For those who don't know Brazil, our lifestyle is very similar to the American way of life, the influences are noticeable (for good and for bad) everywhere, especially in big cities such as Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. Of course the economical problems are much bigger, specifically on the poor parts of the country, but we're slowly getting better and better with the last years of efficient government.

I began listening to Heep back in 1989. I was 20 then, and I used to search for 70's bands, specifically hard rock ones, and notably from good ol' England. I was putting heavy metal aside, and looking for more melodical and complex music, but not forgetting the energy that comes from rock music. So, since maybe 1986 or 1987 Deep Purple was my favorite band, and also Rainbow and Black Sabbath. I used to read lots of articles about the bands of the 70's, and I always read: "Purple, Zep, Sabbath, URIAH HEEP, and other bands from that period...".

So, one day, I stopped and thought: "What are you waiting for? You love the music of Purple and the other bands always referred together, but you have never listened to anything from this band with a strange captivating name, Uriah Heep... it must be something worthy listening..."So, I called a friend who had some "old" albums which he got from his older brother. I asked him about Heep, and he had some of them. I asked for the live one ("Live 1973"). I don't need to tell you what I felt when I listened to "Sunrise", and the other songs that came after it... all the elements that I like when I search for a hard rock band were there... superb vocalizing, nice wah-wah and slide guitars, the magical analog keyboards, like the Hammond organ and the MiniMoog synth, strong and melodical bass lines, and energetic drums, what a band!

So I began to buy all their LP's, and fortunately Heep came for the first time to Brazil in the same year, 1989! After watching them playing alive, Mick Box always smiling and playing his marvelous wah-wah guitar, the band playing their classic material, I was hooked forever...Then they came back in 1995, together with Nazareth.The same guys, and Mick was there, smiling and playing, he seems to never get bored about his songs, his guitars, the crowd...

But... when I got into Heep, I started to pay attention to other details, like the excellent and meaningful lyrics, and the harmonically brilliant songs. There were always a name associated to them... Ken Hensley! He was the keyboard player, but he also played guitar, and sang, and all very well! So, I went to the stores and found some solo albums, and then I realized he was the main part in Heep, at least concerning the songwriting side.

When I decided to connect myself to the Internet, back in 1995, I searched for some band's sites. Heep and Purple were my first choices, of course. So I went to a site from... Singapore! Wow, this net is fantastic... I sent an e-mail to the maintainer, Hani So, and he replied very quickly, telling me that he was thinking if there were no Brazilian Heep fans. I decided then to prepare a site dedicated to the music of Hensley, since there was also another site about Heep, from an North American guy called Jesse Lowe, that you may all know...

I put it online, and after a couple of days I got an e-mail from another North American, called Dave White. He said that he had put a link to my site, and that I could do the same if I want... "Hey! Great, there is already a link to my site!", I thought at that time. After that, the whole thing increased a lot, the idea of the "Heepsters On The Web" group, that appeared during a chat session between Dave and myself, the "Heepchat", and one day the fellow Heepster Mac Steagall mentioned the idea of creating a Heep Mailing list... and he did it!

Now there are lots of sites, all linked, everyone knowing each other, at least the most frequent participants of the events, and there have been some meetings and conventions (the so called "HeepVentions", and others organized by people from different places and cultuetc.).

Nowadays, I maintain the Ken Hensley website (www.ken-hensley.com) and work together with my colleagues Hani, Dave & Louis on the official Uriah Heep site, and this is an honour for me.

Last year I had the opportunity to travel to several countries (5 or 6) and to meet a lot of people I used to communicate only by exchanging e-mails, and on chats. It was really great to meet Louis Rentrop, Henk van der Vis and the Dutch Heepsters in Holland, Rich Wagner and the Stay On Top people in Germany, Dave White and all the guys and gals in the US, Tapio Minkkinen from Finland, Kevin Julie and the other Heepsters from Canada, Graham Hulme from England, Heepsters from all the places around the world. It is impressing how people with very different backgrounds and cultures can share the same musical tastes...

All the best,
Rod