Fun and melody with the southern rock raid
Video Hits and Bidê ou Balde put out debut albums on Abril Music and face the media barrier against southern bands
Silvio Essinger
03/04/2001
What do they have in common, besides coming from the same city (Porto Alegre) and having started out by the late 1990s? Well, a love of early Brazilian rock (jovem guarda, or new school) and alternative, melodic, '60s-flavored guitars, female backing vocalists, lyrics that display the specific southern humor and a fearless plunge into love songs. Oh, yeah, both bands have had their debut albums released very recently on the local label Abril Music. Video Hits' disc is named Registro Sonoro Oficial (read the review and listen to excerpts) and Bidê ou Balde's is named Se o Sexo é o Que Importa, Só o Rock é Sobre Amor (read the review and listen to excerpts). Now that (Vo)C (Video Hits song) and Melissa (Bidê) have started going after their share on the radio (in Rio and São Paulo), the question comes up: after Engenheiros do Hawaii and Nenhum de Nós, who is going to be the next big gaucho thing?
The question seems irrelevant to Diego Medina, vocalist, guitarist and leader of Video Hits, whose greatest reference from within the local rock is the extinct band Graforréia Xilarmônica, whose success was limited to knowing circles (read article). In 1994, Diego recorded alone in his room the demo tapes of the very experimental project Dois Eu Mim Dois Ema (his own name, de-constructed). The tapes attracted the attention of the label Banguela Discos (founded by the Titãs), which closed down before releasing the gaucho's album.
Dois Eu finished in 1996. Diego let go of the experimentalism and started paying more attention to '60s rock - Beatles, The Kinks, The Who - and to Weezer's disc, Pinkerton. "That's a very heavy and romantic album", he says. Weezer is also the object of Bidê ou Balde's adoration. The group was founded late in 1998 by journalism students Carlinhos Carneiro (vocals) and Rossato (guitar), who first got togehter to write the soundtrack of an erotic film. Melissa, a song that was recorded on their debut demo tape, took over radio stations in 1999 and granted them a deal to make the album. Thus, besides their own compositions (Sr. Promotor, Me Envergonha, K-7 and Spaceball) Se o Sexo.... features a version in Portuguese of Weezer's Buddy Holly. "Everyone wanted to do it, but only we were bold enough", says Bidê's keyboardist and vocalist Katia.
In order to release the track, the band (with Vivi on the vocals; Sá on the guitar; André on the bass and Pedro on the drums) tried to settle on the copyright issues through the publishers, but did not succeed. The solution came with the help from a friend of the band's, who simply went up to Weezer songwriter Rivers Cuomo in the middle of a concert in Los angeles and showed him the version that had been sent on MP3 through the e-mail. Delighted, Rivers approved the version and had his manager take care of business.
Love and hate of the '80s
Besides indie '90s American rock and 60-yish sounds, one of Bidê ou Balde's greatest references is the Brazilian rock of the 1980s, bands like Ultraje a Rogor, Blitz and others. "We have a lot of respect for those bands, because they put down walls", says the keyboardist, who has more theories on the subject: "They say that every other 20 years, things are repeated. The 1980s mirrored the 1960s." Diego, in his turn, has a different opinion: "We can't stand '80s rock!". The name of the band, by the way, is quite ironic - Video Hits was the name of a popular compilation series of international '80s hits.
Originally, the band lined-up in 1997 by Diego Medina and drummer Michel Vontobel was called Grupo Musical Jerusalém - a joke on cover bands that spread like pest in Rio Grande do Sul. They picked Video Hits because - supreme irony! - there already existed a Grupo Musical Jerusalém playing covers around the state. Last year, the band (with Eduardo Bisogno on the keyboards, Guto Bozzetti on the guitar, Gustavo Steffens on the bass and Carla Viceconti and Vivan Schäfer on vocals) recorded their first demo CD, produced by Thomas Dreher. It landed on the hands of Marcelo Camelo, leader of Los Hermanos, who handed it to Rafael Ramos. Rafael showed the CD to his dad, João Augusto, artistic director at Abril Music, who hired the band. The songs were re-recorded in Rio de Janeiro, produced by Rafael, who crafted the powerful sounds on Registro Oficial Sonoro.
Both Video Hits and Bidê ou Balde have spent long periods in São Paulo, promoting their albums. But things have not been smooth all the time, mainly when it comes to communication. "One problem that the southern bands face concerns the humor in the lyrics, which is different from the rest of the country's", Katia says, adding that "We're ironic, not histrionic." Diego doesn't think that nutty verses will harm Video Hits. "Some want politics and social calls, others just want to have fun", he believes. Diego explains that he tries to portrait the daily life in his songs, always adding one bizzarre element or other. "Like A Day in a Life (Beatles)", he illustrates.
