Interview with Ata D’Arc (Tulio Torres)

Tell us about how Ata D’Arc was formed and how the band developed your current sound

We have searched a long time for a project that would put together melody and heaviness, with the feelings being priority, focusing on the essence of existence, and the reasons for the eternal human conflict. We went through everything, from Blues to Hard Rock, but this project has finally been the realizations of our ideas. We try to combine all our musical knowledge into a predefined style. Strong lyrics with heavy and melodic musical themes join the strong claiming for peace.

This journey through all those musical styles, from Blues to Hard Rock, landing on Power Metal … was it followed by the whole band or did the formation change along the way?

At first, everything was only an idea, and from this idea I searched those who best adapted to it. I searched in each one, their history and musical feeling, as I would never define a single opinion as the truth, so, I only showed the way and now we have many in the same path.

The band’s Web site shows no bass player. Are you searching for one or will you always count on a hired bassist?

We don’t want to create a new style, we just want to feel the music and spread our word. Actually, we wanted a musician that would become part of the band, as we consider it to be family, but we’re having serious trouble finding the right person. Social balance is extremely important for us. So, for now, we’ll have to associate this member as musical support.

What are the band’s main influences? Any specific bands?

We have been influenced by Hard Rock, Blues, Heavy Metal, Folk, Classical, and Rock music. Regarding bands, some of them are: Nightwish, Avantasia, Manowar, Symphony X, Iron Maiden, and Deep Purple.

What is your writing process?

There are no rules. Sometimes a song comes up after a rehearsal, sometimes it comes already done by one of us, sometimes it starts with the lyrics and so on.

How is the Call of Peace record going? Is this the band’s first release?

It’s amazing; we didn’t expect such a strong reception. From the oldest people to the youngest, among all styles of music, lots of people liked our music. This takes us to what we really want, to break all borders and labels, in every sense. The biggest value is the emotion we get from people that listen to our music … that’s glorifying. It gives us strength, as you know how hard the Concept Music path is. Having the power to emotionally touch people is incredible. This is our first release.

Tell us about the recording process. How was the studio experience for you?

It was remarkable, as we really knew where we wanted to go, but as I said, we’re always learning and along the path we found wonderful nuances that were built into each one. We don’t consider this work a demo, but a preview; A quick answer to our fans so we can immediately go on to our next release.

You are working with Duane Baron, of Dream Theater and Ozzy Osbourne fame in your next record’s production. How did the contact start?

Certainly, it’s all arranged. This first record would have been already produced by him if it wasn’t our investor letting us down at the last moment. It’s a normal thing to happen in every area. Who was ahead of it all was our producer, RavenRock Productions, that did everything for us to achieve that goal, but it wasn’t possible. We then kept on talking to Duane, who was comprehensive with the situation and offered to work with us in our next record. He really liked our music and that’s extremely important to us, as we want to be a team. That is the only way we can get to the high standards we aim for.

How far done are you with the material for the next record?

He have more than 24 songs ready, but we’re working on 13 for the next CD.

What are your thoughts on file sharing and P2P Networks?

We’re living in a new era. We need to adapt and grow such ideas. The only thing that cannot happen is to loose the real purpose of music: to bring emotion and truth to those who need to find beauty once again in life.

Author

  • Alex Reis

    Alex is a reviewer here at Metal Express Radio, born and raised in Curitiba, PR, Brazil, yet living in Antwerp, Belgium, since 2010. AC/DC was his first intro to Rock and Metal, but Metallica and Iron Maiden were the turning point for his love of the genre. Alex has played the guitar since he was 14, and has been an aspiring musician ever since.  Also serving as lead guitarist and vocalist for Belgian/Brazilian Hard Rock outfit SSC, Alex and co. have released a single a few years ago, but are yet to follow with a full-length  release that's been 20 years in the works. When Alex is not writing for MER or making music, he works at the Belgian tech scene, having served as CTO and other technical roles in numerous startups and organizations.

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