#126 SPECIAL EPISODE | Life is VIC NIC with Hugo Branco and Jorge Loura
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Kia ora, ni hao and hello. Welcome to the special episode of the Chewy Journal podcast.

I'm sitting with two Portuguese artists, Hugo and Jorge, in Aveiro to record this episode. We share the behind-the-scenes stories of the first ever unclassifiable music festival of Aveiro and introduce the difficult labelled artists who will perform on 26th and 27th November at the Vaga Festival in Portugal. Come and join us if you can.

Maybe a little bit close to the microphone if possible Like this? Yes, it'll be very cozy Very covid friendly

Cool. Can you please describe where did we record this podcast for my listeners who are not familiar with Aveiro and Vika Art House? Aveiro is a coastal town somewhere between Porto and Lisbon. We're at Vika Art House. It's currently a kind of creative ecosystem.

that includes a guest house, an art residency and a small art center. This was the former residency of my grandfather, Vasco Branco. He was a beloved and multifaceted artist from Aveiro. He was a painter, ceramist, movie maker and writer. And he left a big legacy in what concerns cultural heritage and artworks.

So we basically started this project in his former house in 2016

in order to save the house in one hand and also to conserve and promote this legacy. Nowadays we have these different projects running in the house. One of them is the Art Residency where we welcome artists from different parts of the world to develop their projects with us. Another one is the Guest House where we welcome guests from all over the world also. On Airbnb, yeah.

Yeah, it's basically the main financial motor of the project. We also run this small art center. We have a small auditorium in the basement that used to be a clandestine cinema in time of dictatorship. And where nowadays we organize different kind of events like small intimate concerts and literary events.

and movie projections. We work a lot with more exploratory music, experimental electronics or electro-acoustics, but we are pretty open to different genres. We like projects that have a soul, that have a unique vision about music and about life. So this is more than a genre, this is where we are. So what's the vision of the VicNic? Because VicNic belongs to this big art.

Picnic is our recently created label. We've launched our first record in May this year, 2021. And we've released so far around five records, some in digital, some in vinyl, some in CD. The vision was basically to create this circulatory device

that could help us promote some of the processes and results that are connected to the main project. Besides what we do in-house, we are connected to a lot of different projects, like in different areas such as community projects, international cooperation, promotion and conservation of experimental heritage, also cultural programming, not only in the house but in other events.

And there's a lot of interesting processes and results that we think would be interesting to give them a second life in some sense. So instead of just presenting an event or making a project, we are also publishing now records and other kind of mediums are somehow related to this project or to artists that are related to the house. Yeah, we got one of the artists belong to Vic Neig.

So would you mind introducing yourself and your band? Well, I'm Jorge. I'm a musician and I'm a tour story. I got involved with VIKNIK first because of the compilation, right? Me and Dugu started talking about other projects

And he was starting the label at the time and, well, apparently he needed some help. He could go so far alone. And we started working on that project and then by the time... I think it was one of the last concerts before the lockdown. Last year. Last year. We invited Trollstoy to play in the cinema, in the basement.

Well, we were just about to record our second album and we were going to self-release the record. Then I thought, well, maybe we could have some help on it. And that's how we got into the label more profoundly. And now I'm stuck here. I can't go anywhere. So what's your music genre? Can you define it?

Well, it's as easy to define as any music on any Vicknick release, so it's impossible to... Well, we don't like to say what it is, but kind of improvise. First and foremost, improvise music. It can sound like jazz, it can sound like rock, it can sound like heavy things. Above all, it's improvised music, so we try to improvise as much as we can.

and that's the core of it. Basically, being very modest, this is... These are actually like three amazing musicians: a drummer, saxophone player and a guitar player who got together in this real power trio

George was saying is that in some sense it's a bit unclassifiable like what we try to do. I was telling you before like we're more focused on the fact that it's unique and it's a unique vision of music and

and ways of living than a genre and that's why also we decided to call our festival "Vaga" which means vague vague, I see it also means wave so it's actually two meanings here yeah and then we called it first festival of unclassifiable music of Aveiro and this has everything to do with what Jorge is talking about like

most of the things that we're presenting are really difficult to describe. Maybe not describe if you do it like in a text, like how you feel it and where it takes you and what could be some of the...

of the inspirations, but if you try to do it in words and genres, it becomes really difficult. We had this problem when we were tagging the releases for the distributors and for the shops. It's like, "Okay, but what is this?"

