Robex Lundgren virkblogg.

Have any of you played in other bands? Yes we did.

How is it that you started playing music? We are 5 professional musicians. So, we had experience playing in other groups during our studies and in a professional context as well. WE play in other contexts apart of Brass quintet like orchestras, etc. 

What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you? First trumpet: Luis Campos; 2ºnd trumpet Nuno Pinho; Horn  Marco Maia; trombone Manuel Vieira and tuba; Fernando Santos.

Have you had other previous members? Yes we had. But as always in those kind of groups there is always members looking for other aims. So, some musicians we had before moved for other countries to play in international orchestras. 

Did you make music even when you were young? Yes. Our background are the wind bands. Portugal its very rich in those kind of music culture.

Where are you from? Portugal

What year did the band form? The Brass Quintet was formed about 2013

What's your style of genre? WE play barroc, classic, romantic, jazz, dixie, Fado (portuguese music), contemporary. and movies soundtracks, etc.

What inspires you? Always playing good music. Always do better and better. We love make efforts and see the amazing music results.

How often and where do you reherse? We reaherse once a week between Braga and Porto. 

How have you developed since you started with the music? We developed not only the group, but our selfes as persons. We are playing very often what makes us very happy indeed. Last mars we went to Brazil playing and teaching and all these kind of experiences makes grow up a lot. 

Do you have other interests of work outside the band? WE are all teachers of our own instrument in artistic music schools in Portugal, orchestra musicians, etc. 

Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that? WE are always looking for new agreements that will result in more concerts; concerts with very good quality. 

Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that? WE have alreay our logo as you can see in our facebook page.

What made you decide to make this music? We decide to make music in a brass quintet bases. We didnt think about any particular music style. We knew that in brass quintet would allow us to play different styles of music and would be a good music context to keep developing our skills as performers. 

What are your songs about? We play music. Our music can be arragements from symphonies, arragements of traditional music as portuguese or from other cultures; originals for brass quintet and we play new music for this group as well. 

Who does the composing and writes the lyrics? We by pieces. We have exclusive arragements for us as well allowing us to play different styles of music. 

Do you start with the music or the lyrics? WE play brass instruments. We dont sing. 

Do you compose in a certain inviroment? At this time we dont compose.

Have you done any covers live? We always play live. 

What language do you sing in? we dont sing. 

What are the least and most people to attend one of your gigs? Usually we have full auditorium.

What ages are most of your concert attendants? since 10 years old until 80´s.

Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary? We play a very variety list of music. 

Do you have a regular place you play live often? No. 

What was your first gig like? It was in a summer course in Figueira da Foz with a full auditorium.

What was your latest gig? It was in Póvoa de Varzim, in 24th of april. Very good audience, where we played a lot of portuguese music and some brass quintet standards.

Have you had to cancel a gig? No. 

Where have you played live this year? Since January 2018 we played about 20 concerts. Lots of them in different cities and contexts in Portugal. We were as well in Brazil last Mars, where we gave masterclasses and concerts.

Where do you plan to gig the comming year? Still focus in this year and in our recording cd.

When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale? For now, we sale concerts/music.

Where can people buy your merchandise? Hire HomeBrass and we listen us playing.

What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records now a days? WE could have a very long discussion about this item... All the artists should recognize that its very difficult to get a good balance between technology, digital world and art rights in general. Its one reason because we are more focus in our concerts and recording just some short movies of our concerts. TRying to push people to meet us and know us throughour performances. AS I said before we are planning to record a CD this year, but we will not expect to get rich with it. Not at all. We are doing it first of all for our own pleasure and of course to  try to get more publicity through our CD. Generaly speaking, people tend to copy and copy... always trying to avoid paying for music conteNts, unfortunatly for artists...

How do you think and know that this interview will help you in the music business? iT WILL ALWAYS DEPEND WHAT You do with it. It always about good exposure, good publicity. 

Do you have any role models or idols? As musicians of course we have our own  musicians in our instruments. As a group we have as well our references like Gomalan brass, Empire Brass, Canadian Brass, etc. 

Why do you think that they exist? When a product its good, you can always sell it. So we are creating and developing our product and walking our way to get to the goal. 

Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today? As I said before, our days its very easier to get and know several groups through internet You just need to click. Its easier to get and choose references, some of them crap but others very good. You just need to be smart and choose the correct ones. 
What advice would you give other bands or artists? Study, practice, love what you do, and be patient. The results will come.

How do you get psyched for a gig? Good preparation and because we love what we do. 

Do you have any new material? Yes we have. Always looking for new music. A lot of new composers around the world are sending new and wonderful music for us to play.

What are your web sites? We have our page in Facebook, Instagram, and we are finalizing our new webpage (we will let all people know when will be ready). 

How can people reach you? Can always checcking us in our facebook page. by mail ( [email protected])  and phone (+351 967331584). 

What are your plans for the future? kEEP DEVELOPING our skills, programmes; playing and recording an amazing cd with a very exclusive music style that will be very novelty for the brass quintet context at least.

Do you have something to add? Thank you for the opportunity for speaking about us, and hope playing in Sweden soon.