The Metal Crypt - Entombed A.D. Interview

Interviews

Interview with guitarist Guilherme Miranda
Interview conducted by Luxi Lahtinen

Date online: December 7, 2019

Swedish Death Metal tank, Entombed A.D., formed in 2014 and featuring original Entombed vocalist L-G Petrov, has been recording and touring since the band was put together. The band's third studio album, Bowels of Earth, was released at the end of August 2019 and brought the band closer to its original, Stockholm-sounding Death Metal roots compared to their two previous albums, Back to the Front and Dead Dawn. With the new album, the fans have also noticed them taking this leap towards the band's early Death Metal sound which has resulted in an increasing amount of people attending their shows.

Hell Over Europe III tour package, including Entombed A.D., Aborted and Baest, started in London, England, on October 18th and The Metal Crypt got in touch with Entombed A.D.'s new 6-string shredder Guilherme Miranda on November 3rd via Facebook Messenger when this tour package was on its way to Mannhaim, Germany.

In this interview Guilherme shares his thoughts of the tour, the response to the band's new album, how he joined the band, his own Motörhead experience and a bunch of other things as well.

HELL OVER EUROPE III TOUR

Luxi: What was it like to play the sold-out venue in Helsinki, Finland, on Oct 27th?

Guilherme: Playing in Helsinki was amazing, man, we really liked it. I think the promoter did an incredible job. They put the gig in a really good location downtown, so everybody was happy to go there and party on Sunday.

The gig was sold out, so we were quite happy. It's definitely one of the highlights of this tour so far and everybody's really satisfied with what happened in Finland. We weren't expecting that, but on the other hand, the package for this tour is strong, it's a really good one. The gigs have been getting good attendance so far. All in all, it was excellent to play in Finland. I really liked the people there and the party is always good.

Luxi: You are currently on your Hell Over Europe (third edition) tour with Aborted and Baest keeping you company. Would you say the chemistry is good between the bands?

Guilherme: The chemistry is good. Each band has its own approach to everything musically and in life also. It's a matter of understanding each other and trying to do the whole thing in the most professional way possible. All in all, it's working quite well. We are from the same label. We're three bands on Century Media Records, and they've put us back together. That's how we got to connect for this tour.

BACK TO THE ROOTS

Luxi: Entombed A.D.'s third full-length album, Bowels of Earth, came out at the end of August this year and in my opinion, it's clearly the most old-school Death Metal sounding record the band has recorded so far. Can you tell why it turned out to be so clearly the most Death Metal-orientated album of the band's career so far? I know that you have been in the band less than a year, but can you still tell where this more Death Metal sound came from?

Guilherme:Well, I started to play with Entombed A.D. in 2015. When we were about to record Dead Dawn, I wasn't a band member, I was still doing guitar live. I was playing with my other band, Krow. I'm not from Sweden. I'm from Brazil and I had a lot to do there. I was flying back and forth to Europe. I ended up not recording Dead Dawn, but I did the whole tour cycle. I think that we played so much live and we really delivered fast Death Metal songs. I have played Death Metal my whole life and that's what I do.

When we went to make the songs for Bowels of Earth, it felt natural for us. We took these (Death Metal) flavors that we have when playing live and threw them all into the oven and that's how this album turned out. I think it was a natural thing that came with the amount of shows that we've done for Dead Dawn and then for this one. It sounds like this because it sounds like this. I don't know how to explain it, it just came naturally. Of course, on this album I had my songs, too, so it sounds different anyway. That's how it turned anyway.

Luxi: So, it wasn't intentional thing you told each other, "Hey, let this album be our most poser-crushing and old school one we have made thus far..."?

Guilherme: No, man. It wasn't intentional but, on the other hand, it was. We were saying, "Man, let's sound like we sound live; straight, old-school Death Metal." That's what we do and that's what we do best. If we invest in what we are good at, we're going to get better at it, so that's what we've done, in my opinion.

Luxi: How much influence, as the band's new guitarist, did you have on how the band sounds on this new record?

Guilherme: I don't know about the sound because we use the same setup we use live. Some distortion pedals and straight to an amplifier and the guitar super loud. This is how we play, and this is what we've done in studio. It's nothing super special. What I think is that I've done a lot of songs for this album. Of course, some of them didn't even make the record. We did more songs that we released and that's it. That's what we've done. I think that the amount of songs made it sounds like this. The only thing I've done is that I've done songs for the album.

BECOMING A PART OF ENTOMBED A.D.

Luxi: You are a newer gun in the band. What's the story of how you joined the band?

Guilherme: Entombed A.D. was going to play in South America and my other band was the main support for them. I remember back then there were five guys in the band. When everything was done for the tour, they said that they were carrying just with one guitarist and we were afraid, "Fuck man, maybe this is gonna get cancelled." I sent an email to them [*laughs*] like, "Man, if you guys even need a second guitarist, I'd play the guitar, so we just keep the tour going." I think the idea stayed in the band. [*laughs*]. Then after the tour, they had a tour to do with Deicide. They needed a second guitarist and I jumped in, and that's how I stayed. We connected in South America and from there I flew to some gigs with Deicide and here I am [*laughs*].

Luxi: The album is largely liked by fans of the band and it's also gotten some nice reviews in different media publications. I bet all this positive feedback encourages you guys to continue on the chosen musical path in the future because why fix something that's not broken?

Guilherme: Yes, man, you're right. We're getting plenty of good reviews, so, of course, it's natural that we are also proud of this release. Nonetheless, it's always good to get those positive reactions about our stuff.