It's like, okay, some kind of like Latin American rock with electronic, but also with some orchestra sound, so it's kind of cinematic. And then some platforms, okay, but pick one. Yeah, yeah, you need to pick one. So we usually...

Pick either exploratory because I think it's also one of the main characteristics of the music that we're promoting and unclassifiable would be like a good genre. Yeah, I think all the music platforms they need to add this tag on class festival for you. Speaking of the music festivals,

It will start on 26th and 27th November. So apart from Troy's Toy, what other music band or musicians you invited? Basically this festival started as

The idea was for the artists that are connected to the label to meet each other. Not only the bands, but also the designers, the illustrators, the sound technicians. So just together this team of people that some of them live in Argentina, some of them live in Serbia, some of them live across in different towns across Portugal.

to get these people together and to get them to meet each other. I think this was the first and main goal of the festival. Then it kind of started to take shape, you know, I think, and to become something else. So for this festival we have some of the bands and artists that we have published or will publish, some of the main acts that are connected to the label. On the 26th we'll start with Trollstorm.

Then we'll have Azia.

She's a rapper from Porto. This is her first album that she is going to release with us. And it's amazing, like it's kind of... she calls it psychedelic rap, I don't even know what to call it, you know? Her lyrics are really wicked and funny. No, she's badass, man. Oh wow! Can't wait! Yeah, she comes... she is also a drummer.

And now she's starting this project, like this different project, like this weird hip-hop rap thing.

We have Olet JD, which is a DJ from Porto that is connected to a space in Porto called Open Box, who's coming to finish

to finish the evening. For the second day, the 27th of November, we're starting with "Lágrima"

Lagrima is a great musician, he mostly plays the guitar, also sings sometimes, sometimes I hope he does this time because he has an amazing voice and his sound is pretty, like can go from very sweet folk music to very experimental noisy stuff and everything in between. And he's also the illustrator

who is responsible for most of the record covers from our label. He's also making illustrations for the artist profiles. He's somewhere between the visual arts and music. And he's coming from Valladolid, from Spain.

We do the same thing a thousand times The same thing but there's always one that goes first And the next one

Santi is kind of an unclassifiable musician who is also a sound designer, a sound artist and an instrument creator. He's an inventor, he invented his own music instrument.

We run so many times without seeing, we run in the shadows without knowing what's under our feet. Touch and confuse the stones, the flowers, touch without knowing that what you have to drink always runs.

Yeah, which is very cool, you know, like he has brought with him the changotarra and which is one of his creations and also the babytarra that is very also a very unique show where he's using all these weird instruments that he invented and that crosses really different influences from Latin American music, from rock, from electronics, from cinematic music. Santi also

So he came in advance and he's also working as the technical director of the festival. He proposed a few ideas that we immediately looked into, like participatory,

sound installations which are more like games basically he's also responsible for setting up these installations that will allow the people that attend to the festival to also create some music while playing some games they're like one of them involves a ping pong table another involves a pilates ball so more than just concerts we also have like we're also gonna have a different kind of activities very engaged festival yeah kind of

after Santi we'll have Skir and Yeti.

Their costume is super fun. Yeah, they're this play dressed one as a skier and the other one as Yeti. What a surprise. And also, skier makes also his own instruments from skis and from snowboards, which are really interesting too. And yeah, they're coming from...

from Serbia and yeah I think they're gonna put a hell of a show on too and then we're closing the evening with a DJ set from Freimatic Freimatic is a duo composed by Lukas

Lucas is the person responsible for the mastering of our records and for some of the mixes and he's also a great electronic musician and DJ and we DJ together for many many years under the name Framatic. We also had an electronic live band with that name and we're getting together since a long time to DJ

together so it's basically gonna be Lucas and me I've also have a DJ for a long time I've been more dedicated to other kind of fields but I wanted to put like a special DJ set together for this occasion gonna be a fun two nights yeah I can't wait for party yeah yeah be prepared yeah

Be afraid. But have fun. So would you mind sharing how did you start your career as a musician? That was a long time ago. About a hundred years ago. Well, I've always played. Both my father and my mother. My father was actually a semi-professional musician, a bass player. And my mother always sang, since I remember, in polyphonic choirs and

and whatnot and they had a few projects I started learning music at a very young age first classical music then by the time I was 12, 13 of course I had to get into rock music and guitar and that's actually we have a funny story when we met me and Hugo yes

I think we were about 13 and we were at a birthday party and I started playing the guitar with my limited three chords and he asked me, he had really long hair, scary sight, and he comes to me: "Do you know how to play Metallica?" And I said: "No, I don't." And he: "Okay." He just went and did something else and ignored me the rest of the day.

He doesn't remember that. That's happened. Actually, I'm making up this last part. I don't know. And then that's it. I just started playing in bands and eventually, one day I woke up and I was a professional musician. Magic happened. Magic just happened and I couldn't do anything else. Beginning of next year, we'll come out the first

25th record that I've made which is not that much but something not my records but playing with everyone so that's what I do now I have apart from Torolstoia I have two other bands Suc and 47 de Fevereiro Portuguese name finally and that's just what I do I just make records every year

And finally found someone who can put some money on it. So we can both lose money. And we don't do it. Yes, you have. I just want a company to lose money, not by myself.

Yeah, that's how it went. I never decided to be a musician. Go with the flow. I just went with the flow. So how do you deal with, you know, a lot of musicians they were facing, should I pick up the artist's way or should I follow the...

society norms just to do some normal job. Do you have this kind of struggle? For me it's never a dilemma but I had to answer that question hundreds of times. People ask me why don't you do music for the people and my answer is always I do music for the people. Why don't you do music for

for money. I say I do music for money, I expect to be paid for what I do. Well you just have to do what you do. Do what you love. Yeah because all the artists you love that's what they do. So even the ones who made millions

they did what they wanted to do. So it's not even a problem. I think that's also if we want to find the common ground to all these artists that we are taking into the label. Besides

being a band of misfits and crazy weirdos I think it's the fact that they all do what they love and not more and not less you know just this is something most of the time it's something you feel when you listen to music you feel that this was done this this came from somewhere you know and this is going somewhere I think this is probably like one of the most of

of the most essential common characteristics between the artists that we are taking into the label and also that we have performing at the festival. I see, yeah. Take Santi as an example. He started Yi Jing and Daodejing which is ancient Chinese philosophy books.

Even when I talk with my Chinese friends, they are not familiar with that ancient book, but Santi knows everything. And when I heard him rehearsal, I just feel, wow, the spiritual connection. It's pretty cool. Yeah, never heard about this kind of music before. You know, Santi has been living with us for...

probably a month now he'll stay for a few months more also to help us out with the label and to do some stuff together man like he spends a lot of time like playing and rehearsing and creating you know it's really nice to to to listen like when you're like uh going around the house and just listening to him and knowing that he's doing what he loves yeah and he's and he's actually like um

really putting time and effort in it because yeah like good ideas and talents are I think are important of course but like time and effort are also always part of the of the equation you can spend time and effort and have fun too you know like and I think that's

like if you really do what you like it doesn't feel like hard work it is but it doesn't feel like it feels like fun yeah true so where do you guys get the inspiration from? easy answer but life I mean of course you have inspiration from the music you grew up with the artists you love that's obvious it's always there the ones you copied when you were 14 yeah

But then you just go on and you watch a hundred movies and you read books and you talk to people and you travel. All of that goes into... You just have to do something with that. If you go... Even if I cross the street, I have to... That's something that happened to me that I have to give meaning to. So that's it. That's life. That's what you do. You just take the music... We're talking about music, of course. Yeah.

