Loosh - 35 Years of Music


Monday 13 April 2020

Virtual Music - We've been doing it all along!

So many times we have heard we were not a proper band because we make music virtually.

Since the early nineties, when we tragically had to split up because of immigration laws, as you have followed in our story here, we have decided to continue as a band, but make music on the then-new medium of the internet.

We were severely criticised and made fun of. People asked us, but you don't play live? We bet on the new medium and we managed to forge a thirty-year work virtually.

Now during this war with an invisible army, the whole world, all bands, are playing virtually, podcasting, launching work and rehearsing, each from their own homes.

We hope that this experience might make people respect our pioneer work and see us as a band.

The show must go on!




Tuesday 4 February 2020

Monday 1 April 2019

Thursday 28 February 2019

Just a shout out to our you Tube channel have a look, follow, enjoy!

LOOSHMUSIC

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7cfd_t0enS2T5HXaAH-ZOw


Tuesday 9 May 2017

What is success?

Whenever I wish upon a star, a fountain or the candles of a birthday cake I think I am not alone in wishing for the health of loved ones and our planet, but we all have little personal wishes and secret desires and as an artist a favourite wish throughout the years was to be successful with our music.

As the years went by and the recognizable success did not match our expectations I caught myself considering the definition of the word success. What is to be successful in music? If you write the most beautiful song ever and nobody hears it, is it still a success?

Humans have always had a struggle in their hands to value art. We can understand exchanging currency for food and even currency for currency, but what is the value of art? We seem to shuffle into considering some pieces of art of a priceless value while others of no value at all. You might find a piece of classical music beautifully executed is worth less than something concocted at a basement with a computer or a blue ball on top of an unmade bed is more valuable than a watercolour.

There is also the issue of a doctor or a teacher going to school, training to exercise their profession and eventually working in their trade while a musician or an actor might find themselves to the mercy of some abstract quantification of success and never being able to make a living from their trade.

What to say of artists like Nick Drake, my favourite ever, who acquired cult status after his death but did not enjoy such recognition in his lifetime? If he had not found such status would his music be any less divine? Alzo Fronte who found some cult status later in life, being discovered by the Japanese and having a heart attack before he could finally enjoy the fruits of his work. I sometimes think I shouldn't wish for any recognition anymore as that would probably be my fate at my age!

Bearing on being cliché and complaining about contemporary music and the music business and its lack of originality and talent as well as standardization at a massive scale, I often ask myself such questions as what level of recognition and success would make me happy? What would make me retire from this life feeling gratified with what I have achieved, and the more I ask the more I get the feeling that the answer is being content with what I produce regardless of any other factor. I am a dreamer and I like to believe that somewhere in the Universe there is some sort of bonus points you accumulate for being charitable, good to others, to your planet and producing beautiful art it does not matter by what means, being music quite high there in the scale.

I hate the fact that Lewis Taylor decided to be a plumber but his music has touched me and that matters, for me he is highly successful. When I listen to the Plain Healers from New Jersey, in my world they are as successful as Led Zeppelin because their music has touched me just the same.

Success is creation, when a song or a piece of art is created it is successful. It matters not who has listened.

Friday 5 August 2016

Rio 2016 is here!


So another Olympic Games is upon us! Very strange to have two consecutive games one in my current home and then another in my home town. 
Loosh has always had a strong association with sport, we just love following all sorts of sports and we will be certainly following these games despite getting homesick with the transmissions. 
I just hope everybody will enjoy a safe and happy time. It would be not just horrible but contradicting to the true Olympic spirit to destroy such a beautiful event that is so inspirational.
We will be also looking forward to watching the Paralympic games as Brazil, against all odds is just so good at them. 
I also hope my Country finds peace and prosperity in the never ending changing political process as despite the horror stories of corrupt politicians it is still our Country and it is still amazing.
Happy Games everyone!

Thursday 13 August 2015

In 1985, two friends, a piano and an acoustic guitar, that corner, Colonia Penal




Sunday 2 August 2015

Phoenix from the Flames

Continued from blog 13 - Homeward Bound...

