Blue Mammoth
Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Interviews
Forum Description: Original interviews with Prog artists (which are exclusive to Prog Archives)
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=82970
Printed Date: April 24 2024 at 18:05
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.01 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Blue Mammoth
Posted By: toroddfuglesteg
Subject: Blue Mammoth
Date Posted: November 22 2011 at 15:35
|
Brazilian act BLUE MAMMOTH was formally formed in 2009. At that point long time friends Julian Quilodran (bass) and Andre Micheli (keyboards) had already been developing Blue Mammoth as a studio project, initially perhaps mostly driven by Quilodran's need and desire to be involved in a creative and fruitful musical cooperation following the demise of his former band The Octohpera in 2002, slowly developing to become a studio based creative outlet and then finally a true to life band when Thiego Meyer (drums) and Andre Lupac (guitars) joined on a permanent basis. ###########################################################################
When
and by whom was your band born? Did any of you, past and present
members, play in any other bands before joining up in your band? Before
setting up the band, Julian and I used to work as professional
musicians as members of some bands and as hired side men for some
local artists. I’ve played at blues, pop rock and even bossa-nova
bands, as well as a Deep Purple cover band, one of my greatest
influences. Julian was part of relatively well-succeeded local bands,
as well as the “Octohpera” progressive project, which released a
full-length album called “Bons Amigos” by Rock Symphony Records,
and many other sporadic free-lancing gigs on different styles. I’ve
met Julian in some of these frequent common gigs, just after
dissolution of “Octohpera”, when I was coursing my Musical
Composition graduation. At this time, Julian thought a
keyboardist/composer would be a perfect partner for a new progressive
rock project. Then we started to build a repertoire and write
arrangements.
Cesar
and Thiago had played together at the local pop rock band “Celtha”,
as well as “Quantum” cover project, in which they played some
Camel, Rush, Pink Floyd and other progressive classics. At the early
times of the band, Thiago joined the band and brought Cesar along,
which integrated the band for some months, at the pre-production
phase of the album. Andre Lupac, guitarist which recorded the album
and left just after for personal reasons, leads a Rush cover band,
his great musical passion. Cesar then rejoined a few months ago.
Why did you choose that name and which bands were you influenced by? A band’s name is sometimes hard to explain. I remember spending
some time looking for something interesting and Julian came up with
this name, as an elaboration of a friend’s suggestion. It has a
heavy-psychedelic feel, which pleased us instantly and fits well in a
hard-progressive rock project.
About
the influences, we have different preferences, but all of them
connected in some way. At my teenage years, I’ve got frantic for
some bands which would be part of my life forever.I’ve started with
rock music by listening to Elton John and Beatles, and later on, Deep
Purple and Iron Maiden, which I listened until holes appeared in my
LPs. Later on, I listened a lot of JethroTull and Renaissance. As a
student on classical music, great composers like Bach, Mozart,
Beethoven, Chopin had a great impact on the construction of my
musical personality.
Cesar
was a great heavy metal fan when he was younger, and Dream Theater
was sort of a bridge for him, as he got interested in other styles of
progressive rock. He is a great fan of modern symphonic progressive
bands, such as Neal Morse, Transatlantic, Flower Kings, Beardfish,
and space rock like Pink Floyd and Ozric Tentacles.
Thiago
started to listen progressive music as a teenager, as a huge Rush
fan. Neil Peart was his primary motivation to start playing drums,
and is a major influence. Contrasting with Peart’s approach,
Triumvirat’s drummer Hans Bathelt was also a great influence with
his straight and powerful style. The last but not least, and, for
sure, the biggest,ones the great Bill Bruford, from Yes, King
Crimson, Earthworks, Genesis, and many others. He spent a lot of time
playing all his masterpieces, and learned a lot in the process.
Julian
listens to music as a musical producer, which means he gets
interested in a lot of different and contrasting styles, despite of
his personal preference to rock music. From hardcore to experimental
progressive, he devours them all, with a special taste for prog
monoliths Gentle Giant and Yes at its Bill Brufford days. To have an
idea of his ecletic view, some other influences includes Bad Brains,
Living Colour, Hermeto Paschoal and Les Luthiers. For
those of us unfamiliar with your music; how would you describe you
music? As
a composer, a think about exploring the elements that attract me the
most in music: the energy and adrenaline of heavy rock together with
the lyricism and harmonic colors of classical music. It seems to be
simple but it is not. Overloads in heavy energy can engulf the
harmony and excessive lyricism softens the composition. I’m always
trying to walk this thin line of balance, where the sum of these
elements results in a perfect match. In addition, I’ve found a
partner with a peculiar sense for rhythmic sections. Listening
carefully, there’s a lot of polyrhythmic moments throughout the
album, with contrasting time signatures coexisting with
melodic-harmonic sections conceived by Julian, which ends up sounding
smoothly and elegantly resolved in the composition. These elements
may be overlooked at a first contact, but they are the result of a
very sophisticated musical thought I think, that brings a very
special taste to our music.
However,
I would say that our music does not intend necessarily to contain
hallmark features of progressive rock, which ends up making the
classification of our sound pretty difficult. When I write and we
start to arrange, we never think like “let’s evolve this part as
the prog band we are” or “let’s put some strings here, because
we want to sound symphonic”. Actually, we think about obtaining the
maximum emotional deepness from each composition and tell a story as
interesting as possible in each song.
 Your
self-titled debut album was released earlier this year. Please tell
us more about this album. The
album was our first goal and almost the entire material was written
specially for it, except for “Resurrection Day”, which came from
a previous moment. Thus, these songs reflect a specific moment of us
as musicians and artists. I think the album sounds naturally
connected, telling a story as a whole. It doesn’t sound like a
patchwork or individuals put in a same place by force. I think the
album will be felt as a single travel through various landscapes. The
connection and efforts of the four musicians was essential for this
result. A special mention to the record and mixing work of Julian,
which allowed us to reach the desired sound, my partner lyricist
George de Souza and illustrator Julio Zartos, who captured the vibe
we needed in a splendorous artwork in the album cover.
What
have you been up to since the recording of that album and what is
your plans for the immediate future?
We
were fully focused on rehearsals for concerts, one of them occurred
last November 12th,
and working hard on promoting the CD. By the way, we would like to
thank progachives.com for the support. Finally, we intend to start
the production of a new album in a near future, since we already have
all the material written. We are just setting up our scheduling for
the next year.
To wrap up this interview, is there anything you want to add to this interview ? We
honestly believe that progressive rock is a neverending style, with a
lot of unexplored territories and full of enthusiasts, generation
after generation. Against some widespread opinions, which all of you
may be quite familiar with, it didn’t die in the 70’s at all, as
we can see lots of good stuff coming out every day.
We
would like to thank you for opportunity. Greetings for all the rock
fans worldwide! Follow us on http://@bluemammothband" rel="nofollow - and
our http://www.bluemammothband.com" rel="nofollow - ! Thank you to Andre for this interview Their PA profile is http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=6840" rel="nofollow - and their homepage is http://www.bluemammothband.com" rel="nofollow - |
Replies:
Posted By: Godbluff Generator
Date Posted: November 22 2011 at 18:28
| Good work on the interview! They sound pretty decent too. |