Photographs by João Berberan and Alex Schuchmann / Interview by Alex Schuchmann and Camila Mignon / 20min

Lisbon is a vivid city, packed with stories, old and new ones. It’s probably one of our favorite cities we have been to when it comes to meeting and engaging with other creatives. Since we first tapped into the core of its music culture through our friends Kyle Quest and STCKMAN, the band Manteau was always in the back of our heads.

We knew about them being around and creating music, but just now we got in touch with them – Some things happen when they are supposed to happen.

The band was born in 2020 and started from curiosity, friendship, and the desire to roam through the musical world hand by hand. Although José Salgado, António Jordão, João Carriço aka Janito, and João Girbal are originally from Portugal, they’re currently exploring their musical style through the use of different languages and diverse characters. 

After a year of jamming together during a worldwide pandemic, they began playing their first shows, but in 2021 the band was given the opportunity to play a gig at the Gliding Barnacles Festival in Figuera da Foz, which still marks a milestone for the four of them. Here they began believing in themselves as a band and realized that they were gifted with something.

Last week we sat down on a bench in Praça das Floras with José Salgado and António Jordão, the singer and guitarist of the band. We had a beer and talked about their approach to making music, and their slightly chaotic days right before their concert in MusicBox, in Lisbon. 

ALEX:
Hey guys, you have just performed your first show as a headliner. How was that? You mentioned you were quite excited, so maybe you can guide me a little bit through that day, How did it feel?

ANTÓNIO JORDÃO:
It was really surreal. I thought I'd slept pretty well the night before, but when we met up at 4 p.m.….

JOSÉ SALGADO:
I think you should start like three days before. 

ANTÓNIO JORDÃO:
Oh yeah, you go ahead. Go ahead.

JOSÉ SALGADO:
We lost our drummer Janito three days before the concert (He broke his arm) so we decided the concert was not going to happen. There was a period of 12 hours where we were like, okay, we're going to postpone this gig. So, we're starting to talk with the guys, our agent and after some calls, we realized: No, we should play this concert. 

ANTÓNIO JORDÃO:
We said: “Let’s rehearse on Sunday, and see what happens. If we feel like we can make it, let's go for it.”  And that's what happened. On Sunday we went with another drummer, who has a band too. And played four or five songs, like the easiest ones, feeling like this could work out. And we canceled the cancellation. 

Alex:
So you really had canceled it already?

JOSÉ & ANTÓNIO:
Yeah!

ANTÓNIO JORDÃO:
We rehearsed like 6 hours a day or something. 

JOSÉ SALGADO:
On the first day of rehearsals, we didn’t perform too well. The second time we realized, it could be possible. The third day we were like “We can actually do a good concert.” But on the day of the concert, we were still really nervous, nobody knew what was going to happen. It was the first time we were selling tickets. We were always sending messages to see how many tickets had been sold. So that day of the concert we met at 4 p.m. at the studio to get our instruments and went straight to the soundcheck. Obviously, it got delayed as well because the guy who is going to do our sound had our session prepared for a specific mixing table and now it was slightly different, so we had to restart everything. And then we had one and a half hours left until our concert. 

ANTÓNIO JORDÃO:
We ordered dinner at a restaurant but no food was coming for hours and time was running out. We called the guys who make our merch to come to the restaurant so we could sing the T-Shirts there. So half an hour before the doors open I’m just signing things and didn't have any dinner. I just said to Zé, go get some pizzas, cancel the restaurant. 

JOSÉ SALGADO:
I usually get very nervous before a concert, but this time I got even more. And 15 minutes before the concert somebody told us: “Guys, it’s sold out.”

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ALEX:
Wow that sounds like a rough start to the night. But in the end, you did really well. I realized that your song “Lisboa Continua”, was kind of a classic. People could sing the lyrics. That was amazing. Do you think it was a good concert and what did you take from it?

