Even if the readers of Ancient Ceremonies are more or less aware of GoldenPyre since your two previous releases were featured in our pages (Necroterrorism was even demo of the issue in issue 8). Can you let us know how and why GoldenPyre was formed?
Ricardo Veiga: “Well, first of all many thanx for your kind help over the years supporting the real Underground spirit and helping us out spreading the name of GoldenPyre and all our other activities... in fact I think that our first contact was long time ago when we still had the fanzine Metalurgia and it all started right there! GoldenPyre was the next step right after we started Metalurgia because the Underground and the music were our main interests at that time... and not just supporting this scene but also belonging to it with a band that would represent our ideas and visions! All the founding members were really into the scene (Metalurgia, Abu Gorab Manuscript, organisation of various events, etc) and it looked very obvious to concentrate all our energies in a band... and one day we invested some of our money in the instruments and it all started rolling!!!”

You and your brother are the remaining founding members of the band. Is it been difficult to maintain a steady line-up?
Ricardo Veiga: “Not really... in fact we should have been lucky because we didn’t have many difficulties to find new members, even living in a part of the country with not so many resources in terms of valuable musicians! But we always had other bands playing in our rehearsal room and we knew many people over the years so there was a link with musicians and we always find good replacements, sooner or later! Of course sometimes we made some errors but the band always get stronger and our energy has never been dissipated... nowadays we can tell that we have the strongest line-up ever and the machine is well oiled!!”

To tell the truth with a strong demo like “necroTERRORism” I was expecting two things from GoldenPyre. The first one was a deal with a recognised yet underground label and the second thing was the release of a full length album... unfortunately both things didn’t happened!!
Ricardo Veiga: “Yeah, it’s true... but we never really though that way! The full length was an option but we decided for the Mcd ‘cause of the songs that we composed at that time... and some time after that the idea of the split CD came to mind, so it was more than justifiable! And the deal with the “recognised” underground label wasn’t really interesting so, the option for a fair label with supportive staff was the best one for us!”

There are evident developments on the GoldenPyre’s sonority, basically is what everybody expects from a new band! But for instance, if we compare your debut demo “apocryphal” with the new release “decrepidemic” they are both miles away! The black metal influences are completely gone...
Ricardo Coutinho: “There are strong reasons for that. Remember that Ricardo and Tiago Veiga are the only members from the “apocryphal” line-up that are still in the band, and that all the other members changed. New members bring new ideas, different influences, ways of playing and composing, and so on... that has always strong repercussions on a band’s sonority. Besides that, the band is much more mature now, and in a process of evolution. The technical skills increased a lot, the band realised that the domain over the instruments is essential to unlock the music in our minds without limitations, but never having technique as a goal, it’s more a tool. However, we are not maestros, we have to grow much more as musicians, be it as players or composers.
About black metal influences, I wouldn’t say that they are completely gone, I would say that it is more the swedish death metal (At The Gates, Naglfar...) influences that disappeared when Gil, the guitar player in “apocryphal” left the band, because he was the main composer in that period. We still maintain a black metal vein in our sound, but it’s not very obvious, we search for darker melodies, not so “catchy” as the ones in “apocryphal”.”

Do you believe that “decrepidemic” can be the gateway to get a decent record deal? Did you already start receiving comments from labels regarding the new Mcd?
Ricardo Coutinho “We contacted some labels before Exorcize Music came on scene. Even if some gave us compliments for it, and a few offers appeared, no deal came from it. Than Exorcize Music showed up and made an offer. It seemed to us as the best choice, especially ‘cause of the friendship we already had with Rui Gil (also bass player in Necrose). I’m not completely aware of the feedback from all the labels that received an advance CD version of “decrepidemic”, but I think that, until today, there were no bigger labels proposing any deal to us. Of course that we would like to have a deal with a bigger label, and we hope that “decrepidemic” will cause a good impression. We believe that we may grow a little more, but we like to keep our expectations low. Besides that, it’s not the deal itself that is important to us, because we are not doing it for the money, and to who knows the underground scene, knows this is true, we loose more money than the one we receive, but we would be proud to see our message and music being spread to a larger number of people. If not... we will keep doing it anyway!”

“decrepidemic” turned out to be a very professional product. Released in a DVD box it contains besides 7 songs a CD-Rom part on it with 7 live videos, photos, links and so on. It was quite an investment!
Ricardo Veiga: “Thank you very much for the compliments... it was really an investment that all the 5 guys did for this band that represents much more than just our musical vision! The DVD box and all the layout has been prepared and presented to the labels that way because it was really our interest... the multimedia track was proposed by the label and we suggested to use some of our best video recordings as a real bonus! That stuff really represents what the band means and stands for and really increases the value of this work, both for us and for the public.”

Especially also a large investment for a new label. Exorcize Music was the portuguese label that released “decrepidemic”. What can you tell us more about it?
Ricardo Coutinho: “Exorcize Music has been great to us. As I mentioned before Rui Gil and Joana, the ones behind the label, are our friends, so we are completely aware of investment they’ve been doing, and the effort that the investment requires from them, and for that we feel honoured and grateful. The label is a newborn, and it’s been facing all the obstacles associated to that very well. Considering the situation, I think that “decrepidemic” was released by the right label, and for such a young label, they’ve been doing a great job.”

