Crypta
Lifelong Project

18.01.2022

Crypta is a Brazilian/Dutch band put together by four young female artists. Each of them gives a good example of how the end of a creative project always gives birth to something new and long-awaited. This death metal band was formed in 2019 by singer and bass guitarist Fernanda Lira and drummer Luana Dametto who were mostly famous as long-term members of Brazil’s Nervosa. Dutch guitarist Sonia Anubis, who is familiar to many metalheads because of several-year-tenure with Burning Witches, joined them shortly. The band was complete with the addition of guitarist Tainá Bergamaschi who had previously played folk metal in yet another Brazilian band, Hagbard.
Crypta is a unique combination of music experiences and creative ambitions. It’s no wonder that we had so many questions to the band's co-founder Fernanda Lira. Senhora Fernanda kindly told us about the shooting of the “From the Ashes” music video, aspirations to go on an international tour with Crypta’s debut album “Echoes of the Soul” as soon as possible, and her warm attitude towards Russia where she had played with Nervosa quite a few times.

Our first question is about the name of your new band. When musicians choose a name for the band they always try to reflect their artistic ideas and to tell their future fans what they can expect from the band. So why did you choose the name Crypta?

The first thing is when we were searching for a name, it was really hard because all the names are used nowadays; every name, if you go on Metal-Archives — it is used. It's really hard to find a name. But the thing is we just wanted like a short name. A short name — easy to be memorized, just one word, as simple as possible, but still impactful. We were trying many names, some in Portuguese, some in English and just couldn't find one that we all liked.
And then Luana remembered something. When we were on one of our last tours with Nervosa we had a day off. We were in the Czech Republic, and on that day we decided to walk around the city and do some tourism and we found some crypts in there, they were open for visitors. We just took this day trip through the crypts there and they were really cool. And then Luana remembered this trip and she was like, “Okay, I think I've found the name — Crypt.” Something like that. She was like: “Crypt!” We went to the crypt and it was so cool and so death metal because, you know, crypt is where dead people are, so she was like, “Yeah, it's very aggressive and related to death metal". But still we wanted to have a Brazilian touch to that, and because “crypt” in Portuguese is “cripta”, we just made a mix of the name in English and the name in Portuguese, and that's the result — Crypta. The name was not taken, the name was not being used, so it was perfect. It is an easy name, it's aggressive, and it's kind of related to death metal. We thought it was a good one.

Senhora Fernanda, we really liked the video where you show the Family Mob studio and the nice place where you lived together with your bandmates while working on the album. There you mentioned that you had never met Tainá before you started this new project and had met Sonia only once or twice. How could this happen that four people that don't know each other properly get together and become a new band?

The first thing, of course, I know many guitarists, although girl guitarists are still less common than guys playing. But since we were starting something from scratch and because when we started Crypta, we (Fernanda and Luana— ed.) were still in Nervosa, Crypta was a side project, we never thought it would be our main band, so we decided: “Okay, since it's going to be a side project and we have no rush, let's just look for the ideal people to be with us, someone that really has everything that we want, not only technically, musically speaking, but also the vibe and the intention.” We took like a loooooong time to decide on the whole line up exactly because we were not in a rush. We were like, “Hey, let's just find the ideal people.”
And as for Sonia, we already knew she would be the first one when me and Luana were creating the band, we were like, “Okay, who is going to be the first guitarist?” And we knew it was going to be Sonia because we just liked her technically very much and knew she had the 80s vibe and that she was a very creative person. We thought it would be cool. And we had met Sonia a couple of times as you mentioned.
As for Tainá, she was a complete stranger. We didn't have any mutual friends, I had never seen any videos of her on the Internet. But still we knew she was the one. Because technically she is really good and she has a very particular way of creating and writing music. And she is so super-sweet.
We just decided to have this band this way, even though we were not the best friends with the musicians. But I think this happens a lot nowadays. My first band, okay, it was like friends getting together and playing. But I think nowadays most bands are not the best friends, but just random people they tested or they knew through the Internet. It happened when I was in Nervosa already — I was in the band with Prika (Amaral, guitarist), and I didn't know her previously, I had never heard of her before. And it was the same with the drummers that got in the band, Luana, for example. When we chose her (for Nervosa – ed.), I'd never heard of Luana, I hadn’t seen any videos, we had no mutual contacts, nothing. I think we are pretty used to it.

