Starting a new series of interviews for 2017, grab your sunglasses and let’s jet off to Rio de Janeiro, home of 28 year old sonic desecrator Jhones Silva, a man who’s been in the Noise business for almost 10 years.
Whether he’s playing ear-shattering live shows with God Pussy, putting out formidable releases through his side projects Natural Nihilismo and Jhones Junkie, or documenting extreme music online at Dissonance From Hell, his unbreakable work ethic has cemented his status as a fearsome figurehead in the region.
I briefly caught up with Silva to find out more including his beginnings in noise, the current state of the Brazilian scene and the origin of the name God Pussy…
DMD: Growing up, what music did you listen to?
Jhones Silva: Hello! I grew up listening to a lot of different things, but mainly punk, grindcore and rap.
I only started listening to noise in my adolescence, due to my taste for grindcore I was sinking through several different strands until I finally reached the harsh noise level.
DMD: How did you discover noise / experimental music?
JS: Through grindcore and noisecore webpages and blogs, it had quite an impact on me, I started listening to try to understand it.
I didn’t really begin with experimental music, after finding harsh noise I was completely confused and fissured with the brutality and insanity of it all.
DMD: How is the music scene in Rio de Janiero and who are your favourite bands / projects from the scene?
JS: The scene...? I often say that the scene is dead!! Lately it has gained plenty of space in other distinct corners and places, events, festivals and anywhere else.
The cool thing is to see things happen, of course!
A lot of it will disappear in a few years, but for now the flame is still on, so we will continue to produce and walk into the chaos of noise every day.
The list of projects I like listening to is immense, there is so much good stuff and I believe I still haven’t heard everything…
DMD: Are there many places to hold noise events? Or is it difficult to organise regular Live Noise Shows in Brazil?
JS: As previously mentioned, there are specific places to host live noise and organise events...more lately going well beyond that, Brazil has some great festivals and other places that showcase extreme music.
DMD: Which God Pussy / Natural Nihilismo / Jhones Junkie albums are your favourites and why?
JS: I'm usually pretty wary about things like that, but I was able to list a few favourite albums of mine so that surprised me a lot:
Jhones Junkie - Outro
Released by Antena netlabel
Natural Nihilismo - Opróbrio (Opprobrium)
It's quite a complete and touching album that I worked on for a few months…
With God Pussy I have a vast discography
Each record has a differentiated feeling, I will mention some recent ones that I enjoyed making.
Desaparecidos (Missing)
Launched by two international labels ‘Malware’ and ‘Al Revés’ it is a gripping album, I used real facts about missing persons and have two tracks with statements from mothers whose children have gone missing, it is a record that draws attention to a subject that often goes unnoticed...
Governocidio
This had it's first edition released by the American label 'Darker Days Ahead' soon after came the Brazilian version 'Tercerio Mundo Chaos Discos' and this year I'm preparing a DIY cassette version.
There are 59 tracks at less than 1 minute each and one track which is 8 minutes, totalling 60 tracks.
Retratando A Realidade Bélica (Portraying the Reality of War)
I launched it DIY on cassette and zine with images representative of each track’s source material…
Anyway, I do not have a favourite album. I try to find or identify with a theme or something, I hope to please the listener and make them aware of it in some way.
DMD: What musical instruments do you play and do you play in a band?
JS: I do not know how to play anything, I try to just do a lot of Noisy stuff. I’ve never played in any bands…only Noise Projects!
DMD: What are your 15 favourite albums ever?
JS: I think 15 is too few for this list, I will quote some here that I listen to frequently:
ABesta - Tosco
Animal Machine - The Third World In Perspective
Napalmed - Up To The Ears In Tinnitus
KalvaryBass 666 - Revelations of Noise
VICTIM! - Pupila
T.E.F. / Sickness / Facialmess - Schizoid
T.E.F - Corrugation
Kazumoto Endo - While You Were Out
Noise Machine - Return To Chaos
Incapacitants - Box Is Stupid
Verjault - Brainflesh
Gengivas Negras - Confronto
Yersiniose - 1911
Guilty Connector - First Noise Attack
Thiago Miazzo - Volume 1
Shallow Waters - Equal Eyes
Superalma Project - You- The Living
I was making a list of the number you asked for, but I ended up quoting a few more, leave it as a bonus because they’re all very good!
DMD: What pedals / gear do you own and what software do you use for recording?
JS: Various, I have a fetish for Pedals-DOD, I like to use distortion, overdrive, equalizer, oscillators (many of them homemade), synthesizers, microphones and amplified objects...I use audacity to record all the sounds.
DMD: You say you have made your own oscillators, would you ever consider starting your own pedal company? (Maybe you could call it God Pussy pedals?!)
JS: No No! They are for home use, but I do not make them, I get them from friends and acquaintances, I do not have the patience to build that kind of stuff, hahaha!
DMD: What inspires you to make music?
JS: I do not make music, I try to carry a positive message and awareness in the form of NOISE.
DMD: What does 2017 hold for you and your music?
JS: I am planning to release physical materials inside and outside of Bra$il.
This year has been very productive, I already have several splits with countless projects and several full-length releases inside and outside the country:
God Pussy - negerplastik [No Yearning]
God Pussy - Abnegação Filantrópica [Human Cross Records]
God Pussy - CRIME [Fermented Bile Vomit Productions]
God Pussy - Ato Criminal, Ascensão ao Terrorismo [L.White Records]
and one cassette release for Ruido Horrible coming soon.
DMD: What can you tell us about your Dissonance from hell blog?
JS: The blog has been active since 2010, formed with the intention of divulging some of the artists / projects from Brazil and Latin America.
There are not many blogs or pages writing about this kind of extreme sound, so I thought It would be nice to have a focused online location to spread the ear disease. The blog has already held some events and released a compilation.
DMD: How did you get the name God Pussy?
JS: I just wanted to use it in a striking way, so I chose it, but it's just the name of my noise project, it goes beyond the interpretation that some see…God Pussy is not sexism nor blasphemy.
It is not even music, just a manifestation...But see it as you want.
DMD: What do you do when you are not making noise?
JS: Work, hanging out with my family, I live a normal life like any other citizen.
DMD: What are some of your favourite live shows you have played?
JS: I enjoyed it very much when I played with Pharmakon (NYC based Industrial Noise outfit) the place was packed, I was playing really close to the audience and they didn’t stop crowding the place. It was something beautiful and surprising…
I love to play live, no matter how much I need to work to travel to play a show I enjoy this mess.
God Pussy - Live @ Campos de Experimentação Sonora
DMD: If you could play live in any country in the world, which one would it be?
JS: That would be wonderful. I do not have a specific country, but I would like to go out and tour different places...who knows, possibly at some point.
DMD: Is there anybody you would like to give a shout out to?
JS: Thank you for wanting to know more about God Pussy and all those who follow me thanks to the people who attend the events and who acquire the materials for download or physical, thanks to you this noise project can continue at full steam ahead...
Thank you to those who already collaborate with me (events, splits, compilations and label friends)
Thank you all!!
A big hug and thank you for getting to the end of this interview.
To stay informed, simply log onto these pages:
Read a review of 'Retratando A Realidade Bélica (Portraying The Reality Of War) here
and a review of Natural Nihilismo - Opróbrio (Opprobrium) plus reviews of fellow Brazilians Verjault (Experimental / Noise) and Hari Maia (Power Electronics / Death Industrial / Noise) in the final DMD 2016 highlights list here
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