Interview with NEROCAPRA

Welcome to the FILTHY DOGS OF METAL Webzine.

Tell us a little about NEROCAPRA (members, year of start, etc.).
Hello to all readers of FILTHY DOGS OF METAL, we are Nerocapra, an Italian Primitive Metal Band, more precisely from Turin (always considered an esoteric and mystical city). The band was born in 2003 and today only Mirco (the guitarist) remains of that lineup. The first demo was released only in 2009 when the lineup became more stable while the first full length Vox inferi was released in 2011 and was immediately well received by critics, a work rooted in 80s metal but very personal and dark, followed by 3 more albums (Mefisto manna, Decomposizione and La serpe in seno), with continuous lineup changes, without ever losing the distinctive trait that differentiates the band from the masses, first of all the choice to sing in Italian (a choice due more to a need to want to better express the themes than to a stylistic preference) but also the choice to self-produce completely to make their rotten and catacomb sound a distinguishable symbol of the Nerocapra matrix. Today for the first time Nerocapra are a quartet, with me (Max n.d.r) entering on vocals and Raoul on bass who joins Mirco and Rob respectively on guitars/vocals and drums, we are curious to see what this collaboration will bring in the next future. We will start soon with the live shows and then we will dedicate ourselves to writing the new songs. The idea is to release an album in vinyl format. If any label is reading Nerocapra they are open to collaborations (laughs).

In 2023 you released the album "La serpe in seno". What was the feedback from the public and the press?
I would say excellent, the reviews were all very positive as well as the sales and this can only make us happy, the public must instead be won over live and for various reasons we have been stopped on the live side for quite some time, COVID first and the defections within the lineup have created enormous difficulties in bringing Nerocapra on stage, now with the new lineup we are ready to return on stage more motivated than ever.

Label or DIY and why?
Self-production has its advantages, you release exactly what you want, how you want, when you want, it definitely gives you more freedom of action and it's all the result of your ideas, on the other hand the label has many other opporutunities related to his only role, I'm talking about advertising, social media activity, booking for concerts, as well as the distribution of your material. However, we're always talking about the best of scenarios, because you don't always have to deal with serious labels, who follow both the production and the post step by step and help you bring out the best in you, in this case self-production becomes absolutely the best thing, at least it has been like this for Nerocapra up to now.

Are there any funny or strange stories from the recordings or from your live shows that you would like to share with us?
Unfortunately, having just arrived and not having done live with Nerocapra I am not able to tell anything in particular in this aspect, what is certain is that at a Metal concert you never get bored.

Do you prefer vinyl, tape, CD or digital format and why?
I speak personally but I think the other members think the same way, I am fond of vinyl and tapes I started listening to music with them and they always unlock pleasant memories, I welcomed the arrival of the CD first and streaming later in a detached way, I always found them very cold and they never particularly attracted me even if nowadays you can't help but use them. So having to choose I would say without a doubt both vinyl and tape, but due to the high cost of both production and sale vinyl is understandably disadvantaged, especially for those like us who self-produce everything, even if the idea of creating a work on vinyl tickles us a lot. Instead for tapes is a different thing, they remain cult objects, as Nerocapra we have used this format three times in the past (Nerocapra / Blasphemus sexfago Split tape, il carnefice Pastore, La serpe in seno) all in limited editions.

Your musical style is Death Metal. What are your main influences (favorite artists/bands, etc.)?
I wouldn't define Nerocapra Death metal, not in its strictest sense, I would say that we are more of a mix of genres (not always metal) that have influenced us over the years, you can find Death, Black, Thrash something industrial as well as crust or simple rock like Motorhead, when we compose we don't care about the genre as long as it sounds rotten, sulfurous and true. Each of us has preferences and willingly or not they come out during the writing of the songs, over the years with maturity (old age) the listening has evolved and we no longer listen to only metal, this means that when we write a song we don't have a cliché or a precise line to follow but we let the ideas flow by themselves and then mix them as best as possible.

What things do you think a band must sacrifice to be successful? Have you ever sacrificed something in your life for a better future for your band?
This is a difficult question, because we start from the assumption that a band plays to be successful, first of all you play for passion, this leads to doing things in a certain way to the point of believing that you can take it outside the rehearsal room to let others listen to it, the real sacrifice is not so much accepting the dynamics of the business as being able to remain whole and true to yourself, continue to create something that represents you while being able to communicate it to others. We want to remain whole and true to our ideas, we like to make music first of all for ourselves, as long as this flame is there will be Nerocapra.

