Os Mutantes

Fri 11th Mar, 2011 in Features

Brazilian psych legends Os Mutantes have developed a cult like status since their formation in 1966 for their unique sound which merges traditional South American tunes with the psychedelic ramblings of Jimi Hendrix and the pop sensibilities of The Beatles.

Everyone from Beck to Kurt Cobain has worshipped at their altar over the years, and Os Mutantes first ever visit to our shores has surely won over a few more fans at shows in Perth, Brisbane and Sydney. They wrap up their tour with shows at the Forum in Melbourne tonight and at Golden Plains festival this weekend. Os Mutantes Australian tour compilation

FasterLouder spoke to the band’s leader Sérgio Dias (in Portuguese) about the band’s remarkable legacy, Brazilian politics and and performing strange psych music in Kansas.

How did it feel, initially, to bring back Os Mutantes after over 30 years away from the public eye?
Well, first of all the response was something we could not even dare to imagine. Os Mutantes was a local band in Brazil. We hardly played anywhere else; we did play a few times in France and once in Portugal. Os Mutantes never sold many records; we don’t have any gold albums in Brazil, even. The fact that we stopped the band for 35 years – I stopped the band in 78, I think – the music started to build a life of its own. And it was something that was really amazing, because when we got together for the Barbican [Arts Centre, home of the Tropicalia exhibition where their reunion debuted] and we said yes to play in 2006, I could never imagine.

I thought it would be just one show or something like that. I thought it would be a celebration, we’d be playing together and it would be fun. But one month after we said yes for the Barbican – when we had three months for rehearsals – in one month, without playing one note, without a recording contract, without merchandise, without publishing, without anything. Nobody behind us or anything like that, we had a tour booked in the USA in the most amazing places like Webster Hall and Hollywood Bowl and the Pitchfork Festival and Seattle. It was hard to understand this.

But after we did this tour, we kept on going and we kept playing. We did Europe, things started to confront us. Like, we could never imagine the age of our audience. We’d think it’d be old-timers, like us. But they’re only kids. They’re like 15 to 20. It’s amazing to see the music take over everything and take over all the so-called “music business” and fight back and just fight past everything and have a life of its own. It’s been a fantastic feeling because, it makes you feel a little bit humble in regards to what you do. Because you see that in the end the music doesn’t belong to you. You just do it; there’s no importance to companies or prices or anything like that.

So the great thing is for this all to be part of this huge, fantastic, beautiful revolution that is happening in the world now. Which is a beautiful political stance being taken by the Internet and they’re talking a binary language, which is a freaking strange thing when you think about Esperanto and how people tried to create a universal language. Who could ever imagine that it would be binary?

Anyway, it is a phenomenon that is happening that we are basically enjoying so much, playing on the road. For example, the last tour we did in the US that we just finished in December. It’s alright to play New York, it’s alright to play San Francisco, it’s alright to play Miami; there are Brazilian communities there. But, to find yourself in the middle of Kansas, in a little place called Lawrence, and we just put out an album in Portuguese, and everybody’s enjoying themselves. It is a first, you know? It is something that is breathtaking, really.