But let's get back to the common points between Video and Bidê. For example, both make a point about remaining in Porto Alegre. "All of the bands dream of leaving - but nobody wants to live elsewhere. There is a scene in Porto Alegre, that you can't find anywhere else", claims Diego. "There are radio stations and bands and the people love rock", says Katia, stating that Bidê keeps an avarage three concerts a week around the state. One way or another, the road is clear for all of them.
The question seems irrelevant to Diego Medina, vocalist, guitarist and leader of Video Hits, whose greatest reference from within the local rock is the extinct band Graforréia Xilarmônica, whose success was limited to knowing circles (read article). In 1994, Diego recorded alone in his room the demo tapes of the very experimental project Dois Eu Mim Dois Ema (his own name, de-constructed). The tapes attracted the attention of the label Banguela Discos (founded by the Titãs), which closed down before releasing the gaucho's album.
Dois Eu finished in 1996. Diego let go of the experimentalism and started paying more attention to '60s rock - Beatles, The Kinks, The Who - and to Weezer's disc, Pinkerton. "That's a very heavy and romantic album", he says. Weezer is also the object of Bidê ou Balde's adoration. The group was founded late in 1998 by journalism students Carlinhos Carneiro (vocals) and Rossato (guitar), who first got togehter to write the soundtrack of an erotic film. Melissa, a song that was recorded on their debut demo tape, took over radio stations in 1999 and granted them a deal to make the album. Thus, besides their own compositions (Sr. Promotor, Me Envergonha, K-7 and Spaceball) Se o Sexo.... features a version in Portuguese of Weezer's Buddy Holly. "Everyone wanted to do it, but only we were bold enough", says Bidê's keyboardist and vocalist Katia.
In order to release the track, the band (with Vivi on the vocals; Sá on the guitar; André on the bass and Pedro on the drums) tried to settle on the copyright issues through the publishers, but did not succeed. The solution came with the help from a friend of the band's, who simply went up to Weezer songwriter Rivers Cuomo in the middle of a concert in Los angeles and showed him the version that had been sent on MP3 through the e-mail. Delighted, Rivers approved the version and had his manager take care of business.
Love and hate of the '80s
Besides indie '90s American rock and 60-yish sounds, one of Bidê ou Balde's greatest references is the Brazilian rock of the 1980s, bands like Ultraje a Rogor, Blitz and others. "We have a lot of respect for those bands, because they put down walls", says the keyboardist, who has more theories on the subject: "They say that every other 20 years, things are repeated. The 1980s mirrored the 1960s." Diego, in his turn, has a different opinion: "We can't stand '80s rock!". The name of the band, by the way, is quite ironic - Video Hits was the name of a popular compilation series of international '80s hits.
Originally, the band lined-up in 1997 by Diego Medina and drummer Michel Vontobel was called Grupo Musical Jerusalém - a joke on cover bands that spread like pest in Rio Grande do Sul. They picked Video Hits because - supreme irony! - there already existed a Grupo Musical Jerusalém playing covers around the state. Last year, the band (with Eduardo Bisogno on the keyboards, Guto Bozzetti on the guitar, Gustavo Steffens on the bass and Carla Viceconti and Vivan Schäfer on vocals) recorded their first demo CD, produced by Thomas Dreher. It landed on the hands of Marcelo Camelo, leader of Los Hermanos, who handed it to Rafael Ramos. Rafael showed the CD to his dad, João Augusto, artistic director at Abril Music, who hired the band. The songs were re-recorded in Rio de Janeiro, produced by Rafael, who crafted the powerful sounds on Registro Oficial Sonoro.
Both Video Hits and Bidê ou Balde have spent long periods in São Paulo, promoting their albums. But things have not been smooth all the time, mainly when it comes to communication. "One problem that the southern bands face concerns the humor in the lyrics, which is different from the rest of the country's", Katia says, adding that "We're ironic, not histrionic." Diego doesn't think that nutty verses will harm Video Hits. "Some want politics and social calls, others just want to have fun", he believes. Diego explains that he tries to portrait the daily life in his songs, always adding one bizzarre element or other. "Like A Day in a Life (Beatles)", he illustrates.
But let's get back to the common points between Video and Bidê. For example, both make a point about remaining in Porto Alegre. "All of the bands dream of leaving - but nobody wants to live elsewhere. There is a scene in Porto Alegre, that you can't find anywhere else", claims Diego. "There are radio stations and bands and the people love rock", says Katia, stating that Bidê keeps an avarage three concerts a week around the state. One way or another, the road is clear for all of them.
read more about southern rock:
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