Subburbia curated 1/7th of Music Review Database's second birthday
celebration earlier this year. They were picked because of their intense punk
rock recordings and unexpected qualities. With Subburbia, you never know if
you're going to get the warm Brazilian beach charm, or the brashness and devilish
sounds of hell - or at least the reincarnation of Damien's role in The
Exorcist. Emil Stresser takes lead in Subburbia, alongside guitarist
Marina Penny. Their vocals correlate to create demonic sounds, as suggested by
their Seal of Solomon image.
~Eddie
Music Review Database: What does the name Subburbia represent?
Marina: It represents who we are, because we grew up in the suburbs, but it's
also the name of a song by Pet Shop Boys that we like a lot! (I LUV that
intro!)
Emil: In Brazil suburbs don't look like the Desperate
Housewives. It's really far from downtown and its more 'dirty' in
some ways. I grew up in the suburbs watching people who born there getting old
there and TO ME that wasn't enough. I used to get bored there on so many
levels. Listening to a lot of music was my 'salvation'. So, there's
this song by Pet Shop Boys called "Suburbia" that says: "I only wanted
something else to do but hang around," and I had the chance to do something
else; so for me, Subburbia is getting out of your comfort zone.
MRD: Who inspired you to pick up a guitar and start writing songs?
Marina: The Strokes. I heard them for the first time in 2004 and since then
I knew that this was the way I wanted to express myself!
Emil: The man, PRINCE.
MRD: What's the meaning behind "You're Not Getting Younger"?
Emil: I love the Lemonheads and I only realised that Evan Dando wasn't the handsome dude from the nineties a couple of years ago. That makes me see that I’m not the teenager that I was in the nineties. Just like Dando, I’m dying and so are you.
Marina: It's just a reality that always haunts us.
MRD: Can you tell us about the music scene in Brazil?
Emil: The sad thing is the conditions, the low payments and the 'You should be happy to have places to play' feelings.
Marina: I'm sad about the music scene in Brazil. It does not have much place
to play; most artists are paid badly and have bad equipment. It's difficult to
stabilise a scene in this mode.
MRD: Do you find it difficult to find an audience and grow with the Brazilian
music scene being like this?
Marina: For sure! Even more to us because we're independent.
Emil: We're doing our best and I think that we're getting there. I don't know why but the Brazilian audience are still into Franz Ferdinand and they still refer to The Strokes as a new band. Dude, those bands have more than 10 years, listen to something new for a change. But we still have a lot of people who get psyched for fusion of sounds, who love new bands, old bands, hip-hop, pop music, disco, post-punk and Brazilian sounds. And these guys are our audience and I love them so much for trying to break the mould.
MRD: How do you intend to break the mould?
Marina: I don't know, I guess I haven’t thought about it yet haha. I just
want to be able to play my songs the way I feel is cool and able to sing about
how I feel with all the shit around me.
Emil: What we TRY to do is something new, being part of the
next generation of bands being true. We don't make music for money (we will die
starving doing that here) for fame or for all those rock star shits. We're
breaking the mould doing pop music that impresses people, and I think we're on the
halfway.
MRD: What are your plans for the future?
Emil: Release our mixtape called LUV EXORCISM (that
will have some features of people we admire), a lot of new and dope videos and
release our own indie label called TERRY CREW ( in honour of our idol Terry
Crews) that will only release cassettes. That will keep us busy for one month
or two.
Marina: To be better!
