Spinner

The Name Interview: SXSW 2010

Tall and tan and young and lovely the boys from Sorocaba are coming to Austin's SXSW festival. The Name, a three-piece dance-punk band from Brazil, combine home-cooked percussion with blistering guitar riffs best heard by the light of a disco ball. With a music video already in rotation on MTV Brazil The Name is embarking on their first ever US/Canada tour. Lead singer Andy Alves talked to Spinner about the band's plan for world domination.

How did your band form?

We started in 2006 and we released two EP's and two singles; the last one was in November of last year. We've known each other for about 15 years or more. I had a band with my brother [Alves] and then I was looking for a bass player and I found Molinari. We start playing when we were teenagers at school and then we stopped. In 2006, we started The Name band.

Why did you decide to reform in 2006?

I think we always wanted to pursue this seriously. When we met each other again we said it's our dream, it's our life. Let's get serious and let's go.

So you guys have been together for a long time. What's the band dynamic?

We are like brothers. One thinks something and the other says it. We are so close.

How did you come up with your band name?

We were trying to find a name for our band and we started with lots of names. The last one was, 'The Name.' We thought, "Well, why not the name?" Maybe it's easy to remember and it sounds great.

Can you describe your sound in your own words?

Something like disco-punk. I think we're post-punk with a little Brazilian percussion. We like to mix disco and post-punk and Brazilian rhythms because we like to make people dance.

What are your musical influences?

We like Liquid Liquid, ESG, Gang of Four, Talking Heads and !!!, especially them. Our Brazilian influence is more with percussion, something more like what we call batuka, it's more like samba percussion. We have some African rhythms too. There's something called macumba here, its like a religious rhythm and we try to use that too because we think that [Brazilian rhythms are] inside us.

Why did you choose to sing in English?

I think English is a worldwide language and we wanted to expand the sound and the gigs. We always wanted to tour outside our country. Everybody speaks English, it's easier.

Coming from abroad, how do you think you are different from the American bands playing SXSW?

I think the first thing is our accent. Also, we think that our Brazilian influences make the sound different. I think if you use things that only your nationality allows you its a chance to make [yourself] different from other bands that sound similar to you. Certainly we don't have the same influences as an American band.

What's in your festival survival kit?

We need perfume because we aren't able to take a shower everyday. It's like our best friend. A GPS, which we realized we needed about 2-3 days ago, and we need wireless internet for our survival.

What are you most looking forward to on tour?

This is our first time not only in the US or Canada, but outside Brazil. I think it could be great for us; it could be an experience that we cannot describe. It's a big step for us as a band, and to know other people in other countries. We're excited to see everything. There's nothing that we are expecting, everything's gonna be so new for us.

What's the craziest thing that you've seen or experienced on tour?

Once we were traveling and our car had a rack for luggage on top. We were driving and the bass fell in the middle of the road. It was crazy because we weren't expecting it and it started to catch fire because of the metal hitting the asphalt. There was no traffic -- it was our lucky day. But the bass is OK, Molinari is using it now. It's almost the same.

Who would you most like to tour with?

Oh f--- I don't know. I guess Liquid Liquid, they're a band from New York that we really like. And !!!. Can we say two bands?

What's your musical guilty pleasure?

There's a lot of bands that we like that maybe people think aren't so cool, but A-Ha, Duran Duran and Lady Gaga [laughs] . . . no. Not her.

What is your biggest vice?

Drink too much. It's not a real problem. No it's not a problem, it's funny.

Who was your first celebrity crush?

Well the first celebrity that we liked -- we have a clown here that is similar to Krusty from the Simpsons, and I think our first celebrity crush was Bozo. He was funny. Or maybe Santa Claus.

What are your future plans for the band?

We have plans to do another tour in Brazil when we get back from the United States in May or June. We release a new single next week and maybe another EP, and just play play play play.



Laurie Kamens is a contributor from Seed.com. Learn how you can contribute here.

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2 Comments

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Larrie

Cool lines! I'll try to c them! =)

March 09 2010 at 12:58 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Stereotron

Cheers for THE NAME. Sure they will make north-americans dance like never before.

March 06 2010 at 11:38 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply