1. Greetings! “October Dawn” is your second album, but as I said, it’s the first album I heard from your. Could you tell the main differences between the releases? I think you’re a group full of ideas so I expect that the releases are different, maybe not only musically, but even conceptually, lyrically, etc… Do you feel that “October Dawn” is a more mature album?

October Dawn is without any doubt a special album , but like anything that comes to life it had to come from somewhere and that´s where Isohyet comes into the picture, just for the simple fact that the new album couldn´t be what it is without its genesis…Isohyet! I mean it is a clear evolution of our sound but the general sound idea was born by touring our first album, Isohyet is an album full of special atmosphere and ambience but we noticed in terms of a life performance it was a much more contemplative show that an headbanging show…so inspired by our gigs we wanted to do something a lot rawer than what we had at the time but without losing our own identity. General and simple idea: I think October Dawn was born to satisfy our metal egos…;o)

2. Your music is not only about one musical genre, but we can find many touches from metal and even non-metal genres. Are there any things which connect all members (beyond passion to make the same)? I mean where you take the inspiration, if you have any special tricks how to compose songs etc. Maybe what kind of groups or artists inspired you during working on “October Dawn”?

We all had a very similar backround (specially me and César Teixeira who is one of my oldest friends), we all like metal but most of us have also classical training! Apart from that we don´t use any special tricks while composing…mainly we are very careful with how we want our music to sound...and in that aspect we tend to re-write our songs a lot , sometimes too much…lol.

3. Do you have any specific image or aim what you want to gain during your musical career? I don’t think any mainstream awards, because metal is not a right genre for wider audience. But what is the biggest pleasure for you after years of hard work? Satisfied listeners, good concerts, …?

I think the biggest pleasure for a musician is to be respected and recognised as something unique and special, I´m not saying that we are because we have a long way to achieve something “real”, but yes my biggest goal is that one day people could recognise our sound somehow and to say….”hey this is Oblique Rain”!!!


4. How about the cooperation between members inside OBLIQUE RAIN? Are you self-critical? Do you want to make your entire maximum or are you working without stress? Is there a leader?

We are a very democratic band ,we like to give our maximum and to work without stress at the same time…lol We are just very good friends , fans of each others work and when that happens it makes the work a real pleasure.
About the leader question, I´ll answer saying that I consider every member a very important element of Oblique Rain, but I´ll go even further saying that César is the head of the band, André, Guilherme and Marcelo are the arms, legs and body and I am the heart…that´s how I see it anyway!

5. Let’s talk about “October Dawn” once again. Beyond lot of emotions in your music I also noticed that your instrumental skill is really high. But this could make problems if one wants to show what’s in him (if you know what I exactly mean). Instrumental masturbations can kill the atmosphere and emotions inside the music. It’s hard to combine “small artist” in you and passion to make accessible music with all the emotions, moods etc.?

Honestly, I never seen our music as very complicated, I think that goes back to the question about who are our main influences…. A lot of people say we sound like this or sound like that, but I always saw our sound as a reminiscence of the 70´s prog sound more than the modern prog music, wich means we like to follow the lines of sound experiment, harmony extremes more than just pure instrumental masturbation as you say…lol.

6. I found in every track moment which surprised me; it’s like a dream when in the middle of the track entered another group and plays different music. Once is a Porcupine Tree, next time Opeth or Meshuggah. So you’re really variable. What do you think about this comparison, or have you a different opinion?

Like I said before many people think of us as followers of the modern prog music, I won´t denie that we listen to those bands and enjoy a lot of what they do, but my main influence is and probably will always be bands like Pink Floyd, Yes, Black Sabath or Deep Purple among others from that era… and I think most of the my bands mates feel the same way! Now bands like Opeth, Porcupine Tree or Meshuggah were probably influenced by those monsters of prog music too, there´s so much you can learn from them still and you can´t denie what they achieved that it is a very limiting thing to compare us just to those three bands you said before. We love Devin Townsend´s work too by the day….;o).


7. We’re at the start of 2010 so how about you and your plans? Will be some tour regarding new album? Any more special plans?

Right now we are making our very first video clip that hopefully will show in your country too , after we´ll be touring our new album as much as we can and also start composing the next one… but that´s a subject for another conversation, you´ll be earing from us…;o).

8. Thanks a lot for the interview. Your future will be amazing so keep your music interesting! If you have anything to add, here’s your space. All the best!

I just want to thank you for the interview and… Doufám, že můžeme mít možnost zahrát si ve vaší krásné zemi, protože myslím, že Praha je jedno z nejkrásnějších měst na světě!

I really hope that was correct…;o)

Brzy se uvidíme,

Flávio