Pulse.ph : MUSIC + CULTURE
September 28th, 2007
September 27th, 2007
True story. I’m six weeks into my 3-month sabbatical in Portland, Orgeon and I’m enjoying the first days of autumn. I’m walking towards the Crystal Ballroom, hoping to inquire about their week’s shows when I pass a neatly dressed man dragging a suitcase behind him. I glance at him and make a mental note that he looks remarkably Swedish. I then glance at his suitcase and I read "Peter Bjorn…" before he walks away. My brain takes a second to put two and two together before I chase after him and stop him mid-street. Peter, of Peter Bjorn and John, is chomping on a green apple and looks warily at me as I ask if he is indeed Peter of Peter Bjorn and John. He says he is Peter of Peter Bjorn and John and I stare blankly at him and then he walks away. Feelings of idiocy and triumph blend together inside me, as I skip back towards the Crystal Ballroom whistling Peter Bjorn and John’s hit "Young Folks". For a country that doesn’t get a whole lot of sun, Sweden has consistently produced bright and life-affirming music. ABBA and Ace of Base have stepped aside and let a new Nordic sound through. Indie stalwarts like Jose Gonzalez, The Knife, and Jens Lekman are winning the (non-existent) war for Sweden over its neighbor Norway, an indie powerhouse in its own right. PB&J are so far the most visible and they’re making their way down the mainstream, with appearances on American national television. They even have an MTV Best New Artist nomination under their belt. 2006’s Writer’s Block is their ticket to stardom, or at least their ticket to radio airplay and commercial ubiquity. This year their song "Young Folks" was hard to escape. Peter’s extraordinary whistling ability is an added charm; the song sounds like it’s from another era, the 60’s to be exact. If I closed my eyes and pretended it was forty years ago, I would swear it was John Lennon. On "Lets Call It Off," they sound like another 60’s group, troubadours Peter and Gordon. "Object of My Affection" and "Up Against the Wall" have a more modern feel to them, but retain the same sound that makes the album cohesive, which could be a problem for some. The rest of their songs share the same aesthetic which may or may not be to their advantage. PB&J have a knack for creating poppy melodies with a tinge of melancholy, but a whole album’s worth of that Swedish sunshine could get tiring after a while. Perhaps there’s more than a scientific reason for those sunless Arctic winters after all.
September 26th, 2007
CALIPH8, NEON8 AND PASTA GROOVE: THREE DJs MIX IT UP
Once upon a time, I boldly ambushed Malek Lopez for an interview for a now-defunct music webzine, and asked, "So what’s electronic music anyway?" Of course, my ignorance pissed him off, and for years I couldn’t muster up the courage to speak to him at gigs. (That changed recently, but only because I’ve convinced myself that he’s forgotten that I’m that stupid journalist from way back when). I know a lot better now, of course, but it’s always a treat when I get a chance to learn more about DJing, electronica, and all related matters, like DJs’ once-secret life outside of raves that seems to be getting less and less secret as time goes by. This Friday, Jack Daniel’s is kicking off its Jack Mix Series, a special bar tour that involves the creation of new music by its participating, collaborating performers. While the rest of the tour over the next few months will be held in different bars, within different productions, and will mostly feature bands of different genres paired together—such as punk and dance, with Hilera and Chicosci collaborating with Pedicab and Taken By Cars, just to name one crazy night that’s in store—Jack Daniel’s has decided to launch the series with a group of artists for whom collaborations are second, or rather, first nature: DJs. The Jack Mix Series opens with three sets of DJs playing off each other: Ann Barcelona and Lady Trinity, Mike Cons and Neon8, and Caliph8 and Pasta Groove. Caliph8, a.k.a. Arvin Nogueras, tells me that he’s always been impressed with Jack Daniel’s initiative when it comes to promoting new music, like that time they brought in Treva Whateva, a British DJ whose aesthetic sense runs many miles away from the mainstream. "Of course, the party people started thinning out after a few tunes, but there were people who were introduced to and became interested in this new kind of music, and they probably would never have heard of it otherwise," he shares. "Kami, backstage, we were having a blast." CALIPH8 Caliph8 has been doing collaborations most of his artistic life. He formed Down Earf with Jay Roy and DJ Arbie Won in ‘96 and released perhaps the first indie EP in the Philippines. He also did collabs with Jun Lopito when he was with Reggae Mistress, Third World Project, WDOUJI, Tropical Depression, Betrayed, NTOTN, Radioactive Sago Project, Rubber Inc., Flow 44, and jammed with the