Band of the Week

M A R V E L

MARVEL are the latest metal sensation fresh out of Portugal.They have won Powerplay magazine's "BATTLE OF THE BANDS" and have now a deal with Target records.We got a hold of them and managed to bring them to you


BIOGRAPHY



The Band MARVEL was formed in January 1999. Its members come from various bands like for example Maré Alta and IRS which already had record deals and CDs released. All the musicians in MARVEL have large musical experience not only in the original music but also as cover band musicians playing in bars and clubs with bands like FingerPrint, Proud to be Loud, Norma Jean and TIMELESS.

The majority of the band members had already participated in projects with each other but they had never all joined forces and played in the same band. Despite this reunion was being thought for a while it was only in January 1999 that the band was formed, mainly with the exit of two elements from the Band IRS. So Tiago Garrido, Ricardo Fernandes (former IRS), João Paulo Rocha and Ivan Almeida started the auditioning process for bass players while at the same time composing songs for the Band. After two tries that didn’t work Miguel Madeira joined the band as Bass Players thus making the Band complete and making what is still now the band formation. The band spent the next months rehearsing composing and selecting songs for a CD to be released. By July 1999 13 songs were selected in order to be recorded on the following months.

The musical style of this band can be considered as something in between Rock and Hard Rock with some Rock FM and 80’s influences. The band opted to sing in Portuguese in order to be more easily accepted from the Portuguese Record Labels, but we are now recording songs in English. The band decided to record and produce the CD on their own instead of going to a commercial recording studio, the money that would be spent in the studio was used in acquiring the gear the band missed, the rest of the gear needed for a professional recording was kindly loaned by www.musifex.pt our endorsers. This way we could make a professional sounding recording with our own timing needs.

After that the Band spent the following months talking to A&R and Label managers and trying to promote the album on TV, Radio etc. In 17th of June the band made its presentation to the public and Media at the Marquee Rock Club in Lisbon-Portugal which gathered a huge number of people and got great critics. In the end of August the band participated in the new band competition organised by SIC the biggest national TV station from Portugal and after two presence in the show the band won the competition and got a 5000 Euros price. Due to that victory the band was also invited to participate in other TV shows of the same TV station in September and October.

The short term activities and objectives are promotion and release of the band with the media as well as the public in general. Presentation of our work to the Record Labels in order to get a good record deal. It was released in January 2001 the official web site of the band. The URL is http://www.marvelmusic.com. Its objectives are to help with the promotion of the band. In this site it is possible to download the bands first CD for Free as a means to help with the promotion. You can also find the bio, photos of our TV shows and concerts and other news of the band, as well as info about the band members, etc. Our web site has been a vehicle of gaining many international fans not only from Europe but also from Japan and the U.S.

The band is still promoting our new EP this time sung in English by our drummer Ivan, there are some previews at the site, as well as at www.javamusic.com/Marvel where we entered the Top40 and got a song in the 5th position. Keep an eye for it ! Promotion as also been done in the www.mp3.com/marvel where we reached the 10th and 13th place with two of the EP’s Songs.

With Ivan taking the place as the lead singer Marvel was in the need of a new drummer and after a few auditions Jorge Roque joined the ranks as Marvel’s new drum man.

The band has also finished pre-production for the next Full feature CD sung in English featuring 12 hard rocking tracks. MARVEL has also earned a place in the final part of the british magazine POWERPLAY appearing on the cover mount CD and in the magazine Battle of bands feature. After 3 rounds of the contest MARVEL was declared the Winner of the Competition !!!

Currently the band is finishing professionaly recording the tracks for the new CD which will be released under the german label TARGET RECORDS.

The Actual formation of MARVEL is :

Ivan de Almeida, Vocals

João Paulo Aça, Guitar

Ricardo Fernandes, Guitar

Miguel Madeira, Bass

Jorge Roque, Drums.

Contacts for information or shows

http://www.MarvelMusic.com Email : Marvel@marvelmusic.com



Telephone :

351 21 4102818 ( Ivan de Almeida )

351 96 9007597 ( Ricardo Fernandes )

351 93 4524534 ( Miguel Madeira )



also, here is an interview with guitarist Ricardo Fernandes

if you want to check out the previous bands featured here, there ya go: