After shaking the floor of the Paleo Dome on July 20, three members of the TechnoBrass band, Clément, Tom and Marcelo, shared a moment with the audience. Le Regard LibreA meeting between brass, percussion and electro with this Brazilian-born band.
Le Regard LibreIn a few words, how would you describe your style of music?
Our band, made up of an Argentinian, two Frenchmen and four Brazilians, plays electronic music with brass, percussion and machines.
How did TechnoBrass come into being?
We were all friends before we became a band, and we used to play together for Rio's alternative music scene. More specifically, for Rio's alternative carnival. We used to jam together, jamming in the street, and in 2017 we realized that the mix of brass, percussion and electro worked well for the carnival crowd. That's where our repertoire comes from: improvised nocturnal urban encounters. Our tunes are then reworked in the studio, but our universe stems from this environment. We play our own music, not someone else's or a composer's: that's our strength.
Would it be fair to say that the instruments you use and the electro aspect of your universe are polar opposites?
Not opposites, but complementary. It's a bit like a recipe: depending on how you prepare and present a recipe, foods that at first glance might not seem to go together will offer something good! We take inspiration from, bring together and break the codes of the electro world, especially for loops, while adding Brazilian roots. Ultimately, what unites our different inspirations is collective euphoria. And it's physically present in many musical genres through a succession of tensions and releases: the basic mechanism is the same.
The audience was out in force yesterday. How did the concert go for you?
It was a very good show! It wasn't the best we've played in terms of execution, but there were more people than we thought and a lot of energy.
Does this mean that a good concert is more than just playing well on stage?
Absolutely. Of course, we control our music, and yesterday we weren't at our best for a number of reasons. Our saxophonist in particular wasn't in top form, having just been to the dentist with a toothache. But there are a lot of factors we can't control to make a show work; that's part of the game.
What kind of factors?
The weather, the size of the stage, the responsiveness and energy of the audience... It's up to us to understand that we can't control all that and that we have to deal with it. The time we play is also important: we generally prefer to play late, but yesterday it was early evening, and it went really well! We don't have a lighting engineer on tour with us, so the lighting we're offered can make us feel at ease or, on the contrary, destabilize us. There are limits to our influence on concert quality. And these factors, which are beyond our reach, have almost more influence on our concerts than on the quality of our playing.
Speaking of audience energy: what kind of people attend your concerts?
Lots of different people! Sometimes ravers, It's a great source of pride for us to be validated by different audiences. All these people enter the concert at different rhythms. Our aim is to make the audience travel, dance and let go. We win everything if we can get them out of their everyday lives: we try to tell a story and immerse them in our universe. It's easier to achieve this at a festival. People are really into it and are there quickly. Village festivals and indoor audiences are harder to catch. But that doesn't mean they don't appreciate it.
What do you mean by that?
We can take a leaf out of Parisian public's book. They're quite snobbish and intellectual. In general, they don't dance: people look at us attentively and wiggle their heads without letting go. But afterwards, the feedback is positive. In all humility, it has to be said that we manage to touch a lot of people. In the early days of the band, we had the opportunity to play concerts in front of older people, but even then, we felt we were catching them! These are people with a priori negative on techno, but since we play with instruments and not just buttons, they appreciate it.
Interesting!
Another time, in Brazil, we were playing in front of an audience that could be described as playboy & bimbo in the middle of the afternoon, at a party for very rich people during Carnival. The conditions weren't ideal, it was very hot, the audience was far away in a swimming pool and at the bar in an artificial, snobbish atmosphere. It felt like a flop. And yet, people enjoyed it... even if they were too busy looking at each other during the concert!
The band will perform at the Chant du Gros on Friday, September 8.
French 
German 
English 
