When I heard Black Sabbath's "Children of the Grave" I said, "Oh my God, when I grow up I want to be Bill Ward."

Wikimetal (Daniel Dystyler): We're here with one of the most important figures in the history of Brazilian Heavy Metal, presenter and producer of Backstage, on air since 1988. Drummer for Electric Funeral, a Black Sabbath cover band, columnist for Roadie Crew, contributor to a number of other things, in addition to having a personal collection of over 10,000 albums. Vitão Bonesso, welcome to Wikimetal.

Vitão Bonesso: Thank you very much for the invitation and first of all, congratulations on the work you've been doing, which is wonderful. I think we need people like you to boost this awesome Heavy Metal machine. I'm at your disposal.

Wikimetal (Nando Machado): Thanks Vitão, it's great to hear that from you, it's an honor for us to have you on the show, one of the most important people in this arduous task of spreading and promoting Metal, Hard Rock, and Classic Rock in Brazil. I wanted to ask, to start Vitão, remembering how you first became interested in rock, how rock entered your life, Metal in particular, and how your career began?

VB: Well, I started liking rock because of my father. In 1964 or 1965, my father was already listening to the Beatles, so it started well. There were the Ventures too, there was a lot of stuff, there was Jovem Guarda, which was the first breath of Brazilian rock. And when my father went to see the World Cup in '66 in England, he brought back Beatles stuff, this and that, and that was it. From then until the end of the '60s it was Beatles, in the beginning of the '70s it was Beatles, but then a neighbor showed me Deep Purple's Fireball, and then it was Beatles and Deep Purple, then came Black Sabbath's Volume 4, and the story went on until in '86 I started helping out at 97 FM, back then in Santo André, bringing some new things that I always bought, until in '88 I received the invitation to do what is now Backstage, replacing a program that was already on the air called Riff Raff, a program called Riff Raff, they wanted to fire the guy and put me in, I said "no, I don't want to, I want to produce something, I'm not good at announcing, I don't know how to speak properly," my English was totally broken. He said "great that you accepted, you debut on Sunday."

W (NM): Was that after the Rocambole Session??

VB: Yes, Rocambole was the first.

W (NM): Hey?

VB: Then came Fuck Off, Riff Raff, and along with Overshock, which was more of a hard rock thing, they wanted to take it off the air. Richard Nassif was doing it, and that's how it was. The proposal came on a Monday, and by Sunday I was on air, meaning I didn't sleep. I had to create a show in practically 7 days. It was terrible, man, but you know how it is, "go ahead and figure it out, dude."

W (DD): And what a beginning, with the Beatles, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, right?

VB: It's a cool trio.

W (DD): Orra.

W (Rafael Masini): Vitão, I'm going to make a revelation here for you and all the listeners.

W (NM): I already knew.

W (DD): We already knew.

W (RM): I've already made many revelations, but from around '87, when I was about 16 years old, until '90, I worked as a kid, secretly, when the juvenile court came, at the Black Jack Bar, with Paulinho and Fernando.

VB: Wow, I played there back then.

W (RM): That's what I was going to say, I witnessed it there as a waiter, always secretly, because when the court came, we'd climb onto the roof.

VB: Yes, yes.

W (RM): Paulinho and Fernando used to hide us on the roof, and I witnessed a lot of jam sessions, but one in particular was a late-night party in '88 that really got me…

VB: A lot of people: Edu Ardanuy, Helcio Aguirra, Cachorrão…

W (RM): You!

VB: Yes, and that's where Electric Funeral was born.

W (RM): That's right, that's what I was going to say. Is that where the idea came from? Because they played a lot of "Sabbaths".

VB: Yes, yes. That's when Helcio came up to me and said, "Hey man, let's put together a Black Sabbath cover band?" Deal.

W (RM): Later we'll ask about the band, but I wanted to talk about the space. Do you think there's a place like that today? Because at Black Jack, people from various generations went, people talked, people played, people thought about Rock and Roll. Do you think that exists today? With intelligent thought? Not just criticizing and insulting?

VB: I think what's really missing is that in-person interaction with the kids back then. Let's see? Or did you bring that vinyl record I asked you to borrow? I brought this one for you to take home. The following week we'd swap, record tapes, take tapes, the cassettes and everything else, so it was really cool. And today, I think the internet, the social media part, has distanced people. There are people who say, "Damn, Vitão, you still have hair, huh, man?", but they never imagined that I, at 51, would still have hair, you know? So I think the internet was largely responsible for distancing people. I think what's missing is a bar, a music venue, a mixed place, you know? To sit and chat without that fashion show, without that "Damn, I'm new here" attitude, you know?

W (DD): That it would be a place to socialize, to exchange ideas.

VB: That's right. Just like we're doing now, we're sitting here, having a chat. Before the show even started, we reminisced about so much, and reminiscing about it, it's very healthy to revisit the past in a certain way. I had a good past, you must have had one too, everyone did, so I think it's very healthy for us.

W (DD): Well, besides all this talk we're going to have, we're just getting started now Vitão, we also listen to music here at Wikimetal and today you're going to help us with the musical selection, right?

VB: Wow! Beautiful.

W (DD): I wanted us to take a sort of trip down memory lane. You, who have followed Heavy Metal so closely since the beginning, as you just mentioned, were you talking about before the movement really started or right around the time it did?

VB: Before, it was heavy rock, hard rock.

W (DD): It's hard rock. You covered that whole era, all those decades. So we'll keep asking, we'll keep moving forward in time. To start, I'd like you to choose a song that was very important to you or that you think represents the 70s. A Metal song that was very important to you or that you want to play now here on Wikimetal?

VB: There are two, but I'll choose one. For me, Children Of The Grave by Black Sabbath, which I think is that groove, that "tannnn," you know, those Iommi pulls, when I heard that I said, "Oh my god: when I grow up I want to be Bill Ward," something like that. Another one is Highway Star in the live version from Made In Japan, which turns 40 this December and continues to be so current, such a reference today.

W (NM): Is this the best live music ever, in your opinion?

VB: I think, man, because there's only one overdub, in "Child in Time," which is admitted, and Purple, even today, when they record, they don't do overdubs, but Roger Glover said, "there's only one overdub," they build on Gillan's voice as needed. The rest is all live, all raw, you know? And it's still a reference point today, but "Children Of The Grave" is a song that, when I listen to it, my guts churn inside.

W (NM): Which version?

VB: I like Live Evil.

W (NM): Live Evil with Dio?

VB: Yes.

I remember when Krisiun went to Backstage at 97 FM, they had nothing, nowhere to sleep that night. They said, 'We're going to stay under the overpass.'"

W (NM): We just listened to Children Of The Grave with the great Ronnie James Dio on vocals from Black Sabbath's excellent live album Live Evil, chosen by Vitão Bonesso as the song that best represents Heavy Metal in the 70s. Vitão, since we were talking about that Black Jack era and all that, more or less the 80s. How do you analyze the support that the public gave to bands back then in the 80s and what do you think has changed today?

VB: I think it was all more artisanal, right? Trading demos. Mail, right? You used the mail to send a tape, so I thought it was artisanal, amateurish. Maybe yes, maybe no, a lot of people became professionals through this culture of trading demos and everything else. And we had some magazines here, there was the "History and Glory of Rock" in the 70s, which was like a background on Roadie Crew in a single edition, but a lot of things were wrong, there was a real lack of information. We had the Rolling Stone newspaper. I think it was very artisanal, but it was cool. There was that contact when you wanted to trade a record, buy a record, go to the gallery, make an appointment at the rock gallery, it was really cool.

W (NM): Scoring a point today is a whole different story, isn't it?

VB: Scoring a point is a whole other story.

W (RM): Vitão, thinking back to that time with Black Jack, there were many cover bands, yours included, that played the songs with quality. It was really cool because it brought us something that was impossible to have otherwise, some bands that never even came here. Nowadays, with Brazil being a place constantly visited by many bands, how do you see the situation of cover bands? Is there still room for them? Do they play, do they dedicate themselves to playing with quality? How do you compare that to today?

VB: I think this: a lot of people criticize it, saying, "Come on, cover bands?" You have to play original music and all that, but there are many people who write original music and do covers to survive, so we have to respect the musician in that sense. That's not my case. I'm a free spirit; I like to play Black Sabbath. I don't want to compose, I don't want to have a band. I already have my job, which takes up my time. If I had to form a band with original music, this and that, I would have to dedicate myself in a way that I might not have the time for. So there are cover bands, some of which were good. I was part of Beatles 4 Ever, which was considered the first proper cover band, visually speaking, right? I was part of them from '80 to '84. Then came U2 cover bands, Stones, Rock Memory, Páscoa was the John Lennon of Beatles 4 Ever. So, you make money from it. If a musician wants to survive and not starve, they have to hustle. Many people see cover bands as somewhat pejorative. I see it as pejorative from the moment someone goes up there and destroys someone else's music and ruins it. There are tons of them, you know? But even then, the audience knows how to say, "That's crap," and it's "goodbye, old man," they pay the bill and don't come back. Well, that band is crap. Electric Funeral will be 25 years old next year. We're older than Black Sabbath, man. We've surpassed them, man. If we're still around today, a cool crowd comes to see us. I think we offer a special touch: Gibson SG guitars, Soneca playing with his Rickenbackers, you know? It's an experience. Using a drum kit with two bass drums is a pain to carry, it's a contraption, you need a pickup truck to carry that. Am I going to put it in a Corsa?

W (NM): And another thing, there are people who want to hear Black Sabbath live and Black Sabbath isn't coming here, or at least there are no plans for them to.

VB: Exactly, so when you're going to play Black Sabbath you need a Marshall amp in the background, you don't have a Voxman amp. So we dedicate ourselves to this, we don't even earn enough money to pay for this kind of thing. If I split a Paiste cymbal from my drum kit, it's a fortune. You leave the bar with 200 bucks in your pocket. Two hundred bucks is the price of a bass drum head. You understand? But we do it for the love of it. So there's the side of the guy who survives, he has to make ends meet and play in 20 cover bands, but if he does things right, let's take into account the guy's survival.

W (DD): Hey Vitão, what do you think was the missing element for the bands that played original music, the Metal bands that emerged in the 80s? There were so many good bands back then, so many excellent ones, that besides Sepultura, who really broke through and all that, what do you think was missing? What element prevented them from achieving commercial success at the level that Sepultura achieved?

VB: To kick the women to the curb. If you look closely, most bands broke up because of women – it was “either me or the band!” It sounds like a joke, man, I love women, but wait a minute? The woman you have needs to keep up with you, you know? It's difficult, but nobody got there overnight, right?

W (NM): We interviewed Andreas Kisser the other day and he said that.

W (DD): He spoke of the support they received from their families, which was fundamental.

VB: You see how it is? The guy was out there taking records door to door at record labels, he spent two months in the United States eating hot dogs, until one day he knocked on the right door, it's not like you just show up and "bam".

W (DD): And the door opens…

W (NM): The door of hope?

VB: It's not like that, it doesn't work. So if you don't have a partner who can handle it happening, and even if it doesn't happen she says "but you tried," great. So the large number of bands that didn't succeed in the past, you can be sure that 80% were because of annoying women. And the worst part is that the guys aren't with them today. They'll see the mess they made, "Damn, I left my band because of you, you wretched hag," and they're not with her. That's the worst part, man.

W (NM): Vitão, in your opinion, what are the greatest rock bands in Brazil, and which ones were the most unfairly treated?

VB: Man, Overdose, I think they were a band that could have had better luck. Korzus wasn't the best band, but they've seen the sun again, now with a beautiful, wonderful album, a supreme production, really cool. I think Torture Squad is a band that deserves much more attention than it's getting. Krisiun has good exposure, but extreme metal is very confined to a niche, and that might work against them, but they are recognized guys abroad.

W (RM): And the last album was also amazing.

VB: Besides that, I feel proud to talk about Krisiun in particular. I remember when they were backstage at Kiss FM, no, at 97 FM, with nothing, they didn't have anywhere to sleep that night, you know? They said, "We're going to stay under the overpass." So it was something of seeing the guys growing and maintaining that attitude of "hey, hey, extreme metal reigns supreme, melodic metal has to die." I think that's it, it's their thing and they know how to ride those waves like nobody else. There's also Nervo Chaos, who are on tour, including abroad, and Angra, who are a great band, but those guys fight more than they play! They release an album and all hell breaks loose, you know, it's all about ego. I've already told them, "You guys have amazing careers, you have a name, you still have a lot of fans. Can you stop fighting, damn it? Let's play, let's do something for ourselves? Man, we're getting old, let's try to get to a point where we can make some decent money and retire?" No, they fight.

W (NM): And what about that era of The Key, Coup, Centuries, Virus?

VB: Oh, that was cool too. I remember Golpe de Estado. I did some shows with Golpe de Estado when Paulão was having kidney stone problems, it was a different kind of stone. I played with Golpe de Estado, I know Helcio, I've known Paulo since 1977, we were collectors of Deep Purple stuff, it was him, Nelson, and Andre Cristovão. I saw Golpe de Estado being born and it was really cool to see those bands. Centúrias was also cool and is back, I think it's really cool, super healthy. Vírus, wow, there were several bands, Harppia was more "heavyweight," but it was cool.

W (RM): Vitão, let's continue listening to another song. Following the chronology, you chose a song from the 70s, now from the 80s?

VB: Dude, the 80s? Maybe another Black Sabbath song? Hot Line from Born Again, it'll be 30 years old in 2013.

W (NM): The only Black Sabbath album recorded with Ian Gillan on vocals.

VB: And it's good, huh? They wanted to rip my neck off. There's a story: I did that Road Collection for Roadie Crew and I put Black Sabbath: Volume 4 and Born Again on it, "how come you didn't put Heaven and Hell?" "how come you didn't put Paranoid?" I said, "it's written right there, it's personal," and then they said, "this guy doesn't know anything about music, this Born Again is crap," and then emails started arriving saying, "I wanted to apologize to Vitão Bonesso, I had never heard Born Again, I heard it because of the article and the album is fucking awesome."

W (DD): Dude, Trashed is awesome.

W (NM): E Zero the Hero…

W (DD): This was Black Sabbath's Hotline, another choice by Vitão Bonesso.

VB: I swear I'm going to quit Black Sabbath.

W (DD): No, you can continue! You're in charge here today.

W (RM): No, we love it.

"Of the large number of bands that failed in the past, you can be sure that 80% did so because of annoying women."

W (DD): You've done hundreds of interviews with our Heavy Metal heroes, which one comes to mind first when you think about everything you've done, everyone you've spoken to, the first one? Which one comes to mind?

VB: Ritchie Blackmore. That was the one that gave me the most trouble. We all know Blackmore's personality; sometimes he's fine, he's not bipolar, he's tripolar, you know, the guy. So when the opportunity to do this in '96 here in Brazil, at the Rainbow show, came up, he had already stood up MTV. I remember running into Gastão at the Olympia, furious, "We brought the whole team here and the guy went straight to the hotel!" And I had an interview scheduled with him too. I thought, "Damn, I'm screwed, it's over." Then this guy Robert, who was his publicist, said, "Look, he'll meet you at the hotel." I said, "Why?" Because he doesn't like MTV. The show ended, we went to the Della Volpe hotel nearby, he received us in a suite, he and his wife, Candice Night, who is in Blackmore's Night, were there. They were starting to get things going at Blackmore's Night, so Regis Tadeu and I did the interview. It was exhausting, but it was great. We had 30 minutes and we ended up talking to him for over an hour and he was super nice. Just don't mention Ian Gillan, if you try to provoke him, he'll give you a flying kick, but it was Ritchie Blackmore. Among others, there was Rick Wakeman, he was wonderful, he's the kind of guy who stops the interview to tell jokes, he's really cool.

W (NM): Of everything you've done in your life, what situation made you most proud?

VB: Playing with Glenn Hughes at Black Jack. Nowadays it's normal, guys come from abroad, but back then that didn't exist. I took Glenn Hughes there and he said, "What if I want to play?" And I said, "I've already arranged everything." He came to do a promo trip around the time of From Now One, I arranged it with Roadrunner here in Brazil, it was Jerome, he was one of the first announcers here, and then they said he wanted to go to a bar and I said everything was arranged. That's even on YouTube. Interviewing David Coverdale in England was cool because it was going to be 89's anniversary party, there was going to be Megadeth, Queensryche and Whitesnake at Parque Antárctica and 89 made it very clear that no one from other radio stations would interview David Coverdale. I took the plane, went to interview him and put it on air beforehand. By the way, 89 couldn't interview him, not even with him here.

W (NM): Do you remember what you played with Glenn Hughes back then?

VB: I remember.

W (NM): Who else played?

VB: Paulão from Golpe de Estado played Burn, I played Smoke on the Water, You Keep on Moving, I played that song The Boys Can Sing The Blues from his album Blues and Why Don't Stay, something like that, from the album From Now On.

W (NM): And who else played?

VB: Bolinha, who was from Nocaute.

W (NM): Him on bass and vocals?

VB: Yes, Juninho, the guitarist from Nocaute, too…

W (NM): Who also played everything, Deep Purple, Whitesnake…

VB: That's right, Fernando Piu on guitar.

W (RM): Vitão, what are the advantages and disadvantages of how easy it is for us to get music these days?

VB: It's not very funny, I was talking to Nandão outside, we still enjoy buying a CD, keeping our bank balance orange, not red.

W (NM): It used to be red.

VB: Nowadays things are a little better, right? But I like it. Just today I bought the
Kiss Monster album, look how cool. I went to Livraria Cultura (a bookstore chain) and thought, "Look how beautiful," and bought it. When I go to the mall, I leave with 6, 7, 8, 10 CDs, 4 DVDs. I'm still an old-fashioned consumer. Sometimes I download a song when someone asks me to record the promo for a show that's going to happen and I don't have the album, so I download it, but not to burn the CD and listen to it in the car. I don't do that. I like having my little CDs there, I still like having my vinyl records. It's a culture that many people are returning to, but many people got rid of a lot of things, including me. Back in the CD era, I sold a lot of vinyl; only the autographed ones remained, because I think vinyl is great for autographs, you can write dedications, a lot of things.

W (NM): You're not going to ask for an autograph on a flash drive, are you?

VB: So, will you sign my pen drive?

W (DD): Vitão, the conversation is great, we're going to take a break now to do one of the segments. We always talk with our WikiBrothers and I'm going to ask you to call this segment for us.

VB: Look, you're about to hear "Papo Pesado" on Wikimetal, with listeners who are even heavier.

W (NM): Vitão, we have a project together with a journalist named Luiz Cesar Pimentel, where we want to tell the story of Heavy Metal in Brazil through a book. Actually, this book will be collaborative; people will send in their comments and texts, and over time we will be reediting the chapters.

W (DD): It's a living book that we keep reediting as more stories come in. We already have 3 chapters written, the beginning, way back when the movement started. And then what?

W (NM): So, you're part of this story.

VB: I'll say it right off the bat, if you don't call me, you're going to get punched. I have to be a part of this, man, we have a big stake in it, practically 25 years, damn, 24 years.

W (NM): 25 years working, but living rock, Metal, as you said, "before Metal even existed".

VB: I went to see Alice Cooper in Brazil in '74.

W (DD): The first Metal show, right? Here.

VB: I was 13 years old, at Anhembi, I got into a fight and got into a fight, you couldn't go in there, they went in on me.

W (DD): We interviewed someone who told this story. That it was a real hassle to get in.

VB: There were 50,000 people trying to get through 2 gates. I was stuck in one gate for about 15 minutes, until I fell because nobody was blocking me anymore. I got separated from my cousin, I was 13 years old. I saw Som Nosso de Cada Dia opening the show, man, I thought "damn," that was already great, imagine Alice Cooper afterwards? It was awesome.

W (DD): So we're counting on you to help write the History of Metal, huh?

VB: Absolutely.

I was 13 years old when I went to the Alice Cooper concert at Anhembi in '74. I got into a fight and got beaten up, you couldn't just get in there, they forced me in.”

W (DD): And taking that cue from MP3s and CDs, I agree with you. There's nothing like vinyl, CDs, that sort of thing, picking it up, opening the booklet, reading the acknowledgments, that kind of thing that only true fans do. And you have a fantastic collection of vinyl, CDs, DVDs, and so on. I'd like you to talk a little about other things, I don't know, t-shirts, other items, tell me about something interesting you have at home?

VB: Tour t-shirts, the foreign ones, I have them there, I'm not going to throw them away, I'm not going to make them into dishcloths or floor rags. I have some t-shirts, I think about 30 or 40 tour t-shirts that I saw abroad. Some that I bought here, but they're imported, really cool stuff, especially the one that Tony Iommi sent me by mail from Born Again, the story is amazing. In '95, I was on the Forbidden Tour, I saw him at the Manchester Apollo and we were talking and he gave me a promotional skull, at the entrance to my property there's this little skull, at night it lights up, there's one on the drums too, he gave me two and gave me two shirts from the Forbidden Tour. I said I had several tour t-shirts, but there's one I want that I don't have, he asked which one? "from Born Again", he went "uhh".

W (NM): Is it light blue?

VB: No, it's black with the little devil. He said, "Look, I have a bunch at home, that when the company made them they'd send them to us, they don't even have dates on the back, they send them to see if this and that is okay... I have a whole bundle at home," he asked for my address and sent it, man... This t-shirt is framed, I had a nice frame made with "Born Again" on top, autographed by them, including Bill Ward, it was an installment plan, right? Gillan came first. And he sent me the t-shirt. I have photos of myself wearing it, but after I saw that the little devil started to look a bit crooked, I said, "I'm going to frame it." There are also tour books, I have several. I like box sets, those digipak versions they have in Japan. I have 6 or 7 just of "Born Again": German digipak, Japanese digipak, the bootleg from back then.

W (DD): Now Nando is going to ask you to choose a song, but just to set the stage and keep our WikBrothers engaged and listening to the show until the end, because at the end there will be a promotion that has something to do with that, with Black Sabbath, with digipaks, with that kind of thing.

W (NM): 90s Vitão. What song best represents this very peculiar decade in rock history?

VB: Transitional decade, right? Man, in the 90s there's an album that I think is simply fantastic, which is Judas Priest's Painkiller, but we're not going to play Painkiller, we're going to play Hell Patrol.

W (DD): That was Hell Patrol from Painkiller. Rafinha, maybe you remember, I think Painkiller is the most played album here in history.

W (RM): Yeah, I think so. Vitão, the support that the public gave to bands in the 80s was huge, they were all very fervent… What do you think has changed for today's audience?

VB: I think there's still support for new bands, but I also think there are a lot of kids, thank God, who are looking to learn about older music. The internet has helped a lot with that too, because it's easier. "My uncle told me about this Grand Funk." What is Grand Funk? Is it Rio funk? Something funky? A real funk song? The guy sees that it's a song that always plays on Kiss, or American Band, or Footstompin' Music, that's cool, then the guy downloads the CD, "that's even cooler," "look at the sound of that bass with distortion." So I think the internet has helped these kids, who don't have the same purchasing power, to navigate back in time and discover many cool bands. A kid said, "I'm 16 years old and I wanted to hear Armagedom on your show." "Armagedom, dude?" Wow? Dust?

W (DD): We were talking before we started recording that going back in time musically is moving forward, right?

VB: Absolutely, it's not going backwards, going back means being stuck in time! Thank God, if that's the connotation? Thank God, I want to stay stuck here. Why? Not that things aren't good now, but I think the essence of recording an album is different. Today, a guy can record an album in the bathroom if he wants to; there's no more of that "I got the timing right on the drums, select, delete, and that's it" thing. Mine was "do it again."

W (NM): Queen's first albums were all live, direct, vocal, there were no overdubs or anything.

VB: And then I'd do a little fixing here, a little "makeover" there.

W (NM): I had to cut the ribbon by hand, right?

VB: Yes, and put that little "plastic" on.

W (DD): Let's talk now about a band that's been around for 25 years: Electric Funeral. Today, the lineup is pretty much "metal stars." We have Carro Bomba, Baranga, King Burn, which is really cool, but we've also had names like Andreas Kisser, Helcio (who you already mentioned), Andria Busic, and Tigueis. Can you tell us a little about that history?

VB: Helcio and I started Electric Funeral, I remember we didn't even have a name. We were at 97 and we were going to do our first show at Black Jack and Kid Vinil was saying, "Dude, what's the band's name?" I said, "What a name? You're not going to say you're Black Sabbath, are you? 'Electric Funeral,' that's how it was, on the spot, and Electric Funeral stuck. Then Chris Skerpis was the vocalist and Renê Seabra, that was the first lineup. Then Rogério Fernandes was there twice, then he came back, then he came back. Andria was there too.

W (DD): Wow, quite a lineage of bass players, huh?

W (NM): But also, to play Geezer Butler you have to be good, right?

VB: Everyone, I have a lot of respect for them, I still run into the guys, we plan to throw a great party next November with everyone who played at Electric Funeral, except for one guy who was a real pain in the neck, I won't even mention names, just one. It's all good, let him be.

W (DD): Did he have about 12 formations? 15 formations?

VB: Oh yeah, that's true, and Andreas was funny because Carro Bomba was going to record their first album, and I remember Schevano came to us after that show we opened for Wasp at Via Funchal, and he said, "Dude, this is the last one with me, I'm going to have to record an album, I'm going to need to play with The Noni Brothers, who did covers to raise some money, cool." And Andreas had just played a song, imagine Andreas playing a song? And he said, "Hey, is the guy leaving the band?" I said, "Yeah." "Damn, man," I said, "What's up, German?" "Hey Vitão, call me over? Let's do this?" I said, "Dude, what have you been drinking?" "Damn Vitão, let's go, damn it!" That's how it was, we invited each other. And we did it, but he had to leave because of commitments? He was kind of taken advantage of, he even got a little pissed. "Hey Andreas? I tried to book four shows and you can't?" And it was around the same time that Schevano became available.

Something I'm very proud of is having played with Glenn Hughes in Black Jack.”

W (DD): And it wasn't with Electric Funeral, but you performed at Hammersmith in London?

VB: Yes, that was in March of '95.

W (DD): Tell me that story?

VB: Was it solo, was it unplugged?

W (NM): An a cappella?

W (DD): How did that go, Vitão?

VB: I was there, the first time I'd been to London, one of the first places you want to go is cross the Abbey Road lanes and check out Hammersmith. And off we went. I remember it was a Sunday afternoon, 5 pm, and everything was lit up. I said, "Wow! There was a show here? No way!" And there wasn't a show. They were showing that River Dance show that had been occupying the theater for quite a while, they were there for about 4 years, but there weren't any shows. When I went in, I saw a bunch of big black guys playing and singing gospel music. I went up to the security guard and said, "What's this?" "It's a local church, they rent it out." "Can I come in?" "Sure." I was the only white person, me and my friend, just black guys singing. A guy with a huge Hammond organ on stage, amazing sound. I said, "Even this, these guys are good, huh?" The service ended, everyone started to leave, and we were still filming. I filmed it, the lights were on, I could film everything. Then we arrived at the same reporter, a guy named Michael. “Michael, we’re from Brazil and we wanted to do a report on Hammersmith.” He said, “Come with me.” We climbed onto the counter, looked around, he started going into some places and I asked where he was taking us? “Backstage.” We went to all the dressing rooms, under the stage, and it’s all filmed, and suddenly we were on stage and it was already empty and everything was lit up. I said, “Luizão, grab this.” Luizão was from Hammerhead, Luiz Cesar. I went up there and started, “Water jug ​​on the head, here comes Maria.” He said, “Don’t you have any other crap to sing?” I said, “Whatever came to mind now.”

W (DD): The only Brazilian who sang samba at Hammersmith.

VB: And I stood there for two minutes, and I said, "Dude? Man?" Never Say Die, that DVD was recorded here. Whitesnake?

W (DD): Queen, Iron Maiden.

W (NM): Live in the Heart of the City was recorded there.

W (DD): Five songs from Live After Death, for me the best Iron Maiden live album, five songs are from there.

VB: Seven Gates of Hell by Venom, in other words, who didn't sing at Hammersmith? It's easier to ask that question. Elvis! He never went to England, never went to Europe, he only went to Canada, he didn't leave, he was terrified of flying. So who didn't play at Hammersmith? Elvis.

W (DD): Why Vitão? He sang.

VB: I went, dude. Then I went out there and joked around. I said, "Dude, you just performed at Hammersmith, man?" Everything was lit up like there was a show (the guy was sweeping this and that) and you did a show and I said, "Damn, that's right!"

W (RM): Vitão, if you could choose a female rocker, a female metalhead, the most important one, who do you think?

VB: I really like Doro, I think Doro is incredibly down-to-earth, a hardworking woman, I talked to her. She still works hard, she's a 50-year-old lady, she must be 49 or 48, and she's still hot, she still has a great body, a very rich body.

W (RM): Do you think so, Nando?

W (NM): Doro? Doro is a wonderful artist.

VB: She fought hard, she lives in the US, recently a hurricane took her house away, she's always been an incredibly determined fighter.

W (DD): She recently recorded a really cool DVD celebrating 25 years of her career.

VB: DVD with a bunch of people, Scorpions. She was upset, she couldn't believe it. Scorpions with me? That accent of hers. Isn't Rob Halford the queen of Metal? I think it's Doro. Among so many others, Floor Jansen who's in Nightwish today, she has a great voice. Tara is more lyrical, I think she doesn't have that Metal side yet. Doro is the most "true" of them all.

W (DD): To wrap up this musical journey, I'd like you to choose a more recent song from the 2000s onwards.

VB: Really? Swear? Kill Devil Hill, Strange

W (NM): We always ask this to our guests, who are usually musicians and artists, but in this case, you as a communicator. What advice would you give, including to us, people who are interested in promoting and spreading Heavy Metal?

VB: Work! Nothing is easy. I managed to support myself, just with my work, from '93 onwards. That's a hell of a long time. From '88 to '93 I had my job, and until the moment I arrived and said, "Now it's make or break," I was married, had two young children, and I quit my job. I was an operations manager at a transport company, and I got there and said, "I'm leaving." Why? "To dedicate myself to a business I believe in." You have to believe and work hard for your belief; nothing happens by chance. You have to fight. Oh, was I lucky? I was lucky to perhaps have been courageous enough to reach that point and kick back and say, "From here on out." We only have to regret what we don't do. I had a much greater risk; I had children, I had to put food on the table, I didn't live with my parents, nothing like that. So it was one of those things where I said, "I'm going, and I'm going," and it worked out, thank God. I never had any kind of problem that would make me regret it. Everyone has financial problems, market ups and downs, thank God I managed to support myself and I'm doing very well working, but you have to work very hard.

W (RM): We've reached a really great moment in the program, which is the promotion. Today we have a wonderful prize that's related to the program, it's related to a band that Vitão really likes. Nando Machado, what have you brought for us?

W (NM): We have here a wonderful Deluxe edition of Dehumanizer, an excellent album. It opens in several parts, has a booklet, and is divided into two sections: one is the entire album, the other is the concert, versions of the singles. What question do you have to answer correctly to win this great prize?

W (DD): Vitão will choose the question.

VB: For that lineup that marked Ronnie James Dio's return to Black Sabbath, there was a drummer before Vinny Appice. Who was he?

W (DD): Who was the drummer in Black Sabbath before Vinny Appice when Dio returned for Dehumanizer? Send your answer to info@wikimetal.com.br, answering this question from Vitão Bonesso, and you'll be entered to win the fantastic Dehumanizer Deluxe edition.

W (RM): The prize is good, but the question wasn't easy.

VB: Do you want to complicate things for her? And why didn't he stay in the band? Do you want to complicate things even more? What about his CPF (Brazilian tax ID) and RG (Brazilian national ID)?

W (DD): The most complete answer, or if there are several answers, we'll draw one and that will be the Dehumanizer prize, which is really cool. To end the episode with Vitão Bonesso, who was very special to us, very nice.

W (NM): We've wanted this for a long time, ever since the beginning.

W (RM): We have Vitão's ID, I think from whose show?

W (DD): Alice Cooper

W (DD): To finish, we're going to request one last song to listen to, and we couldn't end the show without our traditional question. You're in the shower, listening to your iPod, tuned to a radio station playing millions of Heavy Metal songs, one song plays, then two, then three, and suddenly a song comes on that you can't control yourself with, you have to headbang, you could be on the street, at the pharmacy, wherever you are, anywhere you have to headbang, you can't stop. What song is that for us to listen to now and close the show with Vitão Bonesso?

VB: Cathedral, Hopkins (The Witchfinder General) where the solo is by Tony Iommi.

W (DD): So we're wrapping up the episode with this song?

W (RM): I wanted to thank Vitão very much for being here, I mean, for being here, he invited us to come to the studios.

VB: It was a trade. You guys are going to be on Backstage too. This interview, if they allow it, I'll put this interview on, because the show is turning 24. We can put this interview on the Kiss show, after you guys are done, and I'll also put on the interview I'm going to do with the guys from Wikimetal. Why not?

W (NM): Thanks Vitão, it was a great pleasure, a huge honor, you can always count on Wikimetal.

VB: That's us! Thanks! Thank you for the invitation and thanks for your participation as well.