10.08.2007
HELEN AND HER COME-HITHER SONGS
IF THE MUSIC OF THE BAND HELEN REPRESENTED A REAL PERSON, SHE’D BE SEXY, COMPLICATED, AND UNAFRAID OF EMOTION: THE GIRL YOU DON’T WANT TO INTRODUCE TO YOUR GIRLFRIEND
Nobody in Helen is named Helen. Unlike certain '80s bands with big hair, they didn’t name their band after the lead vocalist. And yet, since the vocalist is this tall, curvaceous chick holding a guitar, and the only girl in the band, it's normal to hear guys in the audience yell, "I love you, Helen!" at their gigs. Some nights, she blithely replies, "I love you too," without missing a beat. Others, she'll look at their bassist and say, "Hoy, I love you, daw."
Her name is actually Jill de la Torre and Helen, the band, was not initially her idea. Bassist Jonjon Jose invited her to join them in 2003, after being introduced by common friends. Jon and their drummer, Mikah Azurin—who also plays for jazz group Quail Quartet and death metal band Brimstone in Fire—write most of their songs, even the lyrics. Most of the time, they make them too low for her to sing (not intentionally, they are guys with different vocal registers after all). Sometimes, she writes her own lyrics too, such as on the yearning yet seductive "Farcaster," where she croons, "Lapit na, lapit, lapit pa..." thus earning unwanted post-gig invitations on occasion. Unwanted because, offstage, the come-hither look and voice are gone, and med student Jill just wants a quiet corner in the bar where she can study for an exam the next day.
The rest of their songs are in this league of sexy, such as the bossa-tinged "Red Moon," written by Jon, and the anthemic "Experimental Model," which was written by Mikah. Sexy over the signature live drum n' bass foundations. Live drum n' bass? Yes, live. Yes, Jon and Mikah can play that fast.
Rounding out the foursome is Wiggie (pronounced Wee-jee) Bug-os, whose bluesy, funk-influenced guitars add another dimension to the band's sound. Many who hear them for the first time proclaim that they sound like no one else. The band hopes that this will work well for them when they finally release their album by the end of the year. They’ve poured so much time into the recording process that the songs on their demo EP, originally released in 2005, now sound vastly different. Their first "single," "Back in My Home," which was played on the radio and can be heard on their MySpace and Multiply pages, is merely a bare-bones basic version of what the song is now—a bit more haunting, a bit more compelling, a bit more sexy.
PULSE.PH: How was Helen formed?
MIKAH: I met Jon while I was still in one of my former bands, a jazz group called Fish Trio. His band at the time needed a session drummer for a gig, and they asked me to sit in. Later on when his band broke up, he called to ask if I was interested in doing a project, and that became Helen.
JON: Mikah sessioned for my former band around 2002, I think that was an NU107 gig at Zoo. I asked him if it's okay with him if we'd do a side project and he said yes. We had our first rehearsal around the end of March of 2003 with Sherwin Reyes as a part of our original line up. Puwedeng bumati? Sherwin! Balitaan mo naman kami!
JILL: My good friend was a writer for a paper and she interviewed Jon's former band. This friend of mine was also the "manager" for the all-girl band I was part of called Chimera. We were content with playing gigs here and there and in one of those gigs we played with Jon's former band. Jon was so impressed by me that he told my friend I was really really great. Eventually when he left his former band he contacted me and asked if I was interested in being in a band with him.
MIKAH: It took us a long time to really find our sound because it was so different from everything we'd done before.
How do you think you complement each other, as musicians, as people?
MIKAH: None of us come from the same musical background. At most, Jonjon and I both grew up listening to new wave, but that's it. So when one of us brings in a song in a style that the others aren't familiar with, we end up interpreting it in different ways, and when the song is finally done, it's usually a mix of a lot of different elements, and that can be very interesting.
WIGGIE: Just being true to each other, and respect.
JILL: We respect each other, and because of that we work well together—there's no dissing and fighting or going behind each other's backs. I think it also helps that we're all on the stable side, so our personality quirks aren't so big that we can't handle each other. As musicians we know our abilities and our limitations, we know who leads and who follows, but it's more of a democracy—we all have our input when it comes to putting together a song.
JON: Sa music, I think we complement each other by "not complementing each other." Labo nun no?! Ibig kong sabihin eh kinakalimutan namin yung influences namin consciously sa songwriting process, hanggang sa maging natural na yung pag complement sa kanta. Lahat ng gagawin namin sa intstrumento namin ay sa ikagaganda ng kanta. As people, balanse lang siguro with the members... 'kala mo ang dami no? Pogi si Mikah and Wiggie, pero pinaka pogi ako! Balanse lang, ganun.
How would you describe your sound?
JON: Nako! 'Yan nga kinakatakot kung tanong eh.
WIGGIE: Kakaiba.
MIKAH: It's OPM! With a some new wave, dreampop, punk, bossa and a lot of drum n' bass mixed in.
JILL: Our music is unexpected and complex. It's also so flexible—it can encompass a whole range of emotions without sounding whiny or redundant.
JON: Eto yung tinatawag na "pakinggan mo na lang" genre. Eto siguro yung bandang busog nung ginawa yung kanta. Kape ka lang while listening to our music pero di sa sosyal na kapihan pero brewed coffee ha, tapos kumakain ka na blueberry cheesecake or super sarap na oatmeal cookies....Yan!!
Why Helen? How do you think the name Helen fits you?
JON: Para sa akin kasi... di ko talaga alam!! Maikli, madaling tandaan, basta't may maipangalan lang. The music is more important.
JILL: Helen sounded right. When it was first thrown out in the air everyone paused for a moment and let it sink in—unlike with the other proposed names that were discarded so easily.
