Doomed Confessionary: Hermano Marques (Earth Drive)

Hailing from Montijo, Portugal, alternative heavy psych rockers Earth Drive are currently gearing up to release their new album »Light Codes« later this year via Raging Planet Records.

So far, the band released an EP and two albums on Raging Planet: »Planet Mantra« EP in 2015, »Stellar Drone« LP in 2017 and »Helix Nebula« LP in 2020, with recognized merits from the national and international underground press and was also worthy of excellent reviews.

Earth Drive are Sara Antunes (vocals), Sebastião Santos (drums), Fernando Matias (bass) and Hermano Marques (guitars, vocals).

Can you say a few words about your band?
The band is characterized by its powerful sound that alternates textures of melancholy and black psychedelic overtones. Holistically is a solid band and melodic with the heaviness that this genre needs. Earth Drive can be hypnotic, cathartic and visceral.

What was the biggest challenge for the band last year?
Well the last year we were pretty much on the process of finishing the record with the mix and master, doing all the art work and videos, photos and arranging all the content to deliver an honest and authentic work to share with our followers and to possibly connect with others that may feel that the band resonate with them. It was all a great challenge because we were not playing many shows and that’s what we love to do to connect on a deeper level with our audience and grow with all of that cathartic and humanistic experience to be among people. So being away from the road, the stage and people was a big challenge. For sure on a personal level there were a lot of commitment and other sacrifices that were for sure big challenges individually for us to keep looking forward as a band and a group of friends that respect each other.

What can you be most proud of so far?
We are very proud to keep doing this as a part of our lives. Like we said before, we are very proud of the commitment to the band and to the music that keeps leading us and teaching us a lot about ourselves and about the intrinsic belief that our music can resonate with people in a way that can also help them to cope with their own issues. So we are very proud of the work done so far and grateful for all the help we have had from many people and for sure from our label Raging Planet for always believing in us.

What was your biggest regret?
There are no regrets. We did our best with the known version of ourselves that we had at the time and we keep evolving ourselves individually and as a band to be the best versions of ourselves and we try to do our best in life and as musicians. Eventually we did and we will make some mistakes but that’s the process of life and the development of all of us as humans. So we cannot regret anything assuming that we always try to do our best to respect everyone and ourselves to keep moving forward without the weight of regret or guilt.

What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
Every show has its own message to us and it is hard to say what is the best one. For sure there are gigs where we perform better then others but sometimes the perceptions and emotions of each one of us are different between shows so it is hard to define what was the best one.

What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
Unfortunately the biggest surprise was the nightmare of the pandemic but it was also a great way to see how creative everyone was to keep doing this and sharing their art the way that it was possible. So in that regard it was great to see how resilient artists were in that period of time and the way that is being reflected nowadays with the great art that comes up from that period and the way everyone is using the knowledge gathered around that time which is being helpful now.

What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
There are a lot of bands doing great stuff and it is quite difficult to name some and leaving others out, but the last records from Rezn, Temple Of The Fuzz Witch, AAWKS, Ritual King, Sasquatch, Modder, Destronomer, Somali Yacht Club, Villagers Of Ioannina City, Hippie Dead Cult, Inter Arma, are great for sure.

Can you say something more about the music scene in Montijo / Portugal?
Yes there is a lot of great stuff growing here for sure. We have a great scene here in Portugal evolving and there are a lot of bands doing great music, labels putting out great bands, and a lot of promoters trying to build solid festivals and events that are helping a lot to keep Portugal on the visible spectrum for a lot of heavy music fans around the world. So we invite you all to visit Portugal and if possible investigate the bands, festivals and labels we have around here.

Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
We are still planning our presentation gigs and the following tour. So when we have everything ready we will share. There is something that may come before that but we cannot promote it already.

What are your plans for the future as a band?
We wish to continue together doing what we love for sure and to be able to promote this new record that will come out in the fall the best way we can.

How can people best support your band?
For now it is always great that people can get our new single and merchandise that we have available at our Bandcamp, if it is possible for them of course. It is also a great help if people can subscribe to our YouTube channel and share our content with friends. We will appreciate that for sure.

Do you have any message for your listeners?
We wish that people can always resonate with love, empathy and with a deep belief in themselves and humanity. Please do what you love and align your thoughts with the best vibes you can, align yourself with peace and feel that connection that will grow with the best version of yourself.

Links:
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube

Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well