07.31.2007
CATCHING UP WITH KITCHIE
SHE CONQUERED THE LOCAL ROCK SCENE FOUR YEARS AGO WITH HER DEBUT SOLO ALBUM. NOW, KITCHIE NADAL IS WORKING ON EVEN MORE AMBITIOUS THINGS
When Kitchie Nadal left her band Mojofly in 2003 to concentrate on her studies, you could just imagine the cynics raising their eyebrows high. Soon after, however, she released an album of her own songs and became the hottest act in the country, shattering the indie-mainstream barrier into little pieces. You couldn't go anywhere without hearing her hit singles, "Huwag na Huwag Mong Sasabihin," "Bulong" or "Same Ground," played on the radio, on a bus, in a jeepney, in the grocery, on TV. Her face was everywhere, on magazine covers, on posters, on billboards, on Happy Meal packages.
These days though, aside from her silent presence on the fashion billboards she shares with Barbie Almalbis, you hardly see her. And even then, it's Barbie who gets recognized more.
But if you ask the shy erstwhile-superstar how she is, she'll reply with a grin that everything's just swell. She's busy, actually. She just finished one degree, and is tackling the other (she's enrolled in one of DLSU's double major programs), strong evidence that her studies really were a big factor in her decision to leave her old band. She's making appearances in music festivals and special concerts all over the world. And she's trying to finish writing and recording her second album, a difficult task since she decided to record two albums instead of just the one that people (her record label, her fans, you and me) are expecting her to put out.
"Weird nga eh," she admits over the phone, in an interview I conducted around four months ago. "Dalawang album ang ginagawa ko ngayon kasi meron akong pinagtri-trip-an na sound."
When you read that off this page, it may seem a little crazy, or at the very least quite ambitious. But when you listen to her explain it, it seems like the most logical thing in the world. Actually, she's only finding it difficult when she admits that she's got a deadline (one which she obviously ignored as that deadline already passed a few months ago), but she's excited to keep working. She claims she won't even leave the computer, where she's writing a lot of her songs.
Before she discovered using the computer to put her songs together, writing songs used to be a lot harder back in the day. This time, she says, she "found a way to make the process easier." She chuckles. "Na-overcome ko technophobia ko. Dati, (cell)phone lang, ayaw ko. Pero kailangan mag-aral gumamit ng cellphone, otherwise tatanda ka."
She has the same philosophy when it comes to music. "Your music is supposed to grow with you," she says. It's an oft-repeated phrase, but from her, it sounds like a fresh concept. "When your music is stuck, it gets old. It's good to keep an open mind."
Kitchie Nadal sounds like she's been around this industry forever, and seems wise beyond her years. Of course, she'd be the first to admit that in the beginning she was really just a naive kid who thought singing in a band would be fun. And that was less than eight years ago. "I didn't know what I was doing talaga," she laughs. "Lifestyle pala siya. But I really learned from being in Mojofly, I learned to value being punctual, I learned na iba pala ang playing live from being a recording artist." She shares that she and Ricci Gurango, ex-Mojofly bassist and founder, had played catch up recently and she's happy that Ricci now is married with a baby.
Meanwhile, this former Mojofly singer has been touring Japan, Canada, the US and India. "Nakaka-intimidate!" Kitchie admits. "In the US, we played nine cities in two weeks and the people (Filipinos also) were hungry for Filipino music. It gave me a purpose, giving them a glimpse of what's going on here." I ask her if they knew who she was and she replies, "May album na sila. Nabili nila sa Filipino stores."
It's strange listening to her speak as if it's normal for people abroad to have her album and know who she is. But fame, she discovers, is a funny thing. "Nararamdaman ko lang siya bandang huli na," she says, as if her career had ended already and she's looking back at another aspect of her life. "Yung nakikita ko sarili ko sa TV lumalabas, yung marami nang nakakakilala sa akin. Even when I go to the bank with my mom. Minsan, napraning ako, akala ko sinisindikato ako sa grocery at tumakbo ako. Sabi ni Mommy, 'Bakit ka tumakbo?' Fans lang daw yon. Weird!"
But on the upside, there have been blessings. "Narealize ko nalang na I've never been as focused in my whole life," she continues. She tells me this story I had already read in a previous interview with Luis Katigbak, where a documentary had filmed children in Mindanao singing her songs. "Masaya, nakakatuwa," she describes how she felt. "Yung nagiging part ka of their life na hindi mo alam? That's the power of music."
I tell her I like what I've heard of her new album, "Wide Awake (Stay Awake)" and "Buwan." She is surprised that I like "Buwan," because she doesn't think people will take to it. A few months later, I hear it played on the radio, and wonder how Kitchie would feel if she knew that her so-called ”radio unfriendly” song is getting airplay. By now, you've all probably heard of the haunting ballad, as it's part of a recently launched EP featuring Kitchie's teleserye theme songs.
Four months after talking to her, I learn that her album launch has been pushed a couple more months back, toward late 2007. I can imagine Kitchie still staring at her computer, playing around with loops and writing yet another song, stopping every other week to gig with her band, to keep them connected somehow during this songwriting process. She told me four months ago that "Wide Awake (Stay Awake)" isn't the actual title of the song, it's just so she can tell it apart from the other versions she's putting together.
She's proud to tell me that her Mommy likes what she's hearing of her daughter's new album these days. "It sounds classical, kasi may strings," she says. I ask her where she found her additional musicians and she laughs, saying it's all computerized. So I ask her, how is she going to play all this computerized stuff live? "I know," she says, "I'm setting myself up. I find na I'm working on one song and unconsciously doing other songs. Ibang animal siya eh." She excitedly informs me that she's, at that point, researching how to do drum patterns, and when she catches herself geeking out, she laughs at herself. She chuckles again as she assures me, "Kaya yan."
Photos by Web Designer + Rock Photographer Mari Arquiza. Check out more of her stuff here! And watch out for updates on Kitchie Nadal's much awaited album here on Pulse.ph. Meanwhile, for her gig skeds, click here.
Joelle Jacinto is Pulse's staff writer. She is currently still transcribing her marathon interview with the Fatal Posporos.
