Marcos Cesar

Urban Tales

URBAN TALES is a new band from Portugal. Marcos Cesar (vocals) is talking about the band, their debut album and the difficulties a band from his country is facing. Interview by Harry P.

By Elina Papadoyianni

• July 19, 2007

Hola Marcos! After the review of your demo and just a few weeks until the release of your first album, I'd like to ask you a few questions. But first of all, can you give us a short bio of the band and the background of each member, for the people that hear the name URBAN TALES for the first time?

Well URBAN TALES were born in 2005, when I decided to create my own band. I invited several musicians and then we started to create the music for the demo. Our intention for the demo was to be heard by labels and possibly manage a contract... The band suffered several drastic changes. The formation of URBAN TALES at this moment is: Marcos Cesar, Tiago Borges, Ricardo Reis and Pedro Barradas. In our live shows we have the same members as in the demo: Van Dave (SHADOWSPHERE and TEARFUL) in keys, Claúdia Dias in female vocals and Nuno Cintrão in guitars

Which bands are your influences as a band and yours as a vocalist? As far as I'm concerned, I found some reference points from ANATHEMA, PARADISE LOST and KATATONIA...

Yes, in my case I really love all the bands that you mentioned, but I would say my influences are more like RED, ENTWINE and LEGIAO URBAN (already extinct), among others... As a band, now, it's hard to say, 'cause we really have different tastes...

How would you describe your music?

I really don't know (laughing), but in a simple description; maybe Metal Rock music.... Today we have so many labels in music... so many stereotypes... Will you decide for us please...??

Let's just say that you have elements of Metal, Rock and Gothic, ok?

Ok. That's fine with me!

What were the reactions from your demo?

The reactions were better than we ever imagined them to be... We were the revelation band of 2006 for several medias and our demo got airplay in many radio stations around the world (Brazil, USA, UK, Spain, etc). The demo had great reviews (8/10 was the lowest number). Our shows till now were truly packed so I guess the reactions were perfect... But I hope it doesn't stop here...We want more! (Laughs)

After that great impact that your demo had, what are your expectations from your first album?

I don't really know my friend, but if you ask me what I am thinking of this upcoming album, I would say that it rocks... I'm totally satisfied with it... I think that since it is the first album of our band and it has already songs such as In Purity, Until I Died, You'll Never Know, The Rise, or even the new ones Prison Inside, Stronger, Farewell and Fade Away it is like a dream come true ... Really, I think you'll love it... At least I hope... (Laughs)

Where did the recordings of the album take place and when is it going to be released?

In several places. We had the support of the biggest audio school in Portugal called ETIC and they offered us their studios where we recorded the drums with fantastic equipment... The rest we did in Neon Studios of Bruno Fingers and the studios of Ricardo Gonçalves, both the producers of the album...

What kind of things influence you in order to write your lyrics?

The basic day by day, in which we can grab many dramas to write several songs... (Laughs)... I'm not too much of a philosopher in my songs... I really want that the person that listens to our songs understands them and completely gets the message. That's the most important thing for me... So, for example, In Purity talks about an old band I had, that we were all the time fighting and getting nowhere cause of our attitudes. Actually we were pretty good for the time, but we ended it... Pity...

What is the status of the Metal / Gothic scene in Portugal? Is it easy for the bands there to make a career outside the country borders?

Well, I can tell you this... In Portugal we see every day the birth of a new band and, in my opinion, we have more quality now that we had the last decade... Now the big problem is that we are in Portugal. We have no strength in the market to compete with other enterprises or bands that are in the center of Europe. One example, Portugal is always the worst place for bands to tour cause of the geographic zone. So, for an international band to come to Portugal it has to play in Spain first or else it becomes too difficult, which makes it difficult for promoters also to book Portuguese bands - cause of zone - another pain in the ass...

How hard is it for a musician to have a full time job and at the same time be in a band?

It's pretty hard in fact...But actually that's our dream, we really want to make a career. Let's see what the future holds for us...

And talking about the future, what are your plans?

To have the necessary budget in order to record the second album and to tour all around the world would be perfect for me. At this time we really want to play several live shows, let's hope that promoters will bet on us.

Which band would you like to play with?

Oh, so many... Don't really know... Maybe ...There are so many (Laughs). But lets say some of them: ENTWINE, Old DEAD TREE, RED, ANATHEMA, sooo many...

Marcos, thank you very much for the interview. The last words are yours...

Thank you Metal Temple and also thank you for the international help you all are giving to UT and hope to see you soon in Greece in a live show Harry ... If you want to listen to our music and learn more about the band you can visit Urban Poker Tales - Histórias das linhas da frente do casino e poker online quartos and Urban Tales on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads

Share on Facebook

Share via Email