You take the music that you love, you put life on it and well, you can add some ingredients sometimes. And just what you do. I think that's the same for all the true artists. I think also different projects sometimes draw inspiration from different subjects or from different fields, no?

I remember a project I've been working at with Mark Matos aka Transvancentos, aka Solicentos, aka Padre Paulo Santo which is this project called Jenny and Her Epileptic Dog and we recorded an album and we're just finishing producing it and before we started to actually play we kind of sat down and talked like for one month

which is weird because actually usually start playing and jamming and see what comes out but we're just talking about stuff and two themes that came out a lot in our conversations were was in one

on one hand like a bit philosophy of life but and on the other hand cinema and we would refer to the kind of music we wanted to make through scenes of different movies like hey do you know that scene in

Twin Peaks for example or do you know that or can you remember that that ambient in that certain movie like I want to create something that relates to that space to that ambience to that sensation that I got from that movie so this was for example for this specific record was something that we was a very very specific sources of inspiration of course everything else

that in the end inspires you and influences you, but it was very specific. And it's turning out to become a very... A record that sounds very cinematic, sounds a lot like soundtrack, and I think that's why. So yeah, I think like Georges says, everything in life is inspiration. Your feelings, the things you listen to, the things you see, the things you experience. And also, on the other hand, you also can get...

specific influences for different kind of projects. What you say is important, it's part of it. Sometimes limitation is helpful. When you say that you decide to do music inspired by that particular scene, that's limitation. So it helps you because you have so many different influences and so many things you want to do that if you don't limit yourself.

For example, in Trollstoi when we decided we wouldn't have a bass player, that's what part of it that makes you think in a different way. Any limitation helps too. Because you share the bass with Gabriel, right? Sometimes Gabriel, who is a saxophone player, goes for the bass and sometimes

Lourdes goes with the guitar for the bass so they're kind of sharing this frequency, this space which is pretty cool because sometimes Lourdes is down there like keeping the bass and Gabriela is up there just going crazy and sometimes the other way around you know sometimes nobody knows where he is

Yeah. It's all part of it. Yeah. So how do you recruit your band members? Do you just like, okay, I feel like he's my people. Yeah. That's exactly that. I never did an audition for anything. I never, I only once in my life was part of an audition. Yeah. Yeah.

It comes with what Hugo said when we spent a month talking with Sonny or whatever, whatever his name. Sometimes you just feel like this is the person, without even playing. João, our drummer in Trasteu, is also the drummer in Suc, the other band. That's when we started playing together. And it's really, this is true, we were looking for a drummer because our drummer was leaving.

and I didn't know who to recruit because it was a very difficult task and I hadn't seen him in 10 years and I met him on a drum show he was there just hanging and having a beer and immediately I said this is the guy and we talked a little bit and one week later I called him and he was like "you wanna?" "yeah, that would be cool" and what a drummer for me he's the one sorry the other guys, you're great too

Have you bought the ring yet? No, he's married. I just threw it in for the party. So what's your vision for the future of VicNic? So after the festival, what's your plan? Well, right now,

I think we can't really see past the festival like we're so we're so invested on this we're so invested on this that we kind of there's a wall between the festival and the future you know but yeah we got so we got a few releases prepared for 2022 one of them is the one that Laura was talking about before it's called Rajada and it's basically

a compilation of musicians from Aveiro but what we did and this is when

when Georges came into the picture is that we chose a few bands and then we got them together in pairs like in... so we got two musical projects together and we asked them to make a collaboration so to create new content in collaboration for this project so basically we have 16 musical projects and between them they recorded 8 tracks

And this is interesting because it gives us a picture of what's going on musically in this city right now. It's like a screenshot taken to the musical scene of the city. Of course, we haven't included everybody that we love, so we'll have to have a second edition and probably a third. But it's a start, you know? It's a start. The release is that we're pretty invested in...

in for the future then yeah we're gonna have other releases also from Asia from Muzgos a local musician who's also a sculptor recorded his album in Berlin Probioticus Probioticus is a duo from Porto which will come soon also from Jenny and her epileptic dog that I was talking before another project called Piurso and yeah so there's a

also from Martin Minervini that is coming to the festival. We hope also from Skir and Yeti. So yeah, we got like already enough music to release all 2022 and 2023. Great. And always new projects are coming. And yeah, our vision is, you know, like...