So, you just liked Tainá as a professional person and wrote her some letter, like, “Hello, let's be in the band”?

Actually, it was the opposite way. Tainá wrote me. Me and Luana had posted on the Internet about having a side project, Tainá saw that and she wrote me. She was like, “Fernanda, you don't know me but that's the thing I know — you are in a side project with Luana, I don't know if you have a guitarist but I really want to be in the band.” We were kind of scared of the attitude, like, “Oh, that's a lot of attitude!” I was like, “Yes, sure, send me some video.” And then she sent me a video of her playing “Crystal Mountain” by Death. And I was like, 'Ah!' She was playing it perfectly. I knew it was going to be her but we didn't accept her in the band just because she could play well. We really had many group calls, we were on WhatsApp, having a group chat to see if she had the kind of vibe we needed, if she had the same energy, if she was a nice person, a chill person. It was definitely not only the professional side. We knew what we wanted personality-wise, we knew what kind of personality we wanted in the band, and she had it all — she was very sweet and very calm and nice. So, yeah, she was the perfect combo.

You may have met Sonia Anubis personally during a festival in Russia called Big Gun in 2019, right?

Actually, when there was this festival the band Crypta already existed, I think. Or no. I'm not sure if it existed. In which month was it? In July?

It was in the end of July 2019.

Yeah, Crypta already existed, Crypta was formed in June 2019, but we hadn't announced anything. Actually, we wanted to be announcing Crypta really close to the release of the album. But when we left Nervosa, people were so desperate and curious, like, “Oh my God, will they still be doing music?”, that we decided to announce Crypta then. But we had really no rush, the band was formed in June 2019 and I remember that we were really looking forward to meet there at the festival. We knew both bands would be playing there and we were like, “Yeah! This is going to be great because it's going to be the first opportunity of meeting each other personally after the band was created.” We thought of taking some pictures together and everything and we were so excited. But we didn't meet at the festival because they (Burning Witches — ed.) played on one day, we played on the other day, and they played and left. When we got to the festival Sonia was not there anymore. We were so sad.
I've known Sonia for a while. Me and Luana have been following her for years now. I personally have been following her since she was a bass player in one of her previous bands a while ago. She was really young, I think she was like 17 or something. But I was already following her on social media and I always liked her — the attitude and everything. We had a chance to meet personally when Nervosa and Burning Witches played together. I think it was at the festival in Switzerland or something like that.

Thank you for such interesting details! Yes, all your fans were really shocked when you left Nervosa together with Luana. I was very sad, I thought, “Oh my God, I will never meet these girls again, they will not come to Russia, they are not in Nervosa anymore."

Yeah.

Actually it seemed from the outside that in Nervosa you had everything that a young musician could dream about. It really seemed that you, the three girls, together with Prika Amaral, were a great team. I heard in Prika’s interview on the Internet that it was you who decided to leave the band. Why did you make such an unexpected decision?

Yeah, that's a good question because that really went on my mind so many times. I really thought of this, “I have everything I want here, everything I've ever dreamed about.” Because I built the band, I worked a lot to be there. And I built a beautiful story and a solid name on the metal scene, which is hard. We were playing festivals, we had just been announced for Wacken, which was my biggest dream. I was finally getting some money with the band from touring. So I had everything and there was a dilemma in my mind. I was like, “I have everything here, everything is perfect, exactly as I wished. Why do I feel like I need to leave the band?”
But the thing is that our relationship... I decided to leave the band, that's for sure, but for a while back then we all knew that our relationship was not cool anymore. The relationship in the band was really strained, it was really worn out, we were just not friends anymore. This is normal, it happens in many kinds of relationship, right? In a job relationship, in a friendship — you had that friend, it was your best friend for like ten years. And then, all of a sudden, you just don't click together anymore. This happens in a marriage, it happens in a loving relationship, sometimes the relationship just doesn't work anymore. That's exactly what was happening in Nervosa.
I was really afraid to take that decision. I took over a year to make up my mind and actually decide to leave the band but the first time I thought of that I almost cried, I was so scared of my own thought. I thought, “Oh, maybe I'll have to leave the band,” and I was like, “No, no, no, no, no, I don't want to think about that, go away, go away!” It was terrible. But deep inside I knew it would be the best for everyone. The thing is the three of us knew that the relationship was not the same anymore, that we were not happy as a group anymore. And that things were not going to work anymore.
The three of us knew that, but somebody needed to actually have the courage and the guts to take the step that would make everyone's lives better. And it was like the toughest decision to me because Nervosa was my child, I worked there for almost a decade, but I knew someone needed to do something. I almost died because it was so hard but I knew in the end it was going to be good. And we can see now that it was a good step because Nervosa is there, they have released an album that people like, we are happy with Crypta, everyone is writing music together, everyone is happy again. So, I knew this was going to happen. I knew we needed to go separate ways, so our journeys would be happy again.
I knew it was a necessary step and I'm actually proud I took that step. Our relationship had really been strained already for a while but to me the turning point, when it was like, “Okay, now I see it is not going to go anywhere,” was when we tried to start writing new songs, and it was not working, because we had different ideas of where we wanted to go. And I'm very intense, I'm very passionate and I just can't fake it when it comes to creating music. It was not happening, and I was like, “Okay, this is the big sign for me that this is not working.”
Now that we are separate, Nervosa have created an album really quick, and we, Crypta, are really happy with the material we are creating. We are already working on the second album because our creativity is just flowing and flowing.

