Miguel Rodrigues, aka Rod, has a
long trajectory within the heaviest sounds of Metal since the late 1980s,
when he founded Putrefaction. He went through several bands such as Projecto 3,
Se7enty Se7en, Mundana and Always War, having focused his attention lately, on
his instrumental solo project Rod1313.
Q. - When did your interest in
the heaviest sounds of metal start? Who would you cite as you major influences
at that time?
Rod - My interest in hard music
came when I was a teenager, I remember that I was listening to the radio
suddenly I start to listening a song with this words HEY HO LET`S GO that blew
my mind at the time, their music was so intense, a few days later I discovered
that the song was Blitzkrieg Bop from Ramones.
Then came Van Halen, Zz Top, Iron
Maiden, W.a.s.p and Judas Priest.
A few years later I realized that
I need it something heavier was when I started listening to Metallica,
Megadeth, Slayer, Sepultura, Death and so many more.
Q. - How did Putrefaction start?
Was it hard to find the wright elements to start the band?
Rod - The idea of starting that
band was mutual by me and Emilio who was the drummer.
Those days there was only a metal
band in the town by the name of Aggressive and me and Emi we were often there
to watch them play, but for me and him only watch them was not funny, we felt
the need to be in the movement and start our own band, but in a small town like
V.R.S.A. was not easy.
After a couple of months we
invited Carlinhos to be in the band, we needed it a bass player but he wanted
to play guitar but after a couple of rehearsals, I convinced him to play the
bass.
We were a three piece band for
some months with me on vocals but soon I realized that we needed a vocalist,
was when we invited Luis who was the ex-vocalist of Aggressive, he had a
powerful voice but we were looking for a death metal vocalist because it was
the music that we were playing those days, his vocal lines were more into
punk/hardcore and the things, unfortunately, didn't work out.
Was when Orlando came on the
picture, he was a great death metal vocalist with a good stage presence, we
invited him to join the band and finally, the band was complete.
Q. - In a general way, how would
you describe those first times of Heavy Metal at V.R.S.A. particularly?
Rod - There were a lot of
metalheads those days that supported us but for a metal band was not the best
place to be, we had no support from the institutions of the town, this was 1990
and heavy metal was not popular, many parents were afraid of this kind of music
that was associated with drugs, violence a completely bullshit, so basically we
have achieved all by ourselves.
Q. - Do you remember
Putrefaction's debut gig at V.R.S.A. high school, still with Luis Neves on
vocals? What did you feel?
Rod - Of course I remember, was
my first gig with a metal band.
I remember that I stole my boss
car that day so we could take our instruments.
That was the first Putrefaction
gig.
Yes Luis was on vocals I did some
songs as guitar/vocals too, was a really good feeling, I remember there were
students and parents sitting waiting for the gig when we started to play the
metal fans started to mosh and the people watching going crazy hahaha
I never forget after the second
song the organization asked us to play the ballad we had at the time so the
people could stop moshing.
Good times man!
Q. - Then Orlando comes in for
vocal duties, did you feel the need to change lead singer?
Rod - I think we felt the need to
change after a couple of weeks with Luis, he had a very powerful voice but more
into hardcore and we were writing songs more into the death metal style and we
realized that his voice was not working in our songs.
Orlando has a very powerful death
metal voice, good stage presence so we invited him for a jam with us and the
chemistry was insane the songs just sounded on fire.
After a couple of rehearsals, he
joined the band.
Q. - What memories do you keep
from Putrefaction gig at Carlos Lopes pavilion? A day to remember?
Rod - I have a lot of good
memories from that gig ,was a festival with a lot of good bands, Moonspell
played also, but they weren’t so famous at the time, they were in the beginning
of the career, the headline band was Ancient Rites and we were just the
underdogs but we had a great sound and we played very well too, also with a
great response from the crowd, it was great to be part of it, I will remember
it for the rest of my life.
Q. - Project 3 comes next, with a
more hard rock and melancholic sound, what made you change the music
composition so much?
Rod - I always liked to play
other music styles, sometimes in the rehearsal me and the drummer we jammed
other music styles was fun to do it.
Was one day that Amilcar the
ex-bass player of Aggressive was there and he jammed with us, was really good
the sound and the chemistry between us.
One day Emi the drummer told us
that he knew a girl that might be interested in being the vocalist, he jammed
with her and was great so we invited Sandra to join the band.
After a couple of months, he
decided that we needed a vocalist with better vocal approaches and with better
range too.
We heard of a girl that was an
amazing singer, Anita, we talked with her about our band that we needed a
vocalist, she was receptive and she came to do some rehearsals and the music
and the chemistry were pure and unique, she got the job right away.
Q. - A demo tape was recorded,
produced by Manu da Silva, did you try to record a cd at that time? What do you
think went wrong, so the project didn't have continuity?
Rod - After we been playing often
in Algarve, people started to talk about us and spread the word.
One day we went to Eddie's bar
(Iron Maiden), and we talked to Manu that we played in a band and ask if he
could help us, I gave him a tape and he told us that he might give a shot.
After a couple of days, he called
Emi and told him that he was interested to work with us.
We were really happy that day,
wow Manu who worked with Iron Maiden is gonna be our manager, it was great.
We worked in a really
professional way and he pushed us to the limit.
After a pre-production of some songs
he took us to the studio to record a demo cd, the final result was brilliant,
was my first experience in the studio and I'm very thankful for all he did for
me and the band, I miss him a lot.
I was going on hard times those
days, alcohol, drugs. I was an unstable person with emotional problems, I was
pissed off of everything making fights in the band and you know when is like
that the things always end in a bad way, is a shame now looking back because we
were a really good band and we could do something big, I always keep this band
in my heart.
Q. - "Se7enty Se7en"
were born in the city of Cascais (Portugal), with a "Stoner/Doom"
sound, how did the idea of forming this band came up?
Rod – Well, Emi moved to Cascais
to play in Sundance, one month after I moved too but I had no band just playing
at home.
The things in Sundance didn't go
well and the band split.
So the bass player of Sundance
Rafa decided to form a new band and they invited me to join the band.
Was basically how the band
started.
Q. - Two EP's were recorded,
"Tempting the devil" and "New sensation", do you have any
sad feeling because you couldn't follow up with the project?
Rod - Yes we recorded two EPs
with a great response from the fans and media, we were on the top metal
magazines, radios we played quite often live it was really good times.
Well, I don't have any sad
feeling because in one moment I realized that this band was not my thing I
needed something that could complete me as a musician and I couldn't achieve
that in the band but I'm still proud for being a part of it.
Q. - Back to V.R.S.A. in Algarve,
you formed Mundana, with a sonority between death metal and nu-metal with
hardcore vocals, how did the idea of forming this band came up?
Rod - Well when I came back to my
home town again I was devastated because I couldn't achieve something with
music all that years in Lisbon I even quit playing for a while.
I had a lot of ideas for songs
the problem was promote them and in a small town like VRSA was really hard.
One day a friend told me
"have you heard about MySpace that you can upload your songs and promote
them all over the world?"
I felt like a click again I went
to a cyber coffee to check out the myspace thing and I couldn't believe, this
is fucking awesome this is a great tool to promote my music.
I started to put my music ideas
together and I recorded 2 tracks with the help of Emi on the drums.
I uploaded the songs to MySpace
but the songs had no vocals, was hard to find a vocalist in my town who could
feet in the songs.
The feedback of the listeners was
very positive, but we had no vocalist.
Then I wrote in my space "WE
NEED VOCALIST" with the hope that someone wanted to join us.
I started to look for more
members I talked with a great friend of mine Hugo if he was interested in play
the bass, he accepted and joined the band.
Emi decided to leave the project
to play in a casino, so I was with no drummer.
Hugo has a brother Dino who is an
amazing drummer so we decided to invite him to join the band, we jammed
together and was just amazing.
The songs needed it 2 guitars so
I asked Hugo to play guitar instead of bass.
One day after work I checked my
email and was a guy interested in jam with us Hugo Poeira, we came to our
rehearsal place and he blew my mind, what a powerful voice he had I couldn't
believe that finally, I found what I was looking for.
Finally, we uploaded a song to
myspace with vocals and was a rough mix of Dead Sky and the feedback was
insane.
Q. - The EP "The Pain That
Remains" was recorded in 2009, what feed-back did you have from this
recording?
Rod - Yes, we recorded an Ep with
7 songs but we had no budget for a recording so we asked to the institutes from
my town if they could help us but all were denied by them so we decided to do
the record by ourselves.
The final product was not what we
wished but was quite good to get more fans and for play live more often.
I'm really proud of this record
because is a mirror of all the difficulties we had for making this possible.
