wOMAN iN pANIC

wOMANI_iN_pANIC - buy digital:
wOMANI_iN_pANIC - Bio:
THIS IS MY STORY as I know it. I can’t be more honest with you and I don’t want to pretendthat I’m different just because I’m an artist, but sometimes I feel a little disconnectedto the world…
I was born on the 1st of February, 1975, Lisbon, Portugal. My Horoscope, that actuallylooks more like a Horror Scope, talks about the tendency to criminal acts and thepossibility of accidents with electricity (you can’t imagine how many times I waselectrocuted)
WHAT IS YOUR RELATIONSHIP TO MUSIC?
Since the day of my conception I’ve been listening to music. My Father was a musician inthe sixties and I believe that he always dreamt that I became a musician. My name is PedroGabriel, a tribute to Peter Gabriel, one of his favorite musicians of all time.
WHAT ARE YOUR INFLUENCES?
In my early years, I was bombarded with the sound of bands like Yes, Genesis, Alan ParsonsProject, Mike Oldfield, etc… As far as I remember, the first time I enjoyed music was atthe age of 6, with Duran Duran, due to my sister’s influence (who is 9 years older thanI). How could I be so naive at that age? So, the arpeggios became a part of my life, mymajor addiction.
DO YOU REMEMBER THE FIRST RECORD YOU BOUGHT?
The first record I bought was a 12”, Iron Maiden’s “somewhere in time”. Led by the brutalcover designs that made some of the best merchandise t-shirts that I’ve seen, Iron Maidenintroduced me to Heavy Metal. I was only twelve at the time… Other Heavy Metal bands(Helloween, Scanner, Slayer, Anthrax, etc…) helped increase my love for music. I startedsinging along with this records and I started scratching my father’s acoustic guitar.
WHEN DID YOU START PLAYING MUSIC?
I got my first guitar at the age of 14, it was a birthday present and since that day mylife changed. I stopped skating, I stopped playing computer, I lost a couple of friendsand I played guitar as much as I could. But I still watched horror movies and theHitchcock series on TV… I had a dream, a stupid one, but I had one! My dream was to recorda heavy metal album, full of solos, at the age of 19 and to be famous (this meant playinglive at Wembley for over 20.000 people) at 21!
WHEN DID YOU START PLAYING IN A BAND?
When I was 16 years old I had my first band. I was the youngest, and I was deeplyinfluenced by the rest of the musicians. They introduced me to New Wave and SuburbanDepressive Rock. Suddenly bands like The Cure, Killing Joke, Fields of the Nefphilim andThe Chameleons were my favorite ones. I don’t want to shock my parents so I’m not going totell what other things I did at this age! One year later, I started a second band withsome guys from school, and due to to the lack of a singer I started to sing while I wasplaying the guitar. We survived the Nirvana phenomena and kept on doing heavy music…Acouple of years passed, I became a darker person and the music evolved to a gothic rock,leading to the release of my first record at the age of 23. At this time I was in college,studying architecture and I felt some kind of discrimination because of my long hair. Icould tell the story of a crazy teacher I had, and how I felt he wanted to put an end tomy life, just because he didn’t like my hair! Maybe I’m exaggerating a bit, but the truthis I felt discriminated and I just wanted to poison him… Instead, I did cut my hair, justbecause I was convinced that I would have more girls around me! And you know what?Suddenly girls started talking to me…
TELL US ABOUT YOUR FIRST ALBUM
In 1997 I recorded my first album! I had to assume production with the other guitaristsince there was no budget for the Canadian producer. It was a great experience! A halfyear later, the band wasn’t happy with the “underground metal scene” in Portugal and wewere a bit tired of waiting for record labels, so we decided to learn more aboutproduction and we changed the name and style of the band. I bought a computer with asoundcard and I stayed locked up in my house, without going out, for 2 weeks, learningabout midi programming. This was the course of my life. Somehow, and suddenly, electronicmusic had no more secrets to me and for the first time I felt free to do anything that Iwanted, but I wasn’t getting what I wanted from music. So, I started learning martialarts, Japanese and Chinese. In addition, I found myself in the depths of meditation,searching for the real Nirvana! In my search, I found that the only way for me to reach itwas through music. I had really pleasant moments meditating (and dancing) listening toElectronic music. I was in trance without drugs and this gave me more strength to continuemy music career. In a certain way I became Zen!
HOW DID YOU GET TO THIS PROJECT?
In the year 2000, I decided to participate in a contest called “Young Creators”, with 100%digital music. This was the beginning of Woman In Panic, initially called Fizz (myfavorite ice cream of all time). Some of the tracks are in this album…After that, I justkept on working on new tracks. At first, the rhythm of production was slow, but in thelast 3 years the desire of putting a record out made me work harder and harder, leading tothe composition of more songs with vocals. My personal life changed direction and I wasspending all my time on this project, in between gigs, rehearsals, recordings with YouShould Go Ahead (my other band) and my current job (as an architect for the city councilof Lisbon). I finished the record and here it is! I’m happy with it and I hope you’reenjoying it as you’re reading this…My major goal is that you can meditate listening to it,and if that avoids you killing someone, I'll be fulfilled.