Brazilian metal band Artemis from Brasília, produced by Edu Falaschi, has kindly agreed to answer some questions from Edu Falaschi France team regarding his work at Norcal Studios and recording sessions of his debut album, still untitled, which will be released in the second half of this year! Enjoy ;)
"Hi Artemis! First of all, thanks a lot for the opportunity to make an interview! It’s a real honour for us ;) I know you are very busy now because of your recordings sessions at Norcal Studios in Sao Paulo!
Edu Falaschi France : Could you introduce Artemis and its musicians for French and European people please ...
Pedro Senna (drums) : Artemis is a band formed by five crazy guys, perfectionists and completely in love with music. The lead singer is Alírio Netto, very experienced in music and one of the most requested teachers in Brasilia, vocal director of “Escola de Musicais de Brasília” and the lead singer of one of my favorites bands, Khallice. The guitarists Nathan Grego and Gabriel “T-Bone” are formed in guitar, highly technical and precise, great composers, both are students of Marcelo Barbosa (Almah, Kahllice, leader of GTR, Guitar Institue), a great friend of the band. The bassist is Giovanni Sena, one of the bests in Brasilia and certainly the best I’ve ever had the opportunity to play, besides he is teacher of “Escola de Música de Brasília” and played with greats Brazilian musicians.
Nathan Grego (guitar) : Pedro Senna is the drummer and founder of Artemis; he was the one who gave ideas and believed in the possibility of doing a professional job with sophistication, besides being a great musician and friend.
Edu Falaschi France : MS Metal Press, your press agent, has recently announced in an official statement, the entry of Alírio Netto (the singer from the renowed Brazilian band Khallice) in the band. Can you tell us more about that? How did the meeting between Artemis and Alirio Netto ?
Pedro Senna : I met last year Alírio Netto, we study audio and musical production in the same classroom. The album was in pre-production, and Alirio Netto is a great friend of Edu, he always asked about how the album was going. When we had a problem with our ex singer, the first name that came to my mind was Alirio, by his experience and technical quality, but we didn’t know if he would accept joining the band. When we talked about the proposal, he accepted and in the first reunion we were sure he was the right guy to be the singer and the frontman of Artemis.
Nathan Grego : I know the work of Alirio for many years, I went to many concerts of him and Khallice, I can say he is one of the best singers I’ve ever seen on stage, very precise and tuneful. His joining in band was amazing, work with someone experienced is an accomplishment for me and the rest of the members. Despite the recent entry, he got along quickly in the band, both at the personal as the sound that we make, the result of the music is fantastic.
Edu Falaschi France : What are the main influences of Artemis ?
Pedro Senna : The main influence of Artemis is certainly Angra. If Angra is not the favorite band of all, are most of us. But I particularly like a lot of different things and more modern than heavy metal, as: Pop rock, indie rock, alternative rock, post rock, hardcore, Brazilian music in general, pop, jazz, funk, soul… I think it’s important to like all sorts of styles, because it’s not only adding value to your music, causes you to have a more open-minded, facilitating creativity.
Nathan Grego : As Pedro already said there is a large influence of Angra, but we’re coming up with much diversified songs, each one presents a different style, will certainly be a nice album to listen completely. The songs have influences like Power metal, classical music, progressive rock, pop, hard rock, Brazilian music and even have a song that has a sound that mixes Arabic influences with thrash metal. Bands like Dream Theater, Stratovarius, Almah, and Symphony X influenced our compositions.
Edu Falaschi France : How did you meet Edu Falaschi and decided to work with him as producer ?
Pedro Senna : I met Edu a few years ago, because I was always a big fan of Angra and have always been present in shows and backstage, we were not friends yet, but we already had some contact. When Almah released “Fragile Equality” I was sure that he was the right guy to produce our album. Our press office was the same (MS Metal Press) and I asked Edu Macedo to contact him and then we started talking about the project. It was a hard time to Artemis, we had member and sonority changes. The formalization of this album brought a lot of motivation for the band.
Edu Falaschi France : Could you explain how you work together, the band and Edu Falaschi?
Pedro Senna : When we started working on the album, we still didn’t have any song prepared for the fact that the band has started again, so we came up with little ideas of riffs and melodies, and he was directing us to these ideas to turn their song with all parts. They all suffered enough change over time, so we decided to do more than one year of pre production, so that the songs were cut and mature enough to enter the studio and record them.
Edu Falaschi France : Have you got some stress due to the celebrity and experience of your producer? .
Pedro Senna : Work with Edu always been easy, the only problem was change some dates due to numerous commitments that he had, but it was easy to solve too.
