Meet the Music Supergroup with Melody del Mundo, Wolf Gemora, and Robin Nievera

They may have left their life as musicians in the Philippines but the desire to create music never left them. 

Sugar Hiccup vocalist and guitarist Melody del Mundo, former Wolfgang drummer Wolf Gemora, and singer-songwriter and guitarist Robin Nievera, have come together to form a new supergroups called the Mellow Dees. And they just released a new single titled “Lamán.”

“Lamán” is the first song in Filipino that Del Mundo has ever written. She remembers the exact moment she decided to write the song.

“A melodic tune came to me one Sunday morning and I couldn’t get it out of my head so I picked up my guitar and tried to figure out the chords,” she tells Esquire Philippines. 

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“I don’t know how it really came to me but as soon as I figured the chords, I was able to come up with the structure of the song and the lyrics came flowing. I worked on it for about four hours and I couldn’t believe that I just finished writing a Tagalog song,” she adds.

The lyrics goes: “Aking, hirang/Ako’y iyo/Kahit hiram/Tikman mong paulit-ulit./ Mainit man/ O tag-ulan/ Aking laman/ Tikman mong paulit-ulit.”

The lyrics are straightforward. Right from the start, the song gives off a reggae groove with the drumbeats and the opening riffs. Aside from laying guitar tracks, Nievera recorded the bass lines for the song. As the track crescendoes towards the end and Del Mundo sings in her signature soprano—breathing heavily and suggestively at one point—there’s no doubt about what the song’s all about.

The message is clear and may come on a bit too strong. It might even raise a few eyebrows. “Lamán” sounds like it could be used as the soundtrack for a sexy film with a mistress at the center of the plot.

The three band members are now based in the United States: Del Mundo and Gemora in Los Angeles, and Nievera in Chicago. The original lineup, formed in Anaheim, California in August 2019, included former Parokya ni Edgar member Buhawi Meneses as the band’s bassist. Nievera joined them a month later.

The son of crooner Martin Nievera remembers their first meeting.

“I was still new to California in 2019,” he says. “I literally just moved from Manila. I didn’t know Wolf or Melody. But I was invited to a jam. I didn’t think anything of it. I was trying to make new friends. And I missed playing with my band from Manila. I just thought how nice it would be to jam with Filipino musicians again. I didn’t know it was some kind of audition.”

Photo by @photoopsstudio.

The Mellow Dees was formed out of a collective desire to collaborate with Filipino artists to make music. But the common ground almost ends there. Del Mundo’s roots are dream pop, which is evident in her work with Sugar Hiccup. Gemora’s former band, Wolfgang, is known for its hard-driving sound with doses of heavy metal. Nievera’s songs from his past albums are parts alt-rock, parts blues. 

The result as far as the band’s sound is concerned, as Del Mundo puts it, is “lounge-punk”—easy, flowing and sexy, yet a bit rough around the edges. It came forth organically; the by-product three talented musicians with diverse influences and preferences, but whose artistic sensibilities somehow align.

Gemora feels the connection, something you wouldn’t expect given their different backgrounds, but it works.

“We are fortunate that all the members are seasoned musicians and songwriters and most importantly, we are somehow on the same wavelength when it comes to writing the music,” he says.

Del Mundo sees “Lamán” as a modern-day harana from a woman’s point of view. The song was co-produced by Anjelo Alonte, mixed by Diego Garrido, and recorded at Mack Sennett Studios in Silverlake, Los Angeles.

The band is in the process of producing the other tracks for an upcoming album, which will be released in 2023 under Lilystars Records. Meanwhile, everyone can stream “Lamán” online:

You can also follow the Mellow Dees on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Bandcamp  and Twitter.