When you created the Amplificasom Jorge Bastos, in 2006, André Mendes was not sure what he was doing. “In the first concert I did not even know what a rider,” he recalls. There was “any expectation, any kind of training,” but none of this was a joke guys. It was a “necessity.” “As the bands you want to see do not go here, you put to work.”
So it was, and yet have been ten years, more than 400 concerts, five editions of an irreplaceable festival called Amplifest that back this weekend week, a sixth edition headed by the debut of neurosis in Portugal, and that sums up the philosophy of promoting Porto Amplificasom: the bet weight music and versatile noise that filters the neuroses and the blackness of the day, without affiliating to one gender; music that destabilizes conventions and imposes the discovery. . Post-metal and hardcore to electronic Brutalist of thundering acoustic guitars to experimental
Amplifest may be the seal of Amplificasom and its most obvious manifesto – and this is seen by the public support international, which this year is expected to break records and reach 50% -60% – but the story does not begin and end there. First, he was born a blog. “The idea was to have a place where we could talk of the discs we heard and make a concert schedule,” says André Mendes. We were in 2006. “It was the post-metal height and instrumental post-rock, but always had eclectic tastes. Before and now is the same way of being, “André note that since 2012 directs the promoter alongside Angelo Tiberius Carvalho – and always without financial support, along with other full-time jobs
There was many national premieres, many bands made known first hand – even before bloom in the international press and conquer the world as the Deafheaven, who were at the Hard Club in 2012, to open for Russian Circles before the (deserved) hype in 2013. Márcio Laranjeira, the neighbor-friend-partner Lovers & amp; Lollypops, Amplificasom functioned as a discovery platform, learning. “My first concert was Amplificasom Pelican in 2007, but in their blog remember to know bands like These Arms Are Snakes, Baroness or Nadja. Still were some bands and some concerts discovered through them. “
And filled a void (in Porto, the country). “I always paid attention to [some] heavy music which at the time already had a good base of followers, but there was nobody – or there, but without the continuity of Amplificasom – to program and to talk about this side of heavy music. As it grew, it expanded its reach to the heavy black music and performed in many different ways. You guys that gets Converge, HHY & amp; The Macumbas and Ben Frost at the same festival and it brings variety to a spectrum where it is easy to fall into monotony, “says Márcio.
Contributing to a national circuit of more plural and Vitaminized concerts, the Amplificasom not closed doors others. Collaborated and collaborates with several rooms and promoters (ZDB, RCA Club, Sonoscopia, Cave 45, Lovers & amp; Lollypops, among others). Already touted concerts in Reverence Valada, Serralves em Festa, Paredes de Coura, FMM Sines or out there in the Roadburn festival, major reference in weight music. And he invested in a roster with Portuguese bands, welcoming and exporter names like HHY & amp; The Macumbas, wolf and Process of Guilt.
But for André there is a pre and post-concert Isis, made in 2009 in Amazing Almadense and Teatro Sá da Bandeira. “We have worked with a larger structure and realized we could take things further.” And beyond Amplificasom was Amplifest. In the first few editions we realized it was a unique festival. consistent alignment and no fat. No concerts overlays, contrary to the rapid and fragmented consumption that increasingly undermines music festivals and the way we look at it. Movies, listening sessions and exclusive conversations with journalists and bands (Amplitalks), which help to break barriers between the audience and the artists and reflect on the music as well as the activities that sustain them. A festival without bombing of promotional actions that have helped to make so many festivals in amusement parks.
And of course, a challenging alignment. Let us remember 2014, when we saw (and felt in the body) on the same night the free jazz hallucinating and voltaic Peter Brötzmann, the percussive survey of Swans, the incandescent and punitive electronic Ben Frost. Or 2015 with black metal adventurer Altar of Plagues followed by William Basinski hypnosis session, which gave then place the runaway and salvific fury of Converge (endurance test for later recall).
Let us look ahead to this sixth edition (heating today in Cave 45 with Aluk Todolo and stretching in the second, on Passos Manuel, Steve Von Till and the Leaving). We seismic hardcore, a hot melt with black metal, the Oathbreaker; the noise and gangrenous electronics Prurient; the drone-folk ascetic in dating with doom metal, Anna von Hausswolff; exploratory post-rock of the Caspian; or, amen, Neurosis telluric, one of the most relevant bands and metal inventive, which three decades ago began to move in the genetics of gender and open it to new paths and inheritances, intersecting it with hardcore, folk and ambient music (and raise the new disk veil, Fires Within Fires, Sunday at Hard Club).
it is a festival that takes the audience from their comfort zone, and this was one of the factors that surprised Madrid Susan Calvin, which includes the increasing share of foreign (Brazil, Russia, Israel, Spain, Germany …) which has a presence in Amplifest. This year will be his third time. “The Amplifest is a perfect place to see other ways of making music, which for me was a whole world to discover,” he says. For Márcio Laranjeira, the Amplificasom is “an example of doing well, regardless of event size”. “Artists recognize that and want to return to work with them when they play here,” he says. This is the case of Scott Kelly of Neurosis, which after two solo concerts in Portugal, courtesy of Amplificasom chose the Amplifest for the debut of his band in Lusitanian lands. “It was because of André [Mendes], which is a human being and an exceptional promoter,” says the Upsilon.
Although the Amplifest not a metal festival, has invested, such as Amplificasom in its regular activity in bands who reject the misogynist, racist and homophobic attitudes often linked to this genre and that intersect with other sound coordinates. For Scott Kelly, this is to be welcomed. “The Roadburn embraces the same principles, but taking this case have never seen this kind of thing to be put in place under the festival’s creative direction.” Susan Calvin, “I think the best way to change closed mentalities is to confront people with this variety and bands that break molds. “
Compliments abound, foreign public either. But not everything is color pink, and this story will only have a happy ending to get support for the next editions. “The future of Amplifest passes by having a support, a sponsorship. We rely solely on the ticket, “says André Mendes. They do not want to be hostages of brands and institutions, but they want to survive and pay the friends who help them. “This is the first year that we have a financial support of the Municipality of Porto. Far from me to be ungrateful, but it really is a crumb. “
” From the moment it is an asset to the city, the municipality can and should support. People have to travel to Porto, sleeping in hotels, eating in restaurants, “notes Márcio Laranjeira. The level of support, the promoter of Lovers & amp; Lollypops recognizes that Amplificasom is still overlooked in the context of independent promoters with work and recognized curriculum. “Unfortunately some institutions are still very square in relation to what they see as culture and selection that are to give support or not. And even for those brands have a loyal following and consumers who can get “
For now, we celebrate the present and what we have learned in the past ten years with Amplificasom:. To test limits, to discover. It is what we will return to do this weekend week in Amplifest. Bring on another decade.
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