha! No problem, he's become a rock star now. No Problem. That's all. I like the band too much! All the best for Joel!
Haha, I actually interviewed him the other day (stay locked for that in the coming weeks) and he said it's because he changed his email address, which I will send you. Anyway. I am sorry to say that my favourite band of yours is the sadly now-defunct Diabolic Force.HA HA, why sorry?
Well, you know, cos it is finished.Well, I like Diabolic Force too, but we have no more time to this band. Diabolic Force stared in 2001 after a Farscape gig. Me and the 'other' Victor knew a drummer called Marcelo. He was a very cool and funny guy. But as time passed, this drummer was a completely bastard, rip-off, liar. Everybody in metal scene hates him. Believe me, I know around 200 people that hate him. So we finished the band in 2004. In 2008 we decided to record some new stuff, but with another drummer. We invited an old friend called Adelson, who played in some old death metal bands. That's all. We made the songs and recorded them. We were back just to record it and finish the band again.
Ah, I see. So hey, lastly, what the fuck is a bastard stealer?!?"Bastard Stealer" is composed to our old drummer—a tribute to this asshole!
Victor was kind enough to donate his first full-length with Whipstriker, the excellent Crude Rock 'N' Roll
, for free download, with this message: "TOTAL SUPPORT TO DOWNLOADS... BUT BUY THE STUFFS IF YOU LIKE. SUPPORT THE BANDS AND UNDERGROUND LABELS"
Whipstriker (Brazil)
Crude Rock 'N' Roll (2010)
1.Crude Rock 'N' Roll
2.The Excess
3.Live for Tonight
4.No Rights
5.The Life As it Is
6.To The Mind
7.Out of Scenary
8.Alice Bring Me Back
9.Bitch's Grass
10.Living Like a Dog
