Dead Combo presents his indefinable and melancholic music

RIO – A song that seems to come from nowhere – and everyone. The Mississippi blues, the Portuguese fado, the electric music of the African deserts, the Cuban boleros, the traces of the Italian westerns. Published in April, "Odeon Hotel" is the most ambitious and indefinable album of Dead Combo, a Lisbon group formed in 2001 by Pedro Gonçalves (guitar and bass) and Tó Trips (guitar).

– What we do does not have a definition, it does not fit in a box. What is good and healthy, especially in the arts – is proud of Pedro Gonçalves, in a telephone interview, from Lisbon. We are an instrumental band, and our music can be from anywhere in the world, although we still have something that shows that it is Portuguese

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Now, after 17 years of activity and five acclaimed albums in Portugal and well commented abroad, Dead Combo is taking its first steps with the new album (and the sixth) of the show while it travels the planet. On day 20, they are the attraction of the Portuguese scene of the Brazilian Mimo Festival, in the city of Amarante. And in November, they repeat the participation in the Brazilian phase: the day 17 in Rio, and 20, in São Paulo.

Born in the audience of a show that the indie-folk American musician Howe Gelb did in Lisbon – at the end of the presentation, Tó asked Pedro to take a turn, but as he had no car or wallet, – The Dead Combo has deep roots in his city and his culture (the original project of the pair of rockers was to pay tribute to Carlos Paredes, genius of guitar and fado Portuguese). The real Odeon is not a hotel, but a cinema in the center of Lisbon, closed since the 1990s, which was bought to be transformed into a luxury apartment building – a symbol of gentrification in course in the Portuguese capital.

– The Odeon is a hotel that no longer exists, which accommodated people from all social extracts and from all geographical points. It's also a way of thinking about what's happening in our city – says the musician, for whom the hotel also serves as a metaphor for Dead Combo's own music. – We are eclectic people. And on this record we have a little more.

"Odeon Hotel" is the first album of the band that was not produced by himself, but by the Chilean Alain Johannes, who was a musician of support of stone age queens, played in Chris Cornell and PJ Harvey records and produced albums of singer Mark Lanegan

– We wanted someone from the outside take us somewhere we would not go naturally. We were imprisoned in our own ideas, and with Alain we could free ourselves. It ended up being an album with a less obvious Portuguese – says Pedro.

What also changed in "Odeon Hotel" was the decision of the Dead Combo to work with more musicians than usual. They entered the vigorous drums of Alexander Frazão, the percussion of Mick Trovoada, the viola of Bruno Silva and the saxophones of João Cabrita. Live, they rely on the addition of Alexander, Gui (Xutos & Pontapés, in the woods) and António Quintino (bass, guitar and mellotron). Mark Lanegan (who, by the way, introduced them to Johannes) lends his guttural voice to the heavy blues "I know, me alone."

– We met Mark when he came to play in Lisbon, we show poems by Fernando Pessoa. says that he already knew the "Book of Agitation".

With a melancholy that runs through the entire album, the Dead Combo takes walks across the ska ranch "Theo & # 39; s walking" ", The jazz-salsa punk" Desassossego "and the carnival" As quica that you can. "The surfing music" Dear Carmen Miranda "refers to the great international star of Brazilian music.This, as Pedro remembers," was of Portuguese origin. "

– We really love the music that is made in Brazil.But our relationship is more with the Brazilians who live here than with the country – says Pedro, who played with the Dead Combo once in São Paulo in 2013.

Much of the fact that the song of the Dead Combo has earned wings was due to movies and television.In 2015, they have two songs in the movie "Double Strike", starring Will Smith.Before, in 2012, they were the guides of the leader (recently deceased) Anthony Bourdain in Lisbon on the recordings of the TV show No Reservations vision – which earned them the & # 39; entry in the top 10 best in the world – American