04.10.2007

NARDA'S LAST FLIGHT

WELL-LOVED ROCK BAND NARDA HAS FOUGHT THE GOOD FIGHT FOR OVER FOUR YEARS. THEY'VE GIVEN US AMAZING PERFORMANCES AND MANY WONDERFUL SONGS. WE'RE GOING TO MISS THEM

by Joelle Jacinto

FANTASTIC FOUR

It was a giddy February night outside Café Saguijo in Makati. Hordes were spilling out into the street because the bar was already too crowded inside, and this exodus proved a minor distraction to then-members of the band Narda: vocalist Katwo Librando, guitarist Tani Santos, keyboardist Yaps Estagle and drummer/songwriter/bandleader Ryan Villena. It was an all-girl-fronted-bands night and Narda was scheduled past midnight, a sign that Narda were that big already. If you want people to stay after midnight, you schedule the good acts for then.

In an interview outside Saguijo that night, I asked them about how they felt about getting “bigger” and they all admitted that they were enjoying it. My last question was “What do you love most about being in this band?”—to which Katwo, Yaps and Tani replied, “Performing live.” Ryan replied differently, saying it’s more writing and recording that interests him. In any case, it seemed like they were enjoying the successes they’d achieved so far and were ready for more successes in the future, and, as Ryan said, he already had new material for the next album.

Shortly after, an announcement from Narda: they were going to disband. Their last gig would be on April 12, a gig they cheekily entitled NARDAmaggedon. Estagle had quit the band, which meant they’d have to take the trouble of finding/teaching a replacement amid busy skeds and projects new (Katwo’s) and urgent (Ryan’s). Katwo’s and Ryan’s separate web posts on the upcoming break-up recall how hard it was to take off in Narda’s early days, what with all the lineup changes and other setbacks, and maybe, with yet another lineup change, it was time to lay Narda to rest. "Just imagine how many times I taught 'Molotov' to sessionists and aspiring keyboardists and drummers for the past two years... probably more than 30 times,” Ryan writes in an email to the band’s mailing list. “Then we had all these questions going through our minds: 'Why can't we move on? Why couldn't we gain momentum? Why aren't we getting the right breaks?' The questions just kept on weighing us down."

He also says that this decision to quit wasn’t a sudden thing. “We had it coming,” he assures.

SECRET ORIGINS

They started out in 2002 with a wholly different lineup and a different sound. Ryan was introduced to Katwo regarding vocal duties for Lilian, an earlier incarnation of Narda that couldn’t get off the ground with its constant lineup changes. Moving on from Lilian, Katwo and Ryan formed Narda with JV Javier and Ed Ibarra on guitars and Wincy Ong on bass. In 2003, Ibarra had to leave the band for work-related reasons and former Lilian-guitarist, Nico Africa, regrouped with Ryan. Within this span of time, they released four EPs: A Postcard From…, Suwerte, Burador, Salaguinto’t Salagubang, and in 2005,a full-length album, Formika. Constant gigging would soon affect the guitarists’ attempts to balance the band and their day jobs, causing Javier and Africa to amicably leave Narda before the recording of the second album.

It was then that the band reformatted its sound, with Ong returning to guitars as the bass was simulated via keyboards, manned by new recruit Jep Cruz. Towards the end of 2005, while putting together material for the next album, Ong opted to leave the band, also in favor of his non-music career. Tani Santos filled his shoes, and the band also got Yaps Estagle as additional synths guy. The sound of the new Narda evolved over this time and was officially launched with the release of Discotillion in September 2006. From sweet, dreamy melodic pop, Narda grew into a dance-punk/garage rock band, with Katwo’s singing unleashing a fury that could only be hinted at in the EPs and the first album. Like Formika, but for different reasons, Discotillion found its way into several year-end “Best of” lists. Unlike Formika, Discotillion catapulted the still-indie band onto a new level of popularity. Of course, the band and their management team worked really hard to get heard, to get the album together, to get played on radio. But with their songs done up to be in-your-face, Narda became harder to overlook.

