Simbiose
Simbiose (Symbiosis) is a brazilian band who played from 1974 to 1976. The nucleus of the band were the very talented musicians Leo Zilli ( Vocals, drums), Paul Nery ( guitars ,synths, keyboards) and W.Calabresi ( bass, electric and acoustic guitars), also known as members of the Progressive band Zona Franca. Today, Paul Nery and W. Calabresi are recording their solo works, while Leo Zilli runs a studio in Santa Catarina, where he produces music for commercial purposes.
Tell me about your history? How did you get where you are now?
It started all in Curitiba in the late sixties, when Leo Zilli and W. Calabresi played in a band called "A Mákina" ( The Machine), along with Raul De Christo and Wilson Domingues.They played covers from bands like The Who , Beatles, CCR, Free, among other bands. They were still studying at the same school. In the last year, Paul Nery came from Sao Paulo, with lots of lyrics that he used to transcribe while studying English, and very little knowledge of guitar. Wilson was at the same class, and got interested . Paul Nery was starting to listen to The Guess Who, Deep Purple, Moody Blues and Yes, but also liked the music that his new friends were playing. Soon he was following the band rehearsals, and while giving them the lyrics of the songs, he was also improving his guitar playing and also writing a lot of songs.
When Wilson left the band to work in a bank, Paul replaced him, but he wanted the band to play his own songs, so they changed their name to Badbeer and recorded a vinyl single, back in 1973 with two pop songs, "GoinNowhere" and "Rainy Mondays and Sundays". They also played at several music festivals at the time. After the record, they decided to change the name and the style.. and Raul left also to work in a bank. "Mamão Desacorçoado" ( hard to translate) was a pre-punk band, with distorted guitars, heavy sounds and lyrics about anger and against the "system", whatever was it.They were very successful, and made some live shows with another band "Movimento Parado" that soon would change their name to "Blindagem", one of the most succesful rock bands of the state, still playing today. Together, they made a great gig at the Paiol Theatre. Paul , Leo and Walter ( yeah, thats the W.), influenced by the music of Yes, Genesis, Moody Blues and other progressive bands, changed their name again and formed "Simbiose" , that recorded some demos that were exhaustively played on the radios. The three were at the University now, and time was becoming short for them to play. They changed their name to Zona Franca, and started to record again. At this time, Walter had moved to the bass, and Paul was playing the guitars and his new Craviola. Along with Leo, they wrote their most successful song: " Caramelos de Sonhos" ( Dream Candies), later changed to " Terra de Sonhos" ( Land of Dreams, due to censorship...:) Before the studio recordings, Paul left because of the medical school, and then L. Gotti and Lucio F. Gil joined the band ( drums and guitar, respectively). But Paul would ocasionally appear as a guest, specially when the band played his songs. The original members played together many times, good friends that they still are, and their last live show was in 1985.
Have you performed live in front of an audience? Any special memories?
Simbiose played live several times, always with a great audience.
Your musical influences
Progressive bands of the late sixties and early seventies.
What equipment do you use?
Guitars, bass, drums, keyboards, flute...
Anything else?
Paul Nery is taking the old band tapes, working on them with the computer, and soon there will be more songs here.
