Hello seahorse! pop group

BY MARIA GALLUCCI
The News
Embassy Row - June 2009

When Lo Blondo answered a MySpace ad soliciting a singer to front a band, she probably didn´t imagine that four years later she´d be the vocalist behind a top-selling album or performing in this weekend´s Vive Latino music festival in Mexico City.

But her simple reply in 2005 helped form Hello Seahorse!, a Mexico-based band that includes Oro de Neta on synthesizer and bass and Bonnz! on drums and percussion.

"I was the only one who responded," Blondo quipped from inside the Polanco-area studio where the group has filmed music videos.

Blondo, 21, was born in California and raised in Mexico City; her parents are both of U.S. inheritance but were born in Mexico´s capital. Oro de Neta and Bonnz!, both 24, are from Ciudad Juárez and the Federal District, respectively.

Today, Blondo´s smooth, elegant vocals bring to life the band´s mostly upbeat, pop-style music infused with complex synthetic sounds and staccato drumbeats - a sound Blondo says was first described as "geek pop."

The songs, written in English and Spanish, are simple but original tunes that are easy to listen to and avoid the cheesy, formulaic nature of other tracks in the genre.

Hello Seahorse! has found unanticipated success this year with the release of its third album "Bestia" ("Beast"), which immediately became a Top 10 seller in Mexico when it hit stores late last year. The first single off "Bestia," of the same name, has enjoyed steady rotation on MTV´s music video playlist in the U.S., and the album´s second single, "Después" ("After"), has received similar attention from the entertainment mammoth.

Under the guidance of producer Yamil Rezc, the group´s third album layers the band´s traditionally head-bopping vibe with more haunting, melancholy sounds, and all tracks this time are sung in Spanish.

Vocals in the single "Bestia" have an airy quality, similar to Ben Gibbard´s voice in the U.S. band Death Cab for Cutie. In "Después," Blondo´s 10-year experience in a school choir shines through as she elevates her range beautifully, all the while avoiding the overdone trills and whiney projections that so often plague pop music songs. Drums pat steadily in the background as the lugubrious synthetic sounds chime in softly.

Other notable highlights on the disc include songs "Miércoles" ("Wednesday") and "Siberia." Both songs were recorded in collaboration with Mexican rock musician Chetes, who formerly fronted the band Zurdok, one of Hello Seahorse!´s personal favorites.

But if Hello Seahorse!´s sound has changed or grown, it´s only because that´s the direction the artists want to take, Bonnz! said.

"We´re not necessarily trying to sell records; we´re doing it because it´s what we want to do," he said.

FROM THE BOTTOM TO THE TOP

Even as Hello Seahorse! has begun rapidly rising in the Mexican music industry and getting playtime north of the border, Blondo says it took years of "starting from scratch" to get to the point where they are today.

"It´s been a long way to get where we are, there´s been a lot of changes from `day one´ to right now," she said.

The group initially began with Blondo, Oro de Neta and guitarist Julio; the trio released their first album, "Hello Seahorse!...and the Jellyfish Parade" in the summer of 2006, producing just a thousand units to sell at shows.

Bonnz!, who has played drums since age 12, joined shortly after when the group needed drums for their show at the Festival Manifest in Mexico City. Having lived with Oro de Neta and Julio at the time, he said he was a natural pick for the band.

Hello Seahorse! in 2007 released an online EP, "Hoy a las ocho" ("Today at 8 o´clock"), which earned heavy rotation on local radio. The album´s 11 tracks are mostly light, energetic and bilingual tunes that might inspire listeners to bop along in their seats.

The track "Won´t Say Anything" boasts a particularly catchy melody with its frequent repetition and quick handclaps. "The Island Trip" is a very happy-go-lucky tune laden with triangle, saxophone and bouncing piano keys.

Julio eventually left the group following the second album´s release. Soon after, Blondo said the band stopped playing simply for extra-curricular fun and began to make its music a full-time gig.

The band in the first few years was just a fun escape from the mundane day-to-day, she said.

"But you get to a point where you know you have to do something," she added. "Now, the band is our daily job. We all dropped everything we were doing a year and a half ago for the band."

Despite their full-time dedication to Hello Seahorse!, band members continue to work on the side, because, according to Blondo, "it´s very difficult to eat from your music."

Blondo counsels and creates songs with people with bipolar disorder, while Bonnz! works as a freelance studio producer for various bands around the city. Oro de Neta runs an online apparel and art site, Hupop.net.

Since the trio began to dedicate itself fully to the Hello Seahorse! project, the band members have waved goodbye to their days of playing in a Colonia Roma strip club in favor of opportunities to play on more prominent stages.

In March last year, the group opened up for the Beastie Boys at the MX Beat festival in Toluca, just south of Mexico City. The same month, they played amongst hundreds of artists in the international music and film festival South by Southwest in Austin, Texas.

Now, they´re gearing up to play for the first time in the Vive Latino festival this Saturday and Sunday. The group is also set to head off on summer tour in California and Las Vegas this July.

Blondo called it a "great honor" to be part of the Vive Latino lineup this year, especially because the trio had spent so many years as screaming fans in the audience.

"Now, to stand on the stage and show people what you´re made of.it´s a dream," she said.

After a busy couple of months this summer, Blondo says the group will continue "squeezing all the juice" it can from "Bestia," striving to make the most of the album that took over a year to produce.