Describe your ideal live show as a band. Have you already experienced it?
The first show with the new line up is very close (February 14th) it will be a way to test the harmony on stage, I do not deny that on my part there is a bit of excitement, I can't wait to get on stage. As for the ideal concert, Nerocapra embodies a visceral primitive metal, so it would certainly be fantastic to play in a location that could bring out the best in us, we are not a band with special effects or particular scenography, we are very direct and impactful, we want people to focus on the sound attack they are subjected to rather than the image of the band on stage. But certainly playing at a prestigious festival would fill us with pride and would be a beautiful career award.

What are the attributes that a new Death Metal band should have to acquire identity and be unique?
Being unique is something for a select few, maybe the bands between the 80s and 90s had something unique, I think of the whole Bay Area scene but also the Floridian death or the first Scandinavian death and black, today a band that does Death metal to be original and therefore unique does not have to follow the trend, I mean today you can easily make music from home even alone, releasing a high-level album with excellent sounds without having to spend huge amounts, all this is beautiful until you get upset with the fact that everything that comes out is the same, it all sounds very plastic and it feels like you've already heard it. So first of all I would work on the identity, what do I want to do? But above all what do I not want to do, resemble the other thousands of bands that are around.

Do you think that digital platforms help new Death Metal bands? What do you think is the ideal way for a band to promote their work?
To tell the truth we also use them. Whether they work or not I could not say exactly, certainly if they are not followed by good advertising they do not bear fruit. People don't look for you, you have to look for people and find the right channel, this makes everything more difficult, when I was young, there were demos, people jostled to find them, buy them and exchange them, they passed around the flayers that were treated like relics, there was really so much more passion behind it, so much so that there is still a lot of collecting of that material, now it's difficult, there is so much stuff and all accessible, how do you stand out from the crowd?

Tell us a little about the new Underground Metal scene in Italy (band, fanzine, webzine, metal club, etc.).
There are many underground bands in Italy that are very good in extreme metal, I think of Aydra, Stormcrow, Ottone Pesante, Nihili Locus just to name a few, in recent years the level has risen a lot now the Italian music scene can stand the comparison with the historical realities of metal such as Germany, Great Britain, United States, while the bands have certainly had an evident growth unfortunately the places to play have not, so it is not easy to play in clubs, especially if you do not use a booking agency, it becomes difficult to take your music around. Fortunately magazines and fanzines are still passionate, they are easier to reach and willingly collaborate.

Do you know anything about the Greek metal scene?
I know the most famous bands, like Rotting Christ, Septic flesh, Varathron, The Elysian fields and Zemial with whom we will play in Milan on April 12th in the festival that will see them together with Absu, but I'm sure that in the underground there are great bands ready to be discovered.

From your experience in the music industry, what would you tell a new death metal band to avoid or what to do?
Good question, if I were 20 years old today and started playing death metal, I would try to be as personal as possible, digitalization, streaming have upset the market filling it with bands more or less good more or less interesting, on one hand it makes things easier because anyone can find their space, on the other it complicates them because the space itself is clogged, only bands that seriously have something to say emerge, so my advice is not to follow the wave, but to do something that people can recognize without necessarily raising their heads and wondering who it is.

What are your future plans?
First of all, play live as much as possible, have fun and entertain anyone who wants to come and see us. Then lock ourselves in the studio and jot down ideas for a new sulfurous album of fucking extreme metal.

Thank you very much for the time dedicated to us, keep working well! The closure is yours.
First of all, thank you FILTHY DOGS OF METAL for hosting us on your page, I hope that the readers enjoyed reading the answers as much as I enjoyed answering your questions, it will be an intense year with the live return that we were waiting for, and we hope by the end of the year to have some new material to return to split ears with our Primitive Metal. Ciao a tutti 🤘🏿

By Steve the Filthy Dog.

NEROCAPRA CONTACT:

https://www.facebook.com/Nerocapra/

https://www.instagram.com/nerocapra.official/

https://nerocapra.bandcamp.com/music