Thank you for being so courageous, senhora Fernanda.

Yeah, yeah. It was tough but it was the best for everyone. Now we have two nice bands.

Senhora Fernanda, how did you manage to persuade Napalm Records that they must support your new project? They had some risks, I guess.

The thing is I never said a word to them, never ever. When I left Nervosa I was in a very bad place emotionally, I was really sad. When you end a relationship, it’s like “Aaah!” so I felt very bad, with low self-esteem, but I swear to God, I was already thinking of how we were going to release the Crypta album independently. I was like, “We don't have any money, how are we going to do that?” I was really planning it already.
But the thing is for the nine years that I was in Nervosa, I was dealing with the label directly. I was the one who answered all emails, I was just doing everything that was related to the label, and I had an amazing relationship with them. When I left the band I made sure I wrote an email to them just saying goodbye. I wrote an email to all the team and said, “Guys, I'm parting ways, thank you for everything you've done for me and my band until now but I've got to go, thank you and see you on the road or whatever.” And the CEO of Napalm wrote me back saying, “Just make sure whenever you have a demo you just send it to me, I want to hear it here at Napalm.” I was like, “Sure!” But I just thought they were being polite.
For quite a while I didn't talk to them, but shortly before we announced Crypta on the Internet I sent them some demos and before they could answer me about those demos, we announced the band and there was all that feedback, people were like “Yeah!” And then the CEO wrote me and told me, “I want to sign your band right away.” And I almost fell off the chair, I almost had a heart attack, I was like “Whaaat?” On the same day when we announced the band, he was like, “Yeah, here is the contract I have for you, let me know if you want to do any changes, we can adapt it to whatever you feel like. But we just want to do this as quick as possible and announce that you are with Napalm. We just really want to sign you right away.”
And I was just so happy, because even though some friends and family told me, “Of course, they are going to do this!”, I couldn't see it coming, because I was in a very bad place emotionally, I never thought they would be interested in me. In my own mind I was still like, “Oh!” And it was the opposite, they were like, “No, I want this band right away.” It was really surprising to me and it was like as if the weight of the world was lifted from my back. I was so light after that, not only because I knew that with them we were going to release a nice quality album, but also because it's family. I've worked with them for almost a decade. It's a long relationship, so I feel like they are my family. I know everyone there, I know how everyone works, which not only makes me emotionally comfortable but also it makes me feel... easier. If we went to a new label, it would take a while to adapt until you know everyone and see how they work. I was just home again, I knew how everything worked, so it was the best thing ever. But I never insisted, I never like persuaded them — no, I was actually not in the place to do that emotionally. I just said goodbye, then sent them some demos and when we announced the band they were like, “We just want to sign your band right away.” I was really surprised.

It sounds really great. Do you believe that Crypta is going to be a long lasting project, like Aerosmith, for example? Or is it just another step in your artistic life?