Eheads on their last gig, at the NU Rock Awards. He’s now an official member of Drip and the hip-hop-electronic collective AMPON. He once told me that he’s accepted that the masses will never get his music, but he continues to create music for himself and people who are willing to listen. Hip-hop DJing would probably never advance beyond drunk and stoned kids grinding with strangers on so-called Hip-Hop nights at places like Pravda, Mars, Whereelse, and recently in Prince of Jaipur, without Caliph8 keeping the fire of non-conventional hip-hop burning. "Those hip-hop nights just play mainstream hip-hop. We don’t stick to just hip-hop, we also do old music like funk, jazz and soul, which are the roots of hip-hop," Caliph8 explains. "I guess you can say we’re music snobs, but it’s great that different performers who are not in that league are being heard. Our market, it turns out, are those who are into electronic." The Jack Mix Series will be launched at Alchemy in Silvercity mall, where they also hold Hip-hop nights every Mondays—but it’s a different brand of hip-hop, this time. Who attends? "A lot of like-minded ‘heads, and it’s surprisingly growing," Caliph8 relates. "I guess more are becoming well-informed because the scene is flourishing. Not like 1996, where it was depressing, we were just playing our music and hoping somehow that there would be some who would hear us." Caliph8’s main influences are Organized Confusion, Large Professor, RZA, and Lord Finesse. "When I was younger, I used to listen to mainstream, but I had friends who started to feed me stuff, my much older neighbors. This was the ’80s and I was 9 years old. It was ‘86, when the mobile was still the scene. Anyway, my neighbors owned a mobile crew and as a kid, nakikigulo ako. They had crates of vinyl and I would see all these names. Then I lived in the States for five years, and that’s where I understood what my art is." It took him time, and the trip home, to actually participate in his art. "I became an enthusiast, supporting subculture, but I didn’t really contribute myself until I got back here," he continues. “There, I was just an observer. Here, I started meeting Masta Plann and FrancisM. You know, FrancisM used to have a radio show on 89.1 and the music he played there is surprising. He was teaching kids what hip-hop was. I’m not a fan of his music but I admire what he did with that radio show. "In the States, I had a vague idea of what my role was, though that’s when I got into graffiti and then into visual arts. I was also rhyming and getting into turntables, but really, they were baby stages. When I got back, I started DJing, rapping, producing, but primitively, karaoke destruction, you know crossing jacks and wires and figuring how I can make new sounds from that. Almost all enthusiasts go through all that. "Then, I went to art school in UP and started to really mature. I began to compartmentalize. I mean all these things are related and connected but you have to learn how to compartmentalize them all to get a better understanding of what you want to do, so that it comes out solid when it came to actually doing it. "I met a lot of like-minded people in the band scene, these are the left field rock heads who hung out in Club Dredd, those who were looking at the fundamentals but looking for more. I sought to distort hip-hop, so I found other forward thinkers to collaborate with. In ‘95, we formed a band called Loudwater, which is the first breed of rap metal, long before the recent rap metal bands who made it big. It was rap metal that was funk-based. There were a few of those bands back then, such as Marben (Romero) of Badburn, he was in a rap metal band back then called Lethal Injection. "DJ Arbie Won, Jay Roy and I formed Down Earf, which lasted 2 to 3 years. We produced an indie EP titled Knowin’ is Half the Battle. We manually pressed our own tapes, and did our own cover printing. This was ‘97, wala pang indie noon, kami lang. We recorded in Jim Paredes’ studio, which is now Circus Studios, and still has the analog equipment we recorded with. We pressed 300 audio tapes, and CDs and tapes were mass produced for college radio in San Francisco. We have a friend, Hase from Sacramento, who believed in our material and said if we gave him the master, he could bring it to the US and produced under a label. The label was college based and we made it to #7 on college radio. Jay had to go back to New York, so that was that. "In ‘99 onwards, I was active with collaborations with different people, such as Third World Project, WDOUIJI, we would have gigs and prods in Big Sky Mind. Solo, my drive was video and audio and putting out true school hip-hop." "It doesn’t matter if it’s old or new, as long as it’s true," quipped Pasta Groove, who is quick to acknowledge Caliph8 as one of the big movers of true school hip-hop. PASTA GROOVE Pasta Groove is Paolo Garcia in real life. He’s much younger than Caliph8 and