Hanna Tsepesh: Hello Flávio! Thanks so much for accepting this interview; I know you are little bit busy at the moment! Long time ago since the last time we Spoke. How are you? Flávio: Hello Hanna, yes it´s been a while, anyway I feel fine and enjoying the summer…not on vacations yet…but soon I will be!
Hanna Tsepesh: Now the band has a new Bassist and drummer. I want to ask you, to tell to us what is your opinion about Guilherme and Marcelo work so far?
Flávio: Guilherme has been in the band for about two years now, he replaced Daniel Botelho who had to leave the band because of his studies in Castelo Branco. Guilherme is a very dedicated bass player, composing is a very enthusiastic thing for him and brought a completely new dimension to our sound spectrum, don´t get me wrong Daniel Botelho is an excellent bass player, they are just different and it show on the album.
It is a pleasure finally having an official drummer in the band, Marcelo is a prodigy and it will be very exciting to write music with him when we decide to produce a new record…so far couldn´t be better!
Hanna Tsepesh: Flávio, now you have some other project in hands?
Flávio: Yes I´ve started witting for a new project called “Dark Radio”, so far it only involves me and a producer, Daniel Botelho will feature as a bass player and I plan to invite different people to complement my writing , it is a bit different than Oblique Rain , at least in its concept , when I write for it I think about landscapes and that´s why it probably is not so heavy…but dense anyway! Check it out on www.myspace.com/darkradiostation
On other hand OR plans to start producing a new record on the second half of the year, so I´ve better be prepared for it. It will take some time to produce it, but as you well knows us we won´t release anything unless we decide it is good enough to do so!
Hanna Tsepesh: Flávio let’s talk about only the lyrics in this album. What was your inspiration to create the lyrics for “October Down”? When I was listening to the lyrics I felt it is like a chapter end in your life or something, is that right? We can feel a lot of emotions like sadness with a little revolt, Can you tell to us little bit about the lyrics…?
Flávio: yes, I was concentrated in writing about some events that happened with me in the past…sometimes it is good to write to exorcise the problems and it felt like it on October Dawn. You can almost feel sometimes the emotion when I sing on Soul Circles , Out there but mainly on Darker Woods. As you said it was a chapter that ended…and it couldn´t end better with an album like October Dawn.
Hanna Tsepesh: About the new album “October Down”, I have to say that this album is mature then the other one! For me is a new chapter, like you guys discover yourself in this album! We can feel that the sound is more improved, the voice is much better, I think you guys work a lot in this album in very detail way. You guys show to us a true Oblique Rain essence! For me the first music has little of the other album and then we start to discover Oblique Rain and see the real differences, I think that the more we listen, more we found things in this album. My favorite music’s are: “spiral dreams” and “down” because we real can feel the different emotions! For people who don’t listen yet can you talk about “October Down” and what is the big different for you guys between this album and the previous one?
Flávio: we can´t dissociate October Dawn from Isoyhet…it is like a continuation. We´ve decided to create like a collection type of work, where anyone can sit confortably on the sofa and play both albums one after the other. Even on the cover you can see that continuation, of course we wanted to correct some mistakes that we thought we did on Isohyet but we also wanted to create music that anyone can relate somehow to…. October Dawn it was a special thing that came out of another special thing: Isoyhet…at least for us….(laughs)
Hanna Tsepesh: the album have great musician guest too, can you guys tell to us about who he is and if you like to work with him? Why you decided to invite him?
Flávio: We decided to invite Nuno from WAKO , first because he´s the best growler I know from Portugal and second because WAKO is like a twin band for us. We really do well together and we wanted to have his contribution on the album…witch is great as you can hear. There´s no proper growler on the band, I´m a singer and I will always be so Nuno was a logical choice for us!
Hanna Tsepesh: Everything went well at recording studio? A lot of hard work right?! Can you guys tell to us about the studio process and if the band feels proud with the final result or you think that miss something?
Flávio: Well a studio process goes through lots of fases , you always start very excited , then you get frustrated , tired and on the clouds by the end. Yes it takes a lot of work , specially recording guitars. As you can tell our guitar parts are very elaborate and all had to be perfect! For me it was very quick, I recorded the vocals in just 2 days…I prepared myself very well for it and also to sing on top of such music it is a pleasure…
Hanna Tsepesh: The album cover is fantastic! Who was the person behind this cool work? You guys think that this cover transmit what this album are?
Flávio: The same lovely Marina Soares , she is a very talented designer that was able to produce in no time every aspect we wanted to see on the cover. We wanted to transmit a more natural sound and different than anything we see on a rock or metal record because they tend to be mainly dark… October Dawn is dark as well…but natural…for me it transmits a lot of hope!
Hanna Tsepesh: The band is thinking about recording a video clip of the single?Flávio: yes we recorded a live concert in Teatro Helena Sá e Costa in Porto witch we hope to see the light of day anytime soon… we will see what happens!
Hanna Tsepesh: How has the response been to the album by the fans and media?
Flávio: Couldn´t be better , we´ve been getting the best possible reviews from all over the world and that´s always exciting , specially because it leads us to try to make something better next time! The fans are always very kind to us also!
Hanna Tsepesh: If one of our readers wants to buy your album safely, what they can do?
Flávio: You can buy the album in any record store of through Major Label Industries web page, where you can also check some of our other products too.
Hanna Tsepesh: what is your favorite music in this album and why?
Flávio: Without any doubt Darker Woods, because it captures the real essence of the band. Darker Woods came to us so naturally as magic, it seemed like the song was begging to come out instead of us trying to write it! When I was recording it on the studio it was so emotional that almost toke me to tears when I finished it, it seemed like everything was perfect on that song, music…lyrics..feeling!
Hanna Tsepesh: The band is thinking about a European tour?Flávio: We are always very busy with our professional lives and that doesn´t allow us to do much of touring but I´m hoping to play some interesting venues in the future, in and outside of Portugal!
Hanna Tsepesh: Do you want to send any message for the people who going to read this interview?
Flávio: To keep listening to good music, don´t stay focused in one particular style of music or feeling, try to understand all kinds and select the best…and of course stay Oblique!
Hanna Tsepesh: Thanks o much for your answers and time. THE GATES OF METAL wishes the entire band a big success with “October Down” and see you guys in Vagos Open Air…
Flávio: It was a real pleasure to answer t your questions once again Hanna, I´m hoping to be able to write you again but now with Dark Radio or by the time when Oblique Rain releases the third record!
Thank you very much…cheers!
Hanna Tsepesh: I hope that too Flávio! All the best and thank you again…
By: Hanna Tsepesh
To listen to some OLIQUE RAIN music’s and for future information’s go at:
www.myspace.com/obliquerain
www.obliquerain.com/
