Hello Francis how are you doing?

(Francis) I am doing great, thank you. Please tell us something about the city you live in? (Francis) It’s in Central Florida, lots of golf courses in the area and very nice places to see.

Any Metal scene out there?

(Francis) Mostly in Orlando, Ocala, Tampa and Miami that I know of.

When you and your brother started to play instruments. You the guitar and he the drums..?

(Francis) Yes, we each picked our own instruments, everything came out naturally for us. But Moyses started practicing the drums first, then he suggested that I learned how to play the guitar and he was the one that came up with the idea at that time of us starting a band.

When/how you and your brother Moyses start a band?

(Francis) I think it started when we listened and watched bands like Wall of Voodoo, Black Sabbath, Kenny Rogers, Flock of Seagals, RUSH and bands like that, that inspired us to pick up an instrument and start learning. I think we’ve started around 1983 playing our instruments, something like that.

Why you Guys choose Incubus to be your bandmame?

(Francis) So that our newer fans might know, we used to be called Incubus, but we are now called OPPROBRIUM for 20 yrs now. We were young and at that time and we’ve just wanted a cool sounding name at that time back in the 80s. But to be honest, speaking of now, we (Moyses and I) are more happy with our new band name OPPROBRIUM than when we used to be called Incubus. The name OPPROBRIUM represents the band much better. OPPROBRIUM is the present and future.

Please tell us something about your time in Brazil/Rio de Janeiro? And the moving/emigration to the USA?

(Francis) Well, I left Brazil when I was 10 yrs old, and the reason we moved to the US was because we had family here in the US and we wanted to stay together. So we moved from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil back in the early 80’s to New Orleans, Louisiana at that time.

How did you Guys got in contact with the mighty Nuclear Blast in 1990?

(Francis) NBR was an unknown label back then in the early 90s, no one ever heard of them at that time, every body else wanted to be in other labels from what I’ve noticed at that time. We got NBR contact thru an old friend of ours in Tampa, Florida that had a Metal fanzine at the time, I forgot the name of the zine, so he gave us the NB’s address and phone number, since back then we did not have the internet, and he told us that NBR was looking to sign bands, so when we heard that, we got in touch with Markus Staiger (Owner) and he called us back from Germany and said he was a fan of our debut ‘Serpent Temptation’ and that he used to jam to that album a lot, him and his friends in the car from what he told us at that time. After we’ve signed with them at that time, Markus came down to Tampa about a month after we recorded the album in June of 1990, we still have some cool photos from that time with Markus Staiger, I miss those days, it was so cool.

Please tell us about the exciting times to be in a thrash/Death Metal band in the 80’s and beginning of the 90’s?

(Francis) Back then there was only mostly Punk Rock and Heavy Metal bands, there was no other bands doing the “real Death Metal” like we have today. We knew we wanted to sound different from other bands at that time and that we wanted the guitar to be louder and more powerful with more energy and also the drums, so Moyses and I started to experiment with different heavy riffs, and that is how everything started for us in our style of music. For us this style, it all came out naturally. At that time, we never thought or dream that we would be one of the pioneers to this style of music, and when we look around today,and I would say to myself, if you were to tell us that the metal scene would grow like it is today, we would never ever believed it. We were ahead of our time looking back now, so I guess we can say that we’ve been thru a lot in those days, since it was a new style of music surging and only a few people knew about it.

How the press and fans react to the second album; Beyond the Unknown, that was released in 1990 via Nuclear Blast?

(Francis) The fans love BTU even today, so I guess that speaks for itself. I think even Markus from NBR did not know back then that the album would get a strong feedback. It was the underground metal scene that actually helped with the album sales back then and all that. Cause many magazines did not want to feature us since back then everything was heavy metal and poser bands. We were the outcast lol. ‘Beyond The Unknown’ was the best selling album in the beginning of Nuclear Blast back in the 90’s. ‘BTU’ is now part of the history of NBR label.

I think the world was wide open after this album, what happened? Why you Guys called it quits..?

(Francis) We never did called it quits, it’s just that we got side tracked by other events in our lives back then. Once a musician, always a musician. We just went into a hiatus, but the band continued on and we just had to find the right moment for me and Moyses to start writing new material for a new album back then.

About 10 years later, it was 2000 the band came with another album; Discerning Forces, again via Nuclear Blast? Please tell us why after 10 years NB where willing to release this album?

(Francis) When we left the scene for a while at that time, Moyses and I decided to call NBR and Markus answered the phone and spoke with us, he was really happy to hear from us, even so that he decided to go to Brazil with us to see us record “Discerning Forces”, we even went together to see a Metal show there in Rio, I don’t remember the name of the band, it was a power metal band from his label, I forgot the name.

Please tell us the story about the name change? You had to change the name Incubus. How you Guys came up with the new band name; Opprobrium?

(Francis) We had to change the band name, because of another band from California that had the name Incubus. So, knowing that, I went searching for a new band name, and I was reading the Bible and I saw the word OPPROBRIUM, and I really liked how it sounded and it had an futuristic touch to it, and the name OPPROBRIUM fits our lyrics in many ways, so Moyses and I decided to stick with the name OPPROBRIUM.

And then we had to wait another 8 years to hear from you guys again. How did you get in contact with Polish Metal Mind Productions?

(Francis) When we finished recording Mandatory Evac, we got in contact with them since they were releasing some reissues of our albums licensed from Nuclear Blast, and since they liked the band OPPROBRIUM, they were cool at that time in releasing the new album ‘Mandatory Evac’ back in 2008 / 2009. In 2008 the release Mandatory Evac, came out via MMP.

Please tell us how the people react to this album? Was it released worldwide?

(Francis) That album was released worldwide. But people had mixed feelings due to the production. But it’s a great album if you listen to it. On Mandatory Evac we wanted to prove that it is not an album production that makes an great album, but the songs. The reason for this is that, when we started playing death / thrash, during the beginning of this style of music, people did not care about production, we wanted the music, but times has changed.

And Finally we are in the Year 2019 and there is the new album called; The Fallen Entities, High Roller Records. Please tell us about the writing process and time in the studio?

(Francis) It took a long time to record ‘The Fallen Entities’. We started in Louisiana and finished in Florida. During the recording of ‘TFE’ we went thru a lot of personal trials and obstacles in our lives, we even went thru a flood that hit Baton Rouge, LA and because of that, that really slowed us down for around 5 or 6 months I believe. Even with all the problems, we kept going, and the end results looking now back now, we are glad that we’ve recorded The Fallen Entities. Its one of my favorite albums. It’s an album that the more you listen to it the more you listen to it.

Who was responsible for the great artwork for the album?

(Francis) The art work was done by the great artist Daniel Tyka from Poland. You can check out his art work on Artstation website. I really like how he did the album cover, he is an amazing artist.

How the album is received by press and fans so far…?

(Francis) We are getting more fans everyday, the response is great, we are very happy that the fans are enjoying The Fallen Entities and the Album cover also. Plus the album is being getting lots of great reviews from the Metal press worldwide.

Any live shows planned?

(Francis) We are working on it, I do not like to make plans, but if everything works out, we should be playing live again.

Maybe a festival in Europe in 2019/2020..?

(Francis) We would love to play festivals. But as of now, we do not have anything confirmed yet.

Please tell us something about your lyrics? Where do you get your inspiration to write lyrics and are they important for the band to share with the listener(s)?

(Francis) We always look for lyric subjects that fit our band style. When we have an idea for a lyric, we write it down and then see if it fits a certain song that we wrote. We like to write lyrics that rhymes with the music, so that the fans can enjoy it.

Please tell us how it was to work with Sepultura and Cannibal Corpse. You did Some vocal stuff on Some albums from both bands..?

(Francis) We met Max when he came to Tampa to record Beneath The Remains, we used to contact Sepultura via phone sometimes and exchange t-shirts and LPs via mail back in the days. Max is a cool guy, hope to meet him again in the future. I wish him all the best. Concerning Cannibal Corpse, they are all real cool guys, when they recorded their first album in Tampa, FL, they invited us to go to Morrisound Studios so I could do a backing vocals on some of his songs at that time. After that, they came to visit our apartment and we talked a lot about music and the metal scene and how it was different from Florida. They are all cool dudes. We used to live in an apartment in Tampa, like no more then 15 minutes drive to Morrisound at that time, If I remember correctly.

Are you Guys planning a new album in one or about 2 years..?

(Francis) Yes, Moyses and I are just starting to prepare to write the next album at the moment, If everything works out, it should be out in a year or so. I am in a very creative mode right now, so I will take this good energy and let the new songs do the talking. We’ve decided not to take too long to do an album, this time we will try to release a new album every 1 to 2 years at the most.

What are Some of your favorite bands back then in the 80’s and Anno 2019?

(Francis) My favorite bands back in the 80’s was DIO, RUSH, Phil Collins, Wall of Voodoo, AC/DC, Van Halen, Black Sabbath, etc, and in 2019, well, there are some bands that I like, like Rammstein is a great band, also Joe Satriani, I like a lot of his albums.

Do you have a last word, or something that’s on your Heart you want to share with us?

(Francis) Well, first I would like to thank you for this great interview and for the opportunity that Bonovox gave us to share a piece of history of OPPROBRIUM to your great readers. Also I would like to thank all our fans for the support and for enjoying our music, you guys are great. Thank you all and Metal Forever.