I think it's a lifelong project, to be honest. Because now, especially now, during the pandemic, I found out I cannot live without a band. I miss being on stage so much! You have no idea, really. Physically I miss being on stage, I miss discharging all the energy, I miss looking everyone in their eyes, I miss doing this weird face, I miss that really very much. And my mental health decreased, I have anxiety now and everything, because I want to be on stage. I've learnt during the pandemic that I just can't be without a band, I need to be in a band because that's what I love to do. There are other things I like to do but that's the one thing I love to do. So I planned, I mean, I have a Nervosa tattoo right here (shows her right wrist — ed.).

It's really beautiful.

And I thought I was going to be in Nervosa until I retire. That was my plan. I was like, “I just want to be in the band until the day I die,” that's why I got this tattoo. Plans changed. But I just love music and I feel like with Crypta I'll do my best that it lasts as much as it can. Because this is my life project right now. And I want to take all my experience, and I've got a lot from Nervosa, and bring it to Crypta to make things work fast. But also all the things didn't work out really well in Nervosa, bad experiences — I want to transform them in Crypta. The things that I think didn't work there, I want to make sure they work nice here in Crypta. I just want to have fun and be on stage, and write music that people feel happy with for as much as I can. So, definitely Crypta is a lifelong project to me. And also it was a trauma, it was very traumatic to leave Nervosa and all this process was terrible, so I really don't want to go through it again.

I remember your first show in St. Petersburg with Nervosa. During the song “Into Moshpit” you drew a circle in the air and people formed a moshpit.

I have a special place in my heart for Russia definitely because since the beginning it has welcomed me so much. You have been there with open arms since day one, and this means a lot to me. I love Russia, I just have a special place in my heart for Russia and I still remember this first show very much. It is still one of my favorite ones, because it was just crazy. I think it was sold out or something, it was so packed. And people were just like insane, lots of moshpits, and it was one of the best experiences. I remember the place perfectly, I remember the dressing rooms are like more to the left, and the main place is here, some other place there is a little bit higher, and the bar is in the back. I remember everything about that place, it's just really special. I just can't wait to be back.

Unfortunately, the club where the first Nervosa show in St. Petersburg took place is closed now.

Oh, really? That's sad.

We have hard times for music clubs in St. Petersburg. But we still have some good places for concerts.

In Brazil it's the same. So many amazing places we had here, they've just closed. It is so sad. Really.

Senhora Fernanda, we really need to ask you about the music video for “From the Ashes”. It is very creative and interesting. But we'd like to ask if you and your bandmates worked on the story of the video by yourselves. We like this video very much but it looks like something is missing. It's like you four have your own bodies in the coffins and then you fall into the abyss and then you burn the coffins. Seems to be the end of the life circle. I expected that in the very last moment of the video some rock goddesses or newborn four girls would rise from the ashes. But the coffin was just burnt and you just fell into the abyss. It's like something is missing, to my mind, according to my personal opinion. Could you tell more about the story and the idea of the video?

I truly understand what you mean but if you pay attention when we are playing and we are all in our clothes, like metal clothes and everything, there is fire from the graves. In the scenes where we are playing there is fire from the graves. It’s a subliminal message that we are reborn as the metalheads that are playing there while our coffins are burning. The metal goddesses are exactly us in our new versions, they are playing in our metal outfits, shredding and everything while the coffins are burning. That's the sign that we are reborn in a more powerful way. Now if you watch the video for the second time you will pay attention to the coffins and the graves burning and you will see that that's exactly the idea.
We wrote the story ourselves, I mean, the rough sketch, it was done by us. But we worked with a movie crew, and we had a script writer writing the script with the director. So, we had just a rough idea and they transformed it into the videoclip. The idea was mainly to match the lyrics because the lyrics tell the tale of the phoenix, but they also talk about ending and beginning, the end of the cycle, how to survive the end of the cycle, how to endure the difficult times, how the end of the cycle can open new doors to new cycles. This is also about our journey in life. How many past versions of ourselves do we need to bury to actually move on and evolve and be better at something? We all have past versions of ourselves that don't exist anymore today. We were like, “Okay, you stay there, now I'm a different person.” That was the main idea — let's just burn that part of ourselves that is there in the coffin and start a new version of ourselves.
But many people have many different interpretations of the video. I think it's cool because art is exactly this. Sometimes I can be very explicit in the lyrics, very clear about what I'm communicating, and still people can relate to it in another way. That's the magic of art — everyone will understand it in a different way.

