By Juan R Govea
The dance rock synth sound of DFW’s Svenny Baby’s 4-piece band does not lack the sound of music. The dedicated group has been together for more than a decade and dates back more than ten years with founding members Victor Toruno on keys and Dustin Johnson on guitar. The seasoned band attributes their funk-synth style with a determined attitude. The groups’ title is pronounced like it’s spelled without accent, Svenny Baby! and exclamation, which originates from Manga Comics, Black Cat.
Currently the group has 8 songs close to being released and adding more, which Toruno says are a thick monster of songs. The growing monster of songs is somewhat still in progression with ideas of adding a dramatic performance to their set list. “The album is about self discovery, we wanted to push ourselves and do something a little bit more creative,” Toruno says.
Toruno says they have a lot of ideas floating around the concept of adding a stage performance to express the idea of self-discovery, which includes a live performance that would include a artistically scripted skit involving characters such as a therapist to express ideas of coping with twenty-something lifestyle’s and growth.
“Every song in the new album is like a reflective piece, some of the songs have a few philosophical quotes,” Toruno says.
Victor Toruno of Svenny Baby! plays keys and vocals at Division Brewing in Arlington TX.
Photo Credit: Juan R Govea
The group members have their own fondness and appreciation for different styles of music, such as the mainstream bands Passion Pit and Panic at The Disco to name a few.
Bassist and vocalist Jonathan Holder states he and drummer Felipe Rosales veer to the likes of Jazz, and states everyone has their own appreciated influential tendencies when it comes to making music
Johnson says he falls back on the singer songwriter style of music and artists like Jason Mraz. “When I want to write guitar parts I go back to really high-grade musicians not necessarily bands but musicians,” Johnson says.
The group says their working album will hopefully be out by the summer, and a single out in the spring recording with Luke Garrigus of Balckroom Studios in Georgetown near Austin, TX. The self-promoting group usually performs in and around DFW hot spots like Arlington’s Division Brewing and Dallas’ The Prophet Bar and The Door.
Jonathan Holder bassist/Vocals for Svenny Baby! at Division Brewing, Arlington TX.
Photo Credit: Juan R Govea
“We have enough stuff online now so people know what they are getting,” Holder says. “Luckily we have people contact us to book a show.”
Bandcamp and iTunes are few digital outlets where listeners can download Svenny Baby’s recent single, The Wastelands and past albums Cool For A Moment released Dec. 2016 and the eleven-track album, Painting Pictures released in May of 2015.
Toruno says he always wanted to be involved in music and received his degree as music major from The University of Texas at Arlington and is currently a choir director besides playing the keys. Meeting Holder and Rosales at UTA and Johnson a longtime friend of Toruno, the tightly bonded group says they continue to learn and grow in sound.
You can contact Svenny Baby! at http://www.svennybabymusic.com/
And on bandcamp at https://svennybabymusic.bandcamp.com/
