MARCO FERREIRAMARCO FERREIRA
By Gabor Kleinbloesem
MARCO FERREIRA comes out of Brazil where he was in a band called CARTOON and they put out a demo tape which I got to hear and review years ago. I was already stunned by the high quality of the AOR/Radiorock on that CARTOON tape. Now years later I discovered a new artist from Denver who happens to be the original lead vocalist for CARTOON. He had moved to the USA a few years ago and in that period he has recorded and released two CDs. One solo album and a CD with the band MONKEY BITE. Both contain lovely pure 80s Classic AOR/Melodic Rock in the style of the first HAREM SCAREM, HONEYMOON SUITE, early FM, FIORE... Time for me to interview this talented guy, because besides having a great voice, Marco is also a multi-instrumentalist who can basically do everything on his own and it really sounds great. Here goes...
Can you please introduce yourself?
Marc Ferreira (Marco Ferreira in
my first solo), From Rio de Janeiro Brazil. I start playing by
ears at the age of 15; my first guitar was and still is a Kramer
that my father gave me. Then I started playing in local hard rock
bands in Rio like Rise and fall, Three little Pigs, Dr. Love and
my last band Cartoon for good years.
A few years back I heard this wonderful demo tape of a band called CARTOON, I have always been searching for this band, because that demo tape contained some of the best Latin-American AOR ever made! And now I was listening to your albums, not knowing the relation between you and CARTOON when I noticed the similarity between the two. So, I figured you maybe were a member of CARTOON and then I heard from you I was right. Does this also amaze you that I know CARTOON and hear this similarity?
I was totally amazed with the
fact you knew Cartoon because we never sent that tape to anyone
but Brazilians.
When you told me that you knew this band from Brazil you really
tock me by surprise.
Can you tell me everything about your
time with CARTOON?
My good old buddies, Ian Duarte
on the drums and vocals, Andre Guerra on guitars and vocals,
Paulo CL on Bass and vocals and me on the lead vocals and
guitars. At the time we started playing in 1990, AOR wasn't
popular in Brazil, and honestly it has never been, was pretty
much underground on the music scene in Rio. All the bands used to
meet in a street called Baixo Leblon, where they could exchange
ideas and join a common subject. There weren't many bands, so all
gigs took place in bars and in small theatres we could count with
basically the same But always upgrading crew of people. It is
very hard to do this kind of music in Brazil (the Samba's
country). But like Cartoon and some other bands, we never
compromised our sound. We started playing more and more until one
day we were invited to open The La Toya Jackson's Tour. The first
reaction was "who likes Latoya Jackson, and who will pay to
see that". Well that was a chance to play in stadiums, make
some money and have roadies to carry our stuff. That was fun. Another
really cool gig, was when the band FIREHOUSE show up in one of
those Cartoon shows (They were in Brazil to promote at the time,
The firehouse III album) and I sang don't treat me bad with the
rest of the band. They are very simple people. I'm glad I have
meet them.
Why did CARTOON split up?
The band split when I came to
the USA for college, All songs were written by me and also as
they said, it is not easy to find singers for this kind of music.
I learned how to sing through listening to Dokken, Coverdale and
Bruce Dickinson since I was very young.
Why did you leave Brazil and haven't mentioned anything about CARTOON on your site if I may ask?
I just though that was silly to
put " the ex. Cartoon" in my release. I thought people
would react: so ... I had know idea that people actually knew my
ex band in different countries.
What happened to
the rest of the CARTOON members?
Where are they now? Well, Ian
has a kick ass recording studio in Rio. He’s doing a lot of
work for famous people. He’s a good engineer and producer.
Andre is trying to come to Denver in April to join my new band
Monkey Bite.
Paulo works in TV doing edition.
Tell us about your
'fresh' start in the USA?
When I got here in Denver, CO my
brother Alex was already here doing college also. He is a
drummer,
So it was just a matter of time to find a bass player and I
started playing in bars with this goofy name MONKEY BITE, Mr.
