Brazil 2012 tour shirt.
Part of what we like do with Mass Movement involves spreading madness and insanity far and wide, and in particular the insanity that often walks hand in hand with thrash and crossover. That’s the reason we’ve always had a soft spot for Amsterdam based The Shining, and just like us, they like spreading madness everywhere they go. Recently, they were invited to play a few shows in Brazil and on the eve of the release of their new record, bass player Rogier hooked us up with the following amazing tour report…
The Shining Brazil tour 2012
About a year ago our good friends from Waking the Dead (RIP) returned from a tour they did in Brazil. Eager to hear about their experiences over there we were quickly told all the stories about the great people, the awesome shows and the supposedly very tasty Acai! Prior to hearing their stories, the experiences of bands like Vitamin X, Bambix, Fubar and other awesome Dutch bands had made a Brazilian tour a top priority for The Shining. Fortunately enough, we already had made a bunch of solid contacts over there that we’d made during the last couple of years. We had a label called Rock Mutantos Discos, operated by the Almighty Juberto (more about him later) release our last 7inch in Brazil and, of course, our beloved Rups moved to Brasil after marrying Thelma the Queen of the Caipirinha and we’d also played some shows with the awesome Violator in Holland, who strongly recommended that we visit. So, the time seemed right to go to Brazil and indeed; the time was right!
Juberto of Rock Mutantos offered to book the tour which was very welcome, because although we knew some people over there it would be way easier to have someone who could speak Portuguese and who knew the bookers personally to book the tour. After a lot of emails we decided to tour from the 1st till the 12th of November 2012. We’d play 7 shows. In Brazil there seems to be no such thing as a mid-week show so we’d just play the weekends and have a little holiday on the days off. Everyone was stoked, so the tickets were booked somewhere around last summer, the big wait commenced. The last few weeks prior to the tour, our minds were more occupied with the coming event than the stupid jobs, schools and shitty weather we have to endure at home. Another great thing about the tour was that our beloved road dog Teun would be waiting for us in Sao Paolo on our arrival, as he was already traveling South America!
After weeks of preparation we were ready to go. We designed a tour-shirt and compiled a Discography CDR that we could sell on tour as a cheap alternative to our records. Juberto printed the CDR’s and the shirts in Brazil so we wouldn’t have to take them with us on the plane, thus avoiding possible trouble with Brazilian customs. So, with everything packed, our last records stuffed in with our guitars and our socks, everything and everyone was ready!
Shining at Schiphol airport
Tuesday October 30th: Traveling
The flight leaves at 6 in the morning. Yes!. We get together at Rogier’s pad for coffee, beer and cigarettes and wait for a cab to take us to the airport. The cab doesn’t arrive when it’s supposed to, so we order another one and after another half hour we stuff ourselves in the cab with two flight cases on our laps, very excited that our adventure is finally gonna start! Little did we know at that point that we would have a lot of drives like that, stuffed in cars. We arrive at Schiphol, wait around for a while and check in our luggage. After we pass customs we find a bar and do what we usually do. Have a few modest drinks…Hey, it was 5 in the morning…
Around 15 hours later we arrive in Sao Paolo, where we have no problems whatsoever entering the country. After we get past customs Teun was waiting with some very welcome, cold beers. We get our first experience of the tropical heat and are really happy we got to Brazil safe and sound! After a few beers on the street it’ss time to catch our flight to Brasilia where we’ll meet Juberto and the other folks who’ll put us up for the next couple of days. When we arrive, Juberto is there together with Barbosa of PPC to pick us up and bring us to Picaru. Man, these people are so nice right from the start. Everybody is really happy to have us there and we prepare for two weeks of mayhem with Brazil’s finest!
Wednesday October 30th: Hanging out.
