The SL Enquirer: Loopman Blep

LoopMan Blep is from São Paulo, Brazil, and studied at Conservatório Municipal de Guarulhos in Guarulhos. He has been involved in music in real life for more than a decade and performed in many places in Brazil with bands, duo projects, and also solo. He collaborates with several artists from his city recording guitars, and keyboards, mixing, mastering, and even producing songs. Loopman brings his talent into Second Life with the music he sings, such as Brazilian and International pop, rock, reggae, and popular music, and covers international songs from famous musicians like Seal, Foofigthers, Linkin Park, Kansas, LimpBizkit, Lil Nas X, and many more. Each song is sung from the heart and he delivers at every show. He captivates his newfound fanbase and encourages them to make requests. SLE met up with him after winning a feature after his participation in Open Auditions at The SL Enquirer Media Center on November 4th.

Interview with Loopman Bleb

SLE: Everyone’s journey to the virtual world is different. Where are you from and how did you discover Second Life?

Loop: I am from Brazil, born in 1990 in the city of Guarulhos São Paulo Brazil, I have lived here for exactly 32 years. I just discovered Second life through John Rocky a singer who has been in Secondlife for a little over 5 years. Thanks to John I discovered the platform of things that are in here.

SLE: What a great opportunity to work with someone seasoned in the SL Music scene. We are glad you are here. You have an interesting avatar name, what inspired it?

Loop: I love my name, Loop has a lot to do with the things in life that everything starts and ends and closes a cycle, and moreover it is related to the music of course, in this case, looping pedals which is one of the accessories I use with my guitar in my shows in real life and virtual life, it allows me to record an arrangement and then play something else on top of this layer. My last name in fact is something funny that somehow is connected to music, which is Blep a kind of sound that we hear in the mailbox or when we receive a message.

SLE: That’s a very creative name for sure. You studied at Conservatório Municipal de Guarulhos in Guarulhos. Can you tell us about your educational background and how it helps you today?

Loop: My study, I confess that at the beginning of the classes was very boring, at this time I was around 13 years old and any child would love to be playing several instruments instead of reading and studying the theoretical part. But I realized how important it was when I learned to respect the time of each musical note or person, I realized that over time I learned to listen to each detail and each note, and I also realized how sensitive my hearing is. It also brings along good movement coordination, balance, and discipline and without a doubt, I think it contributes a lot to each person's professional growth and concentration. And last but not least it is the musical evolution.

SLE: That is great that you learned at an early age to have patience and self-discipline when it comes to your schooling. Thinking back to when you were a kid. Who most inspired your love of music? How has it affected the music you perform and write?

Loop: I remember that when I was a child my father and mother had a disagreement and separated for a while, so I went to live with my mother in my grandparent's house. A few days passed at their house and I began to notice that every Sunday at 4 pm a neighbor would sit on their patio and play his guitar, I became interested in music, so every Sunday I was there waiting for him to play his guitar. One fine day my mother gave me a toy guitar, and I tried to reproduce what I heard the neighbor playing, the Brasileirinho song. A few weeks went by and I managed to play the same song on my toy instrument, then my parents saw me doing it and decided to give me a real guitar, time went by and I dedicated myself to learning, I bought some magazines with chords at newsstands and tried to play everything I heard on radios, CDs and records. Nowadays my compositions are made with so much affection, and lyrics of good things, I love to use references from the first music that I learned in life, I like to write songs with good energy, positive and constructive. Today the songs that I play and sing and musical creations have small rhythmic and melodic influences of the first music that I learned in life when I was a child and listened to my neighbor play my compositions are with positivity, joy, and things that add to the life of each person.

SLE: I do love hearing that you get the joy from music that many other performers we have interviewed do. Having a closeness to the music as you do truly shows in your performances. You have been involved with music for over 15 years in real life. Can you tell us about your experiences?

