Day Limns is excited to open Avril Lavigne’s show and promises ‘look, concept, storytelling, good music and rock and roll’ [ENTREVISTA]

One of the most prominent names in Brazilian emo pop rock today, Day Limns has been confirmed as the opening act for the solo show by Avril Lavigne this Wednesday, the 7th, in the Unimed Space (old one Americas Space). It is worth noting how day has always been a fan of the veteran singer – and was very excited about the unique opportunity.

In an exclusive interview with Rolling Stone Brazil, day talked about the appearance of the invitation to present, expectations and importance of Avril Lavigne the music. “My manager called me on Monday, September 5th, in the morning and said, ‘I have good news and bad news for you.'” The good news, of course, was that she was offered to open the show.

Then I started crying, like, compulsively. It was very exciting. They said that the Avril Lavigne asked for an opening band and I was their first choice live nation. She approved and here we are.

Even with a “just in time” invitation, day already has a show 100% ready and prepared to involve the public that will attend the show of Lavigne: “It’s basically going to be the setlist I did at the last show of Cine Jewelonly reduced according to the time I will have there, but I will deliver look, concept, storytelling, lots of good music and rock and roll, obviously.”

The invitation came on a symbolic date: some 20 years after Day Limns met the iconic French-Canadian singer. The Brazilian met Avril Lavigne in 2002, after a cousin presented the gringa’s work – the song in question was “Sk8ter Ox.” Despite the admiration, day never dreamed of opening a concert avril.

Opening Avril’s show, I confess to you, is not something that crossed my mind like a dream, nor did I think it was a possibility. I thought my dream was to go to the show and meet her.

Currently, the music industry has several female highlights in rock, which normally turned the spotlight to male artists. For example, Demi Lovato, with a new era focused on rock, was the main attraction of one of the biggest music festivals on the planet. Second daythis represents a “revenge” on “our Avrils, Hayleys and Joan Jetts,” in reference to the icons Avril Lavigne, Hayley Williams and Joan Jett.

“Now I feel like women are coming, and black women, LGBT women, women who stand up and don’t lay down for anyone, who make their own way. It’s very cool to see that,” he said. “These are people who have been directly influenced by people like Hayley Williams and Avril Lavigne – and now they are what they are.”

Read the full interview below. Day Limns granted to Rolling Stone Brazil about opening show Avril Lavigne:

Rolling Stone: How did the invitation to open Avril Lavigne’s show in SP come about?
Day: My manager called me this morning and said, ‘I have good news and bad news for you.’ Then he gave me the bad first. He continued: ‘But the good news is you’re opening for Avril Lavigne on the seventh.’ Then I started crying, like, compulsively. And I started saying: ‘You’re lying, stop lying!’ Then I was crying like a child. It was very emotional, I even wish they had filmed this part, but everyone was sleeping, it was very early. So I got too emotional, man.
They said that Avril Lavigne asked for an opening band and I was Live Nation’s first choice. She approved and here we are.

Rolling Stone: How is the preparation for the show going? What can your fans and Avril fans expect?
Day: Thank God we have a very well rehearsed show, I have the best band in the country, I dare say. Gee Rocha on guitar, João Bonafé on bass, Vítor Peracetta on drums: they are very prepared, they have lived on stage for a long time. We managed to have a lot of experience together and our synergy is surreal. Anyone who has been to a show can contest and prove it.
It will basically be the setlist I did at the last Cine Joia show, only reduced according to the time I will have there, but I will deliver the look, concept, storytelling, a lot of good music and a lot of rock and roll obviously. It will be everything and a lot of emotion you can also be sure, because I think I’m going to cry.

Rolling Stone: Tell us a little about your relationship with Avril’s music! Do you have any favorite songs?
Day: Man, I’ve known him since 2002, when I was six or seven years old. My cousin introduced me to “Sk8ter Boi,” by Avril Lavigne, and I remember talking about how I wanted to be like her when I grew up. Well, here we are, 20 years later, living this childhood dream, literally.
When I was 10 years old, she came to Brazil for the first time, I lived in Goiânia and had no way of going to that show, and a tragedy even happened near me: the father of the cousin who introduced me to Avril died two days to the show. I was already sad about not going to the show and it ended up happening, so every time I remember Avril’s concert, I remember this tragedy.
When she came again in 2014 I couldn’t go again. Anyway, it was just sadness, frustration, but I feel that everything she brought and managed to provide, Hayley Williams herself says that the record company wouldn’t have given space to Paramore if Avril hadn’t existed.
So, all this directly influences the fact that I am here today. From her first album, my favorite song of my life, maybe, is “Anything but Ordinary” because of the lyrics that I identify with a lot, that I want to be anything but ordinary. This is something that touches me a lot and has shaped my personality a little.
Opening Avril’s show, I confess to you, is not something that crossed my mind like a dream, nor did I think it was a possibility. I thought my dream was to go to the show and meet her.
Me with this feeling very new to me, because I always thought that everyone and everything was conspiring against me all the time. However, the moment I stopped sabotaging myself, I started to see the path more clearly and things started to happen.

