Bonde Do Role

Brazilian trio Bonde do Rolê have come a long way since their first Irish show last October. They’ve gone from playing a half-empty Crawdaddy to filling up the Bodytonic Arena at this year’s Electric Picnic, as well as countless other festival performances across the Globe this summer. I spoke to DJ Gorky ahead of their November performance in The Button Factory. Of course, this being my first interview, the recorder stopped working and I lost the first five minutes of the conversation. I can tell you however, that they will be performing Gasolina for the first time on this tour, as Marina has finally learned her cue points. As well as that, the next album will (hopefully) feature a full brass section, provided by none other than the Brazilian Military Brass Band. The rest of the conversation went something like this.

You play a lot of Brazilian music [in your DJ sets], but you’re kind of like Erol Alkan and 2manydjs, that kind of style? But then the Bonde do Rolê sound is much more inspired by 80s rock. Do you ever have a difficulty keeping the two of them separate?

No, not really. The whole influence for Bonde do Rolê was 2manydjs as well, blending stuff, but the difference between us and 2manydjs is that we blend with Brazilian influence. If we were doing with anything else it would sound just like 2manydjs trying to be a bootleg band. Not Soulwax though, they’re completely different.

You know the first Solta o Frango single? The track Bondallica that’s on that CD is different to the one on the album [the original version features the voice of a heavy metal fan shouting “Heavy Metal rules” etc].

Because we couldn’t clear the Heavy Metal Parking Lot sample. That’s from a documentary from the 80s called Heavy Metal Parking Lot, and we couldn’t clear the sample. That release that was out on CD in Brazil only, had the sample. We put all those tracks there, because we didn’t have any other songs to put on, and then it ended up on the album as well.

I got that at the show in Dublin last year.

I remember that show, we were so happy, we sold so many t-shirts and CDs, we were running back to the hotel, it was fun. [Gorky had earlier mentioned that it was after this particular show that Bonde do Rolê were signed to Domino.]

Do you ever find that you have a crowd that doesn’t really want to party the way that sort of crowd did, have you ever had any bad reactions?

Yeah, we played this show in New York, but New York’s like that, especially Manhattan, they’re over there just to be at the place, and talk about it afterwards. We played at the Natural History Museum, that couldn’t be a worse place for us to play. There was like ten, fifteen, of our friends having fun with us, and then I could see fifty-year old couples, drinking wine and not paying attention at all. But we managed to have fun by ourselves. It’s funny because in Manhattan it’s always like that, but if you go to Brooklyn it’s completely different, and it’s the same city.

Crazy. I was going to ask about DJ Chernobyl [aka Freddie Van Halen], he’s a big legend in Brazil, right?

Indie-wise yeah, not like mainstream wise, he was one of the first people who mixed baile funk with rock and stuff like that, like ten years ago. It was really fun working with him, and he’s our friend.

He worked with you guys on the album?

He recorded the album with us, cause he was the one with the good microphones, we only had the cheap ones. We recorded the whole album back in our place with him, it was fun.

Who’s been your favourite person to work with so far?

Freddie is really good to work with. Yeah, probably Freddie, because if we go on to him at 4am in the morning “So he’s like “yeah yeah, sure, just gimme a beer and we’ll do it.” Diplo is like, [makes explosion sound] we have to be babysitters, “Let’s work right now” and we have to sit him down and put his computer [away], and not let him check his emails, and put away his cell phone, and his sidekick. We have to put all that away, “No, let’s work.” But he’s fun.

And what about Radioclit?

The only track we did with them on the album was something we recorded in five minutes, and we kept doing re-edits between us, using the internet, one sending each other the stuff. They’re really professional as well. I lived the whole summer with Johann, one of the guys from Radioclit, and I know he’s really committed, he’s down for you. We needed some help with some stuff and he was the first one to help.

Oh, cool. The artwork on the singles is pretty crazy.

Thank you. It was done by this friend of ours from Curitiba. For the first Domino release, the Solta o Frango one, we were like “oh, we want a girl in a bikini doing barbecue, and you have to put a weird setting.” For the second single [Office Boy], I was like, “I want a naked guy”. But then we couldn’t do the whole naked guy, so we had to cut him in half. For the Gasolina one, we actually didn’t say anything to him, he used the lyrics. It’s a gorilla smoking a pipe. It’s fun. It’s my favourite one so far.

And then the second Solta o Frango one has some chickens coming out of a barn [Solta o Frango translates roughly as release the chickens, or to go crazy].

The second Solta o Frango one had a better version, but Pedro and Marina didn’t like it. I kind of liked the old version, but we’re never going to use it. Maybe on a box set in like 20 years, “Oh this is the cover we never used.” There’s like tons of different versions of the tracks on the album, but I don’t have half of them. I’m asking all my friends that I sent the tracks at the time, “Do you have this version of blah blah blah?” For instance, Office Boy had a different chorus, it was something in Portuguese, but I don’t have that one anymore, and everyone keeps asking me about it. The new version’s better.

What do you think of the remixes that people have done for you?

Usually I get to choose them, since I’m the DJ. I’m really happy about them. My favourite batch is going to be the Gasolina single. The Buraka [Som Sistema] remix was already out, but we’re re-releasing it because it was really good, there’s also going to be the Crookers, and Fake Blood, Peaches as well. That’s my favourite pack. And the Brodinski remix and Shir Khan ones [of Office Boy] as well. I tried to call people that we liked but they’re not really big. For instance, we would love Soulwax remixing us, but they’re too big for us. I tried to call people who I admired but it could be easier to work with, like Brodinski and Shir Khan. I hope they get big, so I can go like “Oh, we had one of their first remixes”.

Is there anyone else you want to work with? I know Marina worked with The Go! Team.

Oh, yeah, and she’s working with TTC right now. I really want to work with a lot of people, on the second album, like Switch, and the Crookers, and Simian Mobile Disco. We want to finally ask Spank Rock and Amanda Blank to be on the album, they’re always at our gigs, and we sing together on some songs as well. It would be nice to actually have them on the record. Who else. I would love to work with Soulwax, but that’s impossible.

I know you like Surkin, have you tried talking to him?

Yeah, maybe for like a remix, for the second album.

Do you wish there was something you could say in an interview, but it never comes up?

We always say everything we want to, even the bad parts. Even when my mom gets a magazine, especially the Brazilian ones, and we say a lot of crap on them. She’s like, “Why did you say this Rodrigo? Your grandpa could read this!” I’m like, oh whatever.

Words & Photos: Aidan Hanratty