Hi! Tell me about your band and what kind of previous experience do you have as musicians?

Loneshore was established in early 2014 by myself ­ guitarist Renan Rubim ­ alongside bassist Luan Moura and drummer Pedro Mercier in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Then vocalist Luiz Felipe Netto and guitarist Matheus Ullmann joined the group. All the five of us have had bands in the past and that certainly helped us to evolve as musicians. Aside from Luiz ­ who carries the flag at Piah Mater ­ all those past experiences were to not much avail. For the rest of us, this format we established now as Loneshore is the closest thing to a professional band that we have ever gotten as musicians.

Why did you pick your band name? How did you form? Why did you decide to play the genre or genres you do?

The name was inspired by a music video of minimalist composer Arvo Pärt that I saw few years ago. Arvo Pärt has a strong sense of melancholy and sadness, but yet is so beautiful and hauting, and, in this particular video, there was an image of a solitary dead tree on an uninhabited and gloomy place that caught my attention. This combination has brought me a sense of rapturous solitude, and then I came up with the name. For me, “Loneshore” carries in itself an image of a desolate and sorrowful place, far away, like a wasteland, and I think the genre we play (Doom/death metal/post-rock/post-black metal) has a strong connection with these particular feelings and visuals. It is an organic bond.

What can you tell us about your latest record?

The writing process of our debut album started on 2014. The recording process run its course on March of 2015 and by May 2018 we had the final album completed. The new album is called “From Presence to Silence” and I think the title itself already gives away a little as far as the themes go. The lyrics were written by vocalist Luiz Felipe Netto and he prefers not to disclose too much about the meaning behind them. The verses paint eerie sceneries and desolate landscapes and we let those be a mirror to reflect whatever is projected at them. So every individual can have their own interpretation and personal takeaways about them. But I can say that, for me, the general concept of the album is about the barriers and the frontiers that exists among people, separating them from each other and detaching them from the external world that surrounds their lives. Our album is out now via BadMoodMan Music and is available on all streaming platforms as well as in a beautifully crafted Jewel Case CD. The album has 6 songs and clocks around 55 minutes. It was mastered by Tony Lindgren at Fascination Street Studios (Opeth, Katatonia, Enslaved) in Sweden.

What the kind of album feedbacks are you waiting for?

I think the most important thing about feedbacks is what they can add to our music. If the criticisms are constructive and reasoned, they will always be welcome. And of course, we are hoping to see positive feedbacks. We expect that people enjoy our music, feel moved by it, and we expect they have an incredible experience hearing the album.

Are you gonna to make some world tour in the future? Do you think this is available for everybody option to tour around the globe? What do you think band have to do to get such opportunity?

For now, we are focusing on scheduling some gigs here in Rio de Janeiro, and we are hoping to play some gigs around the country next year, maybe a little tour here in Brazil. Regarding the world tour, I think it’s more complicated because some members of the band work and it’s too soon to have “a world tour” as our aim. However, if we had this opportunity, we would certainly find a way to make this tour happen.

Do you believe in heavy music scene without money?

Yes, we believe. In fact, the most important thing for us is to create music without thinking about money return, only thinking about the endless possibilities of our musical boundaries and explore it. That’s the basic element. If a band has that in mind, it goes further even without making money from it. We know how difficult is to survive in music industry, to earn money and live professionally only with music, especially in the genre of music that we fit. So, until there, we are aware that we will have to invest a lot of money to have some possible long-term return. The production of the album itself was a great expense, but we did not expect to have an immediate financial return. We did it by artistic will, to explore our musical horizons.

What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?

We have to accept the fact that, nowadays, streaming services like Spotify and Youtube are dominating the music industry. On the one hand, people tends to consume music more easily through these services, and we believe that is a good thing, because it’s a effective way to share our music. So,we don’t have problems with that, at all. On the other hand, unfortunately, the CD format is becoming obsolete. However, we do believe it’s important to make a physical material too, like Jewel Case, Digipack, or Vinyl version, because some fans like to have the physical copy in hand to appreciate the design of the booklet, read the lyrics, etc.

Who are your musical influences? Have you ever think your band could be so famous as your favorites?

The songs you hear in our record are in many ways a reflection of the artists we grew up listening to and for me, “From Presence to Silence” represents quite well that sort of diversity. On the prog metal side of things, there are bands like Opeth, Porcupine Tree and Pain of Salvation who left an impression on us with their ability to coordinate structures along complex and lengthy tracks. There is also a dark side on our music, inspired by bands such as Daylight Dies, Swallow the Sun and Katatonia. This Doom/Death Metal approach speaks to me through their heavy riffs and melodic lead guitar work. And the third pillar is the post rock/ shoegaze influence of bands like Alcest, Les Discrets and Lantlos, a genre that carries a unique brand of introspection and serenity. Their use of atmospheric soundscapes and dense ambiences was something we chose to explore as well on our music. The combination of those factors is what allowed the songs to sound the way they do.
Regarding being famous as our favorites bands, we don’t overthink about that because we are taking our first steps as a band and we know how it is difficult to live as musician nowadays. We just want to play and create some music the best way we can. I mean, in a professional way.

Do you have a formal music education? Do you think it’s a Kind of important thing?

We don’t have, any band members have. But all of us already have taken courses and music classes in the past and we do have notions of composition, arrangements and we have the technique to perform the songs. In fact, one do not need to have a formal education in music to be a musician. You just have to study, practice and try to upgrade your skills.

How do you balance your music with other obligations – mate, children, job?

In fact, this is quite complicated, to conciliate the band with other daily tasks like work, studies, family, etc. But we always try to find some time to do the tasks related to the band. We all have in mind that the band is one of the important activities of our lives and need a special attention as well.

How do you handle mistakes during a performance? Or you can assure there are no any mistakes during your gigs? Do you get nervous before a performance or a competition?

Little mistakes always happen, but we rehearse a lot to avoid it. But even the most experienced musicians know how to get around this little mistakes without the public often realize it. And it’s normal to be nervous before a performance, but as long as we are doing shows we will get more experience to handle with these kind of things.

What’s next? Thank you!

As I said before, now our focus is to play some gigs here in Rio and other states of the country, spreading the songs of our first album. We also have an intention to produce a new video, maybe a video clip, but we still have to think about it and how we could do that. Thank you for the opportunity and, please, follow the band’s profile on Facebook and Instagram.