ÁTOA

They are called ÁTOA because in the beginning it was like that, everything was a bit haphazard: they formed a band out of nothing, they made songs when they felt like it and they didn’t have any big goals. They are 4 great friends from Évora and today reality has changed: they have two goals – to make good music sung in Portuguese and to please the public.

They say that their songs are like a mirror that reflects the way of being of the 4 friends and their everyday experiences. And they say they are more than a band, more than a group of friends. They are a family!

It all started when they were still children. Guilherme (voice, guitar, piano) and João (guitar, voice, piano) met when they were 6 years old and almost always studied at the same school. From an early age they discovered that they shared the same taste for music, they began to get together to play and produce their first compositions.
After basic education, they returned to study together at the Conservatório Eborae Música in Évora, and their taste for music and composition grew.

At the conservatory they meet Rodrigo (drums, percussion, voice, piano).
They come to the conclusion that they need a drummer to give more body to the songs and invite Rodrigo to play with them.
Things work so well that they realize that this could be the beginning of a band. It’s time to find a bass player and they invite Mário (bass, guitar), João’s friend since high school.

Mário is the only self-taught member of the band, he says he learned to play with the lights off to decorate the guitar neck. Guilherme studied piano at the conservatory, learned to play the guitar out of curiosity, and today plays the piano, guitar and ukelele, in addition to the beautiful instrument that is his voice. João learned to play the piano and guitar in the 3 years he studied at the conservatory, surprisingly he played for 1 year in a fado house in Évora. Then he decided to come and study in Lisbon, just like Rodrigo, who after reaching the 5th grade at the Évora conservatory entered the Escola Profissional Metropolitana in Lisbon, where he studies percussion.

With the full band they compose more and more, and in just 4 months they have completed more than 10 songs. The composition is shared by the 4, while the writing is in the care of Guilherme and João.
They decide to record two songs in the rehearsal room and put them on YouTube.

João becomes aware of the existence of Tradiio, a digital platform where artists can upload their music and the public can invest in their favorite compositions through virtual currencies.
Convinces ÁTOA to make the songs ‘Falar a Dois’ and ‘Distance’ available on Tradiio.
They then begin a digital campaign, through the official Facebook page and each person’s personal pages, with the aim of winning the Tradiio challenge.
The prize for the challenge would be recording a live video. And they won!

But they didn’t just win the challenge and the video recording. Tradiio has a partnership with Universal Music through which, every month, Universal proposes to one of the 50 best placed on the platform the digital distribution of a single.

In the selection process, Universal came across ÁTOA and immediately realized the band’s potential, the freshness and talent existing in those two compositions available on the platform.
Universal asked to hear more, and ÁTOA performed live and without a network more than 10 songs that convinced unequivocally.
From that moment until the signing of the contract, it took just a few weeks.

ÁTOA finds its biggest references and influences in pop sung in Portuguese, almost unanimously citing Miguel Araújo, Tiago Bettencourt, António Zambujo and os Azeitonas as a source of inspiration. Mário, the rocker on duty, mentions Ornatos Violeta and Diabo na Cruz.

ÁTOA wants the public to identify with their songs and with each one of them, to feel that they are part of those stories. They wish they could continue composing for a long time and that they could somehow leave a mark on Portuguese music.

They are from Évora, and unfortunately Évora doesn’t have a great history in Portuguese professional music, so they are eager to cross paths with professional musicians. They long to hear your stories, share theirs, learn. They look forward to the road, to doing shows. They dream of shows that are always a party, with the entire audience singing and interacting with the band, with the audience being part of this family of friends. They dream… like all 18 year olds.