Holger

No matter whether you're into rock, folk, country, rap or world music, if you were born in western Sao Paulo, you're likely bonded to others in the area through the great love for drinking, and thus share a common appreciation for traditional bars. And if you like all of these, then you're probably from a five-piece band called Holger that's breaking the Big in Brazil barrier. The group chose Valadares, a bar in Lapa famous for its Rocky Mountain oysters appetizer, to talk about its new No Brakes EP, releasing on Sept. 22 on Sao Paulo label Research Club, plus a Canadian tour opening for Matt and Kim starting this month. Not a bad way to segue into a discussion about the band's rising star ever since they played South By Southwest earlier this year.


      “It all started with wine and the That’s All Folks sessions in 2007,” explained Marcelo Pata, the shortest and most charming member of the band. The project lured people out to create music while getting inebriated, leading to recording sessions at such unexpected locales as playgrounds. "The music mostly sucked, but there were some good, rough songs,” said Pata. Holger was born.


      While recording on their days off ("We all had university, jobs and girlfriends, so it took us some weekends to record the whole thing,” said Sverner), Holger merged its folk and country strengths with noisy, '90s-influenced guitar rock. It was a formula that gave rise to their debut The Green Valley (Research Club) EP, released a year later.



      It was an instant hit in the small niche market that is the alternative music scene in Brazil. While highly praised, the boys didn’t quite get why people were comparing them to bands like Pavement and Wilco, and categorizing them into genres like neo-folk and country. “[Those influences are] there, of course, but there are also lots of other stuff, from Dirty Projectors to Vampire Weekend. We all have very different tastes and personalities and little unanimity," said Sverner.


      But although what he describes is evident when you see them on stage, it’s more obvious on No Brakes. The new songs are fresher, more dynamic and danceable. They’re almost as if the band was trying to organize their various influences and personalities into a collective sound. On the eponymous single, there's a world-music influence in the drums, which make a bed for the guitars and festival-ready vocals. The single will feature four remixes from Ear Power, Contra Fluxo, Projeto Manada and Kurc.


       “The newer songs feature synths and are much less romance-driven than the old ones,” said Pata, who was responsible for those mushy songs in the first EP.


      The songs remain sung in English, unusual for most Brazilian bands but a choice that made sense for Holger. "It was just a way to make our songs better, more pop,” Bernardo Rolla said.


      To see Holger live is to witness an exercise in versatility—much like at a Trail of Dead show. During a gig, at least four Holger members will swap instruments (guitars, bass, banjo and cavaquinho, the Brazilian ukulele). They also take turns singing solo. “We vote and argue to see who is going to do what in which song,” said Rolla.


      So far, it’s working. The band played this year’s SXSW, sharing the stage with Max Tundra and Solid Gold. "We saw all these bands we really liked and partied a lot!” said Pata. Because of their amicable spirits, doors opened. They became friends with Matt and Kim after playing with the band in Brazil and landed a support spot at Matt and Kim’s Pop Montreal gig.


      A few beers later, it’s clear why they party so much, and together. “Some of us were raised together, and some of us met two or three years ago,” said Pata. They’re each other’s best friends, something that manifests as incessant teasing, from the I-suspect-you’re-gay jokes to the your-soccer-team-sucks variety.


      We were sitting at the bar on a Wednesday, an official soccer day in Brazil. You can imagine the atmosphere—beer, goals and bull testicles. Unfortunately, Valadares ran out of the latter beauties and the guys went for the typical bar food: torresmo (fried pork skin) with spiced eggs and farofa (toasted manioc or corn flour). Later, when the alcohol got everybody feeling brave, they said it was time for the Espanhola.


      Espanhola is a drink made with wine, condensed milk, peaches and pineapple; basically, items that should never go together but tasted fine. It’s an apt description of Holger's extensive list of influences: really odd to think of together, but boy, did it actually taste good.



Raphael Caffarena is one-half of IM // UR, a blog that’s taking the interwebs by storm. Check it out!