The Dumont Saints

In the 90s, Concepción shined as a hotbed of bands that marked national music. In addition to Los Tres, other Penquista groups emerged at that time such as De Saloon, Machuca, Julius Popper, Emociones Clandestinas and of course, Los Santos Dumont.

The band became one of the most influential within the Chilean independent scene, thanks to its mix of psychedelic rock, independent spirit and British influence. Two experienced Penquista musicians started the group, drummer Iván Molina and guitarist Mauricio Melo (former Emociones Clandestinas), who added Alberto Rojas and Marcel Molina.

Devoted believers in the independent way of working, they first published an album called Hipnotizarte in 1991, another called Santoscity in 1992, and then managed the edition of Octopus: rock en Concepción (1994), a compilation of Penquista bands that, in addition to their songs, included titles by Explanada, Orión, Matapasiones and Machuca.

In 1995, they debuted on compact disc with A day in the attic (and what we found there), an electric work, with long evocative and romantic songs, and produced by Carlos Cabezas. Among this collection of songs in English and Spanish, the singles "Learn to swim" and "Slave of your desires" stood out.

"(The recording studio) had the best equipment and of course, we were all excited from having recorded in the Duoc rooms with half-baked equipment, to recording in a big way. It was a super entertaining and somewhat terrifying experience, I must say, it was finding ourselves with this tremendous project that tried to inject energy into Chilean rock," recalls Mauricio Melo in an interview in La Tercera.

Already installed on the scene with this album, in 1995 Julián Peña joined the band, as a valuable contribution in strings and voice. Together with him, Los Santos Dumont began a new stage of exceptional enthusiasm that was reflected in the album Similia Similibus from 1999.

The band went on hiatus in 2002. Each member then spread out in directions far from each other. Mauricio Melo traveled to Mexico, Iván Molina worked in the Matorral trio and Julián Peña soon stood out as a singer with the Ángel Parra Trío combo (before presenting his own band, Casanova). In 2013 they met to play and then released “Santosaurus” in 2015 and later “Punta de lobos” in 2017. In 2024 they returned to the stage at the REC (Rock en Conce) festival.

At the concert at GAM, Los Santos Dumont will perform the entire album for the first time in their career. They will be accompanied by the national musician and producer Carlos Cabezas, and supported by the Santiago band Kaleidoscopio and will also perform an entire visual staging prepared especially for the occasion.

Musicians Alberto Rojas, Nicolás Ferrada, Marcelo Díaz, Pablo Romero, Julián Peña, Mauricio Melo; Michael Cáceres, Carlos Cabezas | Sound Engineer Williams Martínez | Roadie Gabriel Muñoz | Kaleidoscope Musicians Benjamín Candia, Gonzalo Díaz, Sebastián Salas, Benjamín Vilo | Staff Kaleidoscopio Jorge Vildoso