M A R V E L
interview with guitarist Ricardo Fernandes

1. You have recently won the "battle of the bands" of Poweplay magazine. How did that happened?

It was a very good thing that happened for us which will give us a lot of promotion in the british market. We were invited by mark from the powerplay magazine to enter the competition. It was to our surprise that we saw us passing all the rounds till reaching the final. We even received mails from other bands in the competition that having lost in one round voted for us on the next rounds and in the finals ! We even became friends with some. Its good to see such companionship happening between bands and musicians.

2.How is the metal scene in Portugal??

The metal and Hard rock scene in Portugal is very underground as there aren't many sucessfull bands. Record labels here dont bet in this kind of sound. They only release comercial music like pop, and soft rock. They dont like to take many chances... So its very hard for a new band to start from here. That is why we turned to the international market and tried to get an European label to release our new record.

3.Your next album will appear under target records> do you have a long time deal with them now?

We have a deal for this record for 2 years, but we hope this will only be the beggining of a very successfull cooperation and that we will release many more records through them and help them grow us a Label as we grow too as a band !

4. your previous release was in portuguese, after that you had the "Long way to go" Ep in English.will the new album be also in English?what will it be about?

The new album is also in English reflecting our new orientation for the International Market. Its much easier to be accepted abroad if we sing in English which is for me the international language of music ! The new album wont have a specific theme, most of the songs reflect some personal experiences or events that have been happening through out these years.

5. Is having a new vocal affecting the sound of the band??

Yes the new vocalist gave us a new edge to the sound. We were also able to grow up in a direction more hard rockish instead of the more pop approach of our first album that was kind of soft. We are much happier now with the songs and how they sound !

6. Now that you have a record deal, are you planning an extended european tour??

It is definetly our intention to tour Europe maybe finding a slot as a support act for a bigger band as we are still a new and relatively unknown act. When the album is selling and we have more coverage from radios and magazines it will be easier to make the necessary arrangements.

7.What does the name of the band mean to you??

Our band name is what MUSIC means to us. Its a MARVELous thing. We breath, eat and sleep music. Basically Music is one of the MARVELs fo the world, so I think our name fits in nicely.

8.What do you think of the metal of the new millenium??

We dont quite relate our genre to metal, but more to Hard Rock, still we all like to listen to Metal. And I think that metal and hard rock is returning to the strength it had a decade ago. There are many bands and more to come all showing potencial. The main thing is that listeners should give a change to the newer generations to show what they are able too !

9. a final word......

We would like to say a word to all the friends in Portugal and all over the world that have been helping us and that allowed us to reach this stage of our career : From the bottom of our hearts Thank You. A big Thank You goes also to all the magazines and online fanzines and sites that have been supporting us these past years, keep up on doing a good work showing the world new bands !!!!