Drop D

Daniel Faria - Drop D information

Additional information

from Daniel Faria (25.05.2008):

Biography

Drop D, band based in Valongo [Porto, Portugal], formed in the Spring of 2001, when Joana Ferreira (vocals), Bruno Cardoso (guitar) and Jose Daniel Faria (drums & back vocals), coming from the band Timeless, invited Tito Fonseca (bass), who was at the time playing with Hi-Octane, to participate in this new project. Back then, they started with some cover songs, while they began writing their first originals.
Bruno Cardoso abandoned the project due to personal divergences with members of the band, and Andre Castro, former musical partner of Tito, came to fulfill his position (guitar & back vocals), in the Summer of that year. He brought the heavier influences that existed previously, but were so far hidden. They moved to a new studio (Captain Tracks Studio), a better place where they could continue to compose their songs, which became the main goal of the band.
Marina Faria, which had done some back vocals works with the band in some gigs, joined Drop D in May of 2003. In December of that year, the band recorded its first EP, called "Nothing with Anything" (in Echo System Studios, in Barcelos) produced by Rui Santos, Oratory's bass player, which was non-commercially published in January of 2004. The work had good reviews and some big national music labels were interested in producing the first studio album of the band.
The band only gets completed in 2004, with the entrance of Nuno Queiros (as a guitar player), also coming from Hi-Octane. With this new member, the band won a band competition, in their home town, and received the second best concert award, in the Festas da Cidade de Mirandela, competing with big portuguese bands like Mercado Negro, Blind Zero, Tanatoschizo, Easy Way or Line Out.
The beginning of 2005 was marked by an arrangement established between the band and a big Portuguese music label, which allowed that a demo CD could be distributed in the 40th edition of the well known International Labels Show Midem, in Cannes, France.
In the Summer of 2005, Drop D got the third place award in the Festival de Musica Moderna Portuguesa "Tiro ao Rock". Some needs had to be fulfilled, so the band built a bigger rehearsal room, which allowed better audio recordings. After this home exchange, the band started to participate in the Raising Legends events, sponsored by Headbangers Tour. From this contract, came concerts in famous concert stages of the country, such as Hard Club (in Vila Nova de Gaia) or Mare Alta (in Oporto). The band gigs started to appear in the concert lists of the two biggest metal Portuguese magazines: Loud! and Blast!.
In the Fall of 2005, Drop D returned to the studio to record their new tracks, and they would be non commercially published in December, in the EP "The Black Arrow". A month before this edition, the band received a third place award in the Festival de Bandas de Garagem de Paredes de Coura. Through that year, the band had contact with labels and music agencies, although they preferred to remain independent, awaiting for the perfect time to sign a contract. Several concerts followed until September of 2006, mainly in the North of the country.
After 5 years of non stop activity, Drop D chose to stop for a few months (a "stop" with a second place award in the Concurso de Bandas de Valongo in between), to gather new ideas and to prepare the line-up change due to the friendly departure of Nuno Queiros. After some months of search, with several musicians that didn't reach the band expectations, the decision was taken: the entrance of Bruno Falcao Lhano, friend of the band and member of its staff, as a bassist, while Tito Fonseca switched to the guitar.
Nowadays, Drop D are preparing the professional recording of their first album in their new Bullstrike Studio, in Valongo.