I was surprised by a really cool project called 'Wikimetal', which made me miss playing metal even more.”

By João Marcio

 

My story with metal began in 1976 in Brasilia-DF, when Heavy Metal didn't even exist yet, and the name used to define the sound we liked was "Heavy Rock". At only five years old, I was introduced to Sweet through a compact disc that contained the song "Ballroom Blitz," a 10th birthday present from one of my brothers. Quickly, my brothers, my cousins, and I discovered that there was another, heavier song on that little disc: "Action." That's when it all started! We would mime with tennis rackets, and since there were more than four of us, the imaginary band always had two drummers and three guitarists!

After that, I remember my older brother, JP from “Attomica,” saying that a band called “Kiss” was going to play on “Rock Concert,” a music video program that aired on Rede Globo back then! He said it was a rock band of crazy guys who painted their faces… sure enough, the six of us were glued to the TV waiting for the video to play. It was love at first sight! My cousin got “Alive!”, my brother got “Dressed to Kill,” and in a short time we completed the collection, which went all the way to “Love Gun.” We had the honor of attending the launch of Alive II here in Brazil, and soon after, we were fans of other bands too: “Deep Purple,” “AC/DC,” and “Van Halen.”.

When I moved to São José dos Campos-SP, my older brother and cousins ​​had gone to the cinema to see an animated film called "Heavy Metal." From then on, the walls of my room were covered with Som3 posters, pages from imported magazines, and the "Heavy Metal" logo from the film. During the first vacation, my cousins ​​came back with new things. They brought "The Number of the Beast" and "Killers." Iron Maiden definitely created a new standard for bands of that time, which was quickly also occupied by Black Sabbath with Dio and Ozzy Osbourne. The scene was complete, and new bands emerged, causing my passion for metal to grow even more. The album covers were getting cooler, the bands faster and heavier, and the themes increasingly diabolical.

My first concert was actually one of the biggest music festivals of all time, Rock in Rio! My brothers had already been to Van Halen and Kiss in 1983, but finally, at thirteen years old, I got my parents' permission and was able to see, all at once, over four memorable days: Whitesnake, Iron Maiden, Scorpions, AC/DC, and Ozzy Osbourne. A dream come true and the certainty that the era of metal had been born in Brazil.

In that same year, 1985, I formed my own band, "Megaton," after years of fangirling over my older brother's bands: "Ether" and "Atroz." My brother formed "Attomica," and together we created the metal scene in the Paraíba Valley. "Attomica" stood out earlier and released its first album in 1988. "Megaton" participated in the "Metal Brigade" compilation that same year. From then on, the story unfolded, with many shows, parties, and lots of fun with all the bands in the Brazilian Heavy Metal scene.

In 1990, I joined Attomica and Megaton broke up. I recorded the band's third album, "Disturbing The Noise," and had the honor of participating in an incredible phase of this band, doing many shows, recording music videos, appearing in the media, and opening for Kreator on their 1992 tour.

In 1993 the band took a break and I, even while dedicated to my work as an engineer, marriage and children, put together an AC/DC cover band and created a Hard Rock project called "Action" together with Guilherme Martin, a long-time friend, bandmate from "Megaton" and current drummer of "Viper".

In 2003, I returned with "Attomica," we recorded a live CD released by Hellion, made new songs, and played shows, lasting until the beginning of 2006, when I was transferred to São Caetano do Sul-SP. Since then, dedicated to my family, always playing at home, I was surprised by a very cool project called "Wikimetal," which increased my longing to play metal, a longing that I only managed to satisfy when we formed the band "Bazooka," which was adopted by Wikimetal and pays a great tribute to Heavy Metal, promising to bring metal back to the lives of many headbangers in this country!

Big hug to all the Wikimates!