ANGRA: Studio Update

ANGRA vocalist Edu Falaschi and guitarist Rafael Bittencourt traveled to Germany last week to put the finishing touches on the band's follow-up to 2001's "Rebirth", tentatively due this fall through SPV Records (NTS Records in France). Rafael had the following to say about the process.

"We've been here for two days and started working ever since we stepped out of the plane. We had a meeting with [producer] Dennis [Ward] to tell him what we'd done back in Brazil. We discussed the difficulties we were to face, the archives we'd have to edit and listen ([guest musician] Milton [Nascimento], backings, etc.) and finally the most suitable order for the songs we had to record. In the very same day, we imported the CDs I had with me. During the night, the anxiety, the jet lag, the time difference, the weird blanket and the giant pillow prevented my sleeping from being nice.

"We wandered a bit through the silent and desert streets of the area. Edu was wearing a scarf to protect his throat and I had my skate with me. Not necessary to say I felt young and daring, but after a few falls I finally realized I was more of an old fart pretending to be a brat! I gave up skating and came back. Funny enough, Kiko sent me an e-mail with the picture of a little skating bulldog. Very nice! I guess I should take a couple of classes with that puppy.

"The studio where we are recording in (House Of Audio) has several rooms for recording, editing, mixing and mastering, not to mention a graphic arts company. They all function at the same time, so there's around thirty permanent employees there, including a maid and two bricklayers. Everything is different from the 'Rebirth' times. It seems ANGRA gave them good luck and now everybody wants to record here, hehe… Just kidding, of course, since this is a great and well-managed studio. Actually, the whole area changed a lot. The road that goes to the studio is finally finished and there's a restaurant, a gas station and a McDonald's nearby (watch out, Ronald). It's not as desert as the last time I was here, but it's still a quiet place to work.

"In the first day, Dennis started off by editing Milton's vocals. They turned out great and it was a thrill realizing once again the 'man' took part in our record. After lunch, Edu started recording the first song. We chose 'No Pain For The Dead' 'cause this is a tune we rehearsed quite a lot back in Brazil. Edu was confident and delivered a great job! We left a few things to be done in the next day. You know, recording sessions are extremely tiring, especially when you have to adjust lyrics and melodies in the last minute. Time to eat! We stormed into the studio's refrigerator. Since we were too lazy to order some food, we ended up having the lunch leftovers. We ate a messy mixture of bread, pasta, soup, chicken sauce, pizza, cucumber salad, cheese and all kinds of German ham and salami. In the next day, Edu woke up with a stomach-ache. I was fine, but felt much better after a visit to the toilet. I was trying to postpone my battle against the giant pillow, so I practiced the guitar a little bit before going to bed. After all, I was going to be the next victim. Edu brought his own pillow from Brazil. I should have done likewise.

"In the second day, Dennis started the works by editing the recordings of the previous day. When he was finished, we began the recordings of the next song, 'Angels And Demons'. Dennis wanted me to change a few lyrics, so there I was writing new stuff while Edu sang the lines Dennis felt were fine. It was crazy, both for me and Edu. After all, I had to run against time to come up with new ideas and he had to sing lyrics he had never seen in his entire life! But the results were awesome, can't wait to show everybody. We ordered something to eat, but of course we had lots of trips to the refrigerator during the day. I ate the so-called Indian chicken. Dennis recommended me that, actually. It was spicy, though, and my throat was on fire. I really hope not to suffer that much when the chicken finds 'its way out,' if you know what I mean. If an album title is to be decided by our daily emotions, I'd call it 'Fire Chicken' today. OK, that joke wasn't funny, but please consider I'm writing this at 3 o'clock in the morning…

"And I guess that's all for now. I'll try to face the giant one. Please wish me a good night 'cause nice sleeping makes a huge difference in the quality of the ideas."