Dapper Domm
Camila is full of surprises

Sergio Bastos

My wife doesn’t speak a word of Spanish. The other day I was watching a video of a new band that I had just interviewed while she was looking for me around the house. She followed the unfamiliar new sound to the living room. When she found me, the first words out of her mouth were, “I really like this song. Who are they?” “They” are Camila and the song she heard is their latest single “Abrazame,” from their debut album Todo Cambio.

Formed by acclaimed composer and producer Mario Domm (piano and voice), Samo (voice), and recent music-school grad Pablo (guitars), Camila’s strength is found in the personalities of its members and what they bring to the group. “All three of us have different influences that are present in our music. I’ve always been into rock and blues but lately I’ve been swayed to funk and soul music, which is what the other two members grew up with. In the end we all bring a part of who we are to the table in order to create a unique sound,” says Pablo, who just earned his Music Production and Audio Engineering degree last February.

Samo started singing at the age of 5, in the church choir. In 1995 he participated in the Festival Valores Juveniles, which launched his career as a backup singer for artists such as Yuri, Christian Castro and Alejandra Guzmán. About a year and a half ago Mario Domm was producing Reyli’s album En La Luna when he met Samo, who was lending his vocal chops to a couple of tracks. “Mario saw me and mentioned he was going to start working on a new project and asked if I would like to be a part of it,” remembers the singer. Without having a clear idea which direction they wanted to go, they met a week later and started to write some songs. When it came time to find a guitar player to complete the band’s lineup, Mario and Samo held auditions where the best guitar players from Mexico showed up. In walked Pablo Hurtado.

Pablo was still attending Academia de Música Fermatta when he came in the studio that afternoon. When he walked out, he had a serious gig as a member of a major label act. “Even though we had some of the best guitarists there,” recalls Samo, “when Pablo played the first chord we saw something special in him, we felt the connection we were looking for.”

About the whole experience Pablo says, “I knew and admired Mario Domm’s writing style from his previous work with Kalimba and Reyli, so working with him was a little surreal for me.” So surreal that while he was in the studio working on the album, Pablo still had academic obligations to fulfill. “The past year was a little hectic for me because I had to finish my final class projects and record the album at the same time.”

Once the lineup was settled, they spent the next five months hard at work, tightening up the last arrangements. The album was mixed in Los Angeles by Peter Mokran, who is known for his work with Prince, Michael Jackson, and Black Eyed Peas. Camila was ready to be introduced to the world.

And what about the band’s unusual name? “We liked the contrast of having a female name with three dudes on the stage,” says Samo. “When they introduce us as Camila people expect to see this hot girl singing and instead the three of us come out — it’s a big contrast and always fun to see the public’s reaction.”

The third piece of this musical puzzle is Mario Domm. If the name sounds familiar it’s not a coincidence; if it doesn’t let me refresh your memory. He’s a musical prodigy who at 16 was already writing songs for groups like OV7, and his most recent projects include Kalimba’s “Tocando Fondo,” producing Reyli’s Grammy-nominated album En La Luna, and writing Alejandra Guzman’s latest single, “Volverte a Amar.”

Aside from his singing and piano-playing duties in the band, Mario was also responsible for producing their album. “In the beginning I was a little nervous because I had to have the objectivity of being inside and outside and listen as a producer, a singer, and an arranger,” he says. “The beauty was the fact that all the musicians gave the album their complete support and in the end it came out as a group-producing endeavor … What we didn’t want to do was to make a record that was so intricate that could not be played live. So we built a show in the studio where we would be capable to pass the energy and dynamic of the songs. Now, when people go to our shows, they are able to hear the same quality music as in the CD.”

Quality is one of the most noticeable things about “Abrazame,” a lovely ballad whose clear sound allows the listener to hear every pitch and timbre. “Our motto is the complexity of the simplicity,” says Mario. “My job as a producer is to give songs a soul. You can still save a good song with a bad arrangement, but not even the world’s best arrangement can rescue a bad song. We had a great team but all technical terminology aside, I feel this album was destined to flow the way it did and when you listen to it you will see what I mean.”

Making hits is a common part of Mario Domm’s life. But after having climbed the charts with songs written for other artists, he now has the opportunity to do it on his own with a little help from his friends. When asked what will be the next step in his career, Mario simply says: “Honestly, I don’t know. When I wrote ‘No Me Quiero Enamorar’ for Kalimba I didn’t know what I was going to do next, and at that moment I realized I was developing ‘Tocando Fundo.’ As a songwriter I’m always surrounded by the uncertainty if a new song will come tomorrow, but fortunately the ideas keep coming. I just hope whatever my inspiration may be, that it keeps enlightening me to write beautiful music.”

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