Oscar Pinho

Amerika

Oscar Pinho

 
After some unfruitful tries to play an instrument I got invited to be
the bass player of Cagalhões, a quite original hardcore band from
Aveiro: It didn’t matter that I couldn’t play because they were as
lousy as me. Played with them in 1987 and 1988 until I got fed up
with their careless attitude towards music and after doing only 1 gig
(a pretty violent one).
During 1987 and 1988 I did a weekly radio show with Marta
Machado. The program was called Minuto D’Ódio and was mostly
directed to the disclosure of hardcore punk music with lot of social
and political issues being featured. In spite of the good intentions it
was poorly directed but it gained quite a following in the region. It
was syndicated in one of the free (pirate) radios that existed back
then - Radio Chaos - they were all shut down by the government at
the end of 1988.
In 1990 Guilherme Lucas invited me to play bass in Cães Vadios,
with whom I started to take playing a little more seriously. Cães
Vadios music then could be broadly classified as post-punk. The
band played all over Portugal, made several appearances on
national tv and was close to being successful, but made the
mistake of not recording a propper album - with them I recorded a 4
track demo and several tracks that were included in compilations.
Cães Vadios ended up in 1995.
In 1994 I did 4 gig as bass player for Renegados de Boliqueime, a
happening punk band, but didn’t want to compromise for longer. I
deputized with them again in 1997 as guitar player for a festival as a
substitute for their guitarist who had an accident.
I did Sociology at University, which was a bit of a disappointment,
and almost finished the course - it didn’t happen because in 1995 I
got an invitation to do the Porto’s franchising of the Lisboa´s
independent record shop Carbono. This venture successfully lasted
till 1999 when the Lisboa shop decided to part ways with the Porto
one, when the shop turned into Piranha - I stayed with Piranha till
2006, when left starting another record shop with my beloved wife -
Lost Underground, a more personalized project which lasted till the
end of 2011. Finances were not going good and we decided to stop
before we got in any kind of debt.
By 1996 I started to do some deejaying, first in the famous Comix
bar (where I was resident), then in several other places and
festivals. Recently I got bored of that activity and gave it up.
In the meantime I also started to occasionally promote gigs,
bringing several touring bands to Porto. I started in 1997 at the
Comix bar, then did some at a bigger venue (the good old Hard
Club), then in Porto Rio (a boat in the Douro river). It was in Porto
Rio that I formed with some friends the Cooperativa dos Otários, an
informal association held to promote gigs with quality foreign bands
(mostly) without the intention to make any profit.
In 1999 I formed Speedtrack with Frágil, who was in a hiatus from
his other band - Renegados de Boliqueime. This time I played (badly)
guitar and did most of the composition. We played a sort of a high
energy punk’n’roll. The band lasted till 2005, when I decided it was
enough. We only recorded a studio demo.
In 2003 I also started to play bass in Motornoise, a harder punk
band (with a saxophone included) with Frágil (again) as vocalist. I
quit in 2008. I recorded one album with them.
In 2008 I played strings live on the only 2 gigs that the conceptual
black metal band Cabidela did. In 2009 I recorded guitar for the last
release of shamanic doom band Profan (a split with Josué, O
Salvador em Busca da Perdição).
From 2011 to 2013 I played bass in Tinnitus, a furious grindcore
band. It was when I started to heavily incorporate effects into my
playing but didn’t record anything with the band which sadly ended
up due to personal differences.
From 2012 to 2013 I worked as a doorman and event producer at the
established venue Hard Club (in its second installment). Then my
wife and I made an unsuccessful try to emigrate to Norway (it
lasted around 3 months).
By the end of 2014 we opened Cave 45, a bar/rock venue which
lasted till the end of 2017. This place had a steady diet of gigs and it
seems to have left a very fond memory around here but a lot of
problems made us quit.
In 2018 I formed Necro Chaos with Morto. I play bass in this band
relying heavily into effects which gives the death metal we play a
sort of a psychedelic coloration. So far we recorded an ep - released
in 2020.
I got into fx pedals by the time I started to play guitar in Speedtrack
but it was only in 2018 that I got heavily into it. By 2020 I
discovered synth pedals and during the pandemic shutdown I got
into the wonderful world of synths and a new Pandora box opened
up for me…
With time my taste in music spreaded to a myriad of genres (as well
as my recorded collection), I’m still discovering stuff, recent and old,
and I hope to do so till I die.

Necro Chaos- Bandcamp

Necro Chaos - facebook