João Erbetta

Ok, the mix is done and I’m mastering my new album. That means vinyl. I’ll repeat: Vinyl. For the first time in my life I will release my music on LP. Pretty excited about it.?Also, it will be available for download on Itunes, Amazon and all the other regular online vendors.?I’m also working on an website to tell about the songs, share some tech stuff (for the gear heads like me) and it will have an extra cool feature: I’ll upload the original backtracks for musicians to play along with my songs. Isn’t cool? For free. Download it, play along, record something if you want, show to me and share with your friends.
More to come! Soon.

Big day tomorrow as I play my first trio gig in San Francisco. I’ll be opening up for L.A based drummer Dylan Ryan. Todd Sickafoose and Jon Langmead will play with me.
The fun starts at 8pm. Hemlock Tavern is the place.?8pm, 1131 Polk Street, in between Post & Sutter, one block east of Van Ness Ave. $8.?I’ll prolong Mardi Gras, playing some Second Line for y’all.

My Namm Experience + Recording with Pete Curry (again).

I just got back from my trip to L.A, where I finished the recordings for my new album (“Music for Drama and Cloudy Skies”) and visited the Winter Namm Show, in Anaheim.
With Pete, we recorded two songs. One jazzy 3/4 song that I composed a month ago and a crazy “motownish” tune, that I came up with the melody not too long ago. Feeling great about those and I do believe the new album has a cool variety of sonds, moods and guitar styles. More to come on this new material soon.
I headed to Anaheim last Thursday after chating with Eddie Angel. I saw him with Los Straitjackets last night playing at Conan O’Brien. Danny Amis was on fire. Nice.
So, the Namm show is just too much. That was my 4th time there. I played a 30min set at the Santa Cruz Guitars booth on Friday. They are such nice people and, man, the guitars are just great. I remember when I first tried a VS and felt in love right there. It feels and sounds so right on. Well, That’s what I use now, live and on studio. Can’t go wrong with one of those.

After that I went upstairs to get to know the good people at the VHT booth. I’m in love with their amplifiers, with their honesty and bold moves promoting the “Special” line amps. I’m using the 6 watts “Ultra” version of it and loved the 12/20RT, with tremolo and reverb (with a tone control! great!). That might be my choice of amp for the next gigs. Let’s see.
At the Gretsch space, as usual, I picked up the great vibe of amazing guitars and very cool people that surrounds the guitar company. I saw my good friend Lynda Kay Parkersinging with Paul Pigat. It was very cool. Me and Paul Pigat were exchanging emails in the last 3 years, I guess. We finally met there and, oh boy, what a great player! I hope we can come up with something to play together in the near future. Classy.?I had a great time with old and new friends from The Gretschpages – the best website/guitar forum for all related Gretsch stuff. Seriously, the best source you will ever have. I’m very happy that Tim Harman is back on track, reporting everything about the Namm (as you can see here) and telling the news about his amazing Tru-Arc guitar bridges. What a gentleman.
I couldn’t be at the Guitar Geek Fest this time. Too bad. I missed the chance to say hi toDeke Dickerson. TK Smith was there too. I also missed Adam Levy, my friend Amanda Ruzza and Drew Zingg at the Namm. Maybe next time.
I’m still recovering from the energy from all of that. It was great to have cool people around me. Thanks guys.?See ya in 2014!

01/21/2013
?Happy New Year, folks! I had a great start playing with Adam Levy at Cafe du Nord on Jan 16th. What a great gig. He invited me to do a “jazzy-everything-goes” act, opening forTodd Sickafoose and Erik Deutsch. Just the two of us. Two guitars, no funny business. All I can say is that I really hope we can do it again.
I’m packing my stuff to go to L.A for two very special things:?1- I’ll be playing at the Santa Cruz Guitars booth at the Namm Show on Friday (Jan 25th) at 2pm. I love Santa Cruz guitars and their people. I have a special set for it, with original songs and some odd tunings. Stop by if you can. Say hi. I won’t bite.?2 – Before the Namm Show, I’ll be recording two or three new songs with Pete Curry, to finish my new album “Songs for Drama and Cloudy Skies“. Hopefully the album will be available till the end of February. Who knows?

More to come. Stay fresh.

12/29/2012
Ok, I’ll start 2013 playing with the great Adam Levy at Cafe Du Nord in San Francisco. Really. You don’t wanna miss that, right? Jan 16th, 7:30pm:?

10/05/2012
Ok, here I am in sunny California. I’ll be around for an year, studying jazz, opera and composition at Stanford University ( “The wind of freedom blows” ). I’m having a blast so far. Also, I’m dealing with raccoons, skunks and dozens of squirrels, trying to steal my cat’s food. Wonderful.
I’m still working on “American Landscapes” and I hope I’ll have it done by November. It will be an web media project. No physical CD. This project is leading me towards a more intuitive approach in music, using improvisation as a “guideline” (is there such thing?). More projects will be born based on that.
I’m already working on a new album with Pete Curry (Los Straitjackets). We recorded 10 new songs, on the fly, in three days at his Pow Wow Fun Room. There are some fuzzy sounds on it, which I think is cool. I might invite Jorge Continentino on sax, Mauro Refosco on percussion and some other good friends to add new flavors on it.
I hope I’ll have trio dates and my solo act booked asap in the Bay Area. I’m still busy with all those projects and a new life in California, but I miss the stage badly, specially after two years playing with Marcelo Jeneci in Brazil. Those were the most important music years in my life, while in Brazil. Seriously.
More to come soon. Stay fresh, stay cool. Enjoy Autumn!

American Landscapes

Here’s something special to me. “American Landscapes” is my first “solo” (as in playing by myself) album. It is still in production but I did a video to promote it. Discover the connection between my dad, National Geographic Magazine and my passion about the US:

03 de abril de 2012

Elegia

Me lembro do primeiro show do Los Pirata, num “boteco rock” na Vila Madalena (acho que se chamava “Vila Rock”). Palco ruim, som ruim e uma imensa vontade de tocar e se esgoelar noite adentro. Fiz isso.
Fizemos isso por mais de 10 anos.

Não me lembro bem do porque do nome, o porque de cantar em espanhol e outros detalhes menores. Sei que houve diversão enquanto durou.

Shows memoráveis: Goiânia Noise em 2003 (acho), Porão do Rock em Brasília, Demo Sul (2004?), SP Fashion Week, SESC Pompéia lotado, SWSX e todo o rolê norte-americano que resultou no nosso álbum “Les Show”. Sei que me esqueço agora de dezenas de outros shows interessantes.

As coisas mudaram bastante quando me mudei para os EUA em 2006. Mudaram ainda mais quando eu voltei pro Brasil. Acho que todos mudamos e isso é bossa-nova, isso é muito natural.

Fizemos nosso último show na semana passada. Som ruim, ligamento estirado num passo em falso na saída do camarim e a mesma imensa vontade de tocar e se esgoelar noite adentro.

Finito, done, caput. O futuro é agora. O futuro é Vortex.

23 de fevereiro de 2012

últimas notícias: Los Pirata, hoje no Metrópolis as 20h. Sintoniza lá pra ter uma prévia do que iremos tocar no show de sábado:

Participações de Guilhermoso Wild Chicken, Pélico e Rafael Castro. Como o diabo gosta.

Amanhã: Ora… Amanhã tem meu trio (com Regis Damasceno e Richard Ribeiro) no projeto na Sala Guiomar Novaes, na Funarte. 19:30h. Cedinho pra poder voltar pra casa pro chá das 23h. Simbóra?

Acabei de voltar de Recife onde toquei com o Marcelo Jeneci. Confira no meu Facebookos vídeos que já saíram. Sei lá quantas mil pessoas cantando o show inteiro. Intenso!

2012 já começa agitado: Capitão Monga manda pra fábrica 3 lançamentos do capeta:Hidrocor, Bazar Pamplona e Benjamins.
Eu continuo trabalhando loucamente na trilha do filme “Estação Liberdade” que, creio eu, esteja pronto lá pra junho.
The Panamericans começa a fechar a tampa do novo disco (em breve pinta um mp3 por aqui) e devo ir pra L.A pra dar o laço final na caixa e aproveitar e fazer uns shows com Pete Curry e amigos. Datas a confirmar.
Preparo “alguns” disocs acústicos/instrumentais para o primeiro semestre. Surpresa.
A agenda de shows está com novas datas e promete ficar cheia de shows do Marcelo Jeneci nas próximas semanas.
Feliz ano novo pra todos.