Titãs

Beginnings and first works

Most of the band members met at Colégio Equipe in São Paulo at the end of the seventies and, after their first live performance at the school itself in 1981, the band began to perform live in several night clubs around the city. The first formation was: Arnaldo Antunes (vocals), Branco Mello (vocals), Marcelo Fromer (Rhythm guitar), Nando Reis (bass guitar), Paulo Miklos (sax and vocals), Sérgio Britto (keyboards and vocals), Tony Bellotto (Lead guitar), Ciro Pessoa (vocals) and André Jung (drums). It was a pop/new wave-styled band, with a rather conventional sound and odd looks, with tender and little ball neckties. In 1984, without Ciro Pessoa, who left over a disagreement about André Jung's drumming skills, the band signed with the WEA label to record their first album, Titãs, produced by Pena Schimdt, and featuring songs previously recorded with Pessoas's vocals. Although poorly promoted and hardly a success, the band spawned their first hit: "Sonífera Ilha", later recorded by singer Moraes Moreira.

In 1985, with Charles Gavin replacing André Jung on drums (the latter going on to Ira!), their second album, Televisão, produced by Lulu Santos, was released with tighter arrangements than their debut album. Not only was the title track a great hit, the album was more heavily promoted than the first one and brought more opportunities to the group.

Into the spotlight

In November 1985, Tony Bellotto and Arnaldo Antunes were arrested for heroin traffic and transportation. The episode made so much of an impact in the band, the next album, Cabeça Dinossauro, released in June 1986, contained a lot of tracks criticizing the public institutions ("Estado Violência" and "Polícia"), as well as other "pillars" of the Brazilian society and indeed society in general ("Igreja" and "Família"). The heavy and punk-influenced rhythms and the forceful lyrics, characteristic of the band in this phase, are fully represented in this album which is considered by the critics one of the best works of the group and one of the landmarks of the Brazilian rock.

Jesus Não Tem Dentes No País Dos Banguelas, released at the end of 1987, continued in the same vein as the previous album in tracks like "Nome aos Bois", "Lugar Nenhum" and "Desordem", however adding samplers in tracks like "Corações e Mentes", "Todo Mundo quer Amor", "Comida" and "Diversão". After some international performances, the band recorded some of their hits in live Montreux Festival and released Go Back in 1988. The biggest hit to come out of Go Back was a live version of the song "Marvin" which is a re-invented version of "Patches" by Clarence Carter made famous by Elvis.

The producer Liminha (a former adjunct member of Os Mutantes) was always an important associate of the band since Cabeça Dinossauro, and this association arrived to its climax in Õ Blésq Blom, one of the most popular productions of the band by that time. Some of the prominence tracks: "Miséria", "Flores", "O Pulso" and "32 Dentes". One of the prominent features of this work was the special guest appearance of a couple of improvisors, called Mauro and Quitéria, discovered by the band in a beach in Recife.

First changes

The band had arrived to a decisive point in its history and the next album, Tudo Ao Mesmo Tempo Agora mark a strong yaw at the musicians' style, searching for heavier, alternative and authorial sound, along with scatological lyrics. The members themselves produced the album and the work was possibly the final reason for Arnaldo Antunes to leave for a solo career. The following album, Titanomaquia, in 1993, continued the previous work in a way, with heavy instrumentation and aggressive lyrics, only now produced by Jack Endino, producer of important bands like Nirvana, which contributioned for the grunge-influenced sound.

The MTV Unplugged era

In 1995 the band decided to take a break for one year during which many of its members decided to work solo or work with other bands (most notably Nando Reis), or to do different activities. Tony Bellotto, for example, wrote his first book.

The band released Domingo in the end of 1995, but its popularity only reached a second climax on the commemorative work, Acústico MTV (MTV Unplugged), their most successful album, released in 1997, which sold 1,7 million copies. Recorded Live, Acústico MTV not only revisited their career up to that point but it also had a song which became an immediate hit named "Pra dizer Adeus".

This record was followed by Volume Dois, modeled in the same way of their unplugged album, only recorded in studio. The cover album As Dez Mais wasn't very successful (despite Aluga-se's and Pelados em Santos' charting) and the band decided to make another interval in 2000.

On June 11, 2001 Marcelo Fromer was rammed by a motorcycle in São Paulo and died two days later of Brain death. It was a hard stroke to the band, which started recording their new album the day after. A Melhor Banda de Todos os Tempos da Última Semana was released at the end of 2001 and brought "Epitáfio" as the prominence song and "the title track as the first single.

Regarding the death of Marcelo, this statement was published on June 20, 2001 at Titãs official site:

The band later saw the departure of Nando Reis, who has since lead a successful solo career (including songs penned for other artists) fronting his own band Nando Reis e os Infernais. He announced his parting on September 9, 2002, giving "thought incompatibility" as a reason and also saying Fromer's and his close friend Cássia Eller's deaths left him very upset:

After Nando's departure

The band hired the bass guitarist Lee Marcucci (from Radio Taxi) to play in their album Como Estão Vocês? (How Are You?). As this album was released, the five remaining members continued to write the history of more than 20 years of the band. With self-help hits as "Enquanto Houver Sol", questions on relevance remain on Titãs' side, which faced declining sales and the ageing of their fanbase.

