Solo on the Side

Super Session Guitarist Rafael Moreira Goes His Own Way—temporarily— With Magnetico’s Death Race

- Michael Molenda

LIKE SOME KIND OF SUPERHERO, RAFAEL 

Moreira seems to be all over the place. He has played guitar on massively popular television shows such as American Idol, The Voice, Rock Star: INXS, Rock Star: Supernova, and the recent remake of To Tell the Truth. You also may have seen him on Saturday Night Live, The Late Show with David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the MTV Music Awards, Good Morning America, and more. He has performed with superstars such as Christina Aguilera, Pink, Steven Tyler, Paul Stanley, Stevie Wonder, Sheryl Crow, and others. You’ve heard his music in video games, television shows, and movie trailers. In the Los Angeles music scene—and all that the entertainment capitol sends out to the world at large—he is nearly omnipresent, but much of his high-profile career is doing great work for other artists.

However, the Brazilian-born Moreira—who was taught to play guitar by his mother, and formed his first band at age eight with his two older brothers— has also managed to produce his own work. Considering his workload, it’s almost miraculous that he has time to write and record for himself, but Moreira has persevered to release an instrumental solo album (2005’s Acid Guitar) and two albums with his rock trio Magnetico—2008’s Songs About the World, and last year’s Death Race. How does he do it?

What was the recording process for Death Race?