TORTURE SQUAD

Death and chaos from the jungle

Some of you may not know it. But this Brazilian crew spreads the virus of deadly thrash metal since 1990. For almost 20 years they’ve been true to their roots while creating another chapters in the history of sonic destruction and now finally seems that they’re paid back for their passion and perseverance. Things got definitely better after they’ve won Metal Battle at Wacken in 2007. Their latest effort “Hellbound” definitely marked the new beginning for the band. Quality of TS music connected with the fact that it’s one of the most dedicated bands on extreme metal scene forced us to get in touch with Castor – TS bass player – who found some time between intense touring to answer our questions. If you want to why caipirinha isn’t Castor’s favorite drink and who’s his favorite Brazilian football player please read that article and things will become much more clearer.

- Hi Guys! TORTURE SQUAD has been around for many years. But – at least here in Europe – everything has changed after the memorable victory in Wacken. Do you see it as a turning point in your career?
Yes, it gave us an opportunity to start a new career in Europe.After that we are constantly touring over Europe since the beginning of the last year spreading our new CD ”Hellbound”

- Now it seems that you have your five minutes of fame. But I guess that it wasn't easy to survive. In almost 20 years you've gone through different moments. Did you ever think about retiring from playing metal?
Never! I am into this business because that’s the way I choose to live, I mean , I am doing what I wanna do in my life. If it’ll take so long I don’t care. I never thought to quit or playing another sort of music. As I told you, I am just doing what what I wanna do, that’s it.

- Do you have a chance to pay your bills and live from the band or do the TS members have regular jobs?
Nowadays I can pay my bills only working with the band. I must say that it’s tough but I have to be 100% free time for the band’s development like rehearsing 5 days a week, touring for over 3 months in Europe or wherever, etc. Once in a while I give some bass lessons in my home city as well. I just had quit working in a regular job since five years ago.

-This springnce again you went to conquer European stages together with thrash titans OVER KILL, the mighty EXODUS and GAMA BOMB. What are your expectations? Btw you're definitely the most brutal band in the tour's line-up, so aren't you a little afraid of old school thrash metal fans reactions?
Not really. That tour was so amazing to us! We got a fuckin’ great response from the audience every night! To be part of this package was a great honor to us! The guys from EXODUS, OVER KILL and GAMA BOMB showed themselves very friendly to us and we could get along very well with them in the whole tour.

- I guess that such a tour is a chance to have a fun in great company, too. I was in Portugal which is strongly connected with Brazil. And I've discovered caipirinha which really seduced me. Did you to promote cachaca or you rather joined the American crew namely - Jack Daniels' society? ;)
Hahaha! I don’t drink caipinha believe or not. I just drink beers and some wine once in a while. But this drink is the most popular one in Brazil man. You can drink caipirinha in every corner around there!

- There are both thrash and death metal elements in your music. Which genre seems to be most important for you?
I guess METAL is the most important genre in our songs. We just play what we enjoy to listen to. We love thrash, death, black, heavy, hard, rock’n’roll, etc…

- Which bands were the main sources of inspiration for you in times when you started your career? Btw do any bands from modern metal scene inspire you in any way?
In my case IRON MAIDEN inspires me a lot! I started to be interested in bass guitar because of Steve Harris. Unfortunately I am not into modern metal bands that much but I respect them.

- I guess that most of your friends preferred to play football than guitar. Did you feel misunderstood when you started? Btw when talkin' bout football who would you choose ad the best Brazilian player nowadays: Kaka, Pato, Ronaldinho, Robinho or someone else?
Yes, I got many friends in Brazil who are fanatics for football! I used to play football when I was younger but I had to quit it when I start to play bass.I spent most of my time playing bass instead of playing football. Now talking about which is my favorite football player nowadays, I would pick Robinho. He has the skill like the old Brazilian’s football players from the 60’s and 70’s, that’s why I like him the most.

-Since early 90s underground metal scene has changed completely. Today - thanks to MySpace, - it's much easier to spread your name across the world. Do you sometimes miss the feeling that accompanied you when you've received hand written letters - full of flyers - and xero copied fan zines from all around the world?
I think that nowadays is way easier to make contacts all over the world in the web. To tell you the truth , I prefer doing contacts through myspace, e-mails or whatever because It’s faster than writing letters and send them through mail.

-Let's concentrate on "Hellhound" for a while. You've recorded your last album in Brazil. Do you consider recording of your next albums outside your homeland? If you had a chance to choose a studio and a producer in Europe or US, who would it be and why? Btw didn't you ever think about moving to Europe or US. I guess that it could help you to expand your band's career?
We are making some plans about to record the next album in Europe , but therels not confirmed yet. If I could pick one producer, I would choose Andy Sneap. I really dig all of his works man!

-"Hellbound" is an excellent extreme piece of metal. I really enjoy that stuff. But I must admit that it's a little too homogeneous. Some songs sound too similar to each other. How would you answer to those who would accuse you of being too orthodox?
Thanks man! I am very satisfied with the album’s production in fact. I think that everybody has different opinions and point of views. That’s it.

-Melodic intro and acoustic interlude in „The Twilight of Mankind" make that song my favorite one. Do you have a song that - from any particular reasons - is especially important for you?
I like “Man Behind the Mask” and “In the Cyberwar”. They are my favorite tunes from the album. The reason is that Man behind the mask has that speech intro between two priests and some breaks that the band plays between them and in “In the Cyberwar” has lots of tempo changes into a death / thrash metal sound .It’s very tough to choose but I would go with these two tracks.

-There's only one guitar player in TS. I'm not going to complain, because Rafael does a great job. But didn't you ever think about amplifying guitar attack power by hiring the second guitar player?
We tried it in the early days to hire a second guitar player but it did not work. I think that our compositions sounds better with just one guitar.

-Your drummer Amilcar did an amazing work on "Hellbound". He sounds like a human machine. I guess that having such a precise beast in your line-up make a lot of things easier?
Yes man, for me as a bass player is fuckin’ great playing with him because the drums and the bass playing are always connected into each other. I like to play along with the drums beat and feels and he is incredible to play with.