GoldenPyre is confirmed for this year’s edition of Steel Warriors’ Rebellion - barroselas metalfest VII. Which is the biggest and only regular event that Portugal has and already brought bands like Pungent Stench, Akercocke, Katatonia, Aborted and so on. Gigs have been one of the most important ways to put GoldenPyre on people’s mouths, right?
Ricardo Coutinho: “Certainly! We play live when is possible, and I’m certain that if it wasn’t for that, no one would know us. The direct contact with people is very important. You know, the vibe between the individuals on stage and those on the crowd, that is when a band takes its music in exelsis. It is a kind of ritual, the best way to spread the message. Just the attitude of a band in stage is enough to take its music to a higher level, and if all the conditions are gathered and the crowd interacts... it’s armageddon! It’s that same crowd that buys the demos, the CDs, that spreads the word about the band, that justifies why we take our music out of the rehearsal room.”

Recently you teamed up with Necrose (also a Portuguese death metal band) for some european dates. You played in countries like Belgium, Poland, Germany, France! Its not the first time that you travel around the world, but how was the experience? How people reacted to your new material?
Ricardo Coutinho: “We played outside Portugal since the beginning (the first concert was in Spain). But most of the times not much further than that. It was in ‘02 that we had this crazy idea of doing a few concerts in other European countries, and we made it happen. That year we played in Poland and Czech Republic. We liked the experience and in ‘03 we did it again, this time, it was more carefully planed, with more countries and gigs. We invited our good friends Necrose to come along and together we took Portuguese Death Metal to France, Belgium, Germany, Poland and Czech Republic. As for the reaction of those who came to the concerts, it was great to both bands. About our new material, the reaction was very good, and we even played some songs that are still unreleased in that tour. We heard great compliments, and some comparisons to bands like Morbid Angel, Immolation or Incantation don’t disturb us in any way, we actually see it as a compliment, the best we could receive, even if we don’t deserve it!”

Previously we talked about Steel Warriors’ Rebellion festival... but what probably most people do not know is that you Veiga are one of the organisers of that event. Is it been difficult to maintain that event running year after year?
Ricardo Veiga: “I will be lying if I say that it was easy... it sounds curious and in some way poetic that it is a constant struggle with the society that has been ruling this hypocrite world and that is one of the main themes in the songs of our band! So, we have to deal with the bureaucratic, inflexible and unfair world that we cruelly criticise with GoldenPyre... and with that event we really understand what music means and what differentiate the underground from the mainstream!”

Is there any bands that the organisation would like to see playing on its stage? Or any names that during the years you have tried to bring to Portugal without success?
Ricardo Veiga: “Our wet dream will happen when we have Incantation, Immolation, Deicide, Morbid Angel, Nasum and Hypocrisy... some other would be great but these are the highlights! They are all possible and we already checked Incantation, Nasum and Hypocrisy for instance but they never came true because of our budget limitations...”

You are the second band that I’m aware (Destroy also recorded there) of having recorded their material on Grave Studios in Portugal. How are the conditions there?
Ricardo Coutinho: “The conditions are great! It may not be the best studio in the world, but Pedro Alves (the owner) is a great guy, and he does his best to capture the essence of every band that records there. He is very dedicated, and most of the bands that recorded there see him as a friend. As you may imagine after this, the environment in Grave studio is different from any other, you actually feel comfortable to give your best during the recording sessions, there is no pressure. Besides that, Pedro is completely conscious of the metal scene and sound, because he listens to metal himself; he is not someone that landed on the metal scene from somewhere out in space, like many others! I’m certain when I say that Grave studio is the best place for metal bands to record here in Portugal.”

Still the mastering process took place at the famous Morrisound Studios!
Ricardo Coutinho: “Yes! We already liked the final mix that we did on Grave studio, but we wanted to add some extra spice to the record. We contacted a few places, but Morrisound seemed like the best choice to us; it is a studio that has an history within the Death Metal movement, and we were very satisfied with what the sound became after their mastering.”

Besides playing live and promote the new release, what will be the next step of GoldenPyre’s career?
Ricardo Coutinho: “Right now we are composing songs for our first full-length album. We have five songs almost finished now, and a few more started. This time we hope to take it a little further. We are being very careful with the composition of each song, they are more “lapidate” and less raw. I think we are one step closer to finding the true GoldenPyre sonority, but you can count with songs that are more morbid, obscure and darker than we ever did. That seems to be the path for us to follow, and hope to assume our own musical identity in more intense way, and progressively leave our influences behind. Even before that there are four songs, already recorded, to be released in a split CD with three more bands, also from Portugal, Necrose, Neoplasmah and Agonized! It is going to be kind of a “Portuguese Assault”, recorded in Grave studio and it is going to be released by Recital Records in a few months.
Besides the recordings and the concerts, there is a group of factors that I value very much, that is the concept behind the music, the expressiveness of the music and the way that people understand the message you are passing to them. I am a little extremist in that sense but the rest of the guys in the band are less rigorous about it, which ends up to be good: they control my exaggerations and I push them a little further in that sense. My goal would be: have strong intentions behind the music (music without a concept is hollow), finding the more expressive and intense way to translate that musically and a suitable image and posture, in stage and outside it. That our music express that this world, that had it all to be a great place, has been subverted and corrupted; that our kind is fallen and walking toward damnation; and hopefully express it in way that when one listens to our music will realise it, our at least understand what we mean. Of course that our music won’t change the world, but as artists we would like our art to be understood, and not only perceived as a sensitive phenomenon.”

Its all for now. Take care and best wishes for the band!!
Ricardo Veiga: “Many thanx for all your support and also best wishes for your fantastic magazine, which is not just one more magazine but probably one of the best manuscripts ever written about underground... congratulations!! You deserve Underground devotion...”

Journalist: Nuno Santos