Thank you for explaining everything, it becomes clearer now. Senhora Fernanda, could you please tell more about André Gustavo, the director of the music video. In “Making of” it seems like you are listening and he's telling you where to go, what to say and what to do, like he is the master of the process. Is he a famous movie director in Brazil? Could you please give us any facts about him, maybe the titles of his most famous movies?

He does more like short movies and he is producing some cool stuff but I can't tell you because it's not out yet. What I can say is that he works for the biggest movie company in Latin America which is called O2 Filmes. The owner of the company is the director of that really famous movie “Cidade de Deus” (“City of God”). It is one of the most famous Brazilian movies. So it's a huge studio, and André Gustavo works for this studio, and we got the support from this studio to produce the video clip. Before us he did like lots of advertisement for huge companies but also some short films. And one is called “Quarantine...” something and it's really cool. It’s about people at home, it’s reproducing quarantine moments. It's really interesting. He is a good guy, he is a very good guy. Because our idea for the video was really simple, we just thought it would be the movie director, one cameraman and one make-up artist, that's all. But he was like, “No, just tell me how much you have.” And I said how much we had. And he was like, “This would pay for the food and the COVID test zone only but I'll take care of that.”
He took the project and brought it to another level. He really transformed it into something like a movie environment. We had nearly 60 people working on the movie. He was like: “Okay, I just need you to act on the movie and the rest is with me.” And he transformed it into something so beautiful that the only thing we could do was respect and do whatever he said, also because he was the experienced one. We know how to play and we had the original idea, we knew how we wanted it. But he is the one who has the technical knowledge of everything, he is the one who has experience in movies. So we were like, “Okay! Let's just shut up and learn and do whatever you say.” And the result was this amazing videoclip.

Sounds really great. And where did you film this music video? It looks like some place not far from my family's countryhouse in Russia in July.

Yeah, which is like summer and everything.

But in the credits of the music video it is mentioned that it was the end of January.

Yeah, yeah. But the thing is like here in January is our summer. It was like nearly 40 degrees when we were filming the videoclip with all the fire and the leather and all the metal outfits we were wearing.

And with the corpse make-up on?!

Yes, it was really hot. We recorded the album and filmed the video in a city near San Paulo, in the middle of the woods. It was actually at a farm. We rented this farm, so we could do everything there. But it was summer, it was hot, it was like exactly like your July is, the end of July or the beginning of August when it is like the hottest. It's the end of January, for us it's just like extremely hot.

It was a great deal to live through this, through making this video. It was really hard, thank you for doing that.

No, no, it was really cool, it was really cool. We were loving every moment. The hardest thing was actually dragging the coffins because they were so heavy, and we really needed to do that. And the chains hurt us so much, we were like, 'Oh, painful!' That was the most difficult part.

There is a moment about dragging the coffins in the “Making of” when Luana is talking to a guy from the crew like, 'Oh, I'm trying but you'll push it yourself.'

Yeah, yeah. Luana is really short and tiny and it was really hard for her to drag the coffin. And the guy was like 'Okay, I'm going to help you.' She was like, 'Okay, so I pretend and you will drag it'. And he was like, 'No, come on, help me out.' The coffin thing was really hard but in the end it was really nice.

Senhora Fernanda, may I ask you about one detail? We have a discussion about the pronunciation of senhora Tainá's surname, Bergamaschi — like with sh or k in the end?

Bergamas[k]i. And I love that you pronounce Tainá really well. By the way, when we have European calls, no one can say it properly. Everyone says “Tanya, Táina” but never Tainá. You pronounce it really well.

I learn Portuguese.

Oh, yeah, exactly.

I think the problem is that we have the word “тайна” in Russian. In Russian “тайна” is “mystery”.

Oh, I'm going to tell her.

And when a person sees the word “тайна”, he or she doesn't pay attention to any symbols and thinks 'Well, тайна is тайна”.

Okay, okay, that's cool. Тайна. I'm going to tell her.

It's not like somebody wants to say something rude, no.

No, of course, not. We know it's hard. People have difficulties with Luana too. Sometimes they call her Luna, Laura. It's normal. We know people mess things up. And the same thing is probably if I'm trying to say your name, it might be a little bit wrong, it's normal. It's just very particular pronunciation and everything. It's all cool, we’re used to it.

