Pega Monstro : Manchester Popfest, 16/08/2015

Pega Monstro, live at Islington Mill, during Manchester Popfest, Manchester, UK, 16/08/2015.
36 mins., HD, full set.

Set-list :

00:00 – Braço de Ferro
03:21 – Branca
05:05 – Não Consegues
08:42 – Afta
10:18 – Fiz Esta Canção
13:16 – És Tu, Já Sei
16:05 – (Algo Novo ! ! !)
18:05 – Amêndoa Amarga
23:38 – Voltas para Trás
28:13 – Paredes de Coura
30:11 – Estrada

Bio

Pega Monstro are sisters Júlia Reis (drums & vocals) and Maria Reis (guitar, keyboards & vocals) from Lisbon, Portugal.

The duo’s name translates as ‘catch the monster’, perfectly countering the band’s striving dream-punk sound. The name ‘Pega Monstro’ also references a novelty toy in the shape of a jelly hand on a string, which children have been throwing at each other in delight for many generations in their native country.

Born and raised in Lisbon, Portugal, Maria and Júlia have been playing music together since they were 15 and 17 respectively, in other groups first before resolving on becoming a duo.

Back in 2010, both sisters started a record label, along with some of their musician friends, called Cafetra Records to document Portugal’s garage punk scene. Cafetra represents a community of like-minded musicians who all help each other, making music that they’d want to hear, powered by enthusiasm. Pega Monstro were among the first bands on the label, releasing their “O Juno-60 Nunca Teve Fita” EP the same year to a burgeoning audience of devotees, who’d turn up in growing numbers to each show and sing back the lyrics.

Maria puts the band’s instant attention down to being different, “we were girls, we were young and we could rock, people weren’t used to that at all”.

2012 saw Pega Monstro release their self-titled debut album, which was produced by B Fachada, an extremely well known Portuguese singer songwriter. The band and producer hit it off like wildfire and recorded an impressive, raucous debut record that met with critical national acclaim.

Now Pega Monstro have a new album ready for Upset The Rhythm, whom they hope will bring their music to audiences outside of their homeland too. “Alfarroba” is the name of this second album, it’s title meaning ‘carob’, after the sweet tasting bean that grows in the wild trees that spontaneously spring up along the Mediterranean coast.

Maria explains further, “In Portugal there are a lot of carob trees in the Algarve and our mother’s side of the family is from there, we spent every summer there as children. The scent is unlike any other. So apart from the phonetic appeal of the word, ‘Alfarroba’ is also a homage to that heritage”.

The songs on “Alfarroba” deal with many themes, some universal topics like love and growing up, others focusing on the nature of writing songs themselves, whilst some try to make sense of the world from a female perspective.

Music

Recorded in July 2014 at Golden Pony Studios, Lisbon.
Produced by Leonardo Bindilatti with the help of Eduardo Vinhas.
Mixed by Leonardo Bindilatti.
Mastered at Golden Pony by Bindilatti and Vinhas.
Upset The Rhythm ~ UTR 072, released 07 June 2015.

Upcoming Concerts

Oct 10 : Centro Para Os Assuntos da Arte e Arquitectura (CAAA), Guimaraes, Portugal
Oct 22 : Musicbox, Lisbon, Portugal

Links

Pega Monstro :

https://pegamonstro.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pegamonstroband
http://www.myspace.com/pegamonstro

Islington Mill :

http://www.islingtonmill.com/
https://www.facebook.com/islington.mill

Manchester Popfest :

http://www.manchesterpopfest.co.uk/

Pega Monstro