Interview with Venezuelan Prog Band Backhand

Venezuelan progressive rock band Backhand will be playing this weekend at ProgDay 2014, on Sunday, August 31st at Storybook Farm in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, at 10:30 am. The group includes some of Venezuela’s finest progressive rock musicians: Pablo Mendoza on guitars, Adrián van Woerkom on keyboards, Adolfo Herrera on drums and percussion, and Oscar Fanega on bass plus guest vocalist, Phil Naro from Canada.

Backhand released Through the Turbulence earlier this year. Creative Director José Luis Pimentel discusses the band’s history with Progressive Rock Central’s Angel Romero.

Can you give our readers a brief history on how the band was formed?

In July 2010, Pablo Mendoza published in social media an appeal to the seriousness of the music industry in our country, to revamp his career. After analyzing his impeccable track as a solo guitarist, with 5 CD’s under his belt and two presentations with Joe Satriani and Paul Gilbert, I thought about twisting the issue. I searched for the top three artists living in the country, Venezuelan or not, to support the upcoming concert. I told Pablo it was time to put together a supergroup like none in Venezuela. We had his repertoire and in three months of hard work, the band was geared and I provided interaction and contribution to the overall sound of Backhand. Adolfo Herrera on drums and percussion; Oscar Fanega on bass and Adrian van Woerkom on keyboards. All liked the proposal, we gave name to the band and …started playing!

How did you connect with Canadian vocalist Phil Naro?

It was through friends as we took on the search for a vocalist consistent with the quality of the group. To find an adequate vocalist vocalist who speaks English perfectly in a Spanish speaking country is not easy. Some ideas came up and we did some testing, but luckily Phil Naro agreed to our proposal and we went to Toronto, Canada to record him on 5 songs that are now on CD. Of course, there are contributions as far as lyrics and melodies.

 

 

What do you consider as the essential elements of your music?

The ages of the band members are between 35 and 50 years old. Virtuosity without ostentation, performance quality, good taste, and attention to fine detail, definitely affect positively the outcome. The goal has always been to make good music, please the ear and the soul. Music that will last forever without concessions.

Who can you cite as your main musical influences?

Musical ages permeate the final result. Progressive rock has had a surge in recent years with cruises, festivals and awards. Steven Wilson, who has been pivot between the new and the immortal classic by remixing the great prog works; Riverside, from Poland; Haken, from England with whom we had the great pleasure of sharing the stage in 2014 at Progressive nation at Sea 2014 thanks to the cordial invitation of Mike Portnoy. Yes, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Jethro Tull run in our blood and of course the blues of Hendrix, Clapton and Joe Bonamassa.

Tell us about your first recordings and your musical evolution.

The writing and recording process was during the last three years. The intensive agendas of the members forced us to create, compose, record at a natural pace, due to the circumstances. Funding, rehearsing and studio hours were added to the mix. But the goal has always been clear: to be the best progressive rock band of Venezuela. We like to believe that. This moves us and does not allow us to lower standards in anything we do. That is, attitude + fitness = altitude.

 

 

Can you share some information about the program you’ll present at ProgDay 2014?

Suffice to say it’s going to be intense; proportional to the excitement of participating in a festival that reaches its 20th edition. We are grateful to the festival committee for inviting us on such a special occasion. It will be exciting to play live before a musically demanding audience. We’ll rock, for sure.

 

 

How’s the current progressive rock scene in Venezuela?

In Venezuela we have a lot of talent on an artistic level. Paul and Oscar currently run their own music schools and for a while have been training new generations of musicians. Currently, there are several bands working hard, such as Brotherhood who were with us in the Progressive Nation at Sea cruise with another great artist named Felix Martin. De la Mar stands out among the new projects. I must emphasize the fact that we also depend on promoters for the exposure of our music. There are some, but just a handful. Europe is a better place for progressive rock. Rosfest, ProgDay and other persist. It’s a shame that NEARfest was discontinued after 10 years.

What musical instruments do you use?

Guitars: Gibson Les Paul, Fender Stratocaster and Telecaster, and c Ovation and Taylor acoustic guitars

Basses: custom made Nicolás Volpe, Fender precision, Fender jazz bass

Keyboards: Roland, Novation, Kurzweil, Korg, Akai Vocoder, Motu MatchFive Sampler, Omnisphere

Drums: Yamaha Oak Custom drums in Yellow Amber, 22″ and 24″ bass Drum; 10″ 12″14″16″ Toms; 14″ Anton Fig Signature snare Drum; Yamaha hardware including double bass drum pedal; Istanbul Mehmet Handmade Turkish cymbals; 22 Erick Schmidt Signature Ride; 22 kiko Freitas Signature ride; 14″ Hat Trio; 16″ 61st. Anniversary edition hihat; 19″ Horacio “el negro” signature crash; 18″ traditional paper thin crash; 18″ funky china; 10″ traditional splash; 10″ murathan bell; 16″ Holey Crash

Phil Naro: Senheisser Mics

What effects do you use?

For keyboards: Delay, reverb and Wah

For guitar effects with Backhand: Radial tonebone distortion, E3 Megafaidel PMS overdrive (Pablo Mendoza signature), Ibanez ts808, ep booster, radial loop efects, ernie ball wah, ernie ball volume, mxr phase 90, digitech whammy, boss pedal tuner, tc electronic flashback, mxr noise suppressor, midi mouse tech 21.Amplifier, Laney vh100r, Hughes and kettner, traynor amps

For Bass: Loop station boss rc 50, Multimeffect ROLAND GT 6B, Boss pedal board various pedals, Ampli laney, Ampli mark bass

Drums: Yamaha DTX-multi 12 electronic pad

If you could gather any musicians or musical groups to collaborate with whom would that be?

Steven Wilson, Ian Anderson among others. Mostly singers and other instruments like brass or winds. Maybe special percussion.

Do you have any upcoming projects to share with us?

Yes, indeed. We are working in the next album; maybe an orchestral piece, concerts in Venezuela before the end of the year, 2015 prog festivals around the world and any kind invitation to play will be considered thoroughly.