With pretty melodies and happy lyrics straight from Chicago

By VoxPop - janeiro 12, 2022


     If you want to dive into five brand-new songs and if you love meeting new bands as much as we do, we have something perfect here. Straight from Chicago, they’re called DuPage and they just released their debut EP.

    We were talking with Mario Cuomo the lead singer of DuPage, who during the recording of one of his solo projects, with Sigurdur and Dave discovered the potential of the three as a band.


Can you tell me about the band?


Yes, right now it’s a three piece. I use to spend a lot of time at this bar in my hometown. That’s where I met Dave and Sigurdur. They were the only other two people I knew that had a background in music and we just hit it off. When i stopped drinking was really when we started recording the best stuff.


Who is part of it?

Dave plays guitar. He was in another local band called the Plain White T’s. Sigurdur was a studio drummer from Georgia that got into music production, spent some time in Nashville and ended up here right outside Chicago.


How did you come up with the idea/need to make a band?

These two guys helped me record everything I’ve released solo. From the Dark Days For Rock & Roll EP to my most recent album coming out this year. Any guitar you hear on it was Dave, and Sigurdur produced all of it. So since we already worked together so much it was kind of obvious to try a project together. Once we recorded the song Disco Days I knew it was a band track. It needed to be put out by a band, so we started one.


Although I don’t like to label bands/music, listening inevitably brings me to a certain wave. In the case of Dupage I would say that it is a bit of an Alternative and a bit of a clean grunge. How do you describe your music?


Yeah clean grunge sounds perfect. I shower everyday. I love weezer and bands that have been put in the alternative category. I like when you can hear every word I’m saying. It sounds nice to be totally exposed and have everything lined up nicely, it’s pretty to me. I don’t like sloppy, I like professional.


I assume you’re the one writing the lyrics, I’d like you to tell me about your songwriting process. How much of your personal life is reflected in these album? Do you get inspired more from outside sources or from internal thoughts and feelings?

Yeah I always write my own lyrics, all my own melodies. For every song on the EP I sang an acapella voice memo into my phone. Played it for Dave and he layed down a scratch guitar. Every time. There is tiny bits of personal feelings and experiences but you have to mix in some bullshit. It’s not a audible documentary. The internal stuff is natural, the outside influences stick out and excite me more.


What kind of record is it lyrically? Do you see it like a happier or more darkness record?

Probably one of the happiest bodies of work I’ve ever been a part of.


Lyrically I think it’s pretty. I wanted it to be very pretty and chose the prettiest melodies I had on purpose. I don’t have much interest in making niche things. I want the most amount of people possible to enjoy something. I want it to make a ton of people happy.


Mario you already have many years of experience and success with another band, Dave also has experience in another band, Sigurdur has a whole background of drums and production. Given this, have you made a plan of what you should be like, as a live band or just let it flow?

I think it would make for a great live show. It would be tight, pretty and professional. Just need to find a bassist that meets the criteria.


The choice of an EP for the band’s presentation album seems to me a perfect choice, but to have these five songs must have done many more.It was easy just to choose these five, how was this selection made? Was it easy or can we expect an LP later this year?


We recorded only 5 songs, these are the five. The entire thing was recorded in a week and a half. When we get together we work pretty fast so another EP could be on the way come spring. Or an album if it bleeds into summer. I like to work by seasons.



Do you have any interesting stories that happened during the recording of the album?

I laughed a lot, I never felt stressed. That is very interesting to me. 


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