Sonic Eclectic Magazine presents: Latin singer, Dario Benitez. New to the music scene with much promise to the future, Dario’s debut album “1000 Millas” is out in stores now.
Sonic Eclectic: What are your musical roots?
Dario Benitez: My parents are Colombian and I was born in Venezuela, but I was raised in both countries. I moved to the United States when I was fourteen so the music that was around was always very tropical. When I moved, I discovered a lot of music that I had never heard before so the music I make includes all of that.
SE: How did the songs on this album develop?
DB: It started as poems until it finally came out as the actual album. There were some of them we didn’t use so it wasn’t like we just sat down and wrote stuff for the album. It was me and the producer, and he guided me in the direction that I am going in now.
SE: Your producer, Toby Sandoval, has quite a list of credits to his name. How did you get hooked up with him and what was that experience like?
DB: (laughs) The way it happened is actually kind of a funny story. I had this girl hit me up on Myspace. She says she knows this producer and that I should meet him and that it will be great. So I ended up meeting her at a couple events and she ended up liking me but I was just talking to her for business. So she was still talking to me but I just wanted to meet the producer so I got a hold of him. The reason she said she wanted me to meet him is because she said that she has worked with him. When I met him he asked how I knew about him and I told him this girl told me about you. He said, “Well I’ve never worked with her”.
SE: You won “Most Entertaining Artist” at the USA Showcase in Vegas. How did that come about and what happened after?
DB: I submitted my information and they selected me, I went there. On the day of the Showcase I was actually sick. So, I couldn’t actually sing. I went to a doctor and he injected a roid shot so I could actually have a voice.
SE: What are some of the musicians that you admire and look up to? How big of influences were they?
DB: I think the first one first one would have to be Ricky Martin. I think he is very influential over Latino artists. Well another would be Shakira. She’s huge now but before that she was huge in Spanish. They sing with a lot of love and you can just tell that when they sing they mean it. Because you can tell which artists are told to do. I feel like through the music you can tell who is doing it on their own like that’s what they want to do they aren’t being controlled by a label. Their control comes through their craft and they are doing what they want to do.
SE: Do you feel like you got to make this album exactly how you wanted to make it?
DB: Yea I mean I did. I wanted to do a pop kind of tropical sound and then the producer said that has already been done and they are going to compare you to Ricky Martin. So what I did is I collected up all the music that I like and I think there’s song for everybody. It’s a mix of everything.
SE: What was the experience like shooting the video?
DB: It was a crazy experience because I pretty much put everything together and was in charge of everything. So I was there with the casting, the wardrobe, everything. It was more tiring than I thought I was going to be but I liked it because it came out the way I wanted it. We actually shot the whole video in one day. I had never acted or anything like that so I felt kind of weird at first being in front of the camera. It was weird because we did it outdoors so people were watching and wanting to know what was going on. It gives you a funny feeling like oh that are watching me so you have to give them a show even though it’s a video.