Valkyrian Music

Bloodstock Festival, 11^th August 2013, Catton Hall

Hannah caught up with Danny Felice and Andre Joyzi of Breed 77 on the Sunday of Bloodstock, 2013.

 

Hannah: Thanks guys so much for talking to me today, I really appreciate it! So obviously, this is your first time playing Bloodstock?

Danny: Second.

Hannah: Second!

Danny: Yeah, we played donkey’s years ago with Sebastian Bach. It was a tiny festival, we did the early ones, yeah.

Hannah: Okay, so this is your first time playing since it exploded into this.

Danny: Yeah, yeah.

Andre: Bloodstock’s done great, and it’s growing.

Hannah: It’s got a good vibe I think, Bloodstock.

Danny: It’s amazing, I think it’s the greatest metal festival in England! Cos Download’s a bit commercialised nowadays, I’m not talking badly about Download you know, or anything, but you got like lesser… you got like 30 Seconds to Mars, you got like the Prodigy, you know, that’s not metal.

Hannah: It’s not metal!

Andre: It’s more a mainstream festival.

Danny: It’s more mainstream than this other one, yeah.

Hannah: Yeah, I mean I think there’s really good things about a mainstream festival, because then, at Download, you do occasionally get…

Danny: Yeah, exactly.

Hannah:… and like even here, I mean last year I’m sure you know there was a big thing about Lamb of God playing yesterday, and last year people really made a fuss about Machine Head.

Andre: The whole point is that Bloodstock is still growing and you need bigger bands to grow.

Hannah: Exactly, and then you need the people to come in.

Danny: I tell you, one day, in three or four years’ time, this will be as big as Download.

Hannah: Yeah, definitely.

Andre: The UK needs festivals like this.

Hannah: It does.

Danny: We have the privilege and we were invited to play here, and apart from the like… this is getting a really good name abroad, you know.

Andre: Yeah!

Danny: We just came actually from Germany, and we like would do these cities, and people would be like ‘Oh, where are you playing?’ ‘Oh, we’re playing Bloodstock’ and they’d be like ‘really!?’ you know?

Hannah: Yeah!

Danny: This is Germany, and other towns outside England, so the word is spreading, and yeah, it’s amazing.

Hannah: And I guess its really good playing something like the SOPHIE tent.

Danny: Yeah.

Hannah: For you guys, it means that people can walk past and think ‘ooh, what is that,’ go in, and see, ‘cos you’ve been around for ages now, you guys!

Danny: I mean, you know the beginning of the Earth? Jesus Christ was born and that shit? Before that.

Hannah: You were there at the Crucifixion, playing along as he died.

Danny: Man, did you see me on the side there in the Bible?

Andre: Actually, the story in the Bible’s a bit changed, cos it wasn’t Adam: it was Breed 77 who ate the apple! It was this motherfucker (points to Danny) who ate the apple!

Danny: Wasn’t Jesus from Gibraltar?

Hannah: We could talk about Gibraltar, actually, mention the politics of the situation. How has that affected you guys with the music and the scene over there?

Danny: Obviously, the Spanish oppressors, those motherfuckers, man? Oh my God. No, I mean, we’re here and for me, and for us, and for other people… politics is for the politicians. But when they tighten the screw? People are going to retaliate man. You cannot like, just take it.

Hannah: I mean, I was on a family holiday in Spain about a month ago, and we found just randomly an English bar where they were having a death metal night. And so, we were in Benidorm, the place where all the English people go.

Danny: That’s near Valencia? Yeah.

Hannah: Yeah! And there was a band from Bilbao…

Danny: It’s a vast country.

Hannah: And the people of that sort of area love their heavy, extreme music.

Danny: Metallers, people are people. They’re not politicians!

Andre: People don’t care as much. When you go to a gig, you don’t care, you know, what’s going on. Whereas when you’re in a band… I’ll tell you what, I’m Portuguese, Pedro is Spanish and the three of them are all Gibraltarian, and we all eel… we’re all on Gibraltar’s side, because it’s very wrong what Spain is doing. But we’ve just had the honour of being invited to play Gibraltar’s National Day.

Hannah: That’s brilliant!

Danny: We’re headlining, playing for 10,000 people.

Hannah: Is there any kind of scene in Gibraltar? Because it is quite a little bit… little!

Danny: Yeah, it’s very small.

Hannah: Just a big rock, really!

