interview with Machinaria

What´s the name of your band? Machinaria.

How was the band formed? Me (Luciano) and one of our guitar players (Alan) formed the band in 2011 once we’ve been trying to form a solid band. We had another project in the past but they never worked well until now. After we found the right members (Bruno “Porta”, Matheus and Luiz Mario) to be part of the family things started to work out and now we’re around playing and rehearsing.

Can you tell about your band? We are a thrash/groove metal band from southern Brazil. We are five members and we just want to play, have fun, but always taking it seriously. If you do and work with something you love, you can have fun as well. We always play with passion because we love metal, we love music.

Where are all band members from?/Who does what in the band? All members from a southern city in Brazil called Bagé, state of Rio Grande do Sul and close to the border with Uruguay. Our lineup is: Luciano Ferraz - vocals, Matheus Leal – lead guitar, Alan Quintana – rhythm guitar, Bruno “Porta” – drums  and Luiz Mario Moraes – bass.

What was the ambitions of the band when you started? Just play, man. Spread our message to the people and have fun. Currently we’re on a recording process, we’re recording and producing our debut album. It’s gonna be released in November and we are preparing a concert/party for it.

Could you explain your music to someone that haven't heard you? I think the closest definition to our sound is a thrash metal band with some groove and elements from heavy and prog metal as well.

Where was the latest gig? It was in the state of Santa Catarina, miles away from our hometown. It was a metal festival called Otacílio Rock Festival. Bands such as Krisiun, Hibria, Distraught and Leviaethan played there. More than one thousand metal heads banging like nuts! It was insane and epic!

Who writes your songs?/Who writes the music who writes lyrics? The band as a whole writes the songs and our music, except me (Luciano). I write the lyrics and the words.

Who has the best sense of humor in the band? Everyone! We are all crazy guys having fun, drinking and telling jokes all the time. I think it’s important to keep our music and its spirit alive. By doing this, we get more relaxed, we get rid of tension and it’s good for us to stay focused on what we have to do.

What's good/bad for the band?/What genre do you feel you are? A good thing for the band is to keep playing and the bad thing, I think it would be the opposite. And if we’re out of beers it’d be bad too, lol! And as regards to the genre, I feel us metal. All sorts of metal, but always metal!

Why did you pick that particular style?/What are your songs about? We chose this style because it’s powerful and aggressive. It sounds killer! Our songs are always directed to all kinds of fanaticism. For example, our debut will talk about the inquisition and all the bad things it brought to the people in the past.

Do you write your own material or mainly covers? We write our own songs. We started playing cover songs because we didn’t have enough material, but now we have our own stuff and we will keep focusing only on this. Maybe we’ll play one or two cover songs in our concerts in the future. But we’re not thinking about this at the moment. We’re focused on our debut album, it requires our total attention.

Have you made any albums?/If yes what are they? Yes. Three singles and now, as I said before, we are recording and producing our debut album. It is great, I have no words to describe, it feels like your own child giving birth, you know.

Do you have any clips on YouTube? No, but we recorded a video clip in April and it’s gonna be out in November. Actually, it’s gonna be released along with the party/concert of our debut album. 

How old are you?/What got you started in music? I’m 30, Alan is 29, Porta is 28, Luiz Mario is 27 and Matheus is 23. Rock/metal itself called my attention to music. I think it would be the same for the other guys of the band.

At what age did you start playing? I started singing when I was 13 years old and recording my voice in tapes doing some playback stuff with Nirvana’s album, Nevermind. After that, I changed to Sepultura and since then I never stopped listening to metal as well.

How old were you guys when you first stood on stage? I was 18, “Porta” was 16, Luiz Mario was 12, Matheus was 15 and Alan was 15 too.

What year was the band started? 2011.

Best/worst gig you've played? The best one was at Otacilio Rock Festival. And the worst… there was no worst. They were all good.

What places will you be playing in in the immediate future? We’re going to play in the release party of our debut album and then we don’t know yet. No plans for the future.

Where have you played from then till now? So far we’ve played in pubs in our hometown and once at Otacílio Rock Festival.

Which band is the best one you’ve ever seen? For me it was Machine Head and Metallica, for Luiz Mario, Megadeth, for Alan, Black Sabbath, for Matheus it was Angra and Sepultura and for Porta it was Megadeth too.

Is it always the same songs live? This is gonna be our first record so, yes, they are always the same. Except the cover songs, because we change them sometimes.

What has been the best/most promising gig so far? No gigs for now. As I said, we’re focused on our recording process. After that we start thinking about the gigs.