In 2005, they released another MTV-branded album, only this time in a non-acoustic live performance. This album generated a new hit for the group, called "Vossa Excelência", that basically criticizes the hypocrisy and lack of care from politicians, thus bringing the band back to its roots. It was seen as another opportunistic stunt by Brazilian critics, as the song was released exactly when Lula's government was facing manifold accusations of corruption.

On February 18, 2006, Titãs opened the Rolling Stones free concert at Copacabana beach, Rio de Janeiro for an audience of some 1.5 million people.

In 2007, the band started a tour, entitled 25 Anos de Rock (25 Years of Rock), joining Os Paralamas do Sucesso to celebrate the 25th anniversary of both bands, as well as the 25th anniversary of the rising of 1980s Brazilian rock bands. The two line-ups played together most of the time on the shows, presenting also some invited musicians, like Arnaldo Antunes, Andreas Kisser and Dado Villa-Lobos. The concert in Rio de Janeiro, which took place at January 26, 2008, was recorded and filmed. The resulting CD and DVD from the show were released five months after.

Documentary and Sacos Plásticos

The band released a documentary of the 25 years of their career. The documentary features 90 minutes of images collected since the beginning of the band, including recording of albums, live performances, and more. It is titled "Titãs - A Vida Até Parece Uma Festa".

For most of 2008 and early 2009, the band recorded their 13th studio album, the Latin Grammy-winner Sacos Plásticos. The album was released on June 3, 2009, through Arsenal Music. The producer, Rick Bonadio, had already worked with artists such as Fresno and NX Zero.

The first single from the album was "Antes de Você" ("Before You"), and it received radio airplay on May 7. It was featured at the Caras & Bocas (current 19pm Rede Globo telenovela) soundtrack. The second single was "Porque Eu Sei que É Amor" (Because I Know It's Love) which was featured in Cama de Gato (a Brazilian telenovela that also features the song "Pelo Avesso" as opening theme, from their 2003 album Como Estão Vocês?) and reached #16 at Brasil Hot 100 Airplay

In an interview to Jornal da Tarde, and regarding the music of the new album, Bonadio stated:

Gavin's departure, tour and 30th birthday

On February 12, 2010, Titãs announced in their official website that drummer Charles Gavin would leave the band for personal reasons. Gavin later stated that he was physically and mentally exhausted because of the tours and album releases. The quartet continued their performances of the Sacos Plásticos tour with drummer Mario Fabre, which is still with the band as of 2014, though not as an official member. Fabre was suggested by Gavin himself. When asked about the status of Fabre in the band, Bellotto explained that "he is the official drummer! He's the drummer of Titãs! But he isn't one of Titãs, because our history began long ago, at Greek mythology... "

During an interview, keyboardist Sérgio Britto said the band was planning to start recording a new album in 2011. Nothing else was said since then, until March 2013, when they revealed they were starting to work on a new album, to be released in the second half of 2013. The album will be self-produced, and, according to Britto, it will be "a mixture between Cabeça Dinossauro and Õ Blésq Blom.

In January 2012, the band announced a live performance in company of ex-members Arnaldo Antunes, Nando Reis and Charles Gavin. The show would celebrate the 30-year career of the band, and would include guest performances of other friends of the band, and may be released as a DVD. According to vocalist, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Paulo Miklos:

The reunion took place on October 6, 2012, in São Paulo. For the first time since 1997's Acústico MTV, the seven original members of the band reunited for a one-night performance. According to guitarist Tony Bellotto:

Titãs Inédito and Nheengatu

As of 2013, Titãs has been performing new songs live, part of their Titãs Inédito (Titãs Unseen) tour. They are planning to begin work on a new album on April or May 2014. Miklos says the album is likely to be "heavy, dirty and mean". Later, Britto confirmed that the album would be released in early May and that the band was already recording songs for it, but it was yet to be titled. In March, radio Globo FM announced that the album would be actually released in April and would feature 14 tracks. On April 16, the band announced that the album was ready and would be really released in May, via Som Livre records. On April 28, they announced the title, cover and release date for the album, which is called Nheengatu and was released on 12 May. On August 2015, they released Nheengatu ao Vivo, a live album and DVD with songs from their Nheengatu Tour.

On February 2016, they opened a Rolling Stones Brazilian show for a second and third time, this time at the Morumbi Stadium in São Paulo, on two different dates.

Miklos departure

In July 11, 2016, vocalist, guitarist and founding member Paulo Miklos announced he would leave the band to focus on his personal projects. He was then replaced by session member Beto Lee, son of Brazilian notorious rock singer Rita Lee.

His first recordng with the band is a version of "Pro Dia Nascer Feliz", originally by Barão Vermelho, for the soundtrack of the 24th season of Malhação, a Rede Globo series. With Lee's inclusion, the band recovered some old songs for its live setlists, including Titanomaquia's "Será Que É Disso Que Eu Necessito?" and " Nem Sempre se Pode Ser Deus". they also started to have Bellotto sing in some songs.

Also in 2016, the band announced a new album for a possible 2017 release. According to Bellotto, it will be a rock opera, and the band intends to enter the studio until mid-2017 so the album is released in the year's second half. Drawning inspiration from albums such as The Who's Quadrophenia and Green Day's American Idiot, the rock opera will have its story written by Hugo Possolo and Marcelo Rubens Paiva.

Members

Discography

Awards