Interview with Kamala
Interviewed by Victor Augusto
It has been quite a long time since I first heard about this amazing Brazilian Thrash Metal band and I still get surprised by their dedication and passion for music. With more than two decades on the road, Kamala has conquered a great respect, especially in Europe after many tours there.
Even though the band are about to celebrate 2 years since the release of their last album “Karma”, they’re still harvesting great results from it, even being part of a great display of Heavy Metal in France. And we get all the details of that, along with more about the band, in this interview with the vocalist/guitarist Raphael Olmos.
”Karma” was recorded in 2019, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic you waited until 2023 to release it. During this time, it looks like many positive things happened. You become an artist of Solar Guitars (SWE), Evertune (USA), Bogren digital (SWE) and Skull Strings (FRA). Then, the band signed with the French label M&O Music. How important do you think all of that was to the great reception of “Karma”?
Raphael Olmos: I always believe that everything happens at the right time, even when we don’t understand this at those particular moments in the past. For sure a lot of new people met Kamala because of the brands and also because of M&O Music/Office promotion, and this is really important to conquer new fans and get people connecting with our art.
“Karma” is like having you get all the anger off your chest, and I am saying it not only about the musical aggressiveness, but by how you express everything. Because you’re always looking for the bright side of any pain or suffering that we live. What is the main message you want to express with Karma?
It is exactly this! The world has too much negativity, people are turning more “empty” inside, the internet world shows a lot of superficial feelings… So why not be the point of light in the middle of the darkness? Why not have melodies, riffs, and grooves that make people have good feelings, while banging their heads at the same time? Pulling all the bad energy and thoughts out, and having lyrics that bring some reflection of people’s lives. These are the main points!
Musically, we can hear the Kamala’s trademark in this album, but now I feel the highest synergy among the members, and that you are sounding completely free to offer the best you can. What changed to reach this level in this album?
Many things…”Karma” was the first album that the producer wanted to record the rehearsals to check if the songs have the same impact in the record as our shows. As I remember, we made did process twice, and between two live recordings, Ricardo (the producer) gave us his feedback and we worked again on the tracks. “Karma” was the first album with the amazing producer Ricardo Biancarelli, and he had in mind that the album needed to bring the powerful vibe of our gigs. Making this was totally different than only making a pre-production recording in my opinion, which we also made, as always. Another cool fact was that 2 months before we entered the studio, we played 3 of the new songs on a European tour, to check the impact they would have on the metalheads.
After the album release in February of 2023, you embarked on your 7th European tour. But from what I could see on your Social Media reports, this time you had better support and played in better places. How would you describe this tour?
It was really, really amazing! Every tour we try to reach more people, and with a lot of work to schedule the tour over the years, we always try to go one step further each time. Trying new cities, repeating cities, and trying bigger venues, along with repeating venues where we have a personal connection, because they always have a great vibe. For sure we are looking forward to the next one.
In this tour, you even played with an Orchestra for the first time. How was this experience, from the rehearsal and arrangements, until the experience on stage? And are there any plans to release it as a video?
It was AMAZING! I don’t have words to describe it, but I will try. We only had 1 rehearsal, that was on the same day that we had 2 gigs in the afternoon. We arrived at 9AM, set the gear and rehearsed until lunch time. When I saw the orchestra playing the intro of “Internal Peace”, I couldn’t hold my tears back, when I looked to Isabela (Isabela Moraes – Drums). To cross the ocean, and have amazing musicians who are also amazing people, playing your songs… It was wonderful.
The 2 sets on the same day were amazing and the last show of the tour was not on our plans, but we were lucky to be able to repeat playing this special show in another French city. For the video, we released some vlogs of these special moments! And we can’t wait to repeat this in the near future, with a longer setlist.
Picture by Corentin Charbonnier
Although you have toured more in Europe than in Brazil, you’ve recently played important concerts in your country as well. First a short tour in northeast Brazil in 2023, then you returned there to play in a huge festival called Abril Pro Rock. You also were invited to be part of the 2024 edition of SBO Rock Fest, near your home city, with Sepultura as headliner. How are you feeling about this recognition in your own country?
We always work for that, and it means a lot to us to take these new steps in our own country. To do the first tour in northeast with good friends and cool bands, meeting amazing people for the first time, was totally important, as was receiving the invitation for one of the most legendary festivals in Brazil, Abril Pro Rock! And after 6 months we returned to Recife (Northeast city where the festival happens), to be part of this amazing fest. Also, being part of a festival as big as SBO Rock Fest for the first time, alongside Sepultura on their farewell tour, was special! It was our 3rd time as an opening act for Sepultura, and they are the main Brazilian band that grab the attention and show the power of Brazilian metal worldwide. It was a night of celebration!
Also in 2024, Kamala was part of Diabolus in Musica exposition on the Philharmonie de Paris, in Paris (France). It put Kamala as one of the few Brazilian bands in a huge exposition of Heavy Metal like that. How did you feel when you saw Kamala there?
It’s IMPOSSIBLE to find words to summarize our feelings about it…the exposition happened between April until September/2024. Isabela and I had the opportunity to visit and see it with our own eyes in September. Having KAMALA stuff there, with tons of Heavy Metal items, that were by our heroes, that inspired us to be musicians, was really amazing!
Still talking about “Karma”, this album showed us a new and important musical element which was Isabela Moraes singing with a beautiful voice while playing drums. How it happened and how was the fans’ reception of it at live concerts?
It was something that simply happened…the first album mix was with Allan vocals, but just when we finished the mix and started to search for an international label, Covid-19 happened. Just some months after, we broke up with Allan (that now is back with us after almost 5 years), and that time we need to record again his vocal lines, and as had some clean vocals with difficult riffs, I knew that will be really uncomfortable for me to play and sing, and we just wanted to search a bass player focusing in his playing and not someone that play and sings…so Isabela said “I will take vocal lessons and I will play and sing the clean vocal parts”. She took around 3 months of classes with our friend and awesome singer Maya Silva, and just after that she recorded. The result was amazing to us and to the producer, Ricardo Biancarelli, and he said “it’s so good, that I think that you guys need to think to have Isabela vocals as main vocals in some parts, and not only as backing vocals”, and he was totally right! We felt that it brought a new vibe for the songs, and at the same time, we always loved melodies. The feedback of the media and fans was very positive!
My friend William Ribas, who is also a huge fan of Kamala, mentioned once that you put together the best of two worlds. The old School Thrash Metal with the Groove of new bands. How have you found a good balance between it?
It’s just happened! I believe that it is something natural, because we love that Old-School Thrash style and we also love to make songs with a lot of groove. We make the songs that we wanna listen to.
The bassist Allan Malavasi returned to the band and you are now have the same line-up as you did when you were about to record the previous album “Eyes of Creation” in 2018. If you look at how much you’ve all evolved as a band, and as a person, what are you proud of, and what do you think you could have changed in the past?
We believe that everything in life happens for a reason, and we broke up in 2020, because it was the best decision for the band at the time. It was also to keep our love, respect and friendship for each other. And to prove that it was the right decision, after more than 4 years, life wanted us to play together, and when we made had a rehearsal the night before the SBO Rock Fest, we looked at each other and we just felt that it looked like we played together last week, it was crazy. The show was AMAZING and the energy on-, and off-stage was wonderful. After that, Isabela and I felt that we needed to talk with Allan and have an open heart conversation, to find out his feelings, and explain ours, then plan and check many points to bring back band members…and here we are!
Thanks for your time. As a fan, it is always an honour to talk with you, guys. Please let your final words and the band’s plans for 2025.
Thanks again brother, we’re also your fans and the support that you give to many bands around the world is something really beautiful! Our plans for 2025 are keep promoting “Karma” with gigs here in Brazil, and also in October we are going to return for our 8th European tour, that has a KILLER FESTIVAL in France already announced, called “Omega”! So stay tuned for more news about the upcoming European tour, because we are working hard as always, to connect more people with our art.
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