Interviews: Gods & Punks

On this new occasion, we have had the opportunity to interview the Stoner Metal/Doom Metal/Heavy Metal band Gods & Punks from Brazil. Check out the interview and follow the band on their FACEBOOK PAGE.

1. For readers discovering Gods & Punks for the first time, how would you describe the band’s sound and identity?

Our band is heavily influenced by two main pillars: Black Sabbath and Rush. The result of this often comes as slow, riff-oriented, stoner rock tracks with dashes of prog. If you like this type of sound, we urge you to listen to our discography.

After five previous full-length albums, what inspired the band to create a release as ambitious and expansive as “A Shrine By The Sea”? We always wanted to do something like this, but the idea of going to the studio and recording two 21-minute epics in two days felt like something that could be really challenging, so we kinda kept this idea to ourselves for a while. However, after recording 5 full-length albums and 6 Eps, we felt we had the experience required to tackle an ambitious project like this.

2. The album consists of two 21-minute compositions, “The Lighthouse” and “Poseidon.” What made you decide to structure the entire album around these two massive pieces?

When you consistently release albums like we do, you have the flexibility to experiment more with each release. I mean.... bands that release one album every 4 or 5 years can't just go crazy in experimenting without risking a bad reception, making fans have to wait a long time to get what they expected. We can release whatever we want, with no label pressure and no huge expectation from fans because we're constantly putting stuff out.

3. Can you take us through the concept and story behind A Shrine By The Sea? What inspired the themes explored throughout the album?

I made a demo for Poseidon back in 2013, and it was shelved since then. After our fifth album, 2024's Death, we wanted our next full-length to be more experimental, so I remembered we had Poseidon ready, so we just started working on it again. After Poseidon was finished, we got a few riff ideas Pedro had from way back and started working around them. Having already decided Poseidon would be released, we decided to stick to the theme and name this other song The Lighthouse.

4. How do you approach writing such long-form songs while keeping the listener engaged through different movements and emotions?

I'm a huge fan of long tracks, be they progressive pieces like Rush's 2112, or lysergic droning journeys like Sleep's Dopesmoker. However, we wanted to keep our style throughout the tracks, with dynamic changes and many different parts to keep the listener engaged. The main thing we learnt from writing these two tracks was patience - don't rush to get to the next part, let it all come slowly, let it all flow as much as it needs to.

5. The album blends doom, psychedelic rock, and progressive elements. How has your sound evolved throughout your six-album journey?

I think our first three albums are much more proggy than our last three. This is basically due to line-up changes and what each member brought to the table. Danilo, our old bass player, was a huge fan of technical prog, so we often went that way. Now, with Rodrigo and Gabriel, I think we became a bit closer to stoner and doom elements. It's all natural; it was never something we stopped and thought, "ok let's change our sound now". It just happens, you know.

6. What role do atmosphere and storytelling play in the songwriting process for Gods & Punks?

It was always something that heavily influenced our albums. Every single one of our full-length albums so far is, in some way, a concept album: The first four records tell a story, when the songs are rearranged in the story arc order we put in each album cover. Death was a concept album based on a near-death experience I had in 2021, and now A Shrine By The Sea is a concept album based on the ocean. We think this is a great way to give the album a direction, both lyrically and sound-wise, and never be stuck like "ok what do we do next?"

7. The vinyl version presents the album as two complete side-long journeys, while streaming divides the songs into individual “waves.” How important was it to preserve the intended listening experience?

Our original idea was to release it on streaming as two 21:12 tracks, like on the vinyl, but we knew that wouldn't work with streaming. I mean... forget getting playlisted, etc... It would be a pain. So we just decided to divide the tracks like this for streaming, but yes, to get the full experience, we recommend listening to the album from start to finish.

8. What was the recording process like with different members recording in Rio de Janeiro, Santos, and Paris?

We've been doing this since 2022's Mountains of Garbage EP. So far, we've done this for two EPs: Mountains of Garbage and Holograms, and two albums, Death and A Shrine By The Sea. What we normally do is: We compose over the phone, or via whatsapp, we share ideas, contribute to each other's stuff, etc... and then, to record, we normally make demos with amateur quality at home, and then Rodrigo and Gabriel will go to the studio, in Rio, record their parts live, then Pedro would record his bass parts on top of that, and I would record vocals afterwards. Organs and additional instruments too.

9. How did working with André Leal and Kleber Mariano at Estúdio Jukebox help shape the final sound of the album?

We've been with them since 2019's And The Celestial Ascension and, after that album, we thought "these guys took our sound to another level," so we stuck with them. They mixed and mastered every studio release we had since then. This time, we asked them to base the mix on what we had with the Holograms EP, which we thought sounded amazing. Then we just adjusted a few things after the first version of the mix they brought us.

10. The artwork was created by Alexandre C. How did the visual concept develop alongside the music?

Yeah, I had an idea of the record cover I wanted since the beginning of the songwriting process, so I decided to do it myself this time. I took a picture of a Poseidon statue in Berlin back in 2022, if I'm not mistaken. And I decided to do something in that direction, with the same art style as Bruno Kros did with 2024's Death. What came later were the colors. We tried many different combinations and settled with the ones that appear in the final result.

11. You mention influences like Black Sabbath, Elder, and Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats. How have those bands inspired Gods & Punks while still allowing you to create your own identity?

I think Black Sabbath and Rush were the two most influential for us, as they were the only two bands that all of the 5 members we had in 2016 loved. But other bands like Uncle Acid, Monster Magnet (from where we took our band name), and Elder were also big influences on us. The construction of our own identity came with time, as we began to write more and more songs. We never stop to think about sounding like this or that band; everything happens naturally.

12. Which of the two tracks, “The Lighthouse” or “Poseidon,” holds a special meaning for you and why?

Both of them do, actually. Poseidon touches on the thrill and joy of exploration and the unknown, while The Lighthouse touches on the opposite theme, the need to get back to familiar ground and to have a place to anchor your ship, you know? To get back onto land. Both of them have a special meaning because of this - they reflect opposite necessities we have in life, that are equally important.

13. After six studio albums, what keeps the band inspired and motivated to continue creating?

We want to make every album a unique experience, keep doing conceptual works instead of just putting out a collection of songs, you know? We have many ideas for the future, and this keeps everything interesting.

14. What has the response been like from fans discovering A Shrine By The Sea?

It's been getting a great response. We're loving it. We've been getting messages, people sharing the music on their social media, etc. This is great; not only does it help promote the work, but it's also so gratifying, you know? It's great to feel your work touched people that never met you in their life.

15. What can listeners expect from Gods & Punks moving forward? More new music, live performances, or future projects?

If everything goes according to plan, we'll play our first live show since 2019 early next year, and then we plan on recording and releasing some cool stuff we still can't tell you about. Then, in 2028, it's time to get a new full-length album out, and we already have a concept for that too.

16. Is there anything else you’d like to share with the readers of Breathing The Core Zine?

Yes, thanks for your support; we hope you enjoy A Shrine By The Sea and our other material. We wanna thank Breathing The Core Zine for giving us this opportunity to share more about our new album, and we'd also like to say it's available on every major streaming platform, as well as on Bandcamp (which is the best way to support the band, btw) and on limited edition vinyl, which you can order through both godsandpunks.bandcamp.com or through http://evrecords.bandcamp.com.

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