Our first day proper in Brazil is a day off. As I said before, there’s no such thing as mid-week show in Brazil so we just hang out and get the opportunity to get to know our hosts a little better. Picaro and his girlfriend Marianna are absolutely cool with us hanging out at their place, although Marianna warns us not to make a mess because if we do, she’ll have to kick our collective asses. Scared shitless, we clean up after ourselves, whcih we would have done anyway without the threats…We also get a crash course in the fabrication of the Caipirinha. A fine Brazilian tradition that involves Cachaca, lime, sugar and crushed ice. Reluctantly, our hosts give the gringo Caipirinha a try and decide it still needs some work, but that their intentions were good and it was worth finishing. Another highlight of our first day was watching the Ratos de Porao documentary. Absolutely hilarious and worth every penny!
Gig at Brasilia Cult
Thursday November 1st: Brasilia Cult 22 with DFC & Os Cabuleduro
First gig! Although usually there’s no gigs on weekdays, we were able to get one this Thursday because on Friday there was a national holiday. Lucky us! The whole day is spent hanging out with Juberto, Picaro, Barbosa, Lauro and Helio. Having to be at the club around 22.00 pm gave us a lot of time to hang out and eat some real nice fruit and the second most important thing to come out of Brazil after the caipirinha…ACAI! When we get to the club we almost immediately spot Tulio who is the singer of DFC. We met him and his band 5 years earlier while playing in a squat near Milan, Italy together with Citizens Patrol and Raw Power. Everybody who was there still chuckles at some of the things that happened that night, so it was great to see them again and to have a few beers, joke around and catch up. The show was pretty good Os Cabuleduro played a nice set of 90ies sounding hardcore and DFC pummeled through a set just like we remembered them doing! Nice! Then it was time for the first ever Shining show on a different continent. If anyone told us this ten years ago, we’d be laughing our asses off. We thrashed through our set and we saw a lot of happy faces and young thrashers running around like crazy! Guess the people like it loud and fast in Brazil! Around 3 in the morning we left the place to go back to Picaro, but not before some late night dinner and and only Barbosa drove some of us past some shemale prostitutes who were waving their dicks around! Welcome to Brasil!
live at Goiania
Friday November 2nd: Goiania with Dead Zone, Tier Zero, Resonancia Morfica, & Entre os Dentes
Waking up to hang overs, we get ready and drive to Goiania for the second gig. Rogier, Robert and Juberto go first and Mark, Nils and Teun follow later with some more people from Brasilia. The scenes in Brasilia and Goiania are very close we’re told, and according to Juberto, we’re to expect mayhem since Goiania is the Thrash capital. Fair enough! Let’s go! We arrive early enough and Bruno the booker picks us up and takes us to the venue. There are holes in the ceiling and the landlord Alfonso is quite a character. We notice that on the floor, the guys have put down directions for the circle pit. Ha, ha that will save some time later on! Before the show, the bookers light off a bunch of fireworks and then it’s time to thrash! All the other bands are real good, especially Dead Zone and Tirei Zero who destroy the house!. When we start to play, Goiania lives up to its reputation for being the thrash capital of Brazil, and it one great, big mess! After half the ceiling came down because of stage dives and crowd surfing, the show is over and it’s time to hang out again with Goiania’s finest! This show was one of the most chaotic we’ve ever played! Man they were going for it! Awesome! It was going to be hard to top this show! One of our top 5 shows! After the show was over, some of us head into town with our new friends and rage on while the rest of us hang out with Julio and Lanni and just take it easy. What a great night! We hope to go back someday!
