MP3's:
"Expurgo - Esgotos"
"My Name is Scum"

First can you introduce the band and members? You guys have actually been playing for a long time... Can you talk about the earlier band incarnation Putrifocinctor? Do some of you also come from other bands? Also do you remember why you decided to form a grind band?

(Philipe) We’re Expurgo, grindcore from Belo Horizonte / Brazil. Vocals: Egon, Guitar and Vocals: Philipe, Bass: Bruno, Drums: Anderson.
Putrifocinctor was our first grindcore band, formed in 1997. It was a very aggressive grind/crust band. The concerts were very intensive, with a lot of riot, the kids were always crazy in those shows. Putrifocinctor used to play a lot in the city back in the days, played with Hellnation, Mukeka di Rato, Parental Advisory (actually Life is a Lie) and others. The band ended in 2001 when the drummer and bass player left. Then we started Expurgo, from that period remained in the band Egon and myself. Then Anderson and Bruno joined us. Anderson used to play Bass in a Death Metal band, Sarcasmo, and he assumed the sticks for Expurgo. Bruno used to play guitar in another death metal band, Death Dealer, nowadays he’s playing bass in Expurgo.
We all played Death Metal until the night we went to a Wojczech concert in 97, in our city, small place, intense show, it changed our way to see music and the message we want to pass, so we decide to get into grind . From that night on we never stoped play grind. Thanx to Wojczech, hahahaha!

What does the name Expurgo mean? Any particular reason you chose it?

(Philipe) Well, Expurgo is a portuguese word that means something like “purge”. But the real meaning from Expurgo I found in a hospital room. The Expurgo room is the place that receives all the contaminated hospital dejects in order to clean up the rest of the hospital and keep it free of infection. We thought it the perfect name for the band and the sound, dirty and infective, in order to clean up our minds.

You have plenty of split releases coming up! Can you detail all of them? Which ones are the closest to come out? How many songs did you record for these coming releases?

(Anderson) The firs one to come out it’s with the Shatterdead in 7”Ep, for the X-Vagina Records, from Sweden. And it was released also in tape for the Underground Pollution Records, from France. The next one to come out is Expurgo/MDK (Brazil), but it hasn’t a label yet, we’re still looking for one. Anyone? Lol.
A four-way tape with Violent Gorge, Disgraceria and Trituador, this is being produced by Joe from Violent Gorge. A split-tape with Project Your Sister On Four, for the Intestine Stew Records, from Canada. Those are the one ready to be released.
But we’re still pre-producing some others with Dead Fetus Collection (Brazilian Grindcore), Womb Goo Gai Pan (Downtempo Cybergrind Techno from USA), Pulmonary Fibrosis (France) and Pierre’s Blue Hollocaust (France). We recorded 12 songs for the splits, and we’re using songs from our first demo for the tapes.

I hear you'll be recording again soon for more? Do you only have split releases planned for now? Do you have a full length release in mind for the future? Do you get attention from labels that want to release your stuff?

(Anderson) We´re working on some sound for the full length, but we still didn’t arranged anything with any label. There are some labels interested in this, let’s see how it will proceed. Maybe sooner than we expect.


Where do you do these recordings? Is it a studio or self-recordings? Also what kind of place do you rehearse in, etc...?

(Philipe) The first demo was self-recorded, and mastered by Bruno (bass player). The recent sutff we’ve been record all live on the WZ Studio, from the Eminence’s Drummer André Márcio.

Your lyrics are sometimes portuguese, sometimes english... What do you prefer? Are you gonna continue to use both? What are your lyrics written about? What are your inspirations for them? Are they an important part of Expurgo?

(Egon) I prefer to write the one that fits best my ideas at the time. And yeah, i´ll still going to use both languages. Initially, we’re used to write ironic and sarcastic lyrics criticizing the society and the environment we live in. Nowadays it works more as an analysis and lead people to discuss their own issues. The lyrics are more introspective and contemporary, but the humor is still on it. My Philosophy readings and the world out there are my main inspiration, it’s too cyco, although I find it very funny in the same time. The lyrics are extremely important for the Expurgo sound creation, different from some other bands that care only about the noise, and forget how the word is important for the conscious.