MIKAH: It was the first name that we all agreed on. My suggestion was "Bureau of Customs" but no one else liked this name.
How do you feel about people recognizing you as Helen, with them thinking that it's really your name?
JILL: Everytime someone calls me Helen, I'm flattered because I associate that with people remembering our music. The fact that they remembered me and the name meant that they paid attention to our music, listened and, hopefully, appreciated it.
Based on your songs, if Helen were an actual person, what would she look like? What kind of girl would she be?
WIGGIE: Simple lang at may Spongebob tattoo. [laughs]
JON: What a question!! Baliw siguro, pero maganda at sexy!
JILL: She'd be a complicated woman. She'd be bold, she would know what she wants and would try many different things to achieve her goal. She'd be opinionated and wouldn't be afraid of emotions. She'd be beautiful, of course, but in a way that doesn't shout "look-at-me". Her beauty would be that which is appreciated more the longer you know her. Just like our music. It grows on you.
MIKAH: She's the girl you don't want to introduce to your girlfriend.
How does your songwriting process go?
MIKAH: I usually write on keyboard and make a working demo of the song using a sequencer. I'm not really a guitarist so my stuff comes out really sounding like it should be a keyboard player playing it—but we don't have one. A big part of the Helen sound is trying to translate all these keyboard parts into something that two guitars and a bass can cover. It can be hard but what comes out always sounds pretty interesting.
JILL: Usually it's Mikah or Jon who writes songs, sometimes it would be a complete song with the chords and lyrics and we'd tweak it depending on our individual parts.. We're free to work with our sounds as long as we keep the main thought of the song intact. Sometimes it would be just music and I'd write the lyrics.
JON: Gagawin ni Mikah or ako sa midi yung basic pattern, parinig sa amin, jam, and the really long process of constantly changing the song. After a month iba na from the original, give it another 3-4 months at malayo na talaga sa original. 'Pag kanta ni Jill, paririnig lang sa amin, tapos ganun ding proseso.
How do you translate to guitar the many sounds that were originally keyboard based? How do you figure this out? Is it difficult?
WIGGIE: It's not that difficult for me because I have a little background playing the keyboards.
JON: Hmmm... Pogi ka na naman, Wiggie. Mahirap bang mag gitara?! Mga chicks ganyan style eh. I heard that before, "Mahirap bang mag drums?" Pa bati uli, Paolo!! Kamusta ka na diyan!! [This is an inside joke that turned out to involve a handsome but shy drummer and a female DJ's tactics to get him to smile at her. We do not repeat it here, just because.—Joelle]
What song/s do you feel most strongly about?
WIGGIE: "Farcaster," "Red Moon," and "Experimental Model."
JON: "Red Moon" ... Puwedeng bumati? Hello Jewel.
JILL: I feel most strongly about “Bitin” because that stemmed from a personal experience. I was also so amazed at how well the words came together—in Tagalog!—in just a matter of minutes, something that hardly happens anymore. I also enjoy playing “Experimental Model.” It's nice and catchy and it's fun to play a character, even if it's just for a song.
MIKAH: I thought "Experimental Model" was fiction but I realized it was really about me.
How are you recording this album? What is your set up and process?
JON: Ah... Using a tape recorder. No, Just kidding, Mikah records the drums kay Shinji ...di ko na batiin yan, kilala na yan eh... 'Pag uwi nung drum tracks sa PC ni Mikah, mag lay-in na kami nung ibang instruments sa PC niya habang kumakain kami nang marami.
MIKAH: I'm recording my drum parts at Sound Creation, owned and operated by duly licensed multi-awarded very friendly easy to work with super-engineer Tanaka Shinji. Everything else is recorded at Bahay ni Mikah at Bahay ni Jonjon recording studio, into my computer. Unless plans change, we're going to do the mixing ourselves. Hopefully something interesting will come out.
What was the hardest thing about recording your album by yourselves?
MIKAH: Scheduling everyone! And learning how to record at the same time as doing the recording!
JON: Oras!!! Oras nang bawa't isa. Si Jill nag me-med, Wiggie and I teach taekwondo, Mikah has his work.
JILL: I've never recorded anything before so I have nothing to compare it to, but what's hard about it is, of course, having to put up the money to record by ourselves. There's also no professional audio techie among us so basically we're just recording to the best of our abilities. There's also a disadvantage when it comes to "standardization" of the sound settings since we record at different times and at different places. It's also hard to find time to record since we all have our day jobs keeping us busy.
MIKAH: Our manager Zarah is and continues to be a big help in planning all the details and paperwork that will go into making this album happen, and we're really happy about that.
WIGGIE: Ako, ang hinde maligaw sa palo ni Mikah-tok! [laughs]
People say that your music doesn't really fit into a particular category, or in their words, "Wala kayong katunog." How do you think this helps or hurts you?
JILL: It’s helpful to us since our music sticks out. It's unexpected, as I mentioned, and that makes people listen. But because we sound different, there are those who aren't sure whether they like us or not because they have nothing to compare it to. It's also a challenge to play in front of people who are not so receptive to new things. It's like introducing yourself to people and not being liked because of the fact that you're different.
WIGGIE: It's a compliment for us when they say wala kaming katunog.
MIKAH: It helps because no one can really say, "Helen sounds like this or that band." I guess it hurts from a marketing perspective because you can't put us into any of the usual sections in music stores.
JON: It hurts kasi ginugulo namin isip nila. It helps kasi ginugulo namin isip nila.
Photographs by Zarah Dominguez, Joelle Jacinto and Jewel Regal.
Join the bewilderment and check out more of Helen here and here. You can also join their mailing list at helenbanda@yahoogroups.com.
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