The Daily Spreadsheets
The Daily Spreadsheets are the retro rock/ power pop music of Henrique Neves. Neves, a 41 years old bedroom musician born in the state of Bahia, Brazil, now living in Minas Gerais, has been writing songs since the age of 14, heavily influenced by The Beatles and 60’s British Invasion, 70’s Power Pop, 80’s and 90’s American alternative rock and Britpop.
Call it a day
Nach "I walk alone" und "Keep" ist Henrique Neves aka The Daily Spreadsheets nun mit "Call it a day" am Start und ich kann bereits eines vorweg nehmen, dies ist bisher mein Lieblingssong von ihm.
Der neue Track hat diese gewisse Mischung aus Indie-Rock, Brit-Pop und vor allem diesen psychedelic Touch welchen den Song in einem anderen Licht strahlen lässt. Die Vocals von Henrique, wie immer mit einer Färbung der 60er versehen, kann dieses mal auch mit einer "Brit-Pop der Anfang-Neunziger" Note aufwarten und überzeugt dabei auf ganzer Linie. "Call it a day" by The Daily Spreadsheets or a perfect song for a perfect day.
Q&A
The Daily Spreadsheets are/is...?
Henrique Neves, a Brazilian musician born in Paramirim and raised in Cruz das Almas, both in the state of Bahia, and now living with wife and two dog daughters in Divinópolis, state of Minas Gerais. I'm 41 and I started to record and release the songs I have been writing since I was 14, mostly because pandemic made me feel the urge to show off these tunes, as if my time was really shortening due to the disease scare. The "band" name is a joke about my job task, which consists of basically filling and updating boring spreadsheets on a daily basis.Who inspired you to make music in general?
The Beatles, for sure! As soon as I heard their discography in depth I decided to learn how to play guitar and melodies started to sprout in my head. In my mind I was destined to be part of "The 90's Beatles" or something like that, and the release of "Anthology" TV series made me feel even more confident about that.
...and especially to the song "Call it a day"?
Well, after my Beatles phase I started to discover other amazing bands, mostly 60's British Invasion groups and The Beach Boys at first, and then more contemporary stuff like Smashing Pumpkins (my second musical love affair), Oasis, Blur, Supergrass and the whole Britpop movement, which really moulded my songwriting style. This song "Call It A Day", for instance, has many elements from britpop bands like Stereophonics, Oasis and "Everything Must Go-era" Manic Street Preachers.
I have read that your first album will be released soon, what can we expect?
You can expect 10 songs, some of which have already been released as singles, but for the album I got all of them mixed and mastered through an analogue tape machine by American engineer Manuel Mata (insta @manny.mta).All of the tracks drums are real and were provided by Argentinian drummer Guille Gardeazábal (insta @guillegardeazabal), whom I hired online and whose style fit perfectly my organic retro rock power pop sound.
What is your favorite Track on your upcoming album?
I'm really proud of a song called "Everybody In The World", which will be released as a single before the album, because it captures so well the Britpop feel of bands like Blur and Supergrass, although it's one of the newest tunes I wrote, by mid 2020. It shows me I'm still very influenced by what I heard the most when I was a teenager, and I hope this never goes away over time.
Do you remember your first ever self written song?
Yeap, it was a song I wrote before I learned to play guitar, so I only had the lyrics and the melodies, no chord progressions. It was called "Why Haven't You Been Here?" and it sucks big time - LOL!
What was the first ever Pop/Rock song you listened to?
Wow, that's impossible to know for certain, right? Might have been some song from The Beatles or from some Brazilian 80's rock band, when rock music was the most popular style in the country. But if I have to dig really deep in my subconsciousness I must say it was "Time After Time" by Cyndi Lauper, because my teenage aunt had this single and it was always on my grandma's turntable when I visited her house. It turned out to be my favourite song of all time as well!
What is your creative process like?
It almost always starts with some melody appearing out of nowhere in my mind and getting stuck there for days, months or even years. It's only after it that I grab my acoustic guitar and find the right chord progression and add some other parts, hooks, solos and everything else. It's quite hard for me to write a song on purpose or with a deadline.
What do you prefer, a live gig or a studio session?
I have a huge stage fright, but I find it quite amusing to be playing live a while after the gig finally begins, especially when it's a friendly or excited crowd, but the recording process is the best thing about being a musician for me, and I love every aspect of that, even if I'm working at a tiny bedroom home studio.
When do you decide that a song is ready for a release?
Actually they're never ready for me, I just give up and put them out. In fact I'll always rework a song and re-release it if I have a chance - LOL. But sometimes I might leave it alone if I notice it's working out for most people who listen to it. In a perfect world the songs should always evolve or change according to the songwriter's will at any given moment.
What’s next for you?
After "Call It A Day" I will re-release "I Walk Alone" with the new tape machine sound by mid-november, and after that I might release "Everybody In The World" as of late november to early december. Meanwhile I'm starting to think about different pieces of musical content (for the songs that will be on the album) I'll be putting out on social media, like everybody does these days.
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