Neon8 and says he spent his formative years under Arvin’s wing. "I’m rooted in hip-hop—when I was 12, I was writing rhymes, and by the time I was 15 I was DJing in clubs and guesting on the radio. My influences, there are lots. From James Brown to Bob James, Quantum Spectrum, Common Sense, who’s an artist, an MC. The DJs that I admire are Cut Chemist, Jazzy Jeff, Bobbito Garcia who’s a DJ in New York, and locally, I really have to give props to Arvin Nogueras. I accumulated my tastes from all these DJs who were in the scene. Hanging around Arvin is a good breeding ground. We’re on the same wavelength, which is why I’m excited about the collabo with him for the Jack Mix Series." PG is living proof that Caliph8’s efforts in getting their music out there were not in vain. "I heard the message," PG nods. "I’m grateful I got that chance. I was surrounded by artists such as Caliph8, Down Earf, Artstrong. DJ Arbie Won was the catalyst. They helped my preferences by giving it direction. It’s a small scene, where we feed off each other. In college, I had isolated myself and made music, but I wasn’t getting it out there. It took Arvin to get it out." Aside from the weekly Monday hip-hop nights at Alchemy, called Subflex, PG is busy dabbling in video production, editing, sound design, scoring indie films. "I’m also going to put out an EP, which is a collaboration with different live musicians who’ll be riding over my beats," PG shares, then shies when I ask him which musicians. "They’re just good friends of mine, it’s going to just be a labor of love. Release? Sana end of this year or early next year. The EP will have collabs with Arvin as well." "People think we’re DJs where we just spin music and that’s it," PG adds. "What I do is different, it’s the reconstruction of old songs, in the analog format, which people may think is primitive, but for us, it’s vintage. Analog is actually an icon in hip-hop production. It’s different from DJing because we don’t play music, we recreate it." "We reinterpret it," Caliph8 affirms. "We create different patterns and put a texture over it. What we do is live sampling, live manipulation. We sit down and let people hear it first, before we mix it live." "The music we play, we try not to stay in a box," PG continues. "We look into different genres, different eras. We put old music into the set and mix it with the new to make it palatable. We remind people of the old music and how it’s connected to the new. Our main purpose is to remind people of where the new music comes from." "So, it’s a cycle, this reinterpretation," Caliph8 explains. "Most hip-hop DJs just play the hits, the Top 10, what’s familiar. We try to use the most obscure music we could find and let people listen to that. It’s like feeding meat eaters vegetables, like ampalaya and broccoli. It’s good for you." Back when PG was still accumulating his own tastes, Caliph8 and his DJ colleagues put up prods in Malate, particularly in Chemistry and Verve Room. "There were explorations," Caliph8 describes. "Merging with other people’s projects, it was an eclectic scene. Collabs with other genres were possible, not difficult. We had no questions, we had no explanations, we just jammed. I think people are open to music now, I see a lot of other acts commissioning music from hip-hop DJs. I have to question the intention though, are the DJs meant to be be just as an accessory or is it an honest collaboration? I’d prefer a challenge, give me the piece and let me see what I can do with it." Neon8 beside him nods and adds, "Or yung may DJ lang sila onstage, gusto nila concept lang." NEON8 Many of you may now know Neon8 as the guy with the laptop playing for the "Nyko Maca band." He shares an anecdote of how his father calls PlayGround (which is essentially the band that backs up samba vocalist Nyko Maca) his "combo." Nyko Maca + Playground may be getting more and more popular these days, but when it comes to what he does, it’s still hard to explain. “It’s hard for people to look at what I do and place it in the band context, though I’m a composer above everything else.” Madz Abubakar in real life, Neon8 is a solo progressive house live act. "I’m not a DJ, I do live production performance, original compositions," he clarifies. "Actually, Nyko Maca helped explain what I do somewhat. Since you have live elements, people understand right away that ‘this guy is doing something else.’ Instead of just being concerned about the music, I’m also concerned with software, what to do, production questions and theories. Nyko Maca and PlayGround has given me the opportunity to up my prod skills. It’s not 100% me, it’s a mix of everyone’s influences. "Lately, I’ve been doing remix projects for bands, and I did two songs for Karylle. I’m also remixing a song by Dice and K9. Working with these people, offering different music, it tests my flexibility as a producer." Neon8 began his fascination with electronic music in the late ