Bruno Medina

Los Hermanos is a rock band from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The group was formed in 1997 by Marcelo Camelo (vocals/guitar), Rodrigo Amarante (guitar/vocals), Rodrigo Barba (drums), and Bruno Medina (keyboards/keyboard bass).

Currently they are on an extended hiatus, performing some concerts sporadically.

Although the band is Brazilian, the name is Spanish, meaning "the brothers", which would be "Os Irmãos" in Portuguese.

Then students from Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Marcelo Camelo (journalism), and Rodrigo Barba (psychology) formed a band that mixed hardcore influences with the lightness of lyrics about love.

In addition, the band had a saxophonist, and, later, the keyboardist Bruno Medina, an advertising student at the same college, was incorporated to the group.

When the musicians Rodrigo Amarante (vocals, guitar and percussion) and Patrick Laplan (bass) joined the band, and with the output of three musicians of their formation (trumpeter Marcio and saxophonists Carlos and Victor), they recorded in 1997 their first material, the demos "Chora" and "Amor e Folia."

The demos affected the underground scene of Rio de Janeiro and later the Los Hermanos were called to play at the "Superdemos", a great independent music festival from Rio, and festival Abril Pro Rock, in Recife, Pernambuco.

The two demos eventually found their way to the hands of Paulo André, the producer of the Abril Pro Rock festival, in Recife.

The band was then invited to perform on one of the biggest alternative music festivals in Brazil, the Superdemo.

Their first album self-titled album, released in 1999, became a huge seller on the back of the hit single "Anna Júlia".

The album's success was driven by the song "Anna Julia" chosen - for the record - as the first single, for it was a number that resonated among young people, identified with the Jovem Guarda style lyrics, mixed to a musical group influenced by rock, ska and samba.

The album was produced by famed producer Rick Bonadio, known for his work with bands that were selling-phenomena.

According to Bonadio, he had been responsible for convincing the band to put the song in the final selection of the repertoire CD.

The single was inspired by a band producer's affair, and brought the band not only to radio stations across the country, but also to various events, such as agricultural fairs and soccer games stadiums and micaretas, and to play for more than 80,000 people in some of the country festivals, even with only one record released.

The band was a regular on popular television shows.

In just one semester, "Anna Julia" was already included in the top positions of the leading radio stations in the country.

Its music video, which featured the actress Mariana Ximenes, was constantly displayed on programs dedicated to both gender in channels such as MTV.

In just one year, "Los Hermanos" sold 300,000 copies emplacado and two singles in the hit parade, as the aforementioned "Anna Julia" and the second single, "Primavera".

The album also spawned a Grammy nomination in 2000.

In the Multishow award, in 2000, the band won the "Best Song" award with "Anna Julia", beating competitors such as Chico Buarque.

Camelo said, "Man, I do not even know what to say, I feel embarrassed to win a prize in a category where Chico Buarque is competing.".

The runaway success of "Anna Júlia", in some sense, overshadowed the rest of their career, leading some to think they are a one-hit wonder, despite experiencing success among fans and critics with other releases.

The song has been covered by many different artists, including Jim Capaldi with the guitar solo being played by George Harrison, in his last recorded work.

After the success of their first album, the band released Bloco do Eu Sozinho in 2001, leaving behind the hardcore sound that characterized their debut, instead favouring a mix of rock, samba, and other Brazilian rhythms.

Some of the songs on this album were played at Rock in Rio III.

The band lost bassist Patrick Laplan, who cited musical differences and started his own band, Eskimo.

"Bloco..."

surprised much of the public by being an album with (almost) no resemblance to its predecessor.

The euphoria of the first CD was not repeated in sales, and the band went on to play in smaller venues, with the decrease of their audience.

But from that point, the band gained a major ally in their walk: the public, which showed itself always more faithful.

Songs like "Todo Carnaval tem seu Fim" (first single), "A Flor" and "Sentimental", became minor hits, despite not much airplay.

After the release of the album, the critics begin to praise it.

It later gained some more notoriety, in the wake of big divergences between the band and their label.

The guitarist Rodrigo Amarante, now had more space in the band, with compositions like "Retrato Pra Iaiá", "Sentimental", "Cher Antoine" and "A Flor" (this one with Marcelo Camelo).

Their road back to a bigger audience was followed by their participation in "Fordsupermodels" (the band played on a stage, doing the soundtrack for the fashion show) and Luau MTV, a MTV show on which were included, in acoustic versions, songs from the first and second CDs, to later be released on DVD.

Bloco do Eu Sozinho, in spite of being considered (nowadays) as one of the best Brazilian rock albums of all time, did not have much impact in the media, mainly due to the conflicts with the label Abril Music.

The follow-up to Bloco do Eu Sozinho, Ventura, was released in 2003, and the band's sound was even more influenced by samba, choro and bossa nova.

Although these albums weren't as commercially successful as Los Hermanos, they were acclaimed by critics and generated a strong cult following which propelled the band to be regarded as one of the defining alternative rock acts in Brazil, mainly because of their elaborate lyrics and their mixture of Brazilian rhythms with rock.

The year 2003 arrived and already in BMG (now Sony Music), the Hermanos released the album "Ventura".