Garotas Suecas Interview: SXSW 2010

With a sound that falls somewhere between Otis Redding and Os Mutantes, Garotas Suecas is a six-piece Brazilian band that blends influences from their home country with a hearty mix of American soul and garage rock. And, according to their site, "Garotas Suecas will make you dance." Though the band is moderately popular in their native land, where they've won MTV Video Awards, they have yet to break in the U.S., though that may change after they play seven dates at this year's SXSW festival. Guilherme Saldanha, singer of Garotas Suecas, recently jumped on the phone with Spinner to talk about their influences, band name and biggest vices.

Describe your sound in your own words.

We're a rock band interested in building rhythms to dance [to] while singing about the experiences of the youngsters in our homeland. I think we sound like a rock band trying to do that.

How did your band form?

We met at an open mic night in our neighborhood. We decided to form the band when we realized that we had the same musical taste.

What are your musical influences?

We listen to American music a lot like blues, jazz, funk and soul. We also listen to Brazilian music -- regional stuff like samba and samba-rock.

How did you come up with your band name?

"Garotas Suecas" means "Swedish Girls" in Portuguese. We were picking a name in the middle of the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the first Brazilian victory of the soccer World Cup, which happened in Sweden. A very well know fact about this championship is that many Brazilian soccer players dated Swedish girls while playing there -- the Swedish people refer to this fact as the "Brazilian Baby Boom" [which also happens to be the name of their first album].

What's your biggest vice?

We're a very clean band.

What's in your festival survival kit?

Aspirin.

Who was your first celeb crush?

Shelley Duvall.

What's your musical guilty pleasure?

I don't know if I'm really guilty about that but some days I enjoy listening to the first Alanis Morissette album 'Jagged Little Pill.'

Beatles or Stones?

Stones.

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

Americans learning Portuguese through our songs.


Joseph P. Larkin is a contributor from Seed.com. Learn how you can contribute here.