Alex's idea. Ironically the bass player's name is Marco Ferreira,
that's the reason to change my name to Marc. And so MONKEY BITE
was born, Marc Ferreira on guitars and vocals, Alex Ferreira on
drums and bkg vocals and Marco Ferreira bass and bkg. vocals. At
same time I started to buy equipment for a recording studio, I'm
always writing, so it is very expensive to go to the studio every
time I do a new song. Now I have a really good studio, I even
record other bands.
You released two albums, your
solo-CD and one with a band called MONKEY BITE. What's the
difference between your solo recordings and that band? 
The solo one I tried to capture
my acoustic side since I write most of my songs acoustically. It
is a very melodic CD with most of the song in Portuguese, two
instrumentals and one in English. The main characteristic of this
CD is that it is very personal material, with no intention to
show to anyone, not compromised at all. The Monkey Bite, is a
different story. Now I'm writing to a live band, I tried to be a
little more straight to the point. It is the same AOR I always
wrote, but a little recycled to the 90s, that is what we have to
do to play here in USA. I really like the result of some songs I
work to make this possible. The rest of the CD is pure AOR.
Can you tell me more about MONKEY BITE and their future?
We are now looking forward to a
record deal here or in Europe. Last week I sent about 30 CDs to
different record companies. But we don't sit and wait, I'm
already recording a new CD that will be done in one or two
months. Also we ready for the summer, we are a house band of an
awesome house here in Denver called Jackson's Hole. We play on
Fridays and Saturdays and we play originals and covers.
Solo you play everything on your own, how did you learn to play all these instruments on your own?
I learned everything by ear and
the reason I record all instruments is because when I write a
song, I know exactly how the instruments will go to be and how
they are going to sound. I don't like to wait for someone else to
be available to record something I already know. I record
whenever I get an idea or whenever I want, that can be 3:00 am or
7:00am, the studio is in my house. This works pretty good to me,
and the rest of the band deals with that very well since they
like the final product.
Musically
you are very much in the Classic 80s AOR/Melodic Rock territory,
which bands/artists influenced you? Have you ever heard of bands
like HAREM SCAREM and FIORE who have an identical sound to
yours...
I never heard those bands and I
bet they are great, I can’t wait to listen to them. Here in
the USA, it is not easy to find good AOR CDs. I have to buy
my CDs some times in used stores and most of the time I order
from the internet bands like FM, TNT and others. They are
impossible to find here. I’m still trying to get the Tough
it out by FM unsuccessfully. People who influence me on my
singing are Glen Hughes, Bruce Dickinson, Steve Perry and Paul
Mcartney. I still learn from them every time I listen to them. On
my guitar playing are George Linch, Steve Ray V., Michael Hedges,
Steve Vai and Eric Johnson. On my composing and producing
recording is Robert “Mutt” Lange Knowing by his work
with Def Leppard and Brian Adams and Sir George Martin, I think
everybody knows his amazing work with The Beatles.
You've got a bunch of songs in
Spanish and in English, to me it doesn't matter, but do you think
English vocal songs can reach more (and important) people than
the Spanish ones, how will this be in the future, more English
songs perhaps...
Definitely in English, I will
always going to write songs in Portuguese, just because some
times I feel like.
But with no doubt if you want to get you work ahead to different
countries, you got to change for English, and that’s not a
issue at all.
Have you got any
airplay with your music somewhere?
Yes, some alternative radios
back in Brazil and here in Denver, but I believe I’m having
a better result here in USA.
If you get some attention of European AOR labels, what would you do then?
It would be great to get a deal with an AOR label in Europe. I haven’t tried really hard the labels out of USA, I’m waiting for a response of the record labels here. But yes, I am looking forward to those AOR labels, that would just be perfect, a label that understands this music concept better than anyone.
Basically, what are
the plans for the coming months?
Finish this new CD, play, write
more songs and record again.
Finally, do you have anything to add to our readers?
Yes, listen to my CD at MP3 site http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/84/monkey_bite.html where you can buy the CD or even down load the songs. And keep in touch with me.