contact

felipe at iturrieta dot com

Who is this guy?

My current existence consists mainly of enjoying whatever gifts life decides to give me. You can see some of those gifts on the website in the form of photos, drawings, poems, texts and sounds. I'm also involved in projects with other people, such as Foul (a Stoner band) and The Flying Carpet (organizing concerts and jam sessions). I spend most of my days working on these projects, on my artistic skills, on enjoying life as much as possible and making the world a bit nicer. When I'm not doing that, I'm sleeping. The remaining hours I sell to my employers as an online multi-lingual customer service agent and translator (english, portuguese, spanish and italian).

Some of you I haven't seen in a long, long time, so I thought it would be nice to fill you in with 3 Felipe facts of each of the last 10 years:

2002
1. I entered the Philosophy course at the most prestigious school in Brasil, the University of São Paulo, getting a monster drumkit from my father as a reward, at the early age of 17.
2. I started working at one of the biggest culture centers in São Paulo, organizing concerts and events, while at the same time I was involved in the creation of a prize-winning NGO that aimed to connect public high-schools and turn them into cultural centers.
3. I quit all of that because I didn't have any time to drum, they don't really teach you how to be a philosopher at philosophy school, I didn't like the music being performed at the cultural center and the NGO was taken over by people who had money and contacts.

2003
1. I started playing several gigs in São Paulo and the cities around it with cover bands (Blind Guardian & Iced Earth, mainly).
2. I started taking music lessons; classical guitar, singing, cello, whatever I could try, to go from 'drummer' to musician.
3. I did not focus as much as I should have all year long, because I was madly in love for the first time in my life.

2004
1. I Had to abandon most of my projects because my parents moved from São Paulo to a coastal city, and I had to go with them.
2. Started writing my own music.
3. Stopped being a complete idiot

2005
1. Moved out of my parent's place back to São Paulo, where I shared a house with the guitarist of the band Vandal Heart; that was my first attempt to live with a bandmate.
2. Moved back to my parents house after 6 months because the band did not go ahead, I could not find work and "Crackland" was not the most appealing of neighbourhoods.
3. This was the year in which I finally had enough of the weather in Brasil and decided to move to Europe.

2006
1. Travelled through Spain, England, the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland and Italy during almost 3 months.
2. Got kicked out of Italy because I didn't have the necessary documents and was thus an illegal immigrant.
3. Surprise, surprise, moved back to my parent's place.

2007
1. I sorted out all the documents I'd need to request citizenship in Italy
2. I sold all my drums.
3. I moved to Italy.

2008
1. I was granted Italian citizenship while working as a roadie for a band that took me everywhere in Italy, from the border with Switzerland to the fabled south, enjoying the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic seas.
2. After the ride with the band came to an end because of modern technology (roadies are obsolete...), I started teaching languages and translating texts.
3. I helped my mother, who travelled from Brasil and lived with me for some months, get her italian citizenship.

2009
1. I travelled around western Europe a second time, hitchhiking and sleeping in the open, from the north of Germany down to the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Basque Country, then the south of France and back to Italy.
2. I moved in with a guitarist again; this time, the project went as well as it could have and we recorded Voyage, which you can listen to in the Waves section.
3. I finally had enough of Italy and decided to move to Utrecht.

2010
1. I lived in 10 different houses this year, having moved a total of 12 times. Finding a house in Utrecht is a difficult task.
2. Travelled western Europe for a third time, this time with my brother; Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Italy, Norway and Sweden.
3. This is certainly the year in which I realized I should stop traveling so much, at least for a while.

2011
1. I found the perfect house in the perfect city for me; Utrecht is such a special place, one where I seldom miss my nomadic days and can focus on my projects.
2. I discovered that I can bounce.
3. I started the band Foul.