... Although one of the symbols for Redskin was an Eagle, we could really say we were the legendary Phoenix that is constantly reborn from the flames. Admired by some, annoying in others point of view, we persistently pursued making our music without substituting the band members and being true to our artistic intentions even if we were living in separate countries or had to learn how to play an instrument or sing.

As Redskin we composed a great number of songs, many never got to be recorded, some of my favourites were: Heartbreaker, Psalm, Seedless Grapes in the Morning, Grandfather, Premonitions, What's left to be done, Chart Song, Echoes in a Tunnel, Eerie, The Head that Bangs the Drums, Magdalena, even though none of us can remember now what this song sounded like, The Right Time, Hollow Man, Sugar Cane, Two Reasons, You're like no other, Manor House and Bath Houses.

In 1994 we recorded a demo at KKO studio with Heartbreaker, Psalm and Seedless Grapes in the Morning, this time on a CD instead of a cassette tape, and started contacting again record companies using our old list, now even more out-of-date, and some new contacts that Tayo managed to fish from the slow Internet, by today terms, in his home computer, a luxury at the time, as very few people had them. Many came back as non-existent addresses and the usual sorry-we-are not-hiring-at-the-moment or we-don't-listen-to-demos.

Another Celestine Prophecy moment in my life was when in August 1994 I met my English Husband, Mark Taylor, just by chance, in my own home actually! He had a Passion for everything Brazilian since the 70's, as a DJ and avid record collector of Brazilian Jazz and Bossa Nova, Funk, Soul and new Beats. He hosts today a radio show called Happy Jazz and also has his own work re-editing tracks which is called La Homage. We were originally friends, as he came over my place as the boyfriend of one of the girls who played basketball with my Sister-in-Law, as my house was again, as in old gigging days, the meeting point after practice and matches. Before going to Brazil for the first time in January that year he had got from his Aunt a contact number from an acquaintance of hers, a British woman who now lived in Brazil and had a flat to rent for tourists, which was walking distance from my flat. He then had befriended the Housekeeper's daughter who also played in the basketball team and that's how he got to date one of the girls. For me it was love at first sight, an Englishman, handsome, into music and at my doorstep, could it be the old saying, when you wish so hard for something it does happen? Nothing happened between us and I sadly said goodbye to him thinking I would never see him again. A couple of weeks later I received a postcard thanking my Brother, Sister-in-law and myself for the hospitality, but with a special thanks to myself for helping him finding records and meeting Brazilian musicians. I replied and we started writing to each other regularly. In December 1994, when I announced I was going to spend Xmas and New Year with my Sister-in-Law's family in Spain and visit my friends in London, he invited me to visit him where he lived at the time in Amsterdam, but I couldn't make it and he offered then to meet me in London for a week when he could stay at a friend's house. We started dating in January 1995 here in London and have been together ever since. At the time however, after a week of a dream, I had to go back to Brazil wondering if that is what was going to be, a fleeting dream. I started working like crazy to save money to go back to him and in the meantime kept in touch through letters and once a week phone calls, as it was so expensive in those times. No such a thing as Internet at home or cheap/free phone calls abroad in those days. There was however something very romantic about waiting for the post and opening a letter from your loved one so far away. At difficult times it is looking back at the days when we couldn't be together that our relationship finds its strength from, pretty much like our music work to be honest. I now managed to get myself both a band and a boyfriend no one thought really existed, but meant everything to me.
In March that year we received a letter from Flat Records , from Surrey, inviting us to be part of their Artist Development Plan, as they had listened to our demo and they thought we had potential. Flat Records was founded and managed by Richard Coppen, who had achieved some success with bands we had never heard about called Tenpole Tudor, Pearl Harbour and King Kurt. The Label profile sounded good, they wanted to find raw talent before anyone else, if it was weird they would sign it! We thought we fit the bill and started to make plans to go back to England to follow their so-called Artist Development Plan, in which they promised a marketing plan, photo sessions and a working demo for a price they claimed to be a real bargain and a promise of being signed by themselves if while working with us they thought we were to their liking. We thought we had nothing to loose as it would give us an opportunity to request an artist visa to go back to England, I would be closer to my boyfriend, and if they didn't like us at least we would have a material of a professional caliber to use to look for other companies. If worst came to the worst it would at least be an excuse to go back to England as there was nothing happening music wise in Brazil for our type of music anyway. Still, it would take another year for Paulo's visa to come through

Paulo left Brazil before me, this time as an EU Member Partner, so much easier visa wise and I stayed behind working 13 hours a day teaching at an English school and 5 hours a night at home doing translations to finance my new venture. In July 1995 I left Brazil again, this time I had no idea it was going to be for good.
In October 1995 Tayo managed to get a transfer to work at Erickson in England and for the first time in nearly six years we were all together in the same country again, but not for long, my visa finished in 1996 and having received an invitation from my boyfriend to live in Amsterdam with him after, although dating for over a year, having been physically together only 8 times, but the thought of being far away from him in Brazil again was unbearable and I accepted it, which turned out to be the right choice as I would in 1998 become Mrs Simone Taylor.
After having been finally all together in one country now Paulo and Tayo were left in England and I was in Holland, but soon we would be each in a different country as Tayo got transferred back to Sweden again before we managed to join Flat Records Development Programme...
...To be continued
Pictures: 1 - Seymour Nurse, 2 - Unknown, 3 - Simone Taylor

But All She Wanted Was to Dance


... Continued from blog 10 A very Rough Trade this music business...

...I hear a lot of stories of bands that lost members and then auditioned for new ones to replace them. Although this was never discussed between us, we all always shared this strange silent pact of being an entity, like being one person. When we lost Sergio it was like if this "Person" a.k.a. our music, lost a member and somehow it seemed clear to us that we had to keep walking without him but not replace him. We did replace Sergio by a Japanese chap full of buttons and an AC Plug, he was obedient, never went to Greece without our consent (sorry Sergio had to have a dig but we still love you), nor to Japan for that matter, mind you he wasn't as talented but did his job and evolved with us as technology did.
Another obvious conclusion was that unfortunately Felix Fritz music died with it, at least with the limitations which drum machines offered at the time, there was no way we could make the same type of music we did before. Paulo then had a fantastic idea. At the time we were really enjoying the California Soul of the late 60's Love and Arthur Lee, also Nicky Drake from England and Paulo had an eternal question: " If all bands have at least one acoustic track that is absolutely amazing why don't they make all tracks like that?" I think the nearest a band has done in that respect was Led Zeppelin's 3rd Album, almost an entire album with acoustic tracks but why a Rock band couldn't just do the songs that we loved and not just one or two tracks, unless of course it was a folk band, but that's not exactly the same thing. So he came up with the opposite approach to Felix Fritz, if Felix Fritz made Brazilian music mixed with Rock using Rock instruments we were going to now make Rock music using acoustic Brazilian instruments typical of samba and other Brazilian rhythms and so we did using Viola Caipira, a 10 string guitar, Cavaquinho, a Brazilian ukulele and bandolim, a Brazilian mandolin, among others.

Now how to call this new born child? As a joke to Virgin Record's answer to hiring us, we called it Dancyn' Days out of one of Led Zeppelin's songs, which is not a dance track at all.

Dancyn' Days songs couldn't be more different than Felix Fritz, Using a drum machine, no keyboards and loads of acoustic string instruments we sounded very different indeed. This band marks the beginning of my career as a do it all person, first a roadie, then keyboard player and now Bass player of all things, unlike Paulo I had never studied the guitar and had to get a crash course on Bass, the enormous folk acoustic bass as you can see in the picture was bigger than me and my fingers were sore. I don't think I would be able to play anything else rather than our songs painstakingly memorized, I was having panic attacks to think I would have to gig one day playing bass. Would I ever be able to get used to it, and yet they never thought of replacing me, amazing, that's what we were like.

Amongst Dancyn' Days songs there were Rough, Song for a Married Girl, Up in Smoke, Islands, the only song I've ever written or started from scratch on the bass, Dreams and Lies and Victoria.
With Dancyn' Days we started using false names that were more English sounding, except Brent who didn't need it but actually started being called by his nickname "Play". Our Press releases were also getting better thanks to the advent of early Mac Home computers, for which Brent was an avid user.



We had great fun as Dancyn' Days but we never got to play any gigs or do any sort of promotion except sending demos to record companies as our archenemy, The British Immigration, was about to strike again, this time on all of us, except Brent who was British, thanks to our elected new President in Brazil Mr Collor...

