Next Sunday, the 15th, the Brazilian band Hurricanes will perform on the last day of Best of Blues and Rock , sharing the line-up with Judith Hill and one of their biggest influences, Deep Purple – secure the last tickets .
The quartet, which dedicates its repertoire to classic rock and blues, released its second studio album, Back to the Basement , in 2024, and cites as its main influences names such as Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin , Free , among many others.
In an interview with Wikimetal , guitarist and co-founder Leo Mayer talks about his expectations for the show and his future career plans.
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WM: You're performing at Best of Blues and Rock on July 15th, which is the second Sunday of the festival. How important is it for you to perform at a festival like this, especially on a Sunday, the same day as Deep Purple and Judith Hill? How are you feeling?
Leo Mayer: We're really excited because it's always great to play for big audiences. Both to promote our music and to meet new people, a big festival is always good. And even more so on this day, which is the day of Deep Purple and Judith Hill. I didn't know her work, I did some research and found it really awesome. I saw some sessions , I think it's going to be a fantastic show. And Deep Purple, needless to say, right? We're super excited and still in disbelief that this is going to happen because they really are one of our biggest influences. We still can't quite believe it's going to happen, seeing them up close like this. It's going to be incredible, for sure.
WM: You've never seen their show before?
LM: Henrique has already seen it, and I always miss it. There's always a show on that day, or I'm working. I've never been able to see them live, so it'll be great. At their last show, which was at Espaço Unimed, we played that day. I thought, "Wow, that was definitely their last show, we're not going to see them again." And then this incredible news came along.
WM: And now you have the chance to meet them backstage, right? Have you thought about that?
LM: These things go through your head and we still can't quite process what's going to happen. Because it's really that thing about having ultimate idols, you know? They really are our references; Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Free, they are our biggest influences. We started playing because of these guys. For example, our keyboardist, Jimmy, is totally influenced by them, he knows the entire repertoire. We were playing recently on Paulista Avenue, at the Best of Blues event, and they asked us to play some instrumental songs, and one of them we thought of playing was a Deep Purple song from their second album, which is super complex, super difficult. I arrived and said: "Hey Jimmy, do you know this song?" And he said: "Of course! Let's go!". He already knew it. We didn't even rehearse, we just went there and played. Because we really like the band a lot. We know a lot of their work.
WM: Have you attended other editions of Best of Blues as an audience member?
LM: I went.
WM: Do you have any stories from the festival to tell?
LM: The most recent one, I think, was with Buddy Guy . I arrived really early, I really wanted to see his show. He's also someone I'd never seen live before. And it was crazy, because when I arrived it was already kind of crowded. I was a bit behind, but there was a pop band playing and when their show ended, people left and freed up space at the barrier. I saw him really close and it was amazing because he's a showman, a bluesman, I think one of the last of that lineage of bluesmen from the 50s, and his show was incredible. I learned a lot at that show. Something about silence, about playing with the guitar. I went with friends who really like him and when I looked, everyone was crying.
The Best of Blues festival is incredibly important, both for bringing in big names in blues, but something else that deserves highlighting is that they're always looking for new Brazilian bands to include in the lineup. They've featured countless bands since the first editions. It's truly a very important festival for us, for independent bands, both blues and rock.
WM: What do you plan to play at this Best of Blues show? Can you give us a sneak peek at the setlist?
LM: We're basically going to play both albums. Not the whole thing because we only have an hour for the show, but we're also going to prepare some specific covers. Probably 80% of the repertoire will be original material and 20% covers, songs based on our references. But we're still deciding, we're rehearsing. And I think the big difference in this show is that we're going with the full band. In addition to the quartet, we'll have Jimmy [ Pappon ] on Hammond organ and two backing vocalists, which was the same show we did with the Black Crowes , with Lucille Berce and Julia Benford on vocals. So it's a different show from what people have seen. We've been doing original shows all over Brazil, but we've usually been going as a quartet because that's what logistics allow. So in this show we're going with the full band and it's going to be great.
WM: Speaking a little about you guys, Hurricanes is a band that's been active for almost 10 years. You were formed in 2016. What are the biggest challenges you face today as a rock band?
LM: I think the challenge is daily and universal. Everything is really difficult. It's not an easy profession or career. Any artistic career is difficult, and today, playing rock with these influences from the 60s and 70s is complex, you know? You have to carve out that niche, find the people who like it, have places to play. But, at the same time that it's all very difficult, I think we're on a good path. As you said, we've been trying to do this for almost 10 years, and it's really cool.
Last month we went to Rio [de Janeiro] and played two shows there. Packed houses – small venues, of course, smaller venues – but it's really cool to arrive in another state, in another capital, and see that people know our sound. Even though it's all very difficult, it's rewarding. It's a lot of painstaking work and a lot of time, right? It's been almost 10 years. But things are happening little by little. I remember at the end of 2024 we were thinking: “Damn, it's tough. Wow, what a struggle.” It's all very hard, the struggle is immense. And then came the invitation to Best of Blues, you know? Also in 2022, at the end of the year, we hadn't even managed to release our first album, then came the invitation to open for the Black Crowes. So things are happening, shows are popping up, and that's it. As Tim Maia : It's a great profession for those who like to suffer [laughs]. It's hard, it's laborious, but we like it and we're happy when things are happening.
WM: And your audience seems to be very loyal, right? Like you said, there's a very specific audience that likes this type of music, but they seem to be very loyal to you.
LM: Yes, definitely. Everywhere we play, there's always a crowd that knows our music and wants to hear it. That's also a complex part of the job because we came from a cover show, doing reinterpretations. We started back in 2016, actually, playing Deep Purple, playing Led Zeppelin, those classics. We wanted to bring some of that sound to the crowd, both younger and older people who like it, but to bring back that sound. And one of the biggest challenges and difficulties is making that transition, from playing covers at night and someone coming up and saying, "Hey, why aren't you playing your own songs?" Then you have to explain: "It's because today we're doing a reinterpretation show." We don't play in places that don't accept our music, but a repertoire that predominates is covers. So, little by little, we're managing to turn that around. Back in the day, 80% of our shows were covers and 20% were original songs. Now it's more 50/50. We have shows here in São Paulo where we do 100% original material, and we always have this very loyal crowd that comes along. We launched two crowdfunding campaigns for our first two albums, and they were a success. Our fans really support us and follow us a lot.
WM: You released Back to the Basement a while ago, in October of last year. Have you been working on new things or are you still focusing on this period of promoting and touring the album?
LM: In 2023, when we released our first album, we immediately went into the studio to record the second, because I was sure we needed to give it that extra push. And it was quite exhausting, but it was very important because I think it created a cohesive work. If someone knew the band, they would have two albums to understand a little more about who we are, what we do... And this year we felt the need to have more online content playing live.
Since we spent so much time recording, we ended up not being able to record as many shows or live sessions . This year we focused a lot on that, releasing one video per month… Which is not much considering the internet, but when I opened the band's YouTube channel last year, I saw that we had 12 videos. I said, “Wow, that's very little.” And I received a lot of messages from people in the Northeast, for example, saying: “I love the band, but there's very little on the internet and I can't see you live.” So this year we're very focused on that. However, after the Best of Blues, especially, we're already gathering ideas. And the idea is to enter the studio by November at the latest to record the third album to release next year at the latest. This Thursday, in fact, we're going to release a live session with three songs.
WM: New songs or songs already known?
LM: Songs from the first album. I realized, for example, that the three most played songs on our Spotify don't have a live version on our YouTube channel. So I thought, let's do that, you know? Let's start taking the songs that people like and recording them in other formats, because I myself am a consumer of live sessions and shows, I love opening YouTube and watching live performances, raw and natural. And that's it.
WM: My last question, but I think you've already answered part of it. I was going to ask what your plans are for the rest of this year and for next year. You said you want to go into the studio around November, but what else do you have in mind?
LM: As you said, we're promoting our two albums quite a bit. We're getting a lot of gigs. We went to Belo Horizonte, Rio, Rio Grande do Sul, São Paulo too, the interior of the state. And we're managing to tour well. Next week we're going to Rio again. And a big part of this whole plan to release two somewhat frantic albums was, as I said, to have material. Especially on Spotify. The vinyl of the second album is also coming out. And now it's about touring with this work and at the end of the year getting back into the studio. Because we're already getting that itch to go back.