I think at the beginning when you release like five records and one is experimental electronics, the other is kind of improvisational jazz rock and the other is Latin American rock electronic, blah blah blah. And the other one is rap.

I think it's difficult to understand what we're here for. And I think with time, the more weird stuff we release that are completely unrelated to the others, the more that it will make sense. And that's a bit where we see us going in the next few years. Just all this...

nonsense starting to make a bit of sense. It becomes a brand. Yeah, it is. People start coming for the weirdness. Yeah, I think. And staying for the good parties. You know, it's funny because already we had decided to do this festival and to call it Unclassifiable Music Festival and just...

Two days ago I found this article on Bandcamp that had just came out talking about Tokyo's generalist rave scene. Which is really interesting because for me Bandcamp is a really big reference. They have really amazing curated content and they're doing a great job on that. It began like just a kind of commerce platform for musicians to put their music but then they had this twist and they started

they started with the content production and curation and this kind of completely gave a different dimension to the platform and for me it's interesting that we're doing something and at some point we see it's reflected there you know like that other people are talking about this idea of no class no gender no you are on trend now yeah no category no

You know, like no label. As a musician, what's the biggest challenge you think you are facing at the moment? Is it distribution? Well, first, before distribution, let's start on the end, which is people paying for music or not paying for music. So that's, well, you release a record and you have to pay for it. So how do you convince people to...

well, to actually put the money in it. It's not easy nowadays. But this is the path we have to take, which is, okay, you're not just buying some more of the same. No, here's something special. It's something different that will really enhance your life if you...

if you follow this label or whatever, or these kind of labels that are doing the same thing, which is... this is not what you hear on TV or on the radio, this is something different. Well, it's not enough to be different, it has to be good. So if we constantly put out things that are weird but good, people will respect that and follow it. So that's one challenge.

Distribution is a challenge that we are facing actually because it's well, how do you distribute a record and make it available everywhere? But you don't need to make it available everywhere because you're not going to buy our records on the grocery store or something. So it's really... you have to put the time and think about it and with who you can make a partnership. That's a challenge. So as musicians

I've been doing this alone for a few years and it's really hard so I just rely on Bandcamp and play live.

that's the most important thing is play live so we haven't been able to do it very often. But well, let's just start doing it again. I think that's also another characteristic that in some sense affects our selection of projects. If we can have projects that can play live and that are prepared to play live for us is of course we prefer that you know because

Nowadays, there's so much music coming out every day and good ones, also crappy ones. But lots of good stuff coming out. And the attention span of people is so small that I think one of the biggest challenges is also

how to make this music arrive to the ears of people. One thing is selling records, that's already like "yeah" but just getting people to listen is like the first big challenge I believe. Then if people start to listen I think sales also come with it. And I think playing live is a really interesting way to get your music in the ears of the people. Because it's not just these three seconds you come across it on Instagram or in

or in Facebook or what's not you're watching that band or that project and you're really feeling it you can feel that energy yeah and then you go home and then you listen to it online you know like or sometimes the other way around you listen to it online and you're like oh I gotta see these guys live but I think live shows

First, it's amazing to be at a live music show. For me, the more intimate, the better. And at the same time, I think it's a really very important promotional moment for a musician and for a label also, in some sense. It's where you sell the records, actually. It's where you sell the records, because when you're there...

As a spectator, if you like it, you won't go home without a record. It's really hard to not take that home. Collect it. It's like a collectible. Of course I'm a musician, but the only albums I buy are on concerts. Or I buy from friends who just released a record.

But I go to a show and if I like it, I just bring the record. Of course, the first thing I do is, if it's vinyl, great. If it's a CD, I just put it on my iPod and I'll just leave the CD home.

