Maila: It is curious that most of the time you shared the stage with death metal bands, although your style is much closer to heavy and speed metal. How did the "more extreme" audience receive you?
Iuri: We've always had a very good image among the bangers from the South of Brazil, who, in my opinion, are a very demanding audience and know a lot about heavy metal. But we were really curious to see how the audience from the cradle of heavy metal would accept us. The experience was really great! Most of the festivals we played had death metal and more extreme bands as headliners, but the exchanging of experiences and the chatting after the concerts brought a lot to us in terms of experience. It has even given new ideas and influences to our new songs. We were very well accepted by the audience. There were moments in which the bangers came to us with the "Metal Head" demo tape just to show they already knew the band. This exchanging of ideas and experience, the chatting after the concerts, interacting to the audience, they were all great things and until now we try to keep on doing it.
Maila: How is the reaction of the Brazilian audience to the band?
Iuri: This is difficult to talk about when it comes to a country of continental dimensions. Actually, our debut album was the one that really brought us to an international debut, in 2004. If you go to our website, HIBRIA.COM, and check the reviews section you will read about it. It's also interesting that our album got awards through audience voting and excellent critics during a few years and despite being released in 2004, we were still mentioned in 2005, 2006 and 2007. We are very proud of it!
Maila: What is the most difficult part of booking concerts around Brazil? Sometimes it seems easier to book concerts abroad than at your home country and this is something all artists and producers usually complain about.
Iuri: As I told in the previews question, the fact that Brazil is so huge is a disadvantage sometimes. It increases a lot the transportation costs and it's a big step for a local producer to take such a risk of, for example, hire a band from the South of Brazil to play in the Northeast. We know there are places to play but how to get there is the problem.
Maila: 2009 was a very productive year for you. Hibria has been in two tours around Asia, so on and so forth. Can we say the band is living its best moment?
Iuri: I wouldn't say the best but surely a more mature one. The tours around Asia gave us a lot of good stuff. We started with five concerts in four countries; Japan (Osaka and Toquio), Taiwan (Taipei), Hong-Kong and China (Seoul). After that we went to Canada where we played over ten concerts from coast to coast, from Victoria to Quebec. We had the opportunity of working with different crews and staffs, learn about different cultures and this is really important to the band and to us as musicians.
This tour was so good that in October we were invited to go back to Japan for two more shows, one at LOUD PARK, the biggest metal festival of the country, together with some big names of the metal scene such as; Judas Priest, Slayer, Childrem of Bodom and Arch Enemy and, also, as a warm-up band to Megadeth in Nagoya (Japan).
If you want to know more about the tour, see pictures and videos, just visit our website www.hibria.com and check out the tour report!
Maila: But how did the opportunity come out?
Iuri: Wel, after the release of "The Skull Collectors" and the great repercussion the album had, we received this invitation from our recording company in Japan, the Spiritual Beast, to play the Asia shows. Now that we could see how it is in Japan, we are already working on new songs and our goal is to play around Brazil before going abroad again. There are many headbangers asking to see Hibria in our guestbook. People from many cities we haven't been yet. If you are reading this interview and would like to see Hibria live, please subscribe to our guest book at www.hibria.com and ask for Hibria in your city!
Maila: Do you guys live from music or have different jobs to help support yourselves?
Iuri: We're very proud to say that nowadays Hibria supports itself, we don't need to invest our own money in the band anymore. All of us have different jobs, though, but most of us work with music. Me, Abel Camargo and Eduardo Baldo are music teachers.
Maila: You've been to several different places and might have a lot of stories to tell. Please, tell us something memorable to the band and your lives.
Iuri: There is a funny and desperate one which has happened in our first live performance in Europe. We were very excited and full of expectations on how the first chord in our first show in Europe would sound. So, in the very beginning, as soon as we played the first chord, a blackout happened and the only thing people could hear was the drumming with no mics. But soon the problem was solved and we could play with no problems.
Maila: And which has been the best Hibria concert so far?
Iuri: I guess the Tokyo one. It was a real highlight. The infra-structure was perfect, everything was well organized and the audience was really charismatic. They saw us live for the first time and already knew how to sing our songs by heart. This was an amazing experience
Maila: Tell us a bit of how “The Skull Collectors” was made and produced.
Iuri: We all participate on the music making process. Most of the ideas come from the guitarists, and as soon as we have a good song structure, we start working the vocals. During the music making process, Diego Kasper showed us some ideas for the album cover and along with Marco Panichi, defined all the album art. It took a little more time than the usual because we had to take a break to record our first video clip, the song "Tiger Punch" and you can check it out on our website www.hibria.com.
Maila:What are your plans for the near future? Are you still on tour at the moment?
Iuri: We intend to play in many places we haven't been yet and spread Hibria's name as much as possible. This is why it's very important to us that you, the reader, show your interest to the band from your city. We already have some ideas in mind for a new album and soon we'll start to write new songs.
Maila:Please, leave a message to the readers!
Iuri: Thanks for the space and the opportunity of getting in touch with the Hard Blast readers. We are waiting for your subscriptions to our guestbook, at Hibria's official homepage, myspace and the orkut communities.
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