interview with Murillo Henrique Xavier

Have any of you played in other bands? MHX: Yes. I played in another Prog Metal band called D.Volvo a long time before the Sound Seasons Project. Something inspired on Dream Theater and Symphony X. Four years ago, I started a Melodic Death Metal project called M.H.X’s Chronicles which I released one full length called “Infinite Ocean”.

How is it that you started playing music? MHX: I was a ten years old child when I first took a pair of sticks to play drums on the church. There was a time I wanted to be a drummer. Then my cousin introduced me to the G3: Live in Denver DVD. That was the first time I saw Steve Vai playing. Since that day I choose to play guitar and I never learned it right haha.

What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you? MHX: Murillo Henrique Xavier – Guitar and Songwriting (22 years) Vinny Silva – Drums (21 years) Matheus Ferreira – Guitar (28 years) Richard Rodrigues – Bass (21 years)

Have you had other previous members? MHX: No in this project.

Did you make music even when you were young? MHX: Yes. I used to write my own songs since my 14 years old. My first band was formed about that time.

Where are you from? MHX: We are based on Sao Paulo, Brazil What year did the band form? MHX: 2016 officially as a band. I started to think about this project one year before, on 2015. What's your style of genre? MHX: It’s hard to define, but I think it’s a kind of Prog music. We have influences of Fusion, Jazz, Pop, Post Rock. But it’s essentially Prog Music.

What inspires you? MHX: Cloudy rainy days. I love to write songs when the skies are falling down in water. I don’t know why. It’s like a creative trigger. When the skies have those gray cloud, it’s the time of my brain to pull the trigger. Most part of my music was composed on those days.

How often and where do you reherse? MHX: Most part of time we have 3 or 4 rehearsals before a show. We all work on other stuffs, so we don’t have too many time to rehearse every week. It’s been working pretty cool for us.

How have you developed since you started with the music? MHX: My mind is more creative than before. It’s like to see new colors in the world every time I write an album or learn another lesson on guitar. I used to be a very shy guy, but after the music I could improve my social relations. It helps me a lot on my job as a teacher and principal on my School of Music.

Do you have other interests of work outside the band? MHX: Yes. I own a school of music here in Sao Paulo, Brazil. I teach guitar and music theory too. Sometimes, the job of principal spent more time than the musician one.

Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that? MHX: Yes, we are. We are looking forward to bring our music to Europe and USA. So, booking agents, here we are! haha

Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that? MHX: Labels are pretty cool, too. I think they are very important even in the actual time of independent bands.

What made you decide to make this music? MHX: I wanted to do music that any kind of people would able to listen to, since the guitar boy until my grandmother. My expectation is to bring instrumental music for the people who is not used to listen to. That was the motivation to create the Sound Seasons Project.

What are your songs about? MHX: It depends a lot of what music we are talking about. Every single music has it meaning. My last single released (called Patagonia Spring) is about my honeymoon travel to Argentina. That travel was really inspiring.

Who does the composing and writes the lyrics? MHX: It’s all me. Mainly the lyrics (which we don’t have haha).

Do you compose in a certain environment? MHX: In my class room between my classes.

Have you done any covers live? MHX: A few months ago, we were playing “Bad Horsie” from Steve Vai, but adapted to 7 strings guitar.

Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary? MHX: We established a fixed set-list for our first album tour. It helped us a lot because we don’t have too much time to rehearsal new things. But it’s always cool to play the same songs.

What was your first gig like? MHX: Since I remember, it was on church. With a Rock band, too. I don’t know what the audience thought about, but I certainly enjoyed that haha

What was your latest gig? MHX: Our last gig was at the EM&T, one of the most important school of music here in Brazil. It was pretty awesome. The gig was made by Sound Seasons Project and two of my great influences: Michel Oliveira and Sydnei Carvalho

Have you had to cancel a gig? MHX: Thanks God, no.

Where do you plan to gig the comming year? MHX: I really expect to play in somewhere of Europe and USA. But it all depends of the Booking Agency/Agent (hey agentes, we are still here! Haha).

When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale? MHX: Since the beginning of our tour we sell T-Shirts and CDs.

Where can people buy your merchandise? MHX: Unfortunately, it’s hard to send incomings from Brazil nowadays. Our Post Company give us shame. So, you have to wait till the day you’re gonna watch us live.

What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records now a days? MHX: I born in the download generation. I really don’t know how that time was when to buy a CD was a great source of income. It doesn’t make difference for me, I still don’t earn too much money making music. CD is souvenir nowadays. It’s like to buy a T-Shirt. I like to buy CDs to complete my collection, but I’m sure that sell CDs it’s no longer a way to make money.

How do you think the music industry have changed because of this? MHX: The way of consume music have changed. The people uses to listen a single instead a full album. It’s all influenced by the fast communication and practicality the internet brings us. On the one hand, the access for new bands and new music is easier than before, on the other hand, people stopped to appreciate musical concepts entirely as a full album. We have good and bad things.

What do you think of my work? MHX: I don’t know too much, but I wanna know more J

How do you think and know that this interview will help you in the music business? MHX: I expect that we can reach more listeners to our music through this interview. Thanks to the technology, we can send our music right here from Brazil to the (literally) other side of the planet. So, I’ll be very satisfied if our music can make someone feel better.

Do you have any role models or idols? MHX: Everyone in that band has they own idols. Speaking about me, Steve Vai are the best! Followed by John Petrucci and Stevie Ray Vaughan. I also admire Guthrie Govan and Allan Holdsworth. Speaking about the new generation of guitarist, Plini, David Maxim Micic and Owane are my favorites.

Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today? MHX: Yes! I think it’s quite hard to be innovative nowadays. There’re many new band on the scene, but many of them are copies of other bands. I’m saying copies, not inspired by. Older bands can teach us how to be creative and innovative. Dream Theater is on the top of my favorite bands and they created something new on that time. They catched the old prog rock and mixed with heavy metal and we have something completely new. So, I think the innovation is the most interesting thing to learn with a older band.

What have been your biggest obstacles? MHX: Certainly, to reach the instrumental music market. People in Brazil is not used to consume instrumental music as the European or North-American is. All the guys who are doing the same kind of music we do are on Europe or USA. We are trying to figure out a way to break this obstacle.

What advice would you give other bands or artists? MHX: Be creative! Be yourself when you write music. Be faithful to your ear and heart.

Do you have any new material? MHX: Sound Seasons: Vol 2 are about to be released. We are ending the recording process. I’m planning to released about June or July.

What are your web sites?

MHX: https://www.facebook.com/MurilloHenriqueXavier/ https://www.youtube.com/user/MurilloHenriqueX https://murillohenriquexavier.bandcamp.com/ https://www.instagram.com/murillo.h.xavier/

How can people reach you? MHX: We are always available on our social media. So, everyone can hit us a message anytime. For concerts, masterclasses and gigs, here’s my email -> [email protected]

What are your plans for the future? MHX: We are planning to shoot a live DVD on the end of the year. Let’s see how it works.

Do you have something to add? MHX: Thank you so much for the interview. I had a great time answering the questions. I wish you success and all the best. For the crowd, follow us on our social medias and subscribe my Youtube Channel. We hope to see you all in a show!

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