BLITZ 40 years: “There were other publications that, for one reason or another, ceased to exist. BLITZ has a unique consistency”, Hélio Morais
As we enter the countdown to the big party for BLITZ’s 40th anniversary, at Meo Arena, in Lisbon, on December 12th – with concerts by Xutos & Pontapés, Capitão Fausto, Gisela João and MARO –we asked musicians, promoters, journalists, radio hosts and other personalities to go to the trunk to retrieve memories from four decades of history, also leaving us a message for the future.
Recalling the strangeness with which his former band If Lucy Fell reacted to finding themselves on the pages of the then newspaper BLITZ, Hélio Morais, now from Linda Martini, PAUS and an artist in his own right, praises the transversal appeal of the publication. “It was recognition of having reached a more comprehensive validation. When you were talked about in BLITZ, it was a feat for the bands”, argues the musician, “with If Lucy Fell it was strange because we thought our sound was super disruptive and wouldn’t have much space, but they ended up talking about us. It was impactful. Everyone had this desire to be talked about on BLITZ”.
“It made a lot of sense for If Lucy Fell to appear on ‘Loud’ and ‘Rock Sound’, because it was a much noisier sound, and then Linda Martini made a lot of sense on BLITZ and ‘Rock Sound’. In other words, since I started making music more seriously, BLITZ has always been the publication that impacted us the most because it was the one that gave the most space to music”, adds Morais, “then there were supplements or specific things in other publications, but especially dedicated music was just BLITZ. And ‘Loud’, but in another field, in a completely different universe from Linda Martini.”
Traveling back to the most distant memory, the musician recalls the “Pregões & Declarações” section: “I sent a announcement, I don’t know if it was published, because I was looking for a double pedal. At the time, I still didn’t know André [Henriques] not even Claudia [Guerreiro]but I already had a band with Rui [Carvalho] and I remember at one point we thought about putting out an ad for a band we were doing, the first band we had… I think we were looking for a bass player, but I’m not sure anymore.”
“Continue to exist” is what Hélio Morais asks of BLITZ for the future. “We have a publication that talks specifically about music. There have been other essays, other publications that, for one reason or another, end up ceasing to exist and BLITZ has a unique consistency. It’s super important to continue to have space to talk about music, I’m just sorry that there isn’t a physical publication.” And he continues: “[na BLITZ] I read about more things mainstreamabout less things mainstream. I read about music every day. It’s a job that’s not easy either, talking about various things that happen every day, so I think the best job they can do is to preserve themselves. I think it’s very important for the music that they continue.”