Rolling Stone: You are one of the main names of the new Brazilian emo pop. How do you see the genre’s popularity returning?
Day: We live in a pandemic, right? Like, a lot of feeling there was wide open when we’re only with ourselves, there are many feelings on the surface. It’s a lot of frustration: this moment we are living, of all inequalities, injustices. Look at our president. There are many questions that make young people excited.
I don’t think there’s a better song for this, at least it happened to me. I had stopped dreaming, you know? And then I started to rescue: ‘Why did I start dreaming?’ And then all the references came to me when I was a kid and it was always that: pop rock, pop punk and emo. I started to rescue that and bring it to my songs. I said to myself, ‘I want to be a rock star!
I feel that people also have this need to show themselves strong to go through all this that is happening. In addition, we are at the moment when we need to position ourselves and learn to do the things that we like. So I feel everything is all converging because, on top of everything else, it’s vintage – so it’s cool.
Every 20 years we see this happen, it’s a bad thing in the world, and I’m happy to be with my years and to be whole to be able to present my version of what I believe it all to be.

Rolling Stone: What influence and inspiration does Avril’s work have on your career?
Day: I think it’s this “anything but the ordinary” factor that she’s always disruptive. At a time when we had Britney, Madonna and pop there like that, she said, “Man, I really want to be where these girls are, but I don’t want to do it the way they’re doing it.”
Maybe I identify myself because I saw her do it, right? And I ended up doing the same thing, wanting to do just like her, I don’t really know how to explain it, I think psychoanalysis should explain it.
It’s a very direct influence, really. I asked my mom and dad for a guitar because I wanted to learn to play Avril’s songs. I took extracurricular guitar lessons at school, but they taught me specific songs, so I hired a private teacher to teach me Avril’s songs. I would see her acoustics and see what chords she was doing and imitate.
At my school’s talent contests, there was one where I played “He Wasn’t” on guitar. And I sang horribly, I played horribly, obviously I didn’t get shit, I just wanted to play Avril Lavigne in school.
Well, now I’m going to open her show! She’s a big influence, I haven’t been able to get this smile off my face since yesterday, I have to take good care of my voice because I was in Rio, I got rained and then I was stunned by this news. I’m going to deliver the show of my life, I’m going to do my best and I really hope she gives me the opportunity to really get to know her and thank her.

Rolling Stone: We had Demi Lovato as the main attraction at Rock in Rio and now you’re opening Avril’s show. For you, what is the importance of seeing female voices represented in rock today?
Day: What’s amazing is that, finally, our Avrils, Hayleys and Joan Jetts are going to be avenged. Now I feel like women are coming, and black women, LGBT women, women who stand up and women who don’t lie for anyone, who make their own way. It’s too much to see this. These are people who were directly influenced by people like Hayley Williams and Avril Lavigne – and now they are what they are. For me Willow is the elite.
And Demi is such a close thing to my heart. I met her in 2009 and I have already written music for her. Our story is very similar, even from pop to pop punk, so there’s also a lot of identification. Even the wig I wore in my video for “Clube Dos Sonhos Frustrados,” a year later, she wore the same wig in a video of hers. There are many coincidences and my heart is warm, because she is also a great reference for me.
I also speak in one of my Disney Land and Hardcore songs, because I was pop punk, but that’s when I got a teenager and Disney came into my life.
Disney came into my life when pop rock was still on the rise, so even the Jonas Brothers rocked. It was just Disney rock, right? I listened to this a lot. So Demi is very present, she has shaped my personality a lot and, in a way, my artistic veins.
To have people who are so honest, at the top and still rock, I think that’s what we need. I’m happy to be part of this team too.