Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Where Are They Now: Wagner Lamounier



When I was younger and far more naive I was under the impression that heavy metal musician was not only a full time gig, but a life long profession. You lived to shred and shredded to live. What else would Jeff Hanneman do if he wasn't writing sweet riffs? What kind of skills could a heavy metal musician posses that would be useful in the global market economy? There was no life beyond the metal world, or so I thought.

Enter Wagner Lamounier: best known for fronting Brazilian death/thrash legends Sarcófago he is also a founding member of Sepultura. Like any sensible kid born in a third world country and brought up on steady diet of Venom, Mercyful Fate, and Motorhead Lamounier banded together with a bunch of like-minded bangers and started a band. It was either that or join a gang of roving street children likely to die at the hands of a death squad (note: I just made that up, but I have seen the film City of God). Of course Sarcófago isn't just any old band, they're one of the greatest metal bands to ever come out of South America. Their aesthetic and music continues to influence countless bangers across the world. They were one of the pioneers of corpse paint and among the first bands to pose for "evil" pictures in cemeteries thus influencing thousands of teenagers across the globe to dress like retards for the past two decades thinking they look grim.



What do you think 'ol Wagner is up to these days? Selling fruit at a corner stand? Dealing Cocaine? Nope! He's an Economics professor at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais in Belo Horizonte, Brazil! What the fuck? I know, I know... I didn't believe it at first either, but the proof's right here. Lamounier went from dressing up like a clown and thrashing his balls off to a PhD in Economics. That is NOT the kind of transition you'd expect from someone who wrote the following lyrics:

Seven nights before
Of sacred birthday
The lord make himself
Present at virgin's home

Demons suck your pussy
And fuck 'till delight
She isn't more virgin
Because was fucked by satan

He put the virgin of four
Fucking your ass hole
The orgy haven't stop
Ejaculating on her mouth

She suck the hammer of satan
And reach the first orgasm
He breack laws of god
And prophane the mother of gods


Good for him though! I bet he makes way more money than me, drives a much nicer car, and has like twice as many vacation days! Uh, I mean, fuck that sellout!

30 comments:

  1. sarcofago were SO bad-ass! look at it this way, any of us could potentially have ended up in a semi-influential band, right? some of us might even know how to play an instrument. anyway, imagine if they did a "where are they now" on you? my linked-in page is pretty fruity. i'd be pretty embarrassed, brah.

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  2. Man, what a poseur.

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  3. that's pretty cool. legendary brazilian MMA fighter and jiu jitsu player Mario Sperry also has a degree in econ (from the london school of economics, no less- not sure if it's just an undergrad, though).

    i would love it if someone did a "where are they now" on me, because it would mean someone gave a fuck about me. so, it goes without saying that nobody ever will.

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  4. impressive investigative reporting! very nice work. holy christ those lyrics.

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  5. this is every misogynistic metaller's dream come true: to be rich and in a position to have your degrading way with actual women. i bet he's like: "and now suck the hammer of satan, bitch!"

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  6. imagine your first day of college. economics 101. some square nerdy guy comes in and introduces himself as professor lamounier. you think the name rings a bell, so you look him up and BAM! you find his secret. you bring your sarcofago tape to class the next monday and tell the dude: "you give me an A or i'm telling everyone you did did THIS!" (you point at the tape). you think you're getting an A for sure except the guy pulls out a machete and cuts off your arm. then a harem of satan-worshipping girls come out and eat the arm and leave the tape, covered in blood on the floor. the professor looks at you and says: "economics 101, you poser! they demand blood, i supply it!" what you have left of your arm hurts a lot. you go home all bummed and get started on your economics paper due monday, but it's tough 'cuz your mouse hand is missing. your roommate gets all pissed off at you 'cuz you got blood all over the bathroom and tells the RA and you get in trouble. this semester is gonna suck. :-(

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  7. But seriously, it's a Brazilian college. How tough could that job really be?

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  8. Those LYRICS! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha...

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  9. I am not a gore film fan but I think SkullKrusher's little scenario can easily be used for a "proper" gore film, nice twist because (I assume) too many films about zombies have been direct but not so sure there are any about Metal musicians turn economics professors in Brazil that can decapitate you whilst a harem of blood thirsty female worshipers come in to finish the job!! Well done senior SkullKrusher!!
    One can have countless remarks about the lyrics but when I first read them I thought, "what the hell, can Satan not screw the chick himself and the girl has to please herself with a hammer?" Then again reading SkullKrusher interpretation I realized those lyrics might have a deeper meaning and multiple ways of interpreting them.
    Well done everyone...Everyone here rules big time!!

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  10. being a professor anywhere is tough, particularly if you were the singer of godamn sarcofago! perhaps some americans think every college outside of the europe or the US is backwards... but the dude is a PHD anyway you slice it..its impressive. also...look at that tie, dude is looking for tenure! the list of times he's been published and the names of his articles are enough to make you notice that he's up to some impressive stuff. not as impressive as talking about virgins but still.

    i know that the part about him living a City Of God life was a joke...but i thought i should bring up that the cavalera brothers are the sons of the italian embassador to brazil. so i'm sure that wagner (even based on his name) is from a rather wealthy family of some sort as well. andreas too, was probably the son of the german ambassador. just sayin.