Q. - When you moved to Sweden,
was it hard to find the wright people to go on with your musical projects?
Rod - Was not so difficult, I
think I was playing with a band 3 months after I came here.
I got the right connections and
when is like that everything becomes easier.
Q. - How did "Always
War" start? Was this your first project in Sweden?
Rod - This band was on hiatus and
the vocalist asked me to help to restart the band again, but next many bad
things have happened that I don't want to mention here I just past!
Yes this was my first project in
Sweden.
Q. - Then, after, you tried to
build "Underneath The Silence", did you record any other song besides
"Who Am I"?
Rod - Underneath The Silence was
just a one song project.
I had a song done without vocals
and I was looking for a vocalist only to do this song.
I found a guy from Sweden to sing
the growl parts and a guy from USA who does the clean vocals.
I think they did an amazing work
because is a good song and the line vocals they did feets really good on the
song.
By now, I'm not thinking about
doing another song but you never know if that can happen in the future.
Q. - 20 years after, Putrefaction
did a comeback gig at Rustik Bar in Pechão, how did the idea to put the band
together came up? What memories do you keep from that day?
Rod - We had this idea for years
to put the band together for a gig we were just waiting for the right moment.
2015 was our 25 anniversary since
the band was founded so we thought that was the right moment to put the band
together for celebrate the 25th anniversary.
We get in touch and all of us was
very enthusiastic about the idea.
All of us got the home work to
do, then we rehearsal like 2 weeks before the gig to put some ideas together,
was a real good feeling playing together after all this years, there was some
things that didn't went so well but the final result was great.
I have a lot of good memories,
like meeting people that I didn't see for years, socialize with all the friends
before the gig, all of our big fans from our town they was there loyal to us
like always, I think they were always our strength for keep this band going,
seeing the crowd response to our songs, all together was just incredible I have
no words to describe.
Really good memories.
Q. - In the latest years you have
been more concentrated on your solo project Rod1313, having recorded the EPs,
"Back From Ashes" and "Hollow". A more melodic and
instrumental project, did you feel the need to change a little bit your musical
compositions?
Rod - Yes I have been working
these days on this project.
I love to play guitar and record
music, the first song I wrote on this project was The Wait but I was not very
interested in doing more songs into this style.
One day I was recording some
riffs and I came up with the chorus of the song Scars that blew my mind and I
told to myself I have to do a song from this riff.
After the song was finished and
online in all digital stores the feedback was very positive and gave me the
motivation to write more songs.
I wrote one more song "Back
From Ashes" so I could put out my first Ep.
After that, I wrote also
"Hollow" with a great response from media and fans this song was
spinning in Hardrock Radio for mouths and that was a big help for getting into
more people.
Q. - Will you try to give
continuity to this project, and perhaps try to find a record deal?
Rod - Of course, I will, I'm
super motivated with this project.
Right now I'm finishing a new
single I'm not sure about the release date but something between October or
November.
Try to find a record deal these
days is not easy people don't buy records anymore these days, we live in a
digital era that allows you to have access to all music on the internet.
I'm not obsessed to find a record
deal and with this music style makes things even more difficult, I'm just doing
this from the heart for the fans who support me and give me motivation to go
on.
If I have the opportunity to have
a record deal and if is good for both sides I will accept for sure.
Q. - From all bands that you had,
was there any that touched more in your heart? Or that you miss more?
Rod - The band who touched me
more was Mundana for all the adversities to carry out this project.
Was a project started only by me
and watching the things happen until the line-up was complete, the composition
of the songs, the recording process, was just beautiful and the most important
was the friendship we had and the mutual respect that there was between us.
I miss those guys and this band a
lot!
Q. - Have you ever wonder to
start a traditional heavy metal band on Scandinavian lands?
Rod - Of course I think about it
nearly every day I'm just waiting for a good opportunity like a solid band with
a good project.
Here in Uppsala not so much
happens in the metal scene only a few bands but I'm lucky that I live near
Stockholm where there is more diversity and maybe something can happen.
Q. - Anything more you want to
say, to end up this interview?
Rod - Well I want to thanks for
the opportunity to be here, a big thanks to all members that I have played with
and never quit to follow your dream just keep trying "Is better to fail
trying than fail without trying"
8900 Metal/Hardcore Forever!!!
Thank you for your time, and wish
you all the best for the future!
Listen to the new song!
