Guitarist Hugo Mariutti, famous for integrating Shaman, is now part of bands like Andre Matos and Henceforth (bands where he’s always accompanied by his brother, bassist Luis Mariutti). Besides the busy schedule, Hugo found time to form a new band, Remove Silence, with Fabio Ribeiro on keyboards (André Matos, ex-Shaman, Angra, etc.), Alexandre Souza on bass/vocals and Edu Cominato on drums/vocals (Jef Scott Sotto, former Tempestt), and they have just released the album Fade through Dynamo Records. Forget about the Heavy Metal that you always associated Hugo with; with Fade they explore more complex sounds. Another surprise is seeing him doing the vocals, with great personality. Songs such as ‘Fade’, ‘Pressure’, ‘Fast Turnover’, ‘Where Will The Children Live’, ‘Ministry Of Ghostland’, and ‘Black Again Out Of Time’, have a range of influences and are likely to leave many people speechless. 

How did the idea of founding the Remove Silence come up?
Fabio and I always talked about doing a project, but had no time. At the same time Fabio and Ale, in addition to being partners in a studio, also made music together. When Shaman split the three of us saw that we had at last some spare time to do some cool stuff.

How did you get to this line-up?
What was missing was just a drummer. As I knew Edú since the ‘90s, I knew he would be the perfect guy for the band because as well as being a great drummer, he sings well and musically thinks the same way as the three of us.

Talk about the concept of the album. Who is the main composer behind Fade?
Everyone participated and helped in the writing process of the album, although I brought some tracks ready - Ale did bring something ready too. Then we worked together in arrangements and final touches. There are songs that we did all together in jam sessions. The whole process involved everybody, as a band; even the art of the CD had everybody’s participation because the cover and sleeve photos were all taken by the band.

How would you label the sound of Remove Silence?
I find it very difficult to label our sound, because it has many different influences. I can’t tell exactly what it is, only that it is within the segment of rock, but with many influences of other things.

Are you satisfied with your performance, now as singer too?
I'm always very critical with myself, but I think that I managed to combine it well with the music. Not only I sing, Ale and Edu do it too. We are very proud of the CD we made, because everything was done by the band. Recording, mixing etc.

How did the idea for the video for ‘Fade’ come up?
We wanted to transmit this message and draw the attention of people. The song "Fade" is about armies formed by children, so we decided to put on the video websites that talk about it and deal with this issue that is so common, even in our country. I think this is a very important issue, because thousands of children are subjected to this kind of thing, losing their families, childhood, etc.

Do you intend to gig with Remove Silence?
Sure! We already have one booked for November 18th, in Bauru (Brazil), and other dates are already getting confirmed.

Since you’re always doing jamswith different musicians, would you consider jamming with Kiko Loureiro, Rafael Bittencourt or Ricardo Confessori? Is there friendship between you?
I don’t like to answer this kind of question, but I have no friendship with them, so I have no intentions of playing with them. I don’t like to pretend to the public that all is well with everyone and that we’re all friends. This possibility doesn’t exist today for me, because everyone knows what happened during these years.
 
Any final words?
Well, I wanted to thank the opportunity given to me to talk a bit about my new project, and would like to invite everybody who’s interested in knowing more about it to access www.removesilence.com or www.myspace.com / removesilence. Cheers!

Luciano Piantonni
photos: Duca Mendes (top banner) and promo