Press

Press Release:

Estrume’n’tal was created in 1997 in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, by Cláudio Rocha, Fred Maia, Guilherme Mendes and Lino Rodrigues. At that time the four of them had been friends and had played together for quite some time, in bands that left their mark in the city, such as Os Pilhas, Ratones and Meldas.

The first Estrume’n’tal concert was at the inauguration of the nightclub A Obra, a kind of local CBGB. Since then, the band hasn’t stopped producing and playing their instrumental rock with influences of surf music, punk rock, psychobilly, Brazilian musical vanguard of the 60’s and other styles, as well as some uncommon references, like bolero, videogame and cartoon music and Brazilian hillbilly guitar.

Along its trajectory, Estrume’n’tal has played at several important festivals in the Brazilian alternative scene, such as Goiânia Noise (Goiânia), National Garage (Curitiba), Ruído (Rio de Janeiro) and Primeiro Campeonato Mineiro de Surf (First Minas Gerais State Surf Music Championship, in Belo Horizonte), and had the opportunity to share the stage with such names as Man or Astroman?, Guitar Wolf, Ratos de Porão, Autoramas, Retrofoguetes etc.

Estrume’n’tal’s first album, Surfme’n’tal, was released worldwide in 2003 by the California-based label Golly Gee Records (www.gollygeerecords.com) and had a significant impact in the American and European indie scene. Before that, the band had recorded ademo CD called Estrume'n'tal Encontra o ET de Varginha (Estrume'n'tal meets the Varginha ET) in 1999 and released an advance version of Surfme'n'tal with the name off Space'n'tal (2001). Thanks to the publicity of the album released by the American label, Estrume'n'tal was invited to participate in a number of international instro rock / surf music compilations. The band also featured in Brazilian compilations, produced two videoclips and provided the soundtrack for a short film (Jack D., by Luciano Alkmin), three issues of the Mountain Boarding Video Magazine (nos. 5, 6 e 7) and several presentations of the surf program Super Surf, on the Brazilian cable TV channel SporTV. All of these efforts have brought the recognition of the public and also critics and opinion makers in Brazil and in other parts of the world. Their new album, Neander'n'tal, was released by Golly Gee Records in June 2005.

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