Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} XX Moonspell 20 Anos by Fernando Ribeiro XX Moonspell 20 Anos by Fernando Ribeiro
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Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} XX Moonspell 20 anos by Fernando Ribeiro XX Moonspell 20 anos by Fernando Ribeiro. "It's hard being bored in a band such as ours." As Portuguese metallers Moonspell came to visit Stockholm, Sweden, as supporting act to British outfit Cradle Of Filth, Metal Covenant sought up the band's lead vocalist Fernando Ribeiro for a little chat. Tobbe: It's been about 4 months since 1755 was out and was that record harder to make than all the other records considering its story? Fernando: Not really. I mean, musicians always value their work a lot and we're always telling [Whispers] "Oh, it's was so hard and so difficult." and sometimes we forget that that's actually the most pleasant part of being in the band, 'cause we're able to tell such a story, because this story is so important to the Portuguese people and for me personally I studied it both in school and at university. So to answer your question, it wasn't hard to make and we were very inspired by it. It wasn't supposed to be a full album; just an EP. But we got carried away and Napalm was cooling off, you know, to let us change all the plans. And the fact that it's in Portuguese and that there was this concept that was so strong and evident for us, I think, really helped the making of the album, in all aspects, from lyrics to storytelling, up to everything, you know, and Moonspell always considers albums. We hate when people say albums are dead; "No, they are not dead. They are the most noble form of expression of a musician.". So, it's great to make a little concept that grows up to play a whole tour, singing in Portuguese everywhere, and the artwork and everything, so yeah, I think things have really fallen into place with this one. Tobbe: And does something feel different inside of you when you sing in your own native language instead of singing in English? Fernando : I think so. I mean, I've sung in my native language many times before, but not just on a full Portuguese written album. You know, we'll always have Opium, Alma Mater, Full Moon Madness and other stuff I did in Portuguese. I mean, I think first there's way less switches to pull when you're singing and thinking in Portuguese, you know. Even though I always try to improve my English, my accent, my vocabulary, Portuguese is just natural to me. It's just as natural as breathing. You know, I wake up at home speaking Portuguese; not on tour though. [Laughs] But on the other hand, no other language could add to the experience as much as Portuguese does. That was the key factor for us picking up Portuguese. And when we started, especially as a singer, it was really cool because I wanted this album to be full of dramatics and a lot of the music were already spot on there with all the arrangements and the tragedy. People say symphonic, but I hate the word symphonic. I don't like symphonic metal; well, not most of it. And live, especially, I go to different places, I think, and that's very good for me, because I want to go to these places when I write in English as well, even if it's more troublesome. It's hard to describe the feelings, but I have this story with a friend of mine [Paulo Moreira], who wrote our biography book [XX - 20 Anos/20 Years], and he was there for me in many rehearsals, you know. So when I was doing the vocals, or singing, not only he, but also some Portuguese friends, were, like, looking at me, all scared and shit, saying like "You're very angry. You're very emotional. It's just a rehearsal.". But I can not sing this otherwise and that's even on the soundcheck and everything, you know. So that's really nice in fact, definitely. Tobbe: Normally you would write the music and put lyrics on top of them, but here you had a full story and… Fernando : Yeah. But that's not really the way we work with Moonspell. I'm a very productive guy with lyrics. I love to write and to read and one thing adds to another. So I always have a lot of stuff, good stuff and shitty stuff, and some of it can definitely be used for the band. So with Moonspell we kind of do these things simultaneously. Sometimes I have the lyrics and they have songs and they show me the musical parts and say "Well, it's time to give a name to the song.". But I think that it really helps the music, especially on 1755, because we kind of consider the lyrics also to be kind of a script, you know. So I think the music sometimes follows the script a little bit, or the music can be the script and I can write something accordingly as well. But probably, unlike other bands, as a lyric writer, and especially if we get this chance, I hate to save everything for last and just do some lyrics, you know. Because music has to have lyrics and I think music is music and lyrics, you know. So we always work on things as a group and these things can not really be separated in Moonspell. Tobbe: Is 1755 the only album you will ever make that's completely sung in Portuguese? Fernando : Well, when we made it we thought so, of course. And also to make it special in a way. But I can't lie; there's many things I wouldn't probably do, or would do with Moonspell, but after 1755 was recorded and done and the ideas were all there, I have to say we were quite happy with the album. We didn't know what would really happen to the album, because it was just a one-off, like, thing in Portuguese, besides in Portugal and in Brazil. But great things happened, so I don't think it's a closed door, but an open window, because we found a different Moonspell after 25 years. That's awesome for us, because it's still Moonspell, still our sound, but it sounds really fresh in our ears. Portuguese history is long and eventful and I think this is the top, like, historical fact or event that we wanted to cover, because it's so similar to the last, you know, lyrical orientation and very apocalyptic and thinking about the end, like the child of The Cold War that I am. And we had this tragic, apocalyptic event, and people thought it was the end of the world, just in our city, in Lisbon, in our capital and it was a great subject to write about. Tobbe: After being around for so long as Moonspell has been, does a band need to do something different too, in order to not get bored? Fernando: It's not a question of being bored. It's hard being bored in a band such as ours. You know, we have a lot of stuff to do, we have a lot of touring. It's more a fact of being creative. I think a lot of bands weigh their importance in success, or money, or likes, or whatever to feel meaningful in the scene. I think our way of feeling meaningful is definitely to be creative and I think that's why the future has always been so important for Moonspell and also, if you look at our discography, we admit it's a bit crazy, but it's also honest because we did whatever we wanted, you know. Regardless we were doing big or small, or that we were trendy, or if gothic metal was like this or like that, we never really cared about anything else than writing music, and people can just listen to our records, out of our very own ideas. Sometimes against the advice of, you know, management and label. We never made a big deal about it, but we were always very straightforward. Many things will be out of our control as a band, but not the music. So I think it's more a thing of being creative. I think it's a very joyful moment for a band, especially when you have made so many albums, this is our 12th album, to find that there's still places to go, and even though there's many stages now in the Moonspell career, and going to a very recent one, I think both our last album Extinct and 1755, even though they're very different, are very adult, you know. It's not a boring word, becoming an adult, and for me it means maturity. And also, you know, try to always have this thing that early Moonspell has, which is a strive or hunger to be original; to have our own sound despite our influences. Tobbe: Does everything you do today still gets compared to what you did in the '90s? Fernando: Not really, but some people are still whining about it. But every time less really. Like, for instance, we came on this tour and we play one song from Wolfheart, that's it, and nobody went home unsatisfied. We play a couple of songs from Irreligious, but we play so much more from 1755.