JOSÉ SALGADO:
I've seen many concerts in Music Box, so being on stage was totally surreal. And it feels like it wasn't really me playing the concert, it didn't feel like me doing it. Antonio and I were both really nervous. But João, the bassist put on a very good performance. And the drummer was also like on his own attitude, which really carried us through. So it worked out. I think if we were all in my or António’s state, it would have been something different. 

ANTÓNIO JORDÃO:
So for me, it was too real. I wanted like momentum and I was like too conscious about it. I was like “This is happening. I'm playing, there’s people.” I wanted more flow.

ALEX:
You mean because you were too professional about it?

JOSÉ SALGADO:
You were hyper-real. 

ANTÓNIO JORDÃO:
A lesson that I learned this time was, don't drink coffee before the show because I was feeling a little bit calm and tired and thought coffee, let's go. And then on stage, it was like I shouldn’t have done that.

JOSÉ SALGADO:
I also learned, don't drink coffee, don't eat pizza, don't drink beer. I was needing to burp during the songs and I was making so much effort to finish the line.

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ALEX:
Sounds like a good lesson. Speaking about the new EP Farsa, which means in English farce or comedy, what is the underlying message here? 

JOSÉ SALGADO:
We had these four songs and we were thinking, what brings them together? Because we see them as so distinct, we start off the EP with “Insitu”, a kind of reggae dub beat with those delays on the guitar. And then suddenly we're doing the song with more vulnerable lyrics. “Funny Hands” is more of a ballad. And then “The March of the Silver King” is a kind of hip-hop song with a fictional fantasy story. So it's like we've got these different characters that are all true. They're all us, but they're all farces at the same time. 

ANTÓNIO JORDÃO:
I just have one thing to add, I think we spent two years as a band now and I think we are just trying to find our sound and what we want to do. It's just about trying to find the proper language, that more specific thing. But we haven't found it yet. But these songs felt right to us. Farsa is like a little bit of everything and nothing really. 

ALEX:
So would you say that's also one of the biggest challenges you're facing right now, to find your kind of language? 

JOSÉ SALGADO:
It's as if there is a subconscious undercurrent of our identity coming through. Whether we're doing something more rock or more hip hop or more jazz, they're kind of by accident. Our identity comes through in that.

ANTÓNIO JORDÃO:
We’re leaving some stuff behind, and new ideas appear with more loose thinking. And I think right now it's about time that we are finding our proper language. Our Style.

JOSÉ SALGADO:
We do feel like there has been an advance from the first EP to the second one. It's a little bit more true to us. 

ALEX:
It's a matter of time for sure. With everything, every creative process. So I’ve known you for a little bit by now and I feel all of you have that artistic voice within yourselves, how do you combine all these different approaches to making music? You also said you want to allow yourself to just breathe through music. Just having that kind of experience, which is not about planning anything right away, but just letting it happen.

JOSÉ SALGADO:
Yeah, I think what's cool about our band is that there is always somebody within our band, will push us to take that next step. Whether it is about a concert, a song, or also this interview here. And it's always rotating. If somebody is really believing in an idea, then they will carry it and be like, guys, come with me, follow me.

And that's kind of how we write our music. We all have ideas, and we all contribute. And if somebody has an idea coming from belief, then we follow that direction.

ALEX:
That’s cool, very intuitive.

ANTÓNIO JORDÃO:
Yeah, and I think it's cool because the four of us search for different styles, and when we find unity, we’re keeping it up and start working towards the survival of the idea.

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ALEX:
Is there something like a band philosophy?

JOSÉ SALGADO:
I think there's no considered philosophy. We didn't start the band with a philosophy. It started from friendship and curiosity and being together. And I think that's what will keep the band going. If there is no friendship and the desire to spend time together, to write music together, to go to places, to play concerts - that's the fire that keeps us going. 

ANTÓNIO JORDÃO:
Yeah.

JOSÉ SALGADO:
Also the name Manteau, is a translation of an expression that we were using in winter 2020 to early 2021. It was really cold here in Portugal, like two degrees. And we were staying at my house and the heating was broken. So it was really cold. No warm water either.