Have you had any bigger tours from start to now? No. Only in one concert. We’re a new band and people out there do not know us yet. We’re starting to write our own story from now on.

How big crowds do you usually play for? It depends, it can be from one hundred to one thousand or more as happened in Santa Catarina. But most important thing is that we are prepared to play to any number of people that comes.

What are the plans for the rest of the year? Record our album and release it. Once it’s out, we’ll start with the gigs.

How do you get psyched up for a gig? By drinking beer, trying to relax and have fun.

What are your goals with your music? Spread out our message and bring some good music to the audience that enjoys metal music.

When did you decide to go all in for the music? Since we started up this band, it’s our dream.

Is it easier to get your inspiration from older bands or from bands more modern? From the older ones. But I’m inspired by modern bands too. Most important thing is the good music, if it’s good, inspiration can come from anywhere and any band.

What's the first step when making a new song? We record the riff and then we work on it until we have the song as a whole and ready to be played.

How do you feel about the downloading of music instead of buying albums? It’s good if you’re adapted to this modern world and this globalization. But it might suck if you don’t know how to deal with it. But I still prefer an album because by buying it you can have and “consume” the entire material.

What would be your dreams for the band? Touring in Brazil and abroad.

Besides your own music, what genres and bands do you listen to? I only listen to rock and metal stuff. I’m always listening to the old school thrash bands from the Bay Area. I listen to modern bands like Machine Head (although they’re not so young) and lately I’ve been listening to Mastodon very much. But the guys like different music such as jazz, blues, fusion, pop, MPB (Brazilian Popular Music)… especially Luiz Mario, he enjoys jazz, blues and fusion. Alan, Porta and Matheus like pop stuff, blues and MPB a little bit.

What would be your greatest fears for the future? Maybe if one of us couldn’t play anymore.

When you are on stage, what do you fear most then? I fear I couldn’t make a good concert by fucking up my voice and I think the guys too. It would be terrible if one of us couldn’t play for any reason.

Have you been part of any other projects? Yes, but as I said in the beginning of the interview, no one of them worked out.

Have you been in any other bands? Yes, as I said now too, each one of us made part of other projects and bands and no one of them worked out. Only Luiz Mario has another band called Outsider Resistance and he’s working practically by himself, composing the songs and trying to make it work, but the project turns unstable because he can’t find members to fill in the blanks. Our city is a small one, so it’s hard to find someone to do it.

What do you work with outside of the band and the music? I give English classes and study psychology at the university, Alan works in a musical instrument store, Porta is from the army, Luiz Mario is an IT Analyst and works with computers and Matheus study music in the university.

What would you do if there was no music? I really don’t know because all of us breathe music.

How important are your fans? The most important thing because they are the reason we are out there playing music. Without them to support, enjoy our music and buy our stuff, we are nothing. Musicians must respect the fans and treat them very well.

What's the funniest/most memorable thing a fan has done for you? We are not so famous yet, so the fans treat us normally, not as gods on Earth.

Name 2 of your own songs you like at the moment? Scapegoat and Holy Office.

What drives a band that isn't all that famous and renowned to try to make a living on their music and to keep playing? The passion, dude! It’s all about the passion for the music, for metal. I said in the beginning, what moves us is the passion and we love what we do.

Do you have any web pages? Yes. https://www.machinaria.com.br (it’s not ready yet), https://www.facebook.com/machinariabrasil and https://www.youtube.com/MachinariA.

Any pearls of wisdom for all other bands out there? Work hard on your music with love and passion, do not care about what others will think, be focused and try to be as much professional as you can. Another important thing, be humble! Arrogance only leads us to a black hole.

How do you see the music industry of today? It makes me sick. It sucks, especially for a metal band. They give us no opportunities.

What are the biggest obstacles for a band? No obstacles will stop you if you dream and believe in it!

What is best/worst with playing the clubs? I think the only disadvantage is because they are smaller and not everyone will be able to get in to see the band playing. But in the other hand, we get closer to the crowd and make them take part of the show.

What is your favorite crappy instrument? Remember, “do not care about what others will think”, “it’s all about the passion”. So if you do it with passion, no instrument will be crappy.

What was one of the most quarrelsome times for you in the band? We used to argue when we talked to each other by Facebook, fortunately we’re not doing it anymore. But it’s no big deal because we get over it as soon as we meet in person. We always try to find some equilibrium for our opinions in the band.

Do you have anything to add? Not much, just want to thank you for the interview, it is a pleasure to be here and it also can be a good chance for people in Sweden and in Europe know us and get closer to our band in some way. So visit our websites, like our page on Facebook and stay tuned for any news about our debut album that comes out in November. Stay metal!!! \,,/

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