IndieTernational: Introducing: The Snow Twins…

…a garage-rock band from Brazil, with two tunes on SoundCloud and no official release anywhere else – YET - but more on that later. Read on...

They followed me the other day (blogger’s dream to be found by a band), I had just woken up, having the daily – do I get up or give up – conversation with myself – pressing play on their first SoundCloud tune while all that is going on – and was met by a barrage of fuzz I could not ignore (ps fuzz+me=love).

The decision was made: get up.

Photo by Jai T Junior

In the middle of putting the finishing touches to their debut album, The Snow Twins found time to speak to Indie Dunes: we chatted about what it is like to be a garage rock band in the land known best for salsa, beaches, coffee and a certain style of waxing (among other things) - thankfully, we both speak English since we wouldn’t get very far on my nonexistent Portuguese or their Serbian.

Its 6:46am here, so let’s start with the most important question: How are the preparations for the World Cup going? ;)

Actually none of us enjoy watching soccer games, but of course there is a national preparation to receive foreigners from all around the world going on. As Brazilian citizens, we hope this makes the government to have some kind of change because, as you may have noticed, there was a lot going on around here about some weeks ago.

We also expect that the stereotypical view that people outside Brazil have of our country changes, because our culture is not made only of carnival, soccer and samba. We are a living proof that it's not true.

yikes, I was expecting an answer more on the lines of "all the roads are dug up, construction cranes are blocking out the sun" (I was in Qatar while they were preparing for Asian games in 2006, I feel for everyone living in a country preparing for a major event!).

Living proof you are not samba influenced is evident lol, I hear a lot of White Stripes meets My Goodness maybe some She Keeps Bees with a wave at Guadalupe Plata - tell me more about the music scene in Brazil

Photo by Gab Z

Well, nowadays in Brazil samba and funk carioca are the most popular music genres. Recently it was added to the mainstream scene the "brand new" sertanejo universitário, which is, basically, a fail copy of American country music with empty lyrics that are catchy and a dancing rhythm so it fills the also empty listeners' heads and so on.

The underground scene however is very underrated and the authorial bands are not treated as they should be.

Basically, or you're a pop oriented band/artist produced by a commercial label (or by someone who has lots of money) and then you get all the space you want, or you're an independent artist who relies mainly on internet to spread the word about your hard work trying to make yourself a name but unfortunately you have most of the doors closed.

Sounds pretty much like the state of affairs of underground / independent scene everywhere else. In my country the alternative scene has strong routes around universities/students, is it the same in Brazil? (I always like to think of us as "enlightened" as opposed to sheep, with all due respect to the sheep).

Anyway, enough about them, more about you - Who are the Snow Twins?

Photo by Gab Z

Yep, universities people/students are the ones who still manage to keep it going over here.

The Snow Twins are Luan Machado and Helen Souza, initially classmates during college who got to know each other better after exchanging information about music. The friendship turned up into a relationship and the duo itself was born after a random rehearsal made on a friend's house unintentionally.

Before becoming The Snow Twins though, we had a tribute band called The Red Stripes in which we learned a lot and build up ourselves as musicians until we had enough experience and songs to quit playing cover ones (and also we were getting tired of doing so).

Anyway, usually we just describe ourselves as "a duo in which guitar and drums mix and oppose themselves, summoning reminiscences that reverb crudely. The Snow Twins doesn’t restrain to the modern musical archetype: metronimic rhythms, complex harmonies and charming melodies. Binding the resources in order to drip the creativity out is what results the band’s sound."

You can check out our tribute band here: https://soundcloud.com/theredstripes

From the three band that we didn't know we liked Guadalupe Plata the most!

It's weird when you realize you don't know about good bands near you and get to know them talking to someone who lives overseas lol (hi5!!)

You told me you are working on a new album – is this your first as “The Snow Twins”? When do you plan to release it?

Yep, we're currently finishing the physical production of your debut album as The Snow Twins. This will be our first album ever because the other band was just a tribute one with no recordings at all. Well, since it's our first album ever it has been a very big thing for us and we're experiencing a lot of new things during the process. The anxiety is building up since we already know that in a week or two we'll have the album ready on our hands.

The album is an homogeneous debut with seven songs structured in a listen-to-all-in-a-row order that will be reproduced on pocket gigs we're gonna perform around local cities with the exact album tracks. Also, two songs that are part of the debut album, "Over The Line" and "Amnesia (We Were Getting So Close)" will have an exclusive digital release through a Greek experimental net label called SonicPlayground, they have a great catalog and a brilliant idea behind it.

Anyway, we have a fairly big repertory but for those who don't know us personally or have never attended a gig we played we're still a "two songs band" because there are only two songs online on our Soundcloud and other band's page. Releasing "The Snow Twins" will sure give us more opportunities and chances of having new contacts as well as building up the band's name

As we talked about earlier on the interview, we always aim on international goals because unfortunately there's not a scene for a garage ish lo fi band around here. Also about that, the recordings on this album are not a lo-fi garage mayhem, they're actually all hi-fi clear and easy to listen and to understand "versions" of what we usually do onstage. This makes our songs more acceptable between those who are not used to it!

About the release date, we hope we can make it until the end of this month (October). We're just gonna set a date after the CD is 100% ready.

A Brazilian band about to release an album through a Greek experimental net label interviewed by a Serb currently in Abu Dhabi - no borders for indie. #spreadtheword

Support indie bands and artists

Tatjana x

Update!!!

The Snow Twins have officially announced the release date of their debut album - November 11th!

More about the release HERE

Jet Set Go Tour - more info HERE

Stalk options:

Facebook

Twitter

SoundCloud