Rachel McMahon from Ireland's The Event Guide speaks to Nuno Bettencourt of Boston rockers Extreme:
13 years after the release of their last record, Extreme have just finished their 5th album, ‘Saudades de Rock’, out last August. Lead guitarist and backing vocalist Nuno Bettencourt considers the album; “I think this time it actually turned out better than I had hoped for.” Of the record, the guitarist considers that “It was just kind of whatever we came up with and, you know, came up with in the rehearsal space. Whatever we wrote - we were just trying to capture that the way it was.” The meaning of the album’s title (‘Sausades de Rock’ –roughly translated from Portuguese as ‘a longing for rock’) was two-fold, referring to their own desire to be playing after their extended hiatus, but also as a yearning for a greater volume of rock music to be made in general. As Bettencourt explains, “I think there’s a void out there of rock ‘n roll music” but adds also that it was “In a selfish way, for us to play it too.”
Forming in 1985, the band went through various guises until the present-day line-up of Gary Cherone, Pat Badger, Figueiredo and Bettencourt. Of these, only he and Cherone have been members since the band’s beginnings. “We were in two separate bands locally and we kind of met by chance”, explains Bettencourt of his and Cherone’s acquaintance. “We were doing a gig together and we stayed in touch through the years. And a couple of years later, he just asked me if I want to come down and jam with him,” recalls the musician. From the start, they noticed in each other a similar musical taste, as Bettencourt recalls, “One of the bands that kind of anchored us really was Queen, always.” However, about how Extreme should sound - “We had no idea!” he laughs, admitting, “We were never really sure what was going to happen. I mean, you have your heroes but as much as you want to, you never really sound like them.”
Of the band’s return, Bettencourt feels that “It was just time. Everybody had done all the projects they need to do and we were all kind of reaching out to each other at the same time. So we knew that, you know, depending on the new record, if it was something that we were excited about we were going to do it.” The reaction towards the group’s reunion has been “I’d say so far, so good. The majority of it’s been good”, the guitarist deems.
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