OF SHARING JACK AND COKE WITH MIKKEY DEE

Luxi: I guess covering Motörhead's "Back at the Funny Farm" for the bonus track on this album was kind of the band's tribute to Lemmy's career with Motörhead, right? Anyway, what's your coolest personal Lemmy story that you'd share with our readers?

Guilherme: Well, unfortunately, I never met Lemmy personally. I met Mikkey Dee once. I was quite drunk in Stockholm at a bar and I ordered some Jack and Coke and then Mikkey Dee appeared at the bar. He was releasing something there in Stockholm and it was some sort of a metal/rock type of bar or club. I was there with some friends. Also, nice coincidence that when I ordered some Jack and Coke, he appeared. I was like, "Fuck...! Am I hallucinating or is this guy really Mikkey Dee?" Then we said "hi" to each other. I met him in LA once also. He's a guy that's when we see each other, like, "Hey how are you?" That's the closest I've got.

L-G met Lemmy many times. He knows everybody, so he probably has a good story about it. It's good that we have a subject for a new interview later on, for the next album maybe [*laughs*].

Luxi: You also did a Piledriver cover song, "Metal Inquisition", for Decibel magazine's "Flexi Series". Whose idea was it to pick this song and cover it under Entombed A.D.'s name?

Guilherme: The Piledriver song was an idea from L-G and Nico. They had it in mind and we just recorded it. There's not much story behind it. It's good, you know, this flexi thing with Decibel. It's really, really good.

Luxi: Have you any intentions to play it live as well?

Guilherme: Not for this tour, we're not doing it, but who knows? Maybe. Yes. Why not?

Luxi: How has the Hell Over Europe III been for you guys so far? Seems like you have had some good crowds so far, which, of course, is a motivating thing to keep the Entombed A.D. circus going on, right?

Guilherme: I think for Entombed A.D. the most important thing is to be on the road. We love to be on the road. We love to tour compulsively. Of course, it's really stressful and you'll get exhausted, but we really like to play live and I think that is the way to keep things going. Putting out records and going on nice tours, you know. This tour we're getting more people than before. We're selling more than before and I think this is a good sign, right?

Luxi: It definitely is, yeah. Whenever you go out for a tour, do you always feel like they are special for both the band and you or more like a "necessary evil" that you simply need to do in order to keep the band going on and keep your fans satisfied?

Guilherme: No, we always want to go on tours because we want to go. Then again, of course, we say "no" to a lot of stuff, too. If you go just for the money and for the obligation, it's not going to work, believe me. We go because we believe in the package and we want to go to the tour. That's how we do it.

KEEPING THINGS ON TRACK AND MORE

Luxi: How much do you follow what is going on in the current underground Metal scene? Do you check out new bands on a regular basis or do you stick to those albums that more or less have some nostalgic value for you?

Guilherme: Man, we really follow everything. I used to follow much more than I do now for obvious reasons. I have so much in my life right now, and because of that [*chuckles*] it is difficult keeping track of everything. Anyway, I go to underground gigs, I have friends from bands all over the world. L-G doesn't miss one Death Metal gig in Stockholm either. We're always up to date with things.

Of course, we can't be up to date with everything because it's impossible. There is too much going on everywhere nowadays, but we pay attention. We like the underground scene, we go to small gigs and so on. We're metalheads [*chuckles*]. There's not much to say.

Luxi: What's the last new band that you heard that made you excited?

Guilherme: Lately I was listening to a lot to Necrot from the US. They play old school Death Metal. It's really cool, dirty, ugly. All Pigs Must Die released a new album, well last year [*laughs*], so it's not that new anymore. This band that is currently touring with us, Baest, they're really cool guys and they're extremely professional. They have some really nice songs, too. We have so many good bands going out there nowadays, it's quite cool. I, of course, follow new records from many bands that I like also. We're always checking things out.

Luxi: How does next year look for the band? Lots of festival gigs in sight perhaps, a couple of club tours and stuff like that?

Guilherme: Well, I hope so. We were having discussions for this, for what to do next year. It looks like we have quite a lot of offers for festivals, tours, and single concerts. We have to sit down and gather everything together and build a good schedule, something that works for everybody. Looks like next year we're going to have quite a busy year for sure.

TWO ZERO TWO ZERO

Luxi: Is it possible you might record the band's fourth album at the end of 2020 or is this option out of the question?

Guilherme: Well, man, I'm going to give you almost the same answer I gave in the last question. It all depends on how we gather everything; sit down, talk, plan things and then we can program the new album and so on. I don't believe we're going to record it in the last month next year. I already have two or three new songs recorded at home, like demos. From my side what I'm going to keep doing is writing music, try to write some lyrics [*laughs*]. Then, when it's time to record the album, we just rehearse and do it.

Luxi: How about putting out an Entombed A.D. live DVD someday, either as a bonus with your next album or just putting it out separately?

Guilherme: Before this I have no idea, I have no idea. No plans at all. Well, maybe one day, why not.

Luxi: Thanks for your time, Guilherme, and all the best for the rest of your European tour as well. Any last comments perhaps?

Guilherme: Well, man, again, thank you very much for the interview, thank you for the support. We were quite happy with everything that is happening with the band now. Keep your helmets, swords, and beers and let's meet on the road. Thanks a lot to everybody in Finland. We're having really great support there. It means a lot to us. Thank you very much. We'll speak soon. Cheers...!

Other information about Entombed A.D. on this site

Review: Back to the Front

Interview with vocalist L-G Petrov on November 2, 2014 (Interviewed by Luxi Lahtinen)