Senhora Fernanda, the last question from us. You started touring around the world when you were very, very young. Was visiting different countries, performing in different countries, like a dream coming true, was it exactly what you wanted since your childhood? And what were your first experiences, good memories about touring around the world?

To me it's definitely a dream come true. Since I was a child I’ve loved travelling. I still love it, it's my favorite thing to do. When I was a teenager I had this big thing inside of me that I really wanted to be travelling or living in another country. I just wanted to explore the world somehow. And when I was 18 I gathered some money — I was studying and didn't have a lot of money but I was saving for a while — and I decided, 'Okay, I'm going to travel, I'm just going to travel.' As soon as I turned 18 I went to Wacken for the first time. It was my first trip outside Brazil, I went to Germany and France, but the main thing was Wacken. It was in 2008, Iron Maiden were playing and it was amazing. I just always liked to go to other places and when I visited Wacken and Germany and France I was like, “I need to do this more often.”
But, you know, Brazil is very far, so it's really hard, and with the economic situation here... It's really expensive to be visiting other countries, doing tourism in other countries. Even if it's countries of South America it is still pretty expensive, and we barely have money to survive here in Brazil. I was like, “Okay, I would love to explore the world and I will save as much money as I can.” But I knew that if I had a regular job or anything I would not have the possibility of actually making my dreams of travelling all around and seeing the other cultures come true. I love the cultural thing and eating local food and stuff like that.
When I started touring with Nervosa, it was like the happiest moments of my life. Not only I was doing something I really liked, which was travelling, but also doing what I love which was playing. It's just the perfect combination. That's why nowadays I'm so anxious and everything because the two things I love most, which are playing and travelling, are just not happening. I'm so thankful to every country we've been through, every city, every promoter everywhere because it is just what makes me feel alive. When I'm travelling it makes me feel like there is so much out of my reality, there is so much outside of my bubble. I just love that.
I don't know if you like astrology but maybe that is my Sagittarius moon. Sagittarius likes to travel around the world and my Sagittarius moon speaks so much for me. So to me combining my dream profession which is playing in a band with my biggest hobby, which is travelling, is just perfect.
The first country we travelled to outside of Brazil was Colombia, now a country where we’ve been many times to. But I had a chance to visit I think over 60 countries with Nervosa. Including Japan, the Philippines, so many countries I'd never thought I would be visiting, but I did with Nervosa. It was just the best thing, I am so thankful. And I have so many stories, you've asked for the stories, but there are so many stories, I don't even know where to start.
I just can't wait to do that with Crypta again. To be out there again on the road and getting to know you — I mean people who go to the show — and talking to you. And telling the promoters, “Okay, I want you to take me somewhere to your favorite restaurant in the city, please, take me there!” I miss doing that, just getting to know the places and the different cultures and different food. I just can't wait for it.
I don't know how it is going to be with Crypta. It all depends on the feedback — if people enjoy our music, if people want to see us live. I'm still not sure, I don't know how it is going to be. But I really hope it would be at least close to what we did with Nervosa, that we were actually able to tour a lot and to travel a lot to many different cities and everything because that was just a dream come true to me. And I hope we (Crypta — ed.) can do the same now.
In Russia we (Nervosa — ed.) visited so many cities, I don't remember all of them because their names sometimes are a little bit complicated to me. But we visited at least 10 different cities there in Russia. I just can't wait to do that. To go to very small cities and villages all of that — I just can't wait. It's the best!

Sempre bem-vindo! (“Always welcome!” in Portuguese — ed.)

Obrigada! (“Thank you!” in Portuguese — ed.)

Senhora Fernanda, queriamos dizer muito obrigada pela entrevista. Tudo correu muito interessante.

Thanks a lot for the opportunity, it really means a lot to me that... truly means a lot to me that after this whole thing I've been through and all this transition... It means a lot that there are still people interested in talking about my work and giving me the chance to talk about what I love. It really means a lot, so thank you for having me!

Com muito prazer e muito obrigada, senhora! (“With great pleasure and thank you very much” in Portuguese — ed.)

Crypta on the Internet: https://www.cryptaofficial.com/

Special thanks to Maxim Bylkin (Soyuz Music) for arranging this interview

Alexandra Prozorova, Yaroslav Serikov
May 30, 2021
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