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🇦🇷 Argentina · 1981 — present

Sumo

Sumo was not just any band: it was a breath of fresh air in Argentine rock, blending British post-punk with reggae and a touch of local grit. Their sound didn’t resemble what was being played at the time, as it didn’t come from the progressive influences or the nueva canción that dominated the radios. They brought sharp guitars, basslines that wove through syncopated rhythms, and lyrics that sometimes slipped into English, as a nod to the scene Luca Prodan had breathed in London’s pubs. They didn’t aim to sound like anyone else—just themselves: a band born from necessity, instinct, and a leader who had hit rock bottom before arriving in Argentina.

It all started with a photo. Luca Prodan, former member of The New Clear Heads in London, received in 1979 a postcard from his friend Timmy MacKern, a Scotsman who had attended school with him in northern England. The image showed MacKern’s family in the hills of Córdoba, a landscape Prodan imagined as a refuge. By then, heroin had already taken his sister Claudia and left him in a coma from an overdose. In August 1980, at 35 and knowing almost nothing about Argentina, he arrived in the country. MacKern was waiting for him at the airport and took him to Hurlingham, where his relatives lived. That same night, Germán Daffunchio, MacKern’s brother-in-law and a 20-year-old sailor, picked up a criollo guitar and Luca sang. Between chords and beers, the idea of forming a band was born. They moved to MacKern’s countryside estate in Traslasierras and began playing without haste, as if time didn’t matter. By 1981, they were already in Hurlingham, rehearsing in an old mansion and testing names: first Sumito, then simply Sumo, because, as Prodan put it, “everything else was too much.”

2 Albums
20 Songs
166K Listeners/mo

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2 album|s · 1985 — 1986

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Biography

Their first show was in February 1982 at the Caroline pub in Palomar, but the breakthrough came a month later at the Rock del Sol a la Luna Festival, where they shared the stage with Riff, Juan Carlos Baglietto, and Los Violadores. By then, the lineup had already changed: Stephanie Nuttal, an English drummer Luca had met in London, joined in October 1981 but left months later due to the paranoia surrounding the Falklands War. Alejandro Sokol switched from bass to drums, and Diego Arnedo took his place behind the kit. Later, Ricardo Mollo joined on guitar and Roberto Pettinato on saxophone, the latter linked to the magazine Expreso Imaginario, which had published an article about Prodan. In 1983, Luca traveled to Europe to visit his brother in Tunisia, and many believed the band would fade away. But he returned with more energy, and by 1984 they were leading Buenos Aires’ underground alongside Patricio Rey y sus Redonditos de Ricota. It was at the Auditorio Buenos Aires where Alberto Superman Troglio debuted on drums, solidifying a lineup that would record their most memorable albums.

In 1985, they released Divididos por la felicidad, an album that captured that mix of post-punk and reggae that already defined them. The title was a homage to Joy Division, but the sound was pure Sumo: guitars that cut like blades, basslines that dragged, and Prodan’s voice shifting from a whisper to a scream. The following year, they released Llegando los monos, where reggae became more prominent, and in 1987 they closed with After Chabón, a rawer album recorded amid internal tensions and Prodan’s addiction, which ironically led him back to heroin after years of abstinence. By then, Sumo was no longer just a band: it was a symbol of what happens when instinct overrides rules. When Luca Prodan died in December 1987, the band dissolved, but their legacy remained. From its ashes emerged Divididos and Las Pelotas, two groups that inherited its rebellious spirit. Today, more than three decades later, it’s still hard to explain what Sumo was without falling into clichés: it wasn’t a massive phenomenon, but it was a band that changed the course of Argentine rock forever.

Details

Born
1 Jan 1981
Country
🇦🇷 Argentina
Genre
Post-punk

Members

· actual
Diego Arnedo
· actual
Germán Daffunchio
· actual
Luca Prodan
· 1984–present
Alberto "Superman" Troglio
· 1984–present
Ricardo Mollo
saxophone · 1982–1987
Roberto Pettinato
founder · 1981–1984
Alejandro Sokol

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