About Como - As featured in Give Me Your Love
Como was an unlikely and electrifying Buenos Aires new wave rock band fronted by Alex Demilo, an American who sang his songs in English to a Spanish-speaking audience. Como, the forgotten band that just barely existed, performed during the first perilous years of Argentina's return to democracy after seven years of a brutal military dictatorship.
Alex Demilo first came to Argentina at 17, in the middle of "The Dirty War," and returned to New York after high school a changed person. In the summer of 1985, at 21, missing the wild west environment of Argentina, Demilo returned.
While at a party in Buenos Aires Demilo met drummer Javier Brizzi. They began rehearsing the next day along with Marcelo Cepeda, a guitarist who had never played bass before. Demilo introduced his original songs and instantly the trio ignited a high-energy musical connection and their music exploded.
What followed had to happen fast. Demilo was booked to return to the USA in less than three weeks, yet, sensing something special was happening, they continued to play every day. In just one week, the band had assembled a full set. The band then performed at three Buenos Aires venues in rapid succession — to audiences that had never seen anything like them.
Como performed all original material, written and sung by the American entirely in English, virtually unheard of in the Argentine rock scene, drawing on the influence of The Police, The Cars, and The Rolling Stones. The result was hard-rocking post-punk built on Demilo's inventive guitar and songwriting, Brizzi's powerful drumming, and Marcelo's flamboyant bass playing and stage presence.
The success of those three gigs was enough. Demilo returned to Boston, worked to save money for a ticket, and came straight back to rejoin Como in Buenos Aires.
News about this strange new band Como attracted the attention of established Argentine musical celebrities. Argentine rock legend Pappo, friend of B.B. King and considered the greatest Argentine blues rock guitarist, attended a Como show specifically to see the unknown band he'd been hearing about. Celeste Carballo, the celebrated Argentine rock and blues singer whose band had opened for Bob Dylan and Santana earlier that year, heard about an American fronting an Argentine rock band. She showed up at a gig and joined Como onstage unrehearsed.
In less than a year, Como performed at some of Buenos Aires' most celebrated venues including El Taller, Exit, GAZ, Rocky Point, Airport, Prix d'Ami, and San Francisco Tramway, where they played to an audience of over 1,000. Como also performed three dates in Punta del Este, Uruguay — known as the Monaco of South America — including a headline set at Rainbow Rock, the premier nightclub of the time.
Como's original catalog included songs written by Demilo: "Give Me Your Love," "I've Changed My Mind," "Giovanna," "Go Away Now," “The Great Depression” and "I'm Still Thinking." The band also performed "El Soldado," co-written with Marcelo about a fellow conscript killed during their mandatory military service — sung in Spanish.
The band dissolved in 1986 when Demilo's funds ran out and he was forced to return to the United States, then lost himself in a fiery romance that took him to London and then San Francisco.
A reunion of Como has never materialized.
The only recordings that survived are cassette tapes made on a JVC boombox at rehearsals.
In 2026, nearly forty years later, those tapes were sent to be AI-separated in Sweden at ABBA’s former studio and then remastered at Abbey Road Studios by Miles Showell, the engineer behind the 50th-anniversary edition of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and the 2022 reissue of Revolver.
The transformation of these cassette tape rehearsals is now available on the Como Buenos Aires 1985-86 album released in May 2026.