...To be continued
Pictures: 1 - Brent Hieatt, 2,3 and 4 - Unknown

Tuesday 12 April 2011

Top 5's

As my autism goes I love to make lists and my favourite kind of list is top 5's just like the bloke in Hi Fidelity! These are mine Loosh's singer it does not represent the taste of the whole band, now show us yours! Perhaps you could give us your top 5 Loosh songs?
    Artists

  • Nick Drake

  • Alzo Forte

  • Joe and Bing

  • David Bowie

  • Burt Bacharach

  • Groups


  • Led Zeppelin

  • Love

  • Pink Floyd

  • R.E.M.

  • The Police

  • Songs


  • Fruit Tree - Nick Drake

  • Rain Song - Led Zeppelin

  • Eat Yourself - Goldfrapp

  • Smells like Teen Spirit - Nirvana

  • Some People - Alzo


    1. Albums



      1. Five leaves left - Nick Drake

      2. Led Zeppelin III

      3. Forever Changes - Love

      4. Best of Friends - Joe and Bing

      5. Looking for you - Alzo

      Singers



      1. Eddie Vedder - Pearl Jam

      2. Morrissey

      3. Elizabeth Frazer - Cocteau Twins

      4. Alison Goldfrapp

      5. Natalie Merchant - 10.000 Maniacs

      Soundtracks



      1. Rumble Fish - Stewart Copeland

      2. Get Carter - Roy Budd

      3. Ascenseur pour l'échafaud - Miles Davies

      4. The Thomas Crown Affair - Michel Legrand

      5. Midnight Cowboy - John Barry

      Films



      1. Once upon a time in America - Sergio Leone

      2. Rumble Fish - Francis Ford Coppola

      3. Ascenseur pour l'échafaud - Louis Malle

      4. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy - Peter Jackson

      5. Star Wars Trilogies - George Lucas

      TV Series



      1. 24

      2. Mad Men

      3. Downton Abbey

      4. Lark Rise to Candleford

      5. Jeeves and Wooster

      Animation



      1. Toy Story Trilogy

      2. Up

      3. The Corpse Bride

      4. The Simpsons

      5. Futurama

      Actors



      1. Kevin Spacey

      2. Jeffrey Rush

      3. Ralph Fiennes

      4. Robert de Niro

      5. Al Pacino

      Actresses



      1. Jodie Foster

      2. Meryl Streep

      3. Helen Hunt

      4. Judy Dench

      5. Helen Mirren

      Tuesday 16 November 2010

      Back to work

      I just wanted to thank everybody who prayed for our Dad, he is back home after 5 weeks in hospital and emotional of all the support everybody showed from all around the world.

      We are now back to working on some new songs, Horses, the first song we record with my own lyrics, which I wrote when I read "Bury my heart at wounded knee" many years ago and brings back the Indian theme. It also counts with the collaboration of Pity Gomes singing as a backing vocal a sacred chant to evoke light from a Brazilian Ayuaska shamanic ritual.

      We are also working on a cover from a very cult obscure 60's/70's artist that I love, that I hope you will enjoy, as well as a song for autism charity with lyrics I wrote based on the Option Process, the philosophy behind the Son-Rise Program, the Program I have been homeschooling my autistic son for the last 5 years with great success.

      Watch this space!

      For more info on the Son-Rise Program visit http://www.son-rise.org

      Tuesday 12 October 2010

      For Max

      Max, as we call my Dad, has always believed in us. He not only bought all our instruments, he went to all the gigs he could go to, he listens to our music, he loves our music.
      Max came from a very poor background, he lost his Mom at 6 years old and was abandoned by his Father at the age of 11 to fend for himself. His first job was to sell bananas in the streets of Duque de Caxias, our home town in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro. He was helped by a mechanic who felt sorry for him, for even though he was 11 he looked like he was about 7 or 8 because of malnutrition. The guy let him stay at his Garage and so he learnt everything about cars, one of his biggest passions, after Flamengo, one of the biggest Brazilian Football teams. He played football very well and it was playing alongside my uncle that he met my Mum at the tender age of 16, she was only 13. At first she didn't want anything to do with him as she wanted to be an artist and a singer but as persistant as he was he kept saying he was one day going to marry her until she fell for his Italian looking charm. My Dad was always a fighter, he was determined to give my Brother and I everything he never had as a child and so he did, not just to us but to all our friends. Everybody who knows him knows his joy is to give, for nothing in return.

