It’s rare enough for a young band to get a record deal, much less while enrolled in challenging full-time studies. Martin Camara (Year 1 EngSci) takes it all in stride. “Juggling studies and music has been something I have always had to deal with, including when I did IB in high school,” says Camara. “But EngSci is a whole different game. I’ve been using a lot of time managing skills, especially now when my band is releasing our first album.”
That band is Newcomer, composed of U of T students from engineering, statistics and social science programs who met through the university’s music clubs. Camara joined the band as its drummer this summer. Their first single, Zeitgeist, got the attention of Coin Records, which will release their upcoming album.
Camara’s musical career turned toward drumming when he was nine years old and decided that piano and violin lessons weren’t quite his style. He asked his father if he could learn to play bass or drums. “He responded ‘Whichever one you do, I’ll do the other’, and we learned together,” says Camara. “I haven’t stopped playing ever since.” With family roots in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Camara grew up steeped in the rhythms of his home country, a big influence on his choice of instrument.
Newcomer performs on Nov. 19 at the Horseshoe Tavern.