Aquiles Priester
Angra

Born in Otjo, South Africa, Aquiles moved to Brazil when he was five. In 1985, during the first “Rock in Rio” festival he built a drum set out of cans, ice cream bowls and gas gallon containers. Aquiles reveals, “Since then my life changed and I would only dream of becoming a great drummer.” His first drum set included a snare, a tom which he borrowed from the school band, a bass drum, a high hat, and a cymbal which hung from the ceiling.

Aquiles started playing professionally in 1986 and was the drummer for bands such as Spartacus, and Hora H and Lucas Scariotys. In 1992, Aquiles decided to take drumming classes to improve his technical skills and studied under Mimo Aires, Thabba and Kiko Freitas. Two years later he was playing with bands such as Infra Blue and Apocalipse Now. Inspired by the band Angra, Aquiles formed the band Hanger in November of 1997. Less than a year later, Hangar was opening for Angra and in 2000 Aquiles was invited to join Angra, his dream band.

In 2002 Aquiles was elected the Best Heavy Metal Drummer by the leading Brazilian drumming magazines and also by “Burrn!” magazine of Japan.