Danny: (puts on sunglasses) Funky glasses!

Hannah: Ready for the party.

Andre: We’re DJing in the VIP area later, Danny and I.

Hannah: I know! If I wasn’t ill and taking medicine I would be drinking!

Andre: Yeah, me too! I’m on antibiotics man. I had surgery to my armpit yesterday… I’m the drummer! So I’ve been playing in lots of pain!

Hannah: I can imagine!

Andre: Yeah, you don’t want to see… Actually, if you do want to see, I made a video of when I was changing the thing… It’s like an open hole underneath my armpit.

Hannah: I had surgery like that a couple of years ago. Anyway, so yeah, you’ve played Download, loads of other festivals in the UK, I mean, you released ‘The Evil Inside’ earlier this year. I don’t know, everyone always seems to be really receptive, really good to you, but still, you haven’t quite broken through.

Andre: Broken through, yeah.

Danny: The only way you have to break through is to go to America and sign for Warner Brothers or something with lots of money.

Andre: For us, the attitude is that we’ll keep doing what we’re doing, you know we love it, and we see people loving I, the reception you saw today! It’s usually like this, we get very well received.

Danny: I mean, though, if you want to invest money, you’re welcome to…!

Hannah: If I had any, I would!

Andre: It’s only a matter of luck, you get the right people pushing you.

Hannah: I guess that’s the right attitude to have, though.

Danny: When have you heard a band from Gibraltar being famous? Never.

Hannah: That’s true!

Danny: We have what we have and for me, already, it’s big. Already what we’ve done… we achieved a lot. I mean, we’re not like Metallica, but how many bands are like that?

Hannah: Well, I saw you –it must have been 6 or 7 years ago now- at the London Guitar Show, when you did an acoustic set.

Danny: Yeah, we did an acoustic set!

Hannah: I think I was at the back of your set in the SOPHIE tent, and it was like back then: People were walking past, coming in, having a mosh, and then moving on, I think that still says a lot that they’re coming in and listening.

Andre: Last year at Download we played an acoustic set right before Skindred: it was impressive the amount of people that came to see us.

Danny: Today was pretty good!

Andre: It was massive, that’s what makes us want to keep going.

Danny: I mean, what do you want me to do? Cut my hair and get an office job?

Hannah: Exactly. And there is an underground Breed 77 support network!

Danny: I’m happy with that.

Hannah: I have two questions that I have to ask you because my brother is a big fan and he was like ‘Ask them this!’ so first: what is your writing process? Let’s get very technical and boring!

Danny: The main songs are like… I get a bunch, the other guitarists get a bunch, and bring into the room, and we vote on what we like, and then we jam with them, and then it grows from there.

Hannah: So it’s very democratic and organic.

Danny: Some I do the lyrics for… I’m very political, there’s like ‘Motionless,’ there’s ‘Fear,’ my lyrics are dark. I don’t know, maybe I’m an evil motherfucker!

Hannah: You’ve got this whole flamenco metal thing, this real hybridity of cultural influences, of language…

Danny: We’ve got the Portuguese fado, we’ve got flamenco… You know?

Hannah: Yeah! So, this is another of my brother’s questions: would you say you have any major influences? If you had to name an artist or a band?
Danny: Individually?

Andre: That’s an individual question, you can’t ask the band. I mean for my case? Machine Head, I grew up listening to Metallica, and then later it was Slipknot, Machine Head… and then now more heavy rock. You’re always learning, you know?

Danny: In my case? I love new stuff, but it’s more retro, like, Mercyful Fate, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Dio, more like old school.

Andre: The mix works well.

Danny: Nobody has one influence. But you know, rock, metal? Unites people. There’s a brotherhood, there’s common ground.

Hannah: Definitely. So, final thing: What’s next for Breed 77? The world?

Danny: Well, we’re going to play and play our arses off! We’ve got lots of things now, and we’ve got a few UK dates in September, and then we’re going to rock and roll again and again and again and again, until we drop and die or something.

Hannah: And long may you reign!

Danny: And for your thing earlier, ‘are you big?’ What’s big? I enjoy music, we enjoy what we do.

Hannah: And that’s all that matters! Thanks so much for talking to me today, guys, and best of luck with the rest of your tour!

 

 

Interview conducted and written: Hannah O’Flanagan, 2013.

This entry was posted on 7th September 2013 at 1:14 am and is filed under Interview. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.