Niños Sin Smartphones is a band from Lima-Peru. It was founded by singer/songwriter/producer Dennis García in 2018 with Ruiz-Gonzalez – singer/songwriter/producer) joining in 2019. Their first collaboration as a band happened accidentally. It was in the middle of writing music for a movie and Ruiz thought he would call up Dennis to help me produce the soundtrack. They ended up writing most of the songs together. So one morning he told him: “Hey, I love the name of your band (Niños Sin Smartphones), I think I should be in your band…” He said “Sure!” and just like that the story commenced. They have published many singles and music videos since that morning. They are quite hands on directing their our own music videos and doing much more. In 2020 they started recording “You Are The Same.” their latest work. “You Are The Same” is a mistranslated Peruvian expression “Tú mismo eres.” It’s kind of impossible to actually translate “Tú mismo eres”, but it means something like “You can do it! But you are on your own!” If you are Peruvian, you know why this is funny!!
Listening to the band’s music, you start to understand that they definitely can do it as the quality is mesmerizing. The single Sara la Sinfónica (You Are the Same) really showcases the adorning rigid grooves coupled with a gentle strum of guitar strings and an adjacent drumbeat forge. The vocal is steeped in a rustic tone that suggests wisdom and retrospection, yet the harmony it produces with the instrumentation in this track is rich with vitality nonetheless.
In “Carolina,” they unleashes some of the best master mix for a short song with an under one minute duration. Bachiller (You Are the Same) is a little grittier than what I would typically go for in a folky pop song like this one, but in this specific instance, I think that its rough edges complement the raw, unfiltered nature of the musicality is enough to make the song work better than it would have with a different production scheme.
We decided to catch up with Niños Sin Smartphones for an exclusive interview..
What inspired you to get into music?
Dennis: We grew up watching MTV. It once used to play music. Nirvana is a very strong reason why we are musicians today. Daniel: The first time I saw a friend play “About A Girl” I couldn’t believe it, it sounded just like the record. An acoustic guitar and that’s it. I could do that! Right? Just two chords. No solos. You can learn that thing right away. We love Radiohead so much. We are depressive and lonely. Help us.
How would you describe your music?
Dennis: Melancholic, sarcastic, tender, punk, sad and a little funny. Daniel: We love Burial, Prince, Charly García, The Beatles, Casiotone For The Painfully Alone, Kendrick Lamar, Eric Andre, Norm Macdonald, Christopher Nolan… Dennis: and the little girl in the red coat in “The Schindler’s List”.
What would you say is your recording and songwriting style?
Dennis: We write and produce our own records, it’s a lot of fun and cheaper. We record almost everything at Daniel’s place in Barranco, that’s our working space. Melancholic, sarcastic, tender, punk, sad and a little funny sums it up pretty well. We also make our own videos. They are on YouTube, you can watch them.
Where would you like to see your music career in five years time?
Dennis: Coronavirus free, we sincerely hope. Daniel: Still very much engaged in the process of making new things, more colourful things. This pandemic has made us want to write songs that are more fun to play, life is not fun anymore maybe music needs to be. We want to play songs that make you happy you feel sad. Maybe living in a different country. We have been thinking of Canada or the U.S. lately. We are a very prolific people. Not by chance. We’ve learned the benefits of constantly publishing new material and of collaborating with new artists. You learn quick. You start to develop a kind of muscle memory that allows to be a much more focused performer and writer. If you really want to do this, the more songs you publish, the better. You make all kinds of mistakes and you correct them immediately cause your failures are public. Dennis: So a little wiser too.
Where can people listen to your music?
Dennis: We are on Spotify, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, no Tik Tok for now.
https://open.spotify.com/artist/1MXUhurGcNHiKafDrhV0jO?si=iMD-v0sKQd-fvzCfRJK8aQ
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Dl3mNPJ4JmBCejoWvCzNA/featured
https://www.instagram.com/ninossinsmartphones/?hl=en
https://www.facebook.com/ninossinsmartphones