Edu Falaschi France : You regularly post on your official Youtube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/artemisbrazil) some videos showing the advanced of the recording at Norcal Studios ... drums, guitars sessions ... Will you show us all steps of the recording? Bass, vocals, mixing, mastering? It would be so great, because it’s very interesting!
Pedro Senna : Yes, of course! The bass, vocals and choir videos are already recorded, we are editing and soon it will be on our channel on YouTube. We may not have mixing and mastering videos, because in Norcal Studios the team works in a very dynamic way that save some time, while we were recording the vocals they were already pre-mixing the rest, so to be honest I don’t think we’ll have this videos. But many others will come!
Edu Falaschi France : Could you tell us more about the team from Norcal Studios and the material do you use to record your album?
Pedro Senna: Norcal Team besides being great and very professional is formed by great people. Adriano (Daga), Andre and Brendan (Duffey) have become great friends and it’s likely that the next album be done there. For equipment, everybody could watch the videos that are the best on the market, with experienced technicians, so the end result is at least fantastic.
Edu Falaschi France : I’d like to know more about your debut album ... Influences, styles, how many songs did you composed ... Is it a conceptual one?
Pedro Senna : This album is basically a Power Metal album, it have other styles, but the base is power metal. The biggest influence was certainly Angra, but in my opinion, all we heard during the pre production was reflected in the final result. Initially, the album would be conceptual, but when Alirio Netto joined the band, he had some ideas of lyrics and he wanted to use them, we liked the material he had, so we decided to make the record without a central theme. Another interesting point was the tribute that Netto did to Dio in a song putting some classic music titles and making allusions to it. Who is a fan of Dio will realize that the lyric and the tribute fit perfectly in the atmosphere of this song.
Nathan Grego : The abum will have tem musics, each one will present diferents paths of influence, but although they varied quite fit within the context of the album.
Edu Falaschi France : And what about the title of the album? Maybe it’s secret...
Pedro Senna : We have some ideas, but nothing concrete. The name will be released with the cover art.
Edu Falaschi France : When will you release your debut album? Will it be released outside Brazil? It will would be so great ;)
Pedro Senna : The album is almost done, but we don’t know when it will be released. We will negotiate with some labels around the world and let’s see what happens. Edu and we are very optimistic because it’s a very high level work, then probably be able to release it inside and outside Brazil. We’re working hard for it.
Edu Falaschi France : Will you release the first single soon?
Pedro Senna : The release date of our first single is in October, is not sure yet but we’re working for that to happen as quickly as possible. Missing a few details to album to be really finalized. In 09/20/2010 we officially finished all recordings, what is missing is orchestration details and the final mix (we already have a lot of pre mixes) and mastering.
Edu Falaschi France : I’d like to know what do you learn with Edu Falaschi as producer ... I’m sure it’s very rewarding to work with an exprimented and awesome musician and producer as him !
Pedro Senna : This was another factor that led us to want to work with him, we learned a lot of things, like how to think in a composition, or how to work with a band in a professional level. We’ve gained much experience with this album and I’m sure the next will be even better because of this and other experiences that we acquire over time.
Nathan Grego : Work with Edu is a great learning experience for me, I could spend time discussing and learning about composition, part of songs, what works and what does not work and styles. As composer of the band I had much contact with Edu and I believe that the ideas he added in the compositions have become crucial for the identity of each one.
Edu Falaschi France : Artemis is from Brasília... Could you say more about the metal scene from Brasilia?
Pedro Senna : Unfortunately, with this new generation the heavy metal scene in Brazil get very upset, mainly in Brasilia, here we don’t have venues to this public and the high level local bands are not valued as they should be, there are many people who work hard for that to change, but the situation is very complicated at the moment. I hope we can contribute greatly to the Brazilian heavy metal, and can also represent Brasilia.
Edu Falaschi France : Have you got something to add? About your future tour in support of your debut album, for example?
Pedro Senna : We are preparing a lot to show in concerts everything we do in the album and even more, even though in some places we will find many adversities that will hinder the presentation, but that makes us want to be the best. Good news is coming.
Edu Falaschi France : Thanks a lot for the interview and for your precious time! We are looking forward to hear your debut album!!! We wish you the best for your recordings sessions ;)
Pedro Senna : Sylvie, thank you for the interview. I would also like to thank Irina, Edu Falaschi, Marcelo Barbosa, Edu Macedo and the entire team of MS Metal Press for all the work we are developing together! A great album is coming and we are full of energy to show it to the world. See ya!
Nathan Grego : Thanks for the opportunity to talk more about the band and the music, I would like to thank Marcelo Barbosa who supported us during this period and also had a special participation in the album. The album is the result of more than one year of work, so it was very worked to show our talent to everyone."
For more news : Artemis Official Myspace / Youtube / Pedro Senna Official Twitter
