Bela, Basilio and Gabriel Ferreira are Menage! A hot pop-rock trio that are ready to take over the world! (Photo courtesy of Effective Immediately PR)
By: Jacob Elyachar, jakes-take.com
Ménage is the latest band to tackle The Five Question Challenge!
Bela, Basilio and Gabriel Ferreira spent their childhood traveling between Toronto and their ancestral home in a small town in Portugal.
Between listening to the traditional Portuguese music and listening to the Beatles, each sibling wanted to pursue a career in the music industry.
While Basilio and Gabriel performed in numerous bands and shared the stage with Stone Temple Pilots and My Chemical Romance, Bela ventured out on her own and found success with MTV Portugal. Once, the trio reunited in Los Angeles… Ménage was formed!
Their song: “Our Time is Now” won Best Rock Song of the Year at the 2014 International Portuguese Music Awards and was featured on the hit teen drama Degrassi. The trio will also release their latest EP next week!
For this edition of The Five Question Challenge, the trio talked about how their sound stands out in the overpopulated music industry and the challenges that the trio faced while recording this EP.
Jacob Elyachar: Could you please share Ménage’s origin story with my readers?
Bela Ferreira: Ménage is a dual vocal, alt-pop-rock band with stories to tell.
We were three siblings from Toronto, Canada who moved to Los Angeles to get inspired, write more music and play for more people. We had always written music but had been in separate projects until it seemed like we had been avoiding the obvious; working together. It was after years of getting over our differences (musically, and personally) that we finally decided to give it a go a couple of years back. We added a couple of good friends to the mix, Dave Haskett on bass and Elliot Boult on guitar. It has become a bigger family now. We have never looked back.
JE: How does the band stand out in the overpopulated music market?
Basilio Ferreira: Our music is sincere, the emotions behind each story we tell, are vivid and based on our life experiences. We have a certain element of “family road trip” when we are on tour and that good and/or bad element spills into the music and onto the stage. We have five very different personalities with five very different musical backgrounds and influences taking part in making up what ultimately becomes the sound of Ménage. We have each given up a lot to be in this band and in this life style. We put all else behind our art, and each other.
JE: What were some of the challenges that the group faced while recording your EP? How did the group overcome them?
Gabriel Ferreira: We recorded the EP after touring extensively in support of the debut CD. The songs we were writing following the tour, were songs with the audiences in mind. It became all about how we could share these songs in a live setting. It seemed we had more to say, than ever. We wanted it to translate properly onto a studio-recorded album; capturing that energy and adrenaline you feel on stage. It was scary that we might not make these songs come to life on disc, the way they had come to exist in our heads. But I think we killed it. When you’re in the studio with David Bottrill, Mike Phillips and Ted Jansen; it has somehow magical how suddenly the impossible becomes possible!
JE: 2014 is ending in two months. What can fans expect in the final months of this year?
Bela F: We are currently filming a new music video for the next single. Writing the next EP, and performing in the CMJ Festival in New York, as well as Canada’s Indie Week Music Festival.
JE: If the band had the chance to meet with aspiring groups who want to have a career in the music industry, what advice would you share with them?
Basilio F: Keep your priorities in check. It’s easy to get caught up in everything else that comes with the music. Just keep it about the music and everything else will follow.
To learn more about Ménage, visit their website: http://www.menagetheband.com/
You can also connect with them on social media! Visit their Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube chan
