Every year in July, Rock Day is celebrated, specifically on the 13th. Tributes, celebrations, and commemorations take place throughout the days, and the Wikimetal has brought you an exclusive interview to honor this date.
Felipe Machado is a journalist, musician, writer, and is known for being the guitarist and co-founder of VIPER . In addition, he released his second solo album, Primata .
In an exclusive interview with the website, the musician talked about rock in Brazil, the importance of Rock Day, and more. Check out the full interview:
Wikimetal: If you had to choose a single album to represent rock, which would it be?
Felipe Machado: Wow! That's impossible! But I would choose the Beatles . Why? Because it has all the styles, it has several crises within the band, it has maturation, it has enormous creativity, it has guitars, it has heavy sounds, in short, I think it's an album that symbolizes the creative and brilliant chaos that is rock.
WM: What is your view of rock music in Brazil?
FM: In Brazil, rock is a style that already has its own distinct character. There's a Brazilian rock that has the country's accent, the DNA of Brazil. But it's not the country's main style. Perhaps in the 80s, with that Brazilian rock, [ Os ] Paralamas [ do Sucesso ], Titãs , Lulu Santos , the era of Legião Urbana , Capital Inicial, Barão Vermelho , it had more of a feel of being the country's popular music.
But the most popular styles in Brazil are more linked to percussion or more danceable rhythms. So rock in Brazil is always trying to find its place among other styles. But there are many rock fans in Brazil, there's a very large audience that loves rock very much. Tickets sell out quickly at events like Rock in Rio, or when big shows like Iron Maiden and Metallica .
So it's a paradox: while it's not the main style in Brazil, Brazilians love rock, and when a show or festival comes along, Brazilians are the first to sell out the tickets.
WM: What does July 13th mean to you?
FM: I find it a very curious date, because we always call this date World Rock Day, when in fact it only exists in Brazil. It originated from the Live Aid show , when those benefit concerts took place in London and Philadelphia. They happened on July 13th, and from then on it became Rock Day, but that's a very Brazilian thing. It's funny.
I think it's cool to have a Rock Day. Viper is even going to play in Campinas. And there are many rock shows on that day. But I don't really identify with the date; it doesn't say much. But anyway, it's very important that there's an official date for promoting the genre.
WM: When did you realize you wanted a career in rock music?
FM: My career developed gradually. I always listened to a lot of rock at home because my parents liked the Beatles, we had Rolling Stones and others, but they were more from that MPB (Brazilian Popular Music) crowd, like Elis Regina . So the Beatles were there, but along with other artists.
But I realized I truly loved rock when I went to a Peter Frampton in 1982 at the Parque São Jorge gymnasium. I was 12 years old. When I saw Peter Frampton, it was a revelation. He had long hair, played guitar, talked to his guitar, everyone looked at him with admiration, and he played really cool songs. That's when I concluded, "That's what I want to be in life."
That's when I thought this would be a very interesting career. And since I started liking rock very early on and was lucky enough to have, besides my brother [ Nando Machado ], two childhood friends who also liked rock, Pit Passarell (VIPER) and Yves Passarell (VIPER, Capital Inicial). Soon after, we created a rock band that had several names, then it became Rock Migration and finally, around 1984, we changed the name to VIPER.
At the time I was 14 years old, very young. And soon after, in January 1985, a guy named Andre Matos joined the band as the vocalist. Then VIPER really had a great lineup that ended up releasing albums and having a professional career.
Wikimetal readers on our Instagram about what rock means to him and what he would like to see more of in Brazilian rock today. Check out his answer:
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