For years architects have been trying to be bands, getting together and giving themselves names like Superstudio, MUF and Archigram. But apart from As Four – who were all sleeping together – fashion labels have resisted. Fashion designers haven’t really gone in for being in a band thing either – until now. Brazilians Alloyha Copacabana describe themselves as a “visual band”. The music they perform is totally incidental to their obsession with dressing up, constructing looks and being seen – all normal everyday fashion stuff – but they’re amazing at it and are pretty famous in São Paulo.

VICE: You’re more a fashion thing than a band, right?
Fabio Gurjao: The first step is deciding what to wear, then come the stage props, then we fit the music around the look. So far we’ve only done four gigs and two of them were commissioned by Jeremy Scott and Gant.

Your first gig was at Sao Paulo’s Art Biennial – how did that happen?
I am part of the Assume Vivid Astro Focus collective; the Biennial gave us the space and freedom to create performances and experiences, so even though Alloyha Copacabana had existed since 2005, the Biennial finally gave us a big enough platform to launch it.

Assume Vivid Astro Focus installation at Oslo's Museum of Art, Architecture and Design

Is Alloyha Copacabana a full time thing?
No, Rick Castro is an abravana artist. Vocalist Vanessa Monteiro is a stylist, Douglas Moraes is a PR and I have my own label, FKawallys, and my fanzine, fur-uk.com.

A Rick Castro installation

You just mime, don’t you? You don’t sing your own songs.
Alloyha Copacabana is about exchanging energy. We spend ages listening to tracks, watching videos and trawling the web for the building blocks of our image. It’s all about a fast turnover of information, which we consume and reproduce as performance.

Will there ever be a record?
There is a plan we will record an album next year, possibly with CSS’s Adriano Cintra.

What sort of music do you perform?
Our references in music mainly come from Brazilian pop, axé, rock… there are no rules. But we like pop because the music sticks to your brain – you just walk home from the gig singing.

So the performances are a way of promoting your aesthetic?
Yeah, the band promotes my label (FKawallys). We look the same when we go out and people tend to love it; we are in the Brazilian press every week.

CASSIA TABATINI