Ira! turns up trumps
With a 20-year career, the band experiences success all over again with the album MTV Ao Vivo. In this interview, vocalist Nasi explains how Ira! returned in full power after 13 years of media freezer
Silvio Essinger
16/02/2001
Good news: recorded in September in São Paulo and released shortly after, MTV Ao Vivo Ira! 
(DeckDisc/Abril Music), the first live album by the 20-year career band is going up the charts real fast. Meanwhile, the DVD of the show is also coming out, enriched with interviews and biographies. That kind of success hasn't knocked on Ira!'s door since their second album, Vivendo e Não Aprendendo (1986), which yielded hit tracks like Envelheço na Cidade and Flores em Você. Now, the good old days are back, and they will play a series of shows at Canecão (the most prestigious venue in Rio de Janeiro) next weekend - which hadn't happened since 1987.
In an interview to AllBrazilianMusic, vocalist Marcos Valadão, a.k.a. Nasi, spoke about the hard times, Rock In Rio and the reprint of their first two albums, Vivendo and Mudança de Comportamento (1985).
AllBrazilianMusic - Does it feel like victory, being hyped all over again?
Nasi - Yeah, especially if we take on account that the scene is not that open to rock as it was then. This is all due to a more mature posture adopted by Ira!. We had some tough moments in the 80s, went out of context and made two albums on Paradoxx (7 and Você Não Sabe Quem Eu Sou), whose repercussion was segemented. Then Abril Music came over and they did a nice job with Isso é Amor (a cover album that sold 80 thousand copies), taking us back to radio waves and helping us get an award for best pop group (by the São Paulo Art Critics Association), freeing us from the rock chains, a bit.
AllBrazilianMusic - And did your show at Rock In Rio put the cherry on top of this cake?
Nasi - It was so great - the day, the bill... I loved sharing the stage with Ultraje (a Rigor). That half hour was enough, we got off the stage and the audience was crying for more. We hadn't played such festivals since 1987.
AllBrazilianMusic - Growing up was good for Ira!, then?
Nasi - There's this word that we've been hearing for ten years, and we don't like it, much - maturity. I mean, if we mature, we'll rot, right? (laughs). That's why we named our second LP Vivendo e Não Aprendendo (Living and Not Learning). Nonetheless, growing up is great. We went through that dry period, from 1993 through 1996, and when it was time to harvest, we knew how to do it.
AllBrazilianMusic - Ira! has preserved an image of integrity within Brazilian rock...
Nasi - It grew out of proportion and turned against us. It used to bother us, because it seemed like Ira! was honest and the other bands weren't - but we're more than that. We did right and wrong things. In the 80s, we used to believe that the correct media was to be created for rock in Brazil, and therefore we prioritized TV programs where we could perform live. Only, it didn't happen. Now we know that if we appear in some TV shows, nobody's going to see us live. We refused to participate in those shows, for a while, and that provoked a gap between us and our generation mates. We're honest, alright, but gotta preserve the quality.
AllBrazilianMusic - Between rights and wrongs, though, you have made ten albums.
Nasi - We carry this rock feature that has no heirs - only now a band has covered one of our songs (pop band Pato Fu has made a version of Tolices). Not all of our albums are marterpieces, yet we can't say that any of them is a complete crap. They reflect different moments we've been through - some were happier, others, less inspired. Curiously, we have never gotten rid of a certain cult aura, we've never been overexposed. Now we are meeting a new generation of fans - we give autographs to parents and their offspring. It is not that common to see a band with a song like Envelheço na Cidade, which rocks the kids today as it did 15 years ago. By Brazilian standards, this is very important. For instance, we have never used slangs in our lyrics, so as not to be outdated.
AllBrazilianMusic - And while flirting with other genres, Ira! has never let go of its own private characteristics.
Nasi - We were influenced by the hip hop, techno, flamenco... But we always wanted to keep things in a way that (we figure) the audience enjoys - they charge a lot, from us, and they don't want us to become sellouts.
AllBrazilianMusic - There have never been so many Ira! albums on the stores as now. Besides the DeckDisc/Abril Music discs, there are the Warner compilations and the two first albums, which Charles Gavin has reprinted with bonus tracks.
Nasi - After we split with Warner, they would put out one compilation for every career album that we released on other labels. I used to get pissed off, because we had no say on the final choice of tracks that composed those compilations - and they wouldn't even give us a copy! On the other hand, it helped feed a new generation of fans, the 90s teens. Now, Charles' project was serious. He contacted us, said that he had found some live cuts, from which we picked our favorites together. That's cool! And he also reprinted (guitarist) Edgard Scandurra's first solo disc (Amigos Invisíveis, from 1989), which was lying in Warner's basement toilet. We wish that he will help us reprint Psicoacústica (Ira!'s third album, from 1988), which is our most hyped album. It would be great to listen to a remastered copy of it - it's us sounding our best.
AllBrazilianMusic - What about the next album?
Nasi - We enjoy working under pressure, now - we used to be a bit like Dorival Caymmi (laughs). Thus, we have presented a few new songs in Ao Vivo (Vida Passageira, Inundação de Amor and Superficial (Como um Espinho)). Edgard has written new stuff, I and (bassist) Gaspa have written stuff. We intend to promote the live album until July and then start recording the next one.
AllBrazilianMusic - How is it going to come out?
