BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts presents Dead Combo, Tuesday, March 10, 8 p.m. at the Electric Owl, 926 Main St., Vancouver. Tickets: $28 at the door/$25 in advance at tickets.capilanou.ca.
Hunched over in his chair, Tó Trips deftly plucks the strings of his electric guitar, his face hidden by the brim of his bobbing top hat while one sleek white shoe taps out the rhythm of his song.
Standing next to him, in aviator shades and a dark pinstriped suit complete with a flower in the lapel, mustached Pedro V. Gonçalves embraces his double bass.
Together, they are Dead Combo, a guitar duo from Lisbon, Portugal. On stage, the musicians incarnate two comic book-like characters: Trips is an undertaker, Gonçalves is a retro gangster.
They formed their musical duo in 2003 after they were asked by a radio station to record a track for a tribute album in honour of the late Portuguese guitar virtuoso Carlos Paredes. Gonçalves comes from a jazz background and plays double bass, electric guitar, melodics and keyboards while Trips comes from rock 'n' roll and plays electric and acoustic guitar. Combined, they create instrumental folk music with a distinct Lisbon flavour.
"We don't really know exactly what our influences are," Gonçalves admits. "Basically, the both of us listen to a lot of music," he explains. "When we compose we just let it all out in a way, so it all gets mixed." The resulting sound has hints of nostalgic Portuguese fado, Ennio Morricone's spaghetti western compositions, jazz, rock, world music, and the list goes on.
Dead Combo has released six albums since its inception. The most recent, A Bunch of Meninos (2014), topped the charts in Portugal. Last year, the pair sold out more than 40 concerts in their home country and also performed in England, France, Germany, Austria, Mexico, Brazil and Macau. This year, they are touring Canada and the U.S. for the first time, with a stop in Vancouver.
With titles like "Waiting for Nick at Rick's Café" and "Mr. Snowden's Dream," the tracks off of Dead Combo's latest release suggest a strong narrative. But according to Gonçalves, telling a story is the last thing on his mind when he and Trips are composing. Their cinematic videos and highly visual album covers, evocative of film noir and Quentin Tarantino, are usually an afterthought to the music.
"We try to get a story to justify the song in a way, like the title and everything, but before that we don't even think about anything, we just play," Gonçalves says.
Dead Combo is the first of two Portuguese acts that BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts is presenting this month as part of its Cap Global Roots series. Fado artist Camané, also making his Canadian debut, will perform March 20 at Kay Meek Centre in West Vancouver.