Of course, they wouldn’t say that they were already big the way they wanted to be big, not yet anyway. In that Saguijo interview, Katwo relates that she had heard their old song, “Tanga,” playing on NU earlier that day and the DJ said it was the song “Suwerte” from their first album, Nico. “Di ba, parang, hoy teka teka, maling-mali yung information na nasabak kanina sa radyo eh,” Katwo laughs. “Tinginan na lang kami ni Nico,” she said, referring to her boyfriend Nico, not the former guitar player, nor the title of any of their albums. “So wrong.”

Katwo does concede that whether the audience knows them or not, performing live as the reformatted dance-punk Narda had become more fun, really fun for her. She cites performing in provinces, where she realized the audience there had a certain sincerity. “Yung mga tao pupunta talaga para manuod ng banda,” she relates, “Pero makikita mo ‘yung heart nila eh, ‘yung excitement to see the band. So, it’s really exciting.”

BLASTS FROM THE PAST

Asked how she felt upon hearing “Tanga” on the radio, representative of their old sound, which they haven’t performed since Discotillion, Katwo replies, “Parang iba eh, iba talaga yung kung ano ‘yung Narda ngayon sa old sound ng Narda. Minsan, parang nahihiya ako kasi parang feeling ko parang… alam mo ‘yung feeling na nakita mo ‘yung sarili mo nung first year college ka? Tapos parang ‘yung porma mo mali pa? Parang ganoon. Yun, ganoon yung feeling ko. Parang awkward pero at the same time, proud ka rin na dumaan ka doon, kasi sobrang big deal na yun, especially ‘yung time na first time kong narinig ‘yung song namin sa NU, parang it brings back that memory eh, so parang kinikilig ka pero at the same time nahihiya ka.” She pauses to giggle. “But I guess normal naman ‘yon.”

“Do I miss it?” Ryan mulls this over as I turn to him. “Hindi, siguro hindi, kasi nandito naman yun eh…” He touches his heart, then laughs. “Bahagi pa rin naman yun ng songwriting na ginagawa ako. Ngayon lang siguro mas nag-co-concentrate lang with yung present sound ngayon na more of aggressive, pero yung melancholy [feel], nandoon pa rin naman yun with other songs that I write, um not for this band, hindi ko lang alam kung anong banda pa yon, pero nandoon pa naman yun, hindi mawawala yun.”

Ryan is referring to two other bands he was planning to get together after finishing his Master’s degree this month. One band is a more openly new wave group he’s forming with Pedicab’s Jason Caballa, Boy Elroy’s Conrad Javier and Narda guitarist Tani Santos. Ryan, Conrad and Jason have all been wanting to form a band since forever, especially one “with an actual bass,” Jason quips. The second band is still in the fertilization stage, a mod group with Robert Martinez of Milagros Dancehall Collective, who, as some of you may remember, was Ryan’s bandmate in the original lineup of Brownman Revival. Ryan plans to play guitars in this band, admitting “matagal ko nang gustong mag-gitara.”

These bands would have been around even if Narda was not breaking up: they’re not replacements. Ryan seems to me a songwriting machine, and a prolific one at that. “Parang twenty years from now, di ba, pag singkwenta na ako, alam mo yun, ganoon pa rin ba ako?” he muses. “Pero gusto ko yung maririnig ko na ganito ako dati. Tsaka, this point, natutuwa ako na nagagawa ko yung childhood dream ko noon—punk rock, new wave. Yun yung nakaka-excite ngayon eh, writing new stuff, recording it, hearing it, tapos, pare, ito yung mga idol mo dati, nagagawa mo siya ngayon. Doon ako natutuwa eh.”