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  11. "she isn't more virgin
    because was fucked by satan"

    wow.

    i was amazed when i entered grad school to find that one of my profs had seen "technocracy" era c.o.c and another thought that the cro-mags were the best band of all time.
    of course, i'm sure some of my students think it is funny that i sometimes teach class in a napalm death shirt.

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  12. in the sepultura DVD, the barcelona one, paulo says how they only had "wan symbol and wan drewmz", but i wondered about that, since they were such rich kids.

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  13. Speaking of shredding, here's some more:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JBzWZq4fXg

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  14. Anonymous Rating for this Post:

    ***1/2 (3.5 stars)

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  15. Dudes, there are plenty more awesome lyrics where those came from. I suggest a remedial reading course for all of you.

    IF YOU ARE A FALSE DON'T ENTRY!!!

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  16. I'm not a Brazilian, but I'm sure studying as an undergrad there is more difficult that in an American college (even one in the top ten list). I've been a TA in a top ten school in the US (in Economics) and it was a joke. Very easy for non-American standards of what you should learn as an Econ undergrad. Anyway, good for Wagner...

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  17. oh man, this is hillarious
    I'm gonna have to stop by his class next time I'm in Belo Horizonte.
    he's gonna see me walk in after his class leaves with a Sepultura shirt on, and he's gonna be like
    "SHIT THEY FOUND ME!!!"

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  18. just picture it...Professor Antichrist, PHD.

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  19. it's incredible, but it's true. In this semester Lamounier is my professor!
    I did not know the band sacrofago, but some of my classmates showed me the videos! And the best, probably, Lamounier will be my thesis advisor for final year. This is not a joke, there are some links that comprove the fact taht Lamounier (or Antichrist) is a professor now, like the home page of university http://www.face.ufmg.br/area/sub_are_con_cor_doc.php ( His name is the last one of the list of professors) and his curriculum: http://buscatextual.cnpq.br/buscatextual/visualizacv.jsp?id=K4761462J6.
    And Yes, he is a good professor!

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  20. do you want something more satanic than be a economics professor???

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  21. "Fuck that sellout"

    So what he is making money now as an Econ teacher. I would rather him do that then alter his music to appease the retarded masses of MTV fans... that would be a true sellout. Instead he kept his music true and untainted by commercial pressures and money. But at some point you do have to pay bills man. Kudos to him for becoming an Econ teacher and never once changing his music.

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  22. I study history in my country, and i can say that my economics proffesor is fucking insane, he's a cool guy...but weird as any metalhead you know.

    But well, someday he'll come back to the scene, you can dress well, you can work and have a family, but nobody can't force you to believe in god or at least nobody can force you to turn off that radio

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  23. oh! i forgot, wagner once said this when he (and sarcofago) cut his hair short: "Every douchebag around is wearing long hair, Nirvana and Pearl Jam T-shirts, etc... We have nothing against these bands, but we have against jumping the bandwagon. Its not right when it becomes a trend, because massification dumbs people down"

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  24. His father is a wealthy landlord, they own several farms. He had to choose wether to stay metal or please his upper class family, and he obviusly went for the second option. (I think he could have done both)
    He could have never joined a street kids gang, as he would have got killed or at least kidnapped. Brazil has no middle class, and Wagner aint poor.

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  25. How the hell is this selling out? He's doing what he loves.

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  26. Poser? get a life... he flunked me and i still rescpect him. What do you think he should do? go to a classroom and teach econometrics dressed in leather, a bullet belt, spikes and face painted? and he doesnt hide his past, he goes to metal gigs i seen him drinking beers in tankard and taking some pictures, i think he plays in some other band, but im not sure. anyway he just has another thing going on and he is successfull like he was in sarcofago. i bet he still listens only to heavy while most people here think that liking metal is dressing as fucked up as you can be but listening to non-metal crap saying your ecletic.

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  27. Entered here thinking i could find some interesting notes about this complete man. In part, i did. But i guess just mature persons can understand this story.
    As i see it, Wagner embodied what most of us as humans look for. Have a profession that you like, earned with effort, and give time to our tastes.
    He's older just four years than me, and i could say i feel inspired by him.

    Kids, take this man's (Wagner)life example. Forget about sellout stupidity and so, life is something else.

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  28. REPENT AND TURN TO GOD BEFORE ITS TOO LATE. THIS VILE ABOMINATION WILL BE NO MORE SOON TO COME. JESUS LOVES YOU PLEASE REPENT AND TURN AWAY FROM YOUR SINS BEFORE ITS TOO LATE!! LORD FORGIVE THEM FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO. IN THE MIGHTY NAME OF JESUS!

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