Tell Me Why?
An Interview with Aggeu Marques of Hocus Pocus.

For 7 years now you may have seen him around. Either singing with a completely Paul-alike voice - yet with a unique style, or wandering around playing jokes and charming everyone who meets him. He's been to Beatleweek for nearly as long as he's been married - quite a milestone for a Beatles fan from the countryside. Being so friendly, he's probably got many of you among his friends' list - nevertheless, he's been involved with some controversy regarding his ex-band mates that turned everything upside down for a while. But he started over, and now he seems to have fulfilled every one of his dreams - or maybe not!!! Last April 28, when he turned 36, he told us he thought it was unfair - he wished he could be 18 forever. Little does he know that, when you get close to him, you can hardly think he's any older!!! In any case, he has his grown-up side, with his adorable wife Angela, his successful medicine career and so many great stories to tell. Here's everything that is to know about Aggeu Marques - still if you want to know more, you'll have to ask him next year, preferably with a Scotch and Coke in your hand...

What have you learned from your childhood and your past?
The most important thing is what you learn when you're in a nice family. Try to be yourself, try to be the nicest you can, be honest, treat everyone the same way, no matter what their social or economic position is - I think that's the most important thing my parents taught me, and if by any chance today I treat respectfully everyone in my life, either hierarchically above or below me, and I'll treat them all the same way - that's due to my parents education.

How did the Beatles come into your life? How did they change it?
Since I was a little kid - I can't forget that I was a kid at the end of the 60's, and at those times something funny happened - when a couple went out in a date, they had to take a kid along, in order to keep them from being too close, to watch out for them - and the ones I was going out with were luckily true Beatles fans, and I was always with them at parties with Beatles music so it entered my life when I was 4 and it never left - the Beatles are part of everything I planned for myself, both professionally and personally.

What's Paul McCartney's influence in your life? What would you tell him if you met him? [Nina, Eleanor and Helen did!]
His influence... well, he's always been my favourite Beatle, so I always enjoyed his singing, and it's influenced my singing - I think he's influenced partially my way of talking, sometimes I'm a bit theatrical, that's somewhat Paul influenced. Maybe he's not influenced much the meaning, my view of The Beatles - which is more likely to be John Lennon's. The main influence anyway is in song writing, as to the melody, the harmony - the lyrics are also somewhat John influenced. Now, what would I tell him if I met him? "Hmmm... hmmm.. ahm... aaaaah!!!!" I mean, after the initial shock... You have no idea how much you changed my life.

How do you handle both medicine and music? Would you choose one of them?
I want it all - that's why I chose both. I want everything, I'm always looking for something else, and I chose two things to do. It's peaceful - I go to the stage as serious as I'm in a surgery and I see the patients with the pleasure of being on stage. I can't go without any of them - one can't live without the other.

What's your view of success? Do you feel like you've got it or is it still to come?
I never chased such thing as success. I think the one thing you have to look for is prestige - you have to do it right, in any kind of profession, you have to do it well done - then you get prestige. If the people like what I do, that's because I'm trying to give my best in everything, sometimes even more than I actually can, both in medicine and music - if they like it, that's probably why, and if they don't, that's probably because I still didn't get there, still didn't show everything I could. Now, I don't pursue success, I don't even know if I want success in any of the professions - I just want to be doing the right thing, and if I'm not doing it I just want someone to point the way for me.

What are the most important things in life for you? ("Such a subjective question", I said.)
The most important... well, everything - even the bad things, (a subjective answer all the same!). Everything that happens is important, since it's an experience. My work is important, my family is important - my family as in my wife, or my family as in my parents - my music is important, the people that are around it, that live with it, are important, my patients are important, I mean, everything in my life is important - if something wasn't important at all, then it wouldn't be part of my life. So it's everything - and the bad things are so we can learn from them. When you live intensely like I do everything's valuable. (That's a good one!)

How did the Sgt Pepper's issue affect you?
I can't look back and enjoy the good things at that time. I've done some good things and I can't enjoy their memory. It left so many deep scars that I can hardly look back - and it's been a good time, there were a lot of good things.

What did you learn from it?
It's still worth it to do the right thing and be nice [to be in the bright side of the force]. Because after all that I've been through, people shooting from everywhere, the whole thing reversed naturally without one movement from me, I mean, the people saw it by themselves, the facts speak for themselves - and in the end Bill Heckle wrote that on the programme. He was only giving an account of the facts - and people should make their own conclusions - and mostly they understand it and they stand by me - and I don't think that can be wrong... "We believe that we can't be wrong" - you know? We're all on the same boat - or in the backseat of my car! I mean, all of that is nothing compared to all the affectionate demonstrations and the good things I've got from my friends and the people around me in my work - I mean, though the negative points still keep me from looking to the bright side of it, the positive ones are much more important.

Do you have any regrets?
I regret that I trusted people so much... no, I don't regret even that at all. I still think it's worth to trust people, because to me everybody's fine until you prove otherwise - which is exactly the opposite to how some people in Sgt Pepper's think - that everyone's mean until you prove otherwise.

What would you tell people about it that they don't know?
Regarding the two albums we recorded, Beto and me are not getting any royalties from the sales. I mean, we're part of it, we sang on every song and we 're not getting a single penny - and to think that some people haven't even played their instruments in all the tracks despite what they say. And, you know, I wish them everything that they wish for me… but doubled.

How do you feel about friendship?
It's great - it's the essence of life, the essence of all relationships, of everything.

