Kiko Loureiro recently gave a very intersting interview for HardRock Haven website, about his latest solo album Fullblast, his way of working guitar, compositions etc ...
here is the first part of the interview directed by Alissa Ordabai forHardRock Haven website . Read the whole interview (in English) here : http://hardrockhaven.net/online/2010/kiko-loureiro/
"Kiko Loureiro began his career at the time when the guitar virtuoso genre was not only out of fashion, but almost defunct. The great era of rock guitar heroes who inspired Loureiro throughout his teenage years, was now over and grunge was de rigueur worldwide. The time has come for unprecedented musical austerity, major revision of trends, and deep suspicion of any guitar efforts going beyond the straightforward rhythm function. The guitar was still an instrument of self-expression, but with huge limitations imposed on it.
Out of this situation of severity and restriction Loureiro managed to emerge triumphant – turning his band Angra into an outfit now famous not only for its thought-provoking progressive leanings, but also for breathtakingly virtuosic guitar leads. Joining the Sao Paulo band in 1992, Loureiro never stopped developing both as a player and as a composer, releasing 8 albums with Angra, 3 solo albums, and last year – a debut record as a member of a fusion trio Neural Code.
This ability to assimilate a multitude of genres, to develop a parallel interest in jazz, and to study Latin music which he now blends so impeccably with rock, makes his latest solo album Fullblast a multi-directional, yet perfectly unified record. Full of spellbinding melodies, firework chops, and showcasing Loureiro’s phenomenal knack for mixing different genres, it is at once an accessible and a deeply personal album. Blending tradition with the feel of the new, it is the kind of record which you want to return again and again – not only to hear those magical melodies once more or to figure out the technique, but to try to understand how one can weave Latin and jazz influences into the fabric of rock so seamlessly and with such taste.
A delicately balanced, finely wrought album, it makes you wonder what lies behind this ability to balance explorative spirit with congeniality. The answer is perhaps in Loureiro’s awareness of his audience, but at the same time an innate feeling which he refers to as “sincerity” and which runs through the entire record – an ability to connect with yourself while not forgetting about your listener. This, as well as the creative process behind Fullblast and Loureiro’s current artistic priorities were the main themes of Hardrock Haven’s telephone conversation with the guitar meister last week.
Hardrock Haven : Kiko, thank you for finding time for our magazine, we really appreciate it. And congratulations on the new album!
Kiko Loureiro : Thank you very much!
HRH : I have to say – what an elegant, diverse piece of work! How did you manage to combine so many musical styles, and yet to produce such a coherent, unified album?
Kiko Loureiro : I think it has to do with many years spent playing music. Playing rock, first of all, and then I am really proud of my background as a Brazilian. I really like to mix rock – things that came from England and from the United States – with the harmonies and rhythms of the Brazilian music. I studied our grooves, our rhythms, and I like to combine them to create something different.
HRH : You do it so seamlessly, it’s such a beautifully unified record. Do you have any favourite tracks on this album?
Kiko Loureiro : I like all of them. I like the acoustic guitar tracks with Brazilian influences. This is something that I like, but, of course, electric guitar soloing is my main thing. So I like all of those songs. Each song has a different story, it came out in a different way, at a different moment, so, of course, I like all of them.
HRH: How many electric guitar solos are improvised on this record?
Kiko Loureiro : This is instrumental music, so you have the main theme, you have the riffs, which are, of course, parts of the composition, but then you have solos which are improvised. I don’t like to study them, I just play them, I improvise the solos. I play them several times and see what I like. Sometimes it’s the first take, sometimes it takes longer, but I like to improvise.
HRH: Did you challenge yourself technically on this album? Where there any parts that you had to rehearse and go over and over before recording them in the studio?
Kiko Loureiro : Yes. There is a song called “Cutting Edge”. On that I did a solo for the guitar freaks, the guys who like this shredding stuff. It’s quite fast, so I had to stretch for it, and I had to play sitting down and holding the guitar closer to my body, which is different to playing live, and I had to really stretch my fingers. So that was a bit technical.
HRH: How do you keep your technique in shape these days? Does it still require everyday practice?
Kiko Loureiro : I still do it, but I don’t do that much now, to be honest. Because there are so many things that go on, and, of course, I rehearse, but I like to play a lot of acoustic guitar, and I also play other stuff, and sometimes I don’t play that much, and sometimes I play more. And then I have to go on tour, and it’s not a daily thing anymore. It used to be, of course, but now I think more about music. Going back to your other question – thinking about music is more important than technique. But there was a time in my life when I needed to work on my technique. And once I got the technique where I am now and became more secure, I began thinking about the musicality: “What can I do with the technique that I have?” So this is more important. Sometimes playing chords and chord progressions is much more fun for me than playing fast scales.
HRH: Talking about composition, the album is full of such perfect melodies and such perfect phrases. Does it usually take you a long time to compose those tracks? On average – how long does it usually take you to take a track from the initial snippet of an idea to a finished piece?
Kiko Loureiro : It’s always different. Some songs you can write in one day, and sometimes it takes longer. Sometimes you have two parts and you don’t know what to do with the other one. Whether you continue, or take a break and come back to it. But it has to be natural, the composition thing has to be natural. And composing is something that you have to practice.
HRH: It’s like a muscle that you have to exercise, isn’t it?
Kiko Loureiro : Yes, that’s right. A brain muscle that you have to develop. It’s like speaking, putting across an idea. Some people are good at appearing in front of other people and making a speech, and some can’t communicate the message. Composition is like that. You have a melody that you like, but what are you going to do with it? If you repeat it too much, then it’s boring and the good melody is no good anymore. It has to do with the piece of music as a whole. So you have to practice. Make it so that the melody that you like is also hopefully liked by other people.
HRH : How accurately is it possible to convey the initial feeling that inspired a piece of work? Is it possible at all to convey through music 100 per cent accurately what you are feeling?
Kiko Loureiro : Well, yes. You have to be very sincere. It’s a difficult question. You have to be very sincere about what you really like, because I think sometimes musicians are not so sincere. I think for guitar players when they do a solo album, they are not doing something very popular, you are not doing it for selling units or something like this. But you are sincere because you like that. You are not doing something because you think people will like it that way, or say to yourself: “I will not play this chord because it’s too crazy and I think people will not like that.” If you like it, you do it. When you are starting a new song, if you like it, then you will get a good feeling, you will feel it somehow. When there is something interesting going on, then there is a connection – from this melody, this chord, this song – to your body somehow. To your brain, to your body. And then you have to be sincere with that. You cannot cheat and try to be somebody else. If you compose something you like, then it’s 100 per cent. I don’t know how clear that sounds."
Continuation and end of the interview tomorrow !
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