ANTÓNIO JORDÃO:
It’s a joke that came from a WhatsApp video that went viral. An old Portuguese guy, saying “It's really cold”, “agasalha-te”. It's like the same word as Manteau. And then we started using that word for, everything like “agasalha-me” a beer or“agasalha-me” a jacket. And then like, our WhatsApp group name was always changing from, joke to joke. And then that name survived until the first concert.

JOSÉ SALGADO:
António was the one that didn't like this name in the beginning. It was just me and João. Yeah, the translation from “Agasalho” to Manteau we kept saying it. António was like, “No, no, no.” But we kept saying it because we believed in it. And then António was like, “Yeah, let's go then.” So if you think about philosophy it would make sense. Our music is something to warm you up, something to get you cozy.

ALEX:
As the name is also French, it brings up the question, how come you like to mix with all these languages? You have a French song, you have Portuguese vocals, and English vocals. Do you feel like you have a certain persona that you can express better in a different language, or where does it come from?

JOSÉ SALGADO:
In my case, because I lived in Switzerland, I learned French. I did lots of my education in English. I studied at a university in England, but then also in my case, specifically speaking for myself like I am, I can't just be one thing, to say that I'm just Portuguese is a lie, and to say I'm just Swiss is also a lie. I'm somewhere in between. And if I want to express myself, I can’t get it just in one language or in one place, or in one way. I don't speak so much Frenech here because it's not so present in my life, but I know how to speak it. And when it comes out there's a difference, it evokes a different atmosphere.

ANTÓNIO JORDÃO:
It's just like an instrument, I think. And we try to use it when it feels right and believe it's good.

JOSÉ SALGADO:
I think in our case and we as a band, we always spoke in this way, we don't try to subscribe to the classic English-American model of a rock band.

ANTÓNIO JORDÃO:
In the beginning, we were doubting about it because nobody does this. Is this right or wrong? And now I believe it's a good thing. I'm feeling it.

ALEX:
That's great. Where does your motivation to make music come from? 

ANTÓNIO JORDÃO:
I feel like I have something like a calling inside, and the music is one way of doing it. It could be painting or surfing, but music is just another way to do it. And I think when we bring the four of us together, we create an energy. We are joining forces and I think all of us want to do something bigger than ourselves. And trying to find that way, is the driving force. We don't know if we are going to make it through music, but it just has to happen.

JOSÉ SALGADO:
The same for me, music always wanted to happen, more than anything else in my life like studies, etc. When I met António, I was so desperate to find somebody to play with.I didn't really know many people to play with in Lisbon. We both felt, that it had to happen, it was stronger than me. And I think it has been the case for the band as well. I wouldn't say I'm an extremely confident person, but with the band, it's like “it has to happen” and “we're going to go meet that person” and “then we're going to play in this place.” And that's how we ended up in MusicBox. 

ALEX:
That's beautiful.

JOSÉ SALGADO:
It's strong. 

ALEX:
And I think that's also the reason why the show was sold out. People really felt that energy and it was true for me. It was just a beautiful concert. I could just fall in love with the new EP over and over again. It's so nice that you can have music that's out there and it's accessible to a broad audience all over the world. And people can listen to your music, and have their own stories related to your music, even though it might be a sad song or a happy song. I don't understand what you're saying in Portuguese, to be honest, but it feels good. 

JOSÉ SALGADO:
I think that's what you want. That's kind of the philosophy. It's the feeling. 

ALEX:
And what's coming next after that new EP? 

ANTÓNIO JORDÃO:
We don't really know if we are going to do singles or scoring like a new film and doing an EP or just to go for an album. We are still trying to figure it out. 

JOÃO SALGADO:
Yeah, I think for us it just has to be relevant and exciting. 

JOSÉ SALGADO:
And if it's relevant and exciting to us, it's fine. And hopefully, it transmits to people.

ALEX:
Alright guys, good luck with that. Thank you so much for this inspiring conversation.

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