SUPER POWERS

Katwo herself is also in awe of Ryan’s songwriting talents and prolificity. For example, after Ryan tries to explain his songwriting process, basically saying that he’s got all parts in his head at the same time, it was just a matter of teaching it to his bandmates, Katwo praises Ryan by saying, “Skill na yun, yung kung baga pina-play mo pa lang sa gitara alam mo na yung tunog ng lahat. Feeling ko that comes from experience. Ako personally, gagawa ako ng kanta, hindi ko kayang isipin kung anong magiging drums nun eh. Parang if artist ka, if visual artist ka, se-sketch mo pa lang alam mo na yung magiging packaging niya. It comes really with a skill, na si Ryan lang talagang makakapag, at this point, makakapag-provide sa amin nun eh. Ang hirap n’un! Like, lyrics pa lang, alam mo na lahat? It’s hard.

“Kaya yung mga songs, pag dating sa amin, ang maganda, okay na kasi ayus na siya eh,” she continues. “Pero at the same time, meron pa rin kaming chance to explore our own comfort zones. Siguro yun talaga yung naging strength ng songs sa album na to, it was structured creatively in a sense na… It’s so hard to work with a person or a songwriter who doesn’t know what to do with the other instruments. Wala kang pupuntahan nun eh. Pero siya, alam na niya eh. So, that gives structure, pero at the same time, since hindi naman kami virtuoso, hindi naman kami Van Halen,” she laughs. “Alam mo yun, na kaya namin lahat sa instruments, yung simple limitations namin, kung anong kaya niya i-play [points at Tani], kung anong kaya niya i-play [points at Yaps], kung anong kaya kong kantahin, yun yung nagiging guideline ng style siguro ng sound namin.”

Has Ryan asked her to anything she would have refused to do? “Actually, wala naman…” she says. Then, grins. “Maghubad.” She laughs as she pretends to quote Ryan as band despot. “Tumuwad ka! Bilhan mo ako ng chichirya!” She composes herself to give a more serious answer. “Feeling ko naman, it depends on the artist, in anything you do in life, it will always come to a point na ‘Gusto ko ba ‘tong ginagawa ko? Ayaw ko?’ Sabi nga ng co-worker ni Ryan, ‘Hanapin mo na lang yung joy doon.’ Kung feeling mo boring yung ginagawa mo, hanapan mo ng paraan na magiging masaya ka. And siguro tweaking it to your style. It’s really the style, yung sound, it came from limitations and trying to get out of those limitations and using those limitations to our advantage.”

Sadly, this style will exist only in Discotillion, as they retire the band and move on to other things. In a more recent interview with Ryan, after the announcement of the disbandment, the plan was to continue as a three-piece, with Ryan playing the entire rhythm section on the keys. Estagle’s departure meant they would have to get a new keyboardist or a new drummer as Ryan moves to the keys, or have the drum tracks programmed. They tried this out for a gig they couldn’t cancel shortly after Estagle had quit, but it only contributed to the remaining members’ disheartenment.

“Napag-isip isip ko na,” Ryan explains. “Siguro, si Katwo rin, we had a meeting, and decided wag na. Kasi ako, naturuan ko na lahat ng matuturuan ko, at ‘pag may butas, tapal lang ng tapal. Para sa akin, wala na eh, I was trying to find a reason for it, pero para saan pa? Pagod na rin kami. Sa lahat ng nangyari, maybe it’s time to move on.”

THE END?

Ryan doesn’t promise that Narda may return in the future, but he doesn’t discount the possibility either. And it seems, from all that they’ve been through together and all she’s learned from him, Katwo would probably be open to working with Ryan in the future also. In her blog, Katwo speaks of changes and upcoming projects, such as her new all-girl band, Duster, among other major milestones. Hopefully, each will look back at their alter-ego days and feel pride at how far they took the mission.

Photos by Nico Puertollano.

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Artist	Song Title	Type
Narda	Alta Presyon	Monotones
Narda	Ang Mitsa	Monotones
Narda	Batang Munti	Monotones
Narda	Buti Nga	Monotones
Narda	Gasolina	Monotones
Narda	Golden Boy	Monotones
Narda	100 Taon	Truetones

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