Magician (band)
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| Magician | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Porto Alegre, Brazil  |
| Genre(s) | Power metal, Progressive metal |
| Years active | 2000 - present |
| Label(s) | Soundholic Records, Dockyard1 Records, Die Hard Records |
| Website | www.magician.com.br |
| Members | |
| Dan Rubin Renato Osorio Cristiano Schmitt Elizandro Max Zé Bocchi |
|
Magician is a progressive metal band and formed from Porto Alegre, Brazil. In the last years, it has become one of the most prominent bands of the south Brazilian metal scene, notably by their live performances and rich song arrangements, both vocal and instrumental.
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] 2000-2002
The band was formed in 2000, when bassist Elizandro Max, guitarist Cristiano Schmitt and drummer Zé Bocchi, all three departed from local band Anya met singer Dan Rubin and guitarist Renato Osorio, both former members of local band Rising Land. Originally, they choose the name Presto, because it's a "magic word", and also indicates a faster tempo in musical language. After the members discovered that there were at least two other bands using the name already, it was changed to Magician. Among the reasons of the choice, was the resemblance with the originally chosen name, the "strength" of the word, and the presence in Bruce Dickinson's songs "The Tower" and "The Magician".
In this period, Magician's repertoire consisted mostly of cover of some of the favorite bands of its members, such as Gamma Ray, Helloween, Bruce Dickinson and Dream Theater.
[edit] 2002-2005
In 2002, the demo-CD Brief Magic Story was released. In this work, containing three songs (plus an intro and an ending), the key elements of Magician music began to appear: songs with rich arrangements but still heavy, and the constant presence of the voices of Elizandro and Renato in trio with Dan's. The CD received good reviews from specialized media.
In the three years following, the band performed a series of gigs in the area of Porto Alegre, always with great feedback from the audience. As Magician was becoming a well-known name in the scene, and new songs were composed, the cover songs were gradually replaced by the new band's own pieces. Magician also opened for bands such as Dr. Sin, Helloween and Shaaman.
[edit] 2005-present
The recordings of the first album started in the second half of 2005. In 2006, after all recordings were done, the songs were sent to High Gain Studios, Hamburg, Germany, where they were mixed and mastered by sound engineer Arne Lakenmacher and Dirk Schlächter (Gamma Ray's bassist). All the process was finished in early 2007. A promo CD containing some of the songs was released in June 2007, when Magician played with Symphony X.
Tales of the Magician was released in Japan in early de 2008 by Soundholic Records and reached #10 in the Burrn! magazine charts in march 2008. In Brazil, the album will be released by Die Hard Records, and worldwide by German label Dockyard1. In both cases, the expected release date is set to June 2008.
[edit] Members
Magician line-up remains the same since its beginning.
[edit] Dan Rubin
Dan is the lead singer of the band, and one of the main lyricists. His voice power and timbre caught attention for the resemblance with Michael Kiske and André Matos, although nowadays his style has more "crunch", influenced by singers like Hansi Kürsch and Russell Allen.
[edit] Renato Osorio
Renato is one of Magician's guitarists, and also perform backing vocals. His engagement with guitars and heavy metal started around the age of 10, influenced mainly by players like Steve Vai, Paul Gilbert, Yngwie Malmsteen and Eddie Van Halen. He's co-author of most of the instrumental part of the songs.
[edit] Cristiano Schmitt
Cristiano is the other half of Magician's guitar duo. He's also responsible for most of the acoustic guitar work in the album, and live. John Petrucci, Marty Friedman, Yngwie Malmsteen and Adrian Smith are among his major influences.
[edit] Elizandro Max
Elizandro is Magician's bassist and backing singer, and the main composer, lyricist and arranger of the band. He's also responsible for most of keyboards recorded on the albums. For all this, he's considered the musical leader of the band. He studied music from childhood, but he only picked the bass around the age of 19.
[edit] Zé Bocchi
Zé, also known as "the teacher" (he's got a Physics teaching degree) is the drummer of the band. His main influences are Mike Portnoy and Jason Rullo.