Loopman: I started working with music when I was 18 years old in events at social events and in needy communities in the region where I lived, as the years went by I joined my first reggae band as a keyboardist, we played in some places and bars, that was essential for my learning and evolution, as the years passed I followed new musical experiences with different bands playing in private and public cultural venues. In this story many things happened, there were good moments, bad moments, good moments, and others that didn't pay, but in fact, the best moment was when I participated in a band of visually impaired people, the band Tribo de Jah, I spent a little more time together with this band, it was very pleasant to share the stage with these guys, each one of them had an incredible talent, their senses were very sharp and they had a tremendous skill with their instruments, I can say that this experience contributed at least 50% of my musical evolution and as a person. Now a disaster tour was when I accepted to do some shows along the Brazilian coast with a band called Levi Ras, it's funny how many things went wrong hahaha, he hired me to play keyboards, said we would have good fees and at least 2 shows a day because none of that happened, we had to sleep with 6 people inside a small car, he had not closed shows, so where we stopped the car he would get out of the car and go to bars to try to get a show, the worst thing was going 3 days without taking a shower, but it's not over yet, on 1 of the days we had to play in exchange for hamburgers hahaha, but that's okay like everything in life there are good times and bad times.

SLE: You have come a long way from singing for hamburgers. Thank you for sharing your hardships and gains. It is tough to work hard and fail and get back up and keep on moving forward with your passion. In the end, it is all worth it if it makes you happy. Do you write your own music? If so, How would you describe your music style?

Loopman: Talking about composition I can say that this is something new for me, I've been an instrumentalist for a long time so it never crossed my mind to compose music, but when the pandemic arrived in brazil in 2020 and we had lockdown spending days and hours at home I started to write some things, then I was creating and recording some arrangements, and little by little it took shape until my first track came out. Titled Intolerant Dub which was produced and mixed by me. I can say that my musical influence has a very strong root in Jamaican reggae, Brazilian popular music, reggae, rock, pop and etc. But I really like to play different genres and I could say that I'm eclectic.

SLE: Amazing that you were able to use the negativity of the pandemic to make it a positive to further your musical career. What types of instruments do you play?

Loopman: The instrument that I have the most affinity and contact with is acoustic guitar and electric guitar, but I have already ventured into other instruments, I was the bassist in a reggae band called Sons de Bob and I was also a drummer in a rock band called União do Gueto and lastly I was the keyboardist of the band Bamboo_br for 10 years. Currently, I play electric guitar, melodica, harp, and keyboard but the main thing is the guitar.

SLE: You are a well-rounded performer. As a new musician in Second Life, what do you think about performing virtually compared to real life?

Loopman: Really doing shows in a virtual way has been wonderful, there are so many places and so many people, not to mention the diversity of singers and talents spread across this universe, I never thought I could be inside my house making live music for people all over the world. I see people supporting the singers appreciating, vibrating going to the shows, and making music within second life brought me a lot of learning and many friends too that I will take for life in memory. I have dedicated myself and tried hard to deliver the best for these people and I have seen that people have liked it. With regard to real life, it is really different, besides the Brazilian music market is saturated, our art is not so valued, and it is very difficult to be accepted by people who dedicate themselves and deliver a great job, the fees most of the time we just manage to pay our accounts. But the good thing is that there is an incredible opportunity in the metaverse and I'm willing to do my best and conquer my space along with great singers who are already successful on the platform.

SLE: The Metaverse is an incredible place for all kinds of talent and skills. You are part owner of AudioHouse in Second Life, can you tell our readers a little bit more about that venue and your goals for those that perform there?

Loopman: AudioHouse is a place that will be open 24 hours for the common users, we will have open chat except during the shows, we have an environment with games and we will have live shows with the team members. AudioHouse was founded in partnership with ArishaFlame and aims to self-promote new musicians giving space and voice during their shows, our idea is to direct everyone who attends our space to live performances and attract owners from other places to give opportunities for new arrivals. We have a team of students that we help until they become a little more independent and are able to move forward with their careers, and when everyone is ready, we can make our team bigger. We are open to partnerships, you can become one of us and help the younger ones, contact us.

SLE: I like the concept of your venue. There needs to be a place where new performers can go and get the help they need to succeed with their peers. How often do you perform in Second Life, do you have a calendar and group that fans can follow?

Loopman: In Second Life my availability is from 7 am to 7 pm, I have a few shows during the week, and I keep working to get more opportunities. I have a google calendar and a group called "LoopMan Live Sessions" where people can join to receive concert notices.

SLE: Music is a universal language and is an important part of every culture. Thank you for sharing your story with us. Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers?

Loopman: I would like to thank you, who got me here, the " SL Enquirer " for this incredible opportunity to tell a little of my story, I would like to thank John Rocky who showed me this universe of SL, and mainly thank all the people who support me and who attend my shows and was always by my side. And if you like LoopMan Blep to do his shows, he's eager to meet you. Also to the places that want to give an opportunity to LoopMan, he is available