Where do you think the violence in your music comes from? / What inspires the rage in your music? And also musically what bands have the most influence on you?

(Egon) It comes from ourselves. When we’re pissed at something, misery, unfair trades, prejudice then we use the music and our performance in the stage to explode it. And it is very good to play live, and to play furious.
(Bruno) There are a lot of great bands that I can relate the same stage of rage when they play or when we listen to them. And those bands have a big influence on us when we’re writing new songs also, such as Brutal Truth, Napalm Death, Nasum, Regurgitate, Dead Infection, Gore Beyond Necropsy. This list could be on and on.

From the videos available you seem like a very intense live band... Do you perform very often? What kind of places are you playing at? Are the brazilian grindcore crowds really wild? Are you taping all your shows? I hear you're planning to do a DVD, how much material will it contain?

(Bruno) We’re playing more and more, specially with the sound spreading on web, and the videos are responsible for this in part. We’re tape almost every gig, and this is the kind of footage that will be find in the DVD, plus some old sessions on the studio and other funny crap.
The crowd generally is insane and loud. Sometimes they’re catatonic, but always very generous. We’re dedicated to the listeners, so they identify that on us, and we all share a mad vibe.
(Philipe) We play almost in small places, sometimes it hasn’t a stage and we have to play on the crowd. This are the best shows, and sometimes we are playing got punched by the mosh pit, hahaha. They get very crazy every time, lol.

Can you describe the feeling of your city Belo Horizonte & Brazil? What are the best bands from Brazil according to you? What brasilian labels/distros do you use the most to get grind stuff?

(Philipe) Belo Horizonte is a 2 million people city, and in the 90’s it was one of the main Brazilian scene of metal. The city introduced Sepultura to the world, plus Sarcófago and Overdose. Nowadays the scenario is very mixed with metal, hardcore and noise bands. It’s a good city to play and to be on.

(Anderson) The national bands that I listen the most are old Sepultura, Rotting Flesh, CVI, Mata-Borrão, Lymphatic-Phlegm, Offal, Ratos de Porão, The Mist. There are some good distros in here, the ones we like the best is Black Hole Productions, 2+2=5 Records, Tumba Records, Rotten Foetus, Cogumelo Records, Laja Records and Absurd Records.

What is your current playlist? Current favorite bands? Do you listen to types of music other than grind?

(Egon) Despite the grind bands ahead, we listen to others sound styles. I’m into electronic, stone rock, industrial. Some bands like Tool, Meshuggah, Ministry, Guns n’Roses (the rock n’roll guts), Aphex Twin.
(Philipe) His Hero Is Gone and Isis
(Anderson) Kyuss, Deftones, Pitch-Shifter, Libido AirBag, Cock and Ball Torture.
(Bruno) Meshuggah, Busta Rhymes, Gojira, Nick Cave, Frank Sinatra, Hate Plow, Aborted.

You seem to be into horror as well, right? What are some of your favorites? And do you like any of the more recent mordern horror movies? If you could compare Expurgo to a movie what would it be?

(Anderson) Brain Dead, Bad Taste, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Coffing Joe shit. The old school horror movies!!

(Egon) In fact, I don’t think we can be related to the horror style, but definitely we can be identified with Irreversible, Pi, Memento, The Fountain, Clockwork Orange, Fight Club!!

Ok, I guess that's about it. Anything else important to add?

(Anderson) Thank you Pierre and Braindead webzine for the opportunity and congratulations for your amazing work, it has been a reference for us for long time .

We’re always updating myspace.com/expurgo, so if anyone wants to hear news from us.
(Egon) Keep on rotting, you bastards, lol. Take care.

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