Stereoboard Interviews Brazilian Group Chapa Ahead of Album Release
Monday, 16 August 2010
Written by Adam Simpson
Stereoboard Interviews Chapa, the three brothers from Brazil, who are set to release their first English language album, Creation Room on October 4th.
Marcos Chapa, from the group, who are now based in London, spoke with us at stereoboard, about the history of the band, the UK groups who have inspired them and their anticipation, ahead of their new album.
How are you finding life in the UK?
“Excellent, we started as a band in 1992, when we were children playing a music competition at school, which we won, so that was the start of everything and I was 7 years old at the time. We first came to Europe in 2006 and played all over Portugal and Spain, which was really good, after one of the concerts in Spain, we decided to start writing music in English. We were signed to a Portuguese record label in 2007 and we then spent the time learning English and working on the lyrics in English, so that we could come to the UK, so this is our first English speaking album.”
How difficult was it for you to write an album in English, a language which you have only recently learnt?
“We struggled mostly with the sounds of the words in English, so when we started, we focused on the sounds of the words and we then worked on the meanings of the words. It was challenging, but very exciting and we like the finished result. It takes time to translate our ideas and we are still learning the language.”
Before You Go, is the first single to be released from the album, what was your reason for picking that track?
“We chose this as the first release and also the first track off the album, because it has a lot of samples of the sounds which are big in the rest of the album. It is a good introduction for people to how the album sounds.”
The album was mastered at Abbey Road, how did it feel to work in that studio, considering the fantastic history that Abbey Road has with The Beatles?
“Yes, the whole album was recorded by just the three of us in our studio, which we named the album after, The Creation Room. The Beatles thing and the story of Abbey Road is something that we are very aware of, also Abbey Road, gave the album an atmosphere and feeling that we wanted for the sound.”
How have you found playing in the UK so far?
“When we first came to the UK in January, we played several venues, we enjoyed meeting people and the English audiences, we played the Cavern Club, which was a very good thing for us. It was amazing, we recorded our first video in the Cavern Club.”
Obviously more Beatles related history, by playing in the Cavern Club. Are you a fan of British music?
“Yes, very much, we like The Beatles, who are a big influence on our music, we like The Beach Boys, (I had to correct Marcos, that The Beach Boys are an American group.) there are lots of new musicians in England that we also like. We like Jamie Cullum very much and lots of new bands that we like. We also like Silver Chair, who are from Australia and we also have a huge influence from Brazil.”
Are you excited to see how the British public receive the album, when it is released?
“Yes very much. We took a lot of time to finish the album and to write the songs, so to have English people listen to our music is going to be great to reward all the hard work we have put into the album.”
The groups single, Before You Go, will be released on September 14th and the album, Creation Room, on the 4th October. You can catch Chapa at a couple of upcoming shows. They are playing at the Wyeside Music Festival, on the Sunshine stage, on the 21st of August in Hereford and at the Steam Sounds Festival, on the 4th September, in Dorset.
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The album was mastered at Abbey Road, how did it feel to work in that studio, considering the fantastic history that Abbey Road has with The Beatles?
