Pelvs

First of all, Pelvs wasn’t planned.

Four people that did not know each other but were listening to the same kind of music, got together. Gustavo Seabra, Dodô, VRS Marcos and Rafael Genu. The first 3 had just ended a band that sounded like brazilian pop music and a bit space-new-age called Verve (a brazilian one, in the begining of the 1990’s, before Mr. Ashcroft’s outfit). They left Verve because they hated rehearshing but loved recording music. Just playing and recording… However, not a single demo tape was released officially.

In the begining of the 90’s in Brazil, many alternative bands began selling their demo tapes. So, Pelvs decided to do the same. In their first official demo tape, they adopted a title that was kept for years: Peter Greenaway’s Surf. The second demo, with 21 four-track-home-recorded songs, came out months after the first one and was titled Peter Greenaway’s Surf - Summer Version. Meanwhile, there were at least another 2 versions: one that went to Rock It! - a brazilian independent label distributed by EMI; and others that were sent abroad. The version that ended at Rock It’s postal box, gave Pelvs a contract for their 1st album: Peter Greenaway’s Surf, released on vinyl and CD (Rock It! / 1993). The album was recorded in one month, at Gustavo’s bedroom, using a Tascam 8 track home studio and chrome cassete tapes as their mastering tapes. It costed R$70 (brazilian currency, app. US$30 today) to record.

As opposite to the albuns’ titles, Pelvs’ sound changed a lot in this short period, from 92 to 94. The tapes and the album reflected the semi-schizofrenic noise that the band was listening to at that time. After that, a mellower sound with slow-time melodies raised, and the band began emulating sounds that were there before but never surfaced, such as Lloyd Cole’s and Lou Reed’s.

In 1995, guitarist VRS Marcos left Pelvs to became partner at midsummer madness records and to record his solo project, Aerowillys. With Marcos and another old friend of Pelvs’, Letier, midsummer madness started releasing CDs. Inside the band, Marcos’ leaving and the possibility of recording a new album made them put out another demo-tape: Bric a brac between aspirins. With new songs and some re-arrangements to old ones, Bric a Brac sent Pelvs back to studio, but this time it was their own studio: Freezer.

Gustavo and Dodô built Estúdio Freezer. There, PELVs recorded their 2nd album, Members to Sunna (midsummer madness, 1997), produced by themselves and sounding very different from the first one. Very mellow, very sweet and slow. At the same time, in the same studio, they helped another midsummer madness band record its debut: The Cigarettes. These records were released together in 1997.

Another 4 years passed, and, like the World Cup, there was Pelvs with another record: Peninsula (midsummer madness, 2001). The songs have grown-up. Blending guitar textures, trumpet and keyboard melodies, different voice tones, all very sophisticated and different to the kind of production that people and local press expected from an indie band. For hardcore fans, noisy songs reminded Peter Greenaway’s Surf.

But this time, Peninsula was neither confusing / noisy nor complicated / mellow. It was a perfect blend. They were using their own studio not as an end but as a way to perfect their sound. Another 2 members in the band helped a lot: guitarist Gordinho and trumpetist Pedro Alcoforado, and a new drummer, Ricardo Mito. Dodô left because he felt he “was too old for a rock band”. Besides that, Dodô still composes some songs on this album and sings on “Acid A.L.”. Another important guest on Peninsula is Beatriz Lamego (from Stellar), singing “Ricardo”.

Peninsula went blank on brazilian press, that still think of Pelvs as an indie band singing in english... Very few journos understood it, but the ones who did, still list it as one of the greatest independent albuns released in Brazil.

Alexandre Matias, for Frente magazine, listed Peninsula as one of the top 20 independent brazilian records of all time. At Correio Braziliense newspaper, writer Carlos Marcelo wrote that Peninsula “was close to perfection”. Even our popstar journalist, Lúcio Ribeiro, gave Pelvs a few lines at Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper to say that “the hot thing to listen to in Brazil was the well-done rock’n’roll from Pelvs“. Well, he nearly got it…

Peninsula helped Pelvs travelling in Brazil. For the first time they went to the northeast to support Teenage Fanclub’s gig in Recife; they also travelled south as a support band to Luna’s 3 shows brazilian tour.

But this time, they missed the 4-year-period and the new record came out only in 2006. Songs and production on Anotherspot, are, as usual, on the band’s own, except that this time they had the help from Chico Donghia, who worked with Tim Maia. Pelvs now is a spetet: new guitarists Daniel Develly and Clínio Jr, and pianist André Saddy.

Amongst the mud that people call brazilian indie rock, it’s astonishing that a band formed almost 15 years ago still do records with personality. PELVs is different from their 90’s-contemporaries because the others are dead. And Pelvs is different from today’s bands not only because of its quality but especially because it’s impossible to imagine that any of these today’s bands can develop a carrer. May be it’s because the newcomers want to be “big”, the next Cansei de Ser Sexy, what is absolutely normal to all newcomers. Pelvs, you can bet your coins on that, is far from this, they are in it for their music. And that is such a big thing to bet in.

Anotherspot at press:
(…) Pelvs has 14 years of history. This is a compliment: they are still independent after all this time – and, this is their best work so far. (…) they use 4 guitars. They blend an unique and refined sound, building moods more than music, what can queue Pelvs behind post-rock bands (such as Sigur Ròs and Explosions in the Sky) without losing its roots (My Bloody Valentine and Lloyd Cole, quoted at “Tupiguarani”, that, besides the title, is sung in english, as all of Pelvs’ songs).
by Arthur Dapieve - nominimo.com.br

Top 5 of 2006 by GORDURAMA

4 out of 5 stars on Rolling Stone mag, brazilian edition

Pelvs’ MySpace:
http://www.myspace.com/pelvsmusic

videoclips:
Backdoor - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76Zui0NjKSQ
Chica - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4bHTvUYJrM

written by Bruno Notre Dame Lewicki, freely adapted to english by mm.
foto principal por Cadu Pilotto
foto azul Gustavo por Eugênio Vieira

ps.: On the right, you have complete discography from Pelvs. Some records that are still available to buy, such as Anotherspot and Peninsula, don’t have all their songs listed for streaming or download. Please, go to our AUDIO SHOP and buy the record if you like what you’re listening to.