Sometimes, it happened a few times, to buy a record and never ever listen to it. But I was so excited at the end of the show that I had to buy it. You want to support your favorite musician. And you want to support, that's it. You know that it's important. I actually tell a lot of people that when people ask me, why should I buy your record? Because it's on Spotify. First, Spotify doesn't give us any money. That's one thing. But...

When people tell: "Look, I don't even have a CD player, it doesn't make sense as an object" Then listen to it on Spotify and buy me a t-shirt or a hat, something Because you have to support this in any way I get what you're saying about the format It makes sense, the CD, if we really look at it, a CD doesn't make sense

Even the vinyl doesn't make sense in the perspective of usefulness, but

That's how you put value into the music. Of course, it's a cool collectible, it's amazing to have records, but if you talk only about the music, if you don't want the physical thing, please buy a t-shirt, buy something. You can wear it at school, you can go to the gym with a t-shirt, whatever. It has a purpose and you help me. And I tell a lot of my friends, if you buy me one t-shirt...

you'll give me more money than Spotify for the rest of my life. And you can wear it, it's a cool t-shirt, so just have to think that way. If we're putting out unique stuff with good quality, something that people will want to listen to buy, also even the physical objects that we are doing, we're putting a lot of work into them. Our illustrator, the designer, the people who are writing the

the texts and like we put a lot of content in it and we take our time, you know, it's like it's one of the one of the really of the most time consuming tasks.

is really designing the records to be objects that I would want to collect and that Jorge would like to collect. So we tend to see them like that. It's the music that is inside and the quality of the general object and all of the content that is included there from illustrations to design to text should match the quality of the music also. So, yeah. Yeah.

You know, in today's world, a lot of digital artists, the drawing, illustration, they use NFT to sell their art.

So basically people will say, oh, you just buy a JPEG, the digital picture. You can just download online. But now people pay the real money, even billions, millions of dollars just to buy the NFT. I never got into that. I think, yeah. I don't get it yet. I think the musician will also be able to use this concept for their music. Yeah, I see. Some musicians have told me about it. I still have to read something about it and...

try to make sense of it. Yeah, I'm kind of studying this space. I'll share more information. Yeah. And I do feel like the future, if you have a creative heart and the people love your stuff, you deserve to get all the money you earned instead of just being used by the third party like Spotify and never pay anything. Yeah, definitely. And yeah, I think

we believe that like almost all platforms and all formats are valid. We've been talking about some, um,

We've been talking about some augmented reality formats. Some of the records we're releasing, for example, Martin Minervini, we're talking about the possibility of releasing, making small sculptures made out of electronic components that he makes, like that are kind of sound and light micro sculptures. And you don't have to make...

500 or you can make maybe 50 and have a limited edition but the record is actually a you know like it's a sculpture that comes with an analog code so I think there's many like the possibilities nowadays are endless and it's interesting to explore these possibilities you know and not close your doors like we love analog we love digital

you know like it's like each there are different things that can have very different can open really different possibilities you know so why not work with different ones like I think each record or each project each release is a project yeah and this project can be taken in in

many different ways. So, yeah, it can come out as a record, can come out as a video, can come out as a sculpture, can come out as some kind of augmented reality

device can come out as an app. NFTs and I share the same lack of knowledge as Jorge about it but I think definitely is something worth researching. So before we wrap up, can you use one or two sentences to encourage people to come to your festival?

first i would say "ter linchas" yeah that's a hashtag i was a little bit confused at the beginning naturally like even even us and we're portuguese you know so but even portuguese people i think you get confused by this how do you say the linchas in english? "nei" i don't know how you pronounce it actually i know it's like n e

I think Anna did a good job She's doing it inward

Yeah, she's been great. She's been training for weeks for that. So where can people find more information about Vicnic and your music? We've got our website, lifeisavicnic.com So there's a specific page for the festival, which is the same lifeisavicnic.com Vagra 2021 They can find us on Instagram, on

YouTube, on Facebook and then on all the music platforms. We're on Bandcamp, it's where we concentrate most of our efforts but also of course on Spotify, on iTunes, on Beatport... Everywhere, yeah. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you too. Good luck with the music festival. Me too, there.