Nasi - At this point, we already have our trademarks, but they're not obvious. We want to explore all of our influences in the new album - Edgard's electronica, my blues (Nasi has released three albums with his side-project band Nasi e os Irmãos do Blues), Gaspa's surf music... We hope it will not be so basic, but a bridge between the classic Ira! and other sounds, other beats.
(DeckDisc/Abril Music), the first live album by the 20-year career band is going up the charts real fast. Meanwhile, the DVD of the show is also coming out, enriched with interviews and biographies. That kind of success hasn't knocked on Ira!'s door since their second album, Vivendo e Não Aprendendo (1986), which yielded hit tracks like Envelheço na Cidade and Flores em Você. Now, the good old days are back, and they will play a series of shows at Canecão (the most prestigious venue in Rio de Janeiro) next weekend - which hadn't happened since 1987. In an interview to AllBrazilianMusic, vocalist Marcos Valadão, a.k.a. Nasi, spoke about the hard times, Rock In Rio and the reprint of their first two albums, Vivendo and Mudança de Comportamento (1985).
AllBrazilianMusic - Does it feel like victory, being hyped all over again?
Nasi - Yeah, especially if we take on account that the scene is not that open to rock as it was then. This is all due to a more mature posture adopted by Ira!. We had some tough moments in the 80s, went out of context and made two albums on Paradoxx (7 and Você Não Sabe Quem Eu Sou), whose repercussion was segemented. Then Abril Music came over and they did a nice job with Isso é Amor (a cover album that sold 80 thousand copies), taking us back to radio waves and helping us get an award for best pop group (by the São Paulo Art Critics Association), freeing us from the rock chains, a bit.
AllBrazilianMusic - And did your show at Rock In Rio put the cherry on top of this cake?
Nasi - It was so great - the day, the bill... I loved sharing the stage with Ultraje (a Rigor). That half hour was enough, we got off the stage and the audience was crying for more. We hadn't played such festivals since 1987.
AllBrazilianMusic - Growing up was good for Ira!, then?
Nasi - There's this word that we've been hearing for ten years, and we don't like it, much - maturity. I mean, if we mature, we'll rot, right? (laughs). That's why we named our second LP Vivendo e Não Aprendendo (Living and Not Learning). Nonetheless, growing up is great. We went through that dry period, from 1993 through 1996, and when it was time to harvest, we knew how to do it.
AllBrazilianMusic - Ira! has preserved an image of integrity within Brazilian rock...
Nasi - It grew out of proportion and turned against us. It used to bother us, because it seemed like Ira! was honest and the other bands weren't - but we're more than that. We did right and wrong things. In the 80s, we used to believe that the correct media was to be created for rock in Brazil, and therefore we prioritized TV programs where we could perform live. Only, it didn't happen. Now we know that if we appear in some TV shows, nobody's going to see us live. We refused to participate in those shows, for a while, and that provoked a gap between us and our generation mates. We're honest, alright, but gotta preserve the quality.
AllBrazilianMusic - Between rights and wrongs, though, you have made ten albums.
Nasi - We carry this rock feature that has no heirs - only now a band has covered one of our songs (pop band Pato Fu has made a version of Tolices). Not all of our albums are marterpieces, yet we can't say that any of them is a complete crap. They reflect different moments we've been through - some were happier, others, less inspired. Curiously, we have never gotten rid of a certain cult aura, we've never been overexposed. Now we are meeting a new generation of fans - we give autographs to parents and their offspring. It is not that common to see a band with a song like Envelheço na Cidade, which rocks the kids today as it did 15 years ago. By Brazilian standards, this is very important. For instance, we have never used slangs in our lyrics, so as not to be outdated.
AllBrazilianMusic - And while flirting with other genres, Ira! has never let go of its own private characteristics.
Nasi - We were influenced by the hip hop, techno, flamenco... But we always wanted to keep things in a way that (we figure) the audience enjoys - they charge a lot, from us, and they don't want us to become sellouts.
AllBrazilianMusic - There have never been so many Ira! albums on the stores as now. Besides the DeckDisc/Abril Music discs, there are the Warner compilations and the two first albums, which Charles Gavin has reprinted with bonus tracks.
Nasi - After we split with Warner, they would put out one compilation for every career album that we released on other labels. I used to get pissed off, because we had no say on the final choice of tracks that composed those compilations - and they wouldn't even give us a copy! On the other hand, it helped feed a new generation of fans, the 90s teens. Now, Charles' project was serious. He contacted us, said that he had found some live cuts, from which we picked our favorites together. That's cool! And he also reprinted (guitarist) Edgard Scandurra's first solo disc (Amigos Invisíveis, from 1989), which was lying in Warner's basement toilet. We wish that he will help us reprint Psicoacústica (Ira!'s third album, from 1988), which is our most hyped album. It would be great to listen to a remastered copy of it - it's us sounding our best.
AllBrazilianMusic - What about the next album?
Nasi - We enjoy working under pressure, now - we used to be a bit like Dorival Caymmi (laughs). Thus, we have presented a few new songs in Ao Vivo (Vida Passageira, Inundação de Amor and Superficial (Como um Espinho)). Edgard has written new stuff, I and (bassist) Gaspa have written stuff. We intend to promote the live album until July and then start recording the next one.
AllBrazilianMusic - How is it going to come out?
Nasi - At this point, we already have our trademarks, but they're not obvious. We want to explore all of our influences in the new album - Edgard's electronica, my blues (Nasi has released three albums with his side-project band Nasi e os Irmãos do Blues), Gaspa's surf music... We hope it will not be so basic, but a bridge between the classic Ira! and other sounds, other beats.