Saturday November 3rd Aguas Lindas. Show Canceled…
We get the bad news early. The promoters’ stepmother just died and he has to be with his family so he has to cancel the show…What can you do…Family before business always. You have our sympathies and better luck next time! Instead of a show we now have a day off…What do we do? Julio of PPC comes up with a simple yet effective solution. Pool party and Barbeque at his place. Jolly good show old chap! As we heat up the grill and start cooking with all our new friends from Goiania, we get more lessons in the correct fabrication of the caipirinha. Turns out we don’t use enough sugar…Well, let’s just chalk that one up to cultural difference…Man those cocktails were sweet. Marcio is the king of the grill and he cooked us some proper meat! Very good! The party starts around 3 in the afternoon and ends around 5 the next morning…What can we say? Samba dancing, Crrrrreeeeoooooo……Pool fight….Ratos de Porao Au Vivo…Jumping around with Rickenbackers much to the horror of everybody present except its shit-faced owner. Barbosa, as we are told, is never this drunk. Also Nils manages to crush his own foot while running to the pool…Guess parents are actually right when they tell you not to run near a swimming pool. Thanks a million to everybody who was there! What a great party! The next day Julio reckons that the water of the pool has changed, and is now a strange colour following the party. Hmmmm…
The Shining in Brasilia
Sunday November 4th: Brasilia Bar du Toinha with Dead Zone, Tropical Youth, Mosh Attaque & Jonetown Massacre
Well, another day, another hangover…So what else is new? We crawl out of Goiania and head back for Brasilia because Tulio of DFC/PPC invited us at his place for… Yes, you guessed it, a BBQ! We arrive at his parents house, which is an enormous villa and are treated to some epic burgers, more beer and original DFC Cachasa! Ha. ha! Most of us pass out in the corner within the hour. After some much needed sleep we’re back and continue to hang out with our friends and even manage to sing some Dutch birthday songs to Tulio’s mother who is celebrating her birthday that day. It goes with saying that Mama adores our musical talent as Papa appears behind the bar. Grinning. With a plastic bottle. No label. Oh, oh. Later on we head off to the venue where we meet all our friends again. The Violator guys dropped by to say hi and have a few drinks! All the bands play really solid shows, but again Dead Zone kill it! Their version of War Inside My Head (SxTx) is awesome! When we start playing, the place erupts in chaos within a few minutes. People over there really like their music fast and loud, and start moshing and carrying around most of band members on their shoulders! Picaro sings BGK’s ‘Arm’s Race’ with us! Great! After the show, we sell a whole bunch of records and guess what? All of them have to be autographed…For about twenty minutes, we feel like Metallica!
Having a day off at Rups’ place.
Monday November 5th till Thursday November 8th: Holiday.
It’s time for a well deserved holiday after 4 days of hard work… First we fly to Campo Grande, which is Juberto’s hometown. It’s also the city where our beloved Rups lives these days. Richard married his Brazilian girlfriend Thelma and emigrated. He is an old friend and the dude responsible for putting us in contact with Juberto. We’re all stoked to see his house and getting to hang out with him again. He picks us up from the airport and we drive to his place were Thelma awaits us with…You guessed it! BBQ and Cocktails! Yes! Even though it starts raining, it’s still a great afternoon. Thelma is really happy with the gifts we brought her, and in return she teaches us the secret of the Caipicerva. Another fine drink! The next few days are spent in Bonito. A beautiful area, which is only three hours away from Campo Grande. The 8 of us (the band, Teun, Juberto Picaro and Lauro) enjoy the surroundings, go swimming, cook diner (traditional vegan squatter pasta with red sauce!!) visit some caves and watch Toucans, Capybaras, Emu’s and all other sorts of animals who we can’t see in Holland. Well, not outside of a zoo anyways. On Thursday, we head back to Campo Grande and on Friday we have another lunch at Rups. We even manage to get some crocodile meat at the supermarket. Being a band with two cooks, we couldn’t resist buying it. It was okay I guess, but nothing special…
Insanity in Campo Grande (photo; Rob Rups)
Friday November 10th Campo Grande: with Cidade Cemeterio, Japuria Noise Project, George Romero and Repudio CG.
