DANTE'S OFFICIAL TUMBLR

Dante presents their Manifesto / English translation of the interview with LA newspaper La Opinion

The Colombian band hopes to show a new musical face of their country with The Rorschach Manifesto 

The name could sound like a solo artist however, Dante is a band integrated by four colombians. A group of twenty somethings who are friends since they where kids hope to show a new musical landscape of their country with The Rorschach Manifesto. Produced by Sylvia Massy , who has worked with Johnny Cash, Aerosmith, Smashing Pumpkins, & Red Hot Chilli Peppers, the band conformed by singer Kami Rayne, Alexx on the rhythm guitar, Tank! on the lead guitar & Gonzo on the bass hope the long wait of about a year has been worth it.  

What is the reason of the influence of Anglo-Saxon music & the language of your songs?

Alexx: We had the opportunity of studying in american schools here in Colombia, and so its influence has been very strong in us. Having grown up in this school since we where four years old made us gravitate towards music sung in English and influence the language of our music. But besides that, lately a lot of bands here in Colombia have decided to make music in English and break that mold that says that Colombian bands should only sing in Spanish.

What is it about Rock music that attracts you?

Kami: I think that also has to do a lot with the language. Our influences speak in such language and so the type of music we do mixes better with it.

Alexx:Our influences are much more classic rock, from the 60s & 70s along with new bands like The Strokes so we try to combine both the old with the new.

What motivated you to get into music?

Kami: We always had this idea, since we where in school of having a band that could be a serious project. We always had the idea but we wanted to make our own sound and have our own image so we started working on it four years ago.

Alexx: We played while in school, but we where still a garage band playing in local neighbourhoods. 

Who writes the band’s songs?

 Kami: Its a collaboration of all of us and because of this there’s diversity. We keep the same over all sound but there’s some songs that are more punk others abit more blues etc. They always come in different ways. Alexx might come up with a riff and I’ll say ‘That’s really interesting….why don’t we do this?’ and we’ll just work on it.

How have you promoted your music from Colombia?

Alexx: People, especially North Americans like to see videos. They’ll see them and if they like them, they’ll listen to the rest of the music so alot of the times the way is with Youtube.

How are you going to promote your music with Spanish speaking fans?

Kami: We acknowledge that what we’re doing probably isn’t the most popular kind of music around this area especially in times of reggaetton and much more tropical music. Its a bit complicated but we’ve always done things against the stream and for some reason we have always had a positive outcome. For some reason we’ve gotten a larger support from North Americans or English people. I don’t know if that’s because subconsciously, they feel a relation to the sound. I think we are, along with other Colombian bands carrying that different flag.

Alexx: People from Mexico have liked it a lot too. They don’t have that language barrier problem. It hasn’t affected the outcome at all.

Alexx: I’m not saying we are the greatest thing to ever come out at the moment but we do want to show the Anglo world that bands from South America and Colombia don’t have to always play in Spanish or just play folk music like cumbia or vallenato or things like that because there’s cultural diversity and that’s why rock has reached us too.

What was the band’s name origin ?

Kami: There’s two ways to see it. The first one is that we’ve always been interested by bands of a sole name like Nirvana, Queen, HIM or INXS…simple names because bing from Colombia we wanted everyone to be able to pronounce it. On the other hand, its a strong name. We are a band not only influenced by music, but every form of artistic expression like movies and literature in this case Dante Alighieri ‘s Divine Comedy. We just thought of it as such a romantic story, filled with so much emotion and contrasts…we use alot of ‘magic realism’ in our videos. We use all the metaphors related to Paradise, Purgatory and Hell.

Alexx: And its easy to pronounce by everyone. In the beginning we where called Dreamcatcher and it was funny because over here they always understood it like Dr Catcher. (laughs)

What are some of the themes found in your songs?

Kami: We talk about harsh realities but always with a metaphorical element within them, kinda like Led Zeppelin. [The song] Rorschach talks about what’s going on in the world right now, the information storm we’re living in , the cult to celebrities,  & there’s others that are open to personal interpretations. But we also mention love and magic realism.

By: Martha Sarabia

La Opinion (Los Angeles newspaper)

http://www.laopinion.com/article/20120322/ENTRETENIMIENTO01/303229916

• DANTE interview Rorschach manifesto La Opinion