What do you think of the fans?
In fact, there's no such thing, well, we're all Beatles fans - I'm a Beatles fan myself, so we're all in the same boat. We're no-ones idols, I mean, the best we can be is this bridge leading to the Beatles - but the truth is we share the same emotions, the players and the listeners.

Do these words (players and listeners) go together well?
They're one of the same - I mean, essentially it's the same thing... It's just great because most of the friendships I've got are related to the music scene - the people I've played with, the people that live with us. I've more friends into music than in the medicine, though I've made good friends that as well - but this here, I mean, it's great - so there's no difference. Maybe someday, in my solo career or whatever, I may have these so-called fans - and that's gonna be fine as well - but in the end it's all the same.

Do you believe in fate?
Totally.

Do you think life is "what happens to you while you're busy making other plans"?
Totally.

Did you ever expect to be where you are now?
No. Never. Considering where I started playing...[Montes Claros, countryside of the state]. All I ever wanted was to play in a nice Beatles band - I mean for my own pleasure. And after all, playing in Liverpool 7 times, getting so many friends, on and off the stage, and the recognition of the effort I've put into it. I'm not talking about success or anything, but just the recognition that I'm one of the people who helps this festival to happen, and I don't do that because I want to appear as a musician but because I like it a lot. In fact it's more important for me to be there offstage than onstage - to see the people, to meet the friends I've made in all those years than simply be on stage. I think I've got enough experience to say that. Of course it's great to be on stage but sometimes it just separates me from the friends down there... So, every little thing I've dreamed for me, when it comes to a tribute band, I've got it, and much more - actually much more than I deserve.

What endears you the most about Beatleweek?
The fact it's still with a rookie, an amateur spirit. It's the best thing about it... because you still can get a mutual respect among almost everyone who plays there, and a band will help the other one, like happened this year- I've lent the keyboards to a Japanese band, the guitar to Fab Faux, and we do all that normally - I mean, the best about it is there's no competition.

How would you describe it?
It's a friend's reunion. There's nothing better than that - I mean, it's so special and so intense that despite the fact that you only see them once a year, you can count them among your best friends. It's magical, it gets together even people who don't know each other; for example, Nina/Jo and Julie [smile]. Of course Beatleweek is responsible for that, and so much more. Beatleweek is responsible for The Word Is Love, it is responsible for Hocus Pocus, for Gary Gibson, so many bands - it's the catalyst for this entire chemical reaction. And when we think of it, I mean especially today, I was thinking about all that and we want not to be successful, but to meet the people - and that's about it.

What are your plans & dreams for the future?
For now, this solo career project [Alma de Vinil, which stands for Vinyl Soul] and to establish definitely in medicine regarding my area - ultrasound - in the city we chose to live - and as for Beatleweek, I hope to keep coming back there for the next 346 years - really, even if I can't get the energy to play, I still want to be there. I've committed myself to always be there so I can see all these people again who are so important to me - I can't live without them anymore.

Do you believe in All You Need Is Love?
100 %.

And what does it mean for you?
Luv? Everything. In any level - family love, brotherly love, with regards to friendship, relationships - you can't live without it. So it's really 'all you need is love' because you need love in everything you do. If you don't put love into it it'll go wrong, it'll only work out if you love it, and that includes work - you've got to like whatever you do, otherwise it won't bring nothing to you.

Do you have any message to send to TWIL?
The Word Is Love is the second most important thing that ever happened to the tribute bands - Beatleweek being the first. For the first time we could get a status beyond the people who're there with us. That is, we've been considered a little bit special - and I think I can speak for all the bands from all over the world, thanking for such a consideration. As I speak I'm looking at this Christmas card, us being placed among Billy J. Kramer, Cilla Black, Tommy Quickly, not to mention The Beatles themselves, right above, and all this affection by telling us the things that happen. There's nothing better than it - we hold them into our hearts and I'll take that for the rest of my life - and their work is purely affectionate, there's no interest at all, just friendship - and I take the chance to thank them for me and for Hocus Pocus. I did thank them last Beatleweek and in fact that was my obligation, it was the least I could do - the point is TWIL does much more for all the tribute bands than the bands do for the TWIL - we at Hocus Pocus always try to 'spread the word' but they deserve much more - and I'm sure it will spread out and still we'll keep close to the essence of it all which is the music of The Beatles. In the end we'll always find each other. Thanks a lot, Jo and Nina. See you next year, OK?

This interview took place at Schopenhauer (the place Hocus Pocus plays weekly) on 16 December 2000. The show was great, and they've introduced three new songs in the setlist; 'Let It Be', 'Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End', and 'Don't Let Me Down', along with 'In My Life', which they haven't played since August. All that is due to Beto Arreguy, who came back to the band last November replacing Eduardo Gallo in the keyboards. It happened less than a week before Aggeu enters a new level in his musical life: he'll go into the studio to record four songs of his own in a solo project, as a single that might well grow into an album in the future. Knowing the songs, I can tell you - you'll love it! The interview was, as said by Aggeu himself, "sponsored by Jim Bean", and in a deeper level, is dedicated by him for "the people who are underrated at Beatleweek, the ones who don't appear as much as they deserve to": Ray Johnson, Andy (the Scottish road manager), Bob Bartey and Banned on The Run (including Marcus); The Overtures, who have been great for a long time; and Det Betales, for their joy and their great attitude - "They're so easy handling that I wish all the bands could have the same fun they have in the festival, so it would be only fun, not any competition." And to Jo: " I still think you're 18!"

Juliana Ciccarini Nunes
TWIL Issue Three January 2001