      Friends who shared the stage with us know we would always gather at our place for eating and drinking at any time of day or night. He famously bought a bakery display of sweets with 20 containers which decorated our kitchen and was always full. All friends loved to come in and just open the containers satisfying a hidden childhood dream in everyone, eating as many as you wanted.

      After working for nearly 50 years he retired and enjoyed some time off with us in Europe when he received a letter from the Brazilian Government that his pension would be cut because there was fraud in the department that issued it. He has been fighting for the last three years to prove his innocence and have his deserved pension back and in the meantime to survive he sells with my Mum sugar cane juice and pastries at a street market, they work really hard and do not have much but never lost their giving personality, they find joy in giving.



      I don't believe my Dad ever thought or desired that we were commercially successful, I think in his mind he would provide for us forever, that's what he would have wanted, he is ashamed of taking anything from us but I am absolutely certain he would love for our music to be recognized, to be listened to, for every body's music to be listened to. You could always see him with tears in his eyes when he saw some story of musicians or artists who never made it in life but suddenly got a later break or something of the sort. Perhaps his own story would have made him sensitive to the hardships of life.

      As Max is recovering in hospital we would like to play a song we made for him called Sugar Cane, just like he is, so sweet!


      Sugar Cane (Willesden Green) by Loosh

      Come back to us safe and sound Max, we love you!

      Paulo, Simone and Tayo (sign your name below) Your children on children's day

      Tuesday 7 September 2010

      The 7 luckiest moments in our history in no particular order

      After the 13 unluckiest moments now the 7 luckiest ones, not that we had more unlucky ones but just to keep in with the tradition of the numbers, after all we love the number 7!

      1 - It has to be to start with the day Tayo came to visit us in our flat in Niteroi and the whole musical adventure started

      2 - Our first Gig, seeing all the familiar and unfamiliar faces watching us, listening to our songs and applauding our work, a very unforgettable feeling

      3 - When our song "Primeira Pessoa" was played for the first time in a mainstream radio from Rio without our knowledge and caught unexpected on the car radio

      4 - The rehearsal when the boys had the idea of making a mixture of Brazilian and Indie, the style that still remains with us today

      5 - Our Gig at "Circo Voador" in Rio opening for a signed bigger band, Picassos Falsos, which counted with 1.500 people. Our songs were very well received

      6 - Our Gig at the Fulham Greyhound in London, a really cult place at the time, also a great reception

      7 - Rough Trade Records, one of our favourites having an interest in us, even if their financial difficulties at the time didn't allow for us to be signed, it was the recognition that we were good (and weird) enough for them that was priceless

      Sunday 29 August 2010

      The 13 Most Unlucky Moments in our History in no particular order

      1 – We did an awful lot of work to promote a 3 day gig for 6 new bands at the UFF Student Union in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro, and the day we played it rained cats and dogs, the streets were flooded and 3 people showed up for the gig. Still it was great to share the stage with our friends from Eterno Grito.

      2 – When leaving the Robin Hood Pub, in Rio de Janeiro, after a gig, under loads of rain, the road was slippery and the guys crashed their car. They had to wait for hours for help and ended up having to walk miles soaking wet but thankfully no one was seriously hurt!

      3 – After three successful gigs at the Rock Garden in London Paulo decided to go see the Manager to request a weekend date. The Manager answered he was sorry but the weekend was for Indie music only. Paulo said that we were Indie to which the Manager replied: "Yeah right, you and Carmen Miranda!"

      4 – We decided to have a drink after our rehearsal in Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro. When we came back we found someone had broken into our car. We could actually see the thieves as they run away carrying our keyboards. All the sounds I used for the songs were programmed by myself so none of the songs sounded the same again.
      5 – We went on stage at a piano bar in Rio and there were 2 people for an audience, not counting the waiters of course. Tayo was drunk and insisted on playing the piano. Paulo just wanted the set to end. Incredibly enough one of the two people we had never seen before. Years later this person bumped into Brent in the street and mentioned he really enjoyed the gig!

      6 – After finishing the sound check for a gig in Rio, Paulo popped out for a drink and found Herbert Viana in the queue at the venue ticket box set. He was a famous Brazilian front man to a Brazilian band called Paralamas do Sucesso who were also embarking in the same Brazilian rock style we were at the time and it would be a great promotion for us if a more famous musician enjoyed our work. Paulo spent the whole night looking for him amongst the faces in the public but he didn't think he was in.

      7 – We got on stage at a funk club in the suburbs of Rio. The place was packed but the crowd was motionless as soon as we started playing, as they realised we did not play “reggaeton”. I think out of a full club there were two people clapping at the end with the rest of the crowd eyeing them in anger, I feared for my life honestly!

      8 - Sergio got run over and broke his femur in 3 different places requiring several operations in 1988.

      9 - Rough Trade Records got interested in our work just before it went bankrupt in 1991.

      10 - We actually won a competition of best band at the Robin Hood Pub and a recording but the prize was never given out.

      11 - We got a review from a demo section on NME Magazine with a really grumpy cow whose only purpose was to put down unsigned bands in the best way she could. Thankfully some links to our tracks were also published along with the review and we got some fans who decided not to trust her and listened to the tracks.

      12 - While returning from a rehearsal in Rio Paulo and I got stuck in a tunnel during a shoot out between Police and robbers. The longest few minutes of my life. When they were gone we got up from the bottom of the car where we had been ducking down and checked out for any blood, thank God all still tucked in carefully into our veins!

      13 - We are still unsigned, but many people say they appreciate our music, now this bit is up to you to change, forward this blog to your friends and spread our songs, our music is our life, we would love to see it grow and see it loved.

      There's no luck, there's no chance everything turns out the way it was meant to be

      I think the Mill fans the creator when he throws his dice every night after midnight

      Friday 13 August 2010

      Happy 25th Anniversary!!!

      It's today!! Friday the 13th August 2010 our 25th anniversary.

      To celebrate we are launching this podcast with 7 lucky songs each one of them a remake Loosh style for the 7 different stages of our career. We are not going to charge you to download our tracks but would you consider donating $1, that's it, just one American Dollar to the Autism Treatment Center of America - Home of the Son-Rise Program?

      I have myself been running a Son-Rise Program for my autistic son for the last five years with amazing results. If you donate for our songs, as a present for us, just one dollar and invite all your friends to do the same we could together help the Autism Treatment Center of America to donate scholarships for more families like mine.

      Make Friday the 13th a lucky day for autism:

      http://www.autismtreatmentcenter.org/document.php?documentid=52&sectionid=7

      "The Autism Treatment Center of America™ is the worldwide teaching center for The Son-Rise Program® , a powerful, effective and totally unique treatment for children and adults challenged by Autism, Autism Spectrum Disorders, Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD), Asperger's Syndrome , and other developmental difficulties. Our team of committed teachers combines Autism strategies, support and education that combines over 100 years of “real life” experience working with children using The Son-Rise Program®. Over the last 27 years we have worked with more than 22,000 parents and professionals from around the world teaching them a system of treatment and education. We do not put limits on the possibilities for your child. We can help you to bring your child as far across the bridge from Autism to recovery as possible. For some, this means complete recovery. For others, this means improvements in their child's development, human connection, communication, skill acquisition and quality of life far beyond what most would have ever predicted."Autism Treatment Center of America
      2080 S. Undermountain Road Sheffield MA
      01257413-2292100



      1 - Dreams and Lies is a Loosh song
      2 - Seedless Grapes in the Morning is an original recording by Seven Miles High
      3 - Victoria She Was is a remake Forro (North Eastern Brazilian) style representing Dancyn Days
      4 - King's Road to Rio is a remake of Rio Sightseeing representing Felix Fritz
      5 - Tres Mulheres is sang in Portuguese and is representing Kaddish
      6 - Mess is a remake of Cleopatra Morreu and is representing Kafka
      7 - Procissao is sang in Portuguese and is representing Colonia Penal

      Thank you so much for celebrating our anniversary by listening to our tracks and helping a great cause. Enjoy the tracks!

      Luz Taylor