After hanging at Rups’s place we go to Holandes Voador (The Flying Dutchman), a local bar. According to Rups, us and Cidade Cemetrio (Poney Violator’s hc band) are some the first underground bands to ever play Campo Grande. Tonight there’re six bands on the bill. Everybody is really happy to have us there and once again, we feel very welcome! The show is great. We also play 2 Rupsband songs and a BGK cover Rups and Picaro sing ‘Arm’s Race’ together. After we finish, Cidade Cemeterio play and they rule! Awesome Poison Idea cover, even though their own material is really strong. After the show we get to a restaurant where we and most of the other bands enjoy either some food or a lot of beer. The party ends with us hanging around in Jubertos garden till the sun comes up…
Saturday November 11th: Sao Paolo: Hangar 110 with Armagedom, Executer, CFC, Deathracer and Cursed Slaughter
We get the plane to Sao Paulo in the afternoon. When we arrive at the airport we have to wait a while before Chris of Bandanos picks up our gear and takes it to Hangar 110. We arrive there a little later! Hangar 110 is one of the legendary places in Brasil. Some truly legendary bands have played there and the atmosphere is really, really good. We watch the other bands and Deathraiser and CFC rule! In the ‘backstage’ area we meet all the other bands and again, we’re welcomed with open arms. We even get a picture with Spaghetti, the old RDP drummer who was in the RDP movie. What a character! We play a fine show although we’re not used to big stages like this, the audience doesn’t seem to mind and create a huge circle pit. People are diving off the stage on surfboards and are really into it. We sell almost all of the CDR’s, so we must have done something right ha, ha! After we finish playing, Executer and Armagedom hot the stage. Classic Brazilian Thrash and Punk! What more could we ask for? Spaghetti is still an amazing drummer! After leaving the show, we meet a crippled dwarf who says he is the president of the Brazilian Sepultura fan club. What a guy! We finish the night with food while hanging out at Chris’s place.
In Sao Paolo
Sunday November 11th: Sao Paolo: Casa Mafalda with Projeto Trato
Last show of the tour…After some lunch and a market visit, where Chris (who looks like a young thrash Sly Stallone) buys a million eggs and bananas, we get to the next venue. The place we play is real small and they seem to like football. All is good when we find an Ajax shawl on the wall. We hang out a little and play the last gig. There are about 20 people there and that’s enough to make the place look sold out. The show is really fun and the people seem to really like it! This time Picaro and Juberto sing the BGK cover together! Great! After the show we head back to Chris’s place. Man, we were exhausted but totally satisfied! Mission accomplished!
Monday November 12th: Sao Paolo > Home
We have just half a day to see a little of the city. We go to the Galeria do Rock. A giant warehouse with only punk and metal stuff. We all bought some presents for home and the much-needed RDP shirts. After hanging around town a little, we make our way to the airport. Man, that subway is huge! Thanks a million to Chris for getting our gear there!
Shining saying goodbye to Sao Paolo with Armagedom and Spaghetti of RDP
The tour was a total blast! It seems the network of friends Heresy sang about 20-something years ago is still intact and growing. It was such a great experience to go to the other side of the world and meet all the amazing people who are just like us in some ways, but totally different in others. It makes you realize how much fun this DIY thing can be and how valuable it is to just make new friends and meet up with old ones! A million thanks, hugs, kisses and high fives go out to: Juberto (Thanks for everything man), Picaro (lekker voelen ouwe frikandellentuin), Lauro, Rups, Thelma, Tulio, Barbosa (Capitan! 20 years!), Julio & Lanni, Lucca, Marianna, Bruno & Hayra, Ana, Pam, Marcio & Izadora, Fernanda, Chris, Thiago, Marcelo, Grindpa, Cidade Cemetrio, DFC, Deathraiser, CFC, Executer, Armagedom, DeadZone, Tirei Zero, Entre os Dentes, Tropical Youth, Violator, Mosh Attaque, George Romero and everybody we forgot, sorry. Thanks for everything, it means the world to us!
The crazy crowd in Sao Paolo.
Los gringos cachaceiros salute all of you! Brazil rules!
