Scene Report: Brazil May 2008, w/Terminal Guadalupe
By: Eduardo Curi
Curitiba, in the state of Paraná in the south of Brazil, has become a famous city within the country thanks to its quality of life and bus transportation system, years ahead from other capital cities in the country. Now, the Terminal Guadalupe, at the heart of this system, is also a synonym for good rock music.
The band, formed by Allan Yokohama (guitar), Dary Jr. (vocals), Fabiano Ferronato (drums) and Lucas Borba (guitar) - bass player Rubens K. has just left the group - blends effortlessly the best of what rock and roll has to offer. Creativity, heavy guitars (when needed), gentle acoustic moods (when required), a tight rhythm section and fine production sense sets the scenery for a band on the rise.
The band and their last album, A Marcha dos Invisíveis, have been nominated for three TIM Music Awards, the most important music prize in Brazil. They are running for best album, best group and best new group. Apart the good reception from the critics, their album broke through being released not only as a CD, in SMD media, but as a pen drive, showing a band concerned about the future of the music market and what format shall prevail when this future arrives.
Via e-mail, singer Dary Jr. has answered a few questions about how Terminal Guadalupe is getting on as one of the new cutting edge independent artists in Brazil.
Rockfeedback: How did Terminal Guadalupe start?
Dary Jr: "Our origins are quite like the Foo Fighters'. It began as an individual studio project. I had co-written the script for a short film called Burocracia Romântica and wrote the soundtrack as well. I'd asked some friends for help and recorded the first album with them. Since then, it rose to bigger proportions and became a band as a matter of fact. The name came from a mass transport station that attends people from greater Curitiba. Every third world city has a place like that, where all sorts of people pass by.
RFB: How is the local scene in town? Are there many clubs where bands can show off their work to the public?
DJ: "There are lots of clubs, but just a few are able to offer good conditions for the public and for the bands. Usually the sound is poor, the fee, when there is any, is very little, and the environment is... not very pleasant. The good news is that the new bands have got a place to play their very first gigs. The problem for the acts that write their own material is to survive in this circuit. Often they have to give in to cover songs.
RFB: Curitiba has been often included in tours of international bands. Has it brought any benefit to the local scene? Are local bands being invited to open such concerts, are they recognized and paid for it?
DJ: "Curitiba is on the route, but this has been only good for the public. Local bands do not open international concerts and, worse of all, are not paid to play greater concerts with national mainstream artists. Having a band here is a guerrilla exercise. In that sense we are good combatants, especially because we have gained visibility out of our home town, by touring Brazil. If it wasn't for that fact we would have no credit whatsoever in our homeland. Critical and public acclaim in festivals in other states were decisive for being respected in Curitiba."
RFB: So, it means it was necessary being recognized outside town so you'd been given any credit at home? It seems quite an usual practice in Brazil, e.g. Tom Zé, eh?
(Note: Tom Zé was, along with Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso and other people one of the leading artists of the Tropicália movemente in the late 60´s. Tropicalia turned upside down the music made in Brazil by incorporating international pop elements in traditional Brazilian music. After its decline, Tom Zé was completely forgotten by the public and the media, but rediscovered in the 90´s by David Byrne from the Talking Heads. After that, he was, again, acclaimed as one of the most important artists in Brazil)
DJ: "I believe it is an usual situation around here. Musicians from other places in the country complain the same. In 2006 we did four gigs in Brasília in one week. Some local bands came to us and said that they couldn't do four gigs in a year! You cannot accept that. If there are no spaces available, make it! Or look for it in somewhere else. In Curitiba we had to deal with the invisibility theory. Writer Jamil Snege used to say that the more someone from Curitiba had been recgonised outside, the more he would become invisible in the city. We still face that."
RFB: The band released an album in a pen drive. How was that? Do you believe alternative media is the way to go for the industry or that CDs are still the best choice for a band releasing their work?
DJ: "Everyone is looking for alternatives. Like Anzol, drummer from Los Porongas used to say we are the "post-advance generation", who does not get any advance from recording labels, mainly because they are dying out. The solution is trying out. Mobile phones, pen drives, you have to experiment. CD is dead. It is, at its most, a port-folio, an advertisement tool. I am sorry for that. The digital format has brought us the portable music but has damaged audio quality. MP3 compresses important frequencies. Even though going against the stream, we have released the album in SMD (Semi-metallic Disc), it is similar to the CD, but 80% cheaper. That was our way to make our work accessible so people could pay little and listen well."
You can download and listen to TGs albums at their website (http://www.tg.mus.br/), and @ Trama Virtual (http://tramavirtual.uol.com.br/artista.jsp?id=1376). Check them out on MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/terminalguadalupe) too.