If you’re looking for indie-rock Saturday night at the Canopy Club, you’ll have to wait for the late show. Beginning at 6:30 p.m., there will be two bossa nova-inspired bands, Desafinado and Bate Calado, taking the stage. Cover’s five bucks. Bate Calado’s Eduardo Herrera answered the same damn questions everyone else has the last few days, and he did it with aplomb.
If you’re looking for more “world” music afterwards, Sandunga is playing at the Iron Post at 9 p.m. Cover is three bucks for that one.
Full disclosure: Occasional SP contributor David Cubberly is in Bate Calado.
Smile Politely: How would you describe your sound to a person who you don’t think will like your music? Is there anything your music has been compared to that you don’t particularly agree with?
Bate Calado: We play a mix of Brazilian genres. Some Bossa Nova of course, perhaps the best know ‘Brazilian’ sound in the U.S. but in addition we play some choros (an older, mostly instrumental genre) , somo forró (a very popular danceable music from the Northeast) and music from MPB artists ( a singer-songriter genre, short for ‘Musica popular brasileira’). The sound of some of this artists bring together samba, bahião, bossa nova and foreign influences like rock-specially psychedelic albums by the Beatles and Jimi Hendrix-as well as jazz, reggae, and experimental classical music.
Smile Politely: What are the primary factors/influences/motivations that keep you doing what you’re doing?
Bate Calado: Playing music is simply a lot of fun. And getting the crowd to participate is a great reward. Champaign-Urbana has an increasingly large Brazilian population, and they really show in numbers when Brazilian music is being played. That is a tremendous incentive.
Smile Politely: What are your influences, musically or non-musically?
Bate Calado: Our obvious influences are the artists making the original music that we play: Caetano Veloso, Vinicius de Moraes, Tom Jobim, Joáo Gilberto, Chico Buarque, Gilberto Gil, Daniela Mercury, and Luis Gonzaga among others.
Smile Politely: What is the best (or worst) thing happening in music today (either local, national or international)?
Bate Calado: Locally we have now at least four bands playing Brazilian music in the area. ‘Desafinado’ is by far the most established, with several recordings and a wonderful unique sound of their own. And now there are also Bossa Nuevo and Samba Soul which are new and exciting bands as well. I think Bate Calado brings a nice complement to this band. The are all amazing musicians, many with strong formation in jazz and latin music, and we joke around saying that we are more of a garage rock band which makes us sound quite different. It adds a very nice variety into the sound.
Smile Politely: Tell us about the worst show you have ever played.
Bate Calado: It was one night that we were hired (for free) to play at the end of a local event. The show was supposed to start at 9 but the people attending the event (around 80) were elsewhere finishing their activities and when we got to the place there was no one even to open the door. After setting up in what has to be the worst acoustic space ever we began waiting since nobody was showing up. Finally, some people started arriving around midnight (probably 8 or 10) but they were exhausted after all the day’s activities. They made a good effort clapping after each song, but clearly they would have rather be resting at home like the rest of the attendees. To make matters worse we were trying a new additional percussionist that day, and he was clearly uncomfortable with the whole situation, but didn’t feel at ease to talk to us about it. It was a quite frustrating experience.
Smile Politely: What do you have coming up on the horizon?
Bate Calado: Well, we are having a singer transition since our main singer Leslie Goldberg is going to be student teaching during the Spring, so we are adding to are band Gina Reynolds, a wonderful singer with a charming stage presence. The rest of the band (Dave Cubberly on bass, Sam Carrol on drums, Luciano Tosta on the Brazilian bandolim and myself [Eduardo Herrera] on guitar will continue, of course.
Smile Politely: What can people expect from your live show that differs from what is available from your MySpace?
Bate Calado: Funny question. We don’t use MySpace. But if we did it would obviously be very different. The way I see recordings of this type of music is probably like most people see photographs of an event. You can get a sense of the event, sure, but it is not at all like being there. In fact, when we record gigs, I hear the recordings very much like when I see photographs, to remember the experience of that event: a record of the event. You don’t confuse a photograph of someone for that someone, and you don’t confuse a record of music for music.
Smile Politely: Anything else you want to emphasize or get off your chest?
Bate Calado: Check out the different Brazilian music bands going on in Champaign-Urbana! Each one is unique and with great fun to offer.