Devotos: A Hardcore Look at Life in Recife
The band Devotos was formed in 1988 by vocalist and bassist Cannibal (Marconi de Souza Santos), guitarist Neilton, and drummer Celo Brown under the name "Devotos do Ódio" (Devotees of Hate), which was borrowed from the title of a book by José Louzeiro (1987) (Teles 2000:244). Louzeiro is the novelist, journalist and screenwriter whose Infância dos Mortos (Childhood of the Dead), a book about the life of a child who lived on the street, was made into the critically-acclaimed 1981 film Pixote by Hector Babenco.
The group was and still is based in the Alto José do Pinho neighborhood of Recife, a low-income hillside neighborhood that has both abundant social problems and many people working to improve conditions there. They changed the name of the band to "Devotos" in 2000.
When MTV began to be broadcast in Recife (over the airwaves, not on cable), the signal could be picked up clearly in the Alto José do Pinho neighborhood, and the future members of Devotos listened to punk rock and bands like The Smiths and The Cure along with punk rock from São Paulo. They were aware of the traditional genres that bands like Chico Science e Nação Zumbi would later incorporate into their sounds, but they were interested in playing a melodic style of hardcore rock (Teles 2000: 248).
The members of Devotos embrace the do-it-yourself ethic of punk rock. Guitarist Neilton explained to me in 2001 how he made his first guitar and amplifier himself--this includes carving the fingerboard and body of the guitar and winding the coils of the pickups--and played it for a long time without anyone noticing that it wasn't store-bought.
Neilton's creativity extends to the artwork on the bands' CDs and the design of their web site. The band makes its own instrument cases and speaker cabinets, only buying what they can't make themselves. This isn't done, however, with a sense of deprivation. On the contrary, Neilton says, "I don't feel anguish about it. I take pleasure and pride in having done it, and having my work out there, a simple pride in seeing my work done, the idea conceived."
Neilton was able to buy Gibson Les Paul and Fender guitars and a Marshall amplifier once the band became more successful, but he still felt the need to play with people's perceptions of product labels. He bought a cheap electric guitar, removed everything, including frets, made it over in his style, gave it the brand name "Robson," and started using it in concerts. Soon people were admiring its sound and asking where they could buy one.
Among the obstacles the band faced in its early years were police repression and the disapproval of neighborhood residents for their choice of musical style. The Alto José do Pinho was home to caboclinhos and maracatu groups that were prominent during Carnaval. The media image of rock bands linked them to middle-class youth. When Devotos began getting press coverage, it was due in part to the perceived incongruity of a group of lower-class youths playing hardcore rock (Teles 2000: 251).
Over time the band relationship to the community improved, as it demonstrated its commitment to by attracting abundant press attention to the many bands that had formed there, and founding an NGO, Alto Falante (a play on the literal expression "loudspeaker," altofalante, and the name of the neighborhood, "Alto," speaking, or "falante"), which does cultural and social projects.
The band has released six CDs: Agora tá Valendo (BMG, 1998), Devotos (Rockit!, 2000), Hora da Batalha (independent, 2003), "Sobras da Batalha" (independent, 2004, for download in oficial site), "Flores Com Espinhos Para o Rei" (independent, 2006) and "Devotos 20 anos" live (independent, 2009 , commemorative twenty years of the band).
To return to the theme of Brazilian national identity that is addressed
in such songs as "Aquarela do Brasil," by Ari Barroso, listen
to "O Meu País" (My Country) from Devotos as an example
of the band's work.
It is less intense than many of the band's other songs, which use a high-intensity hardcore style while still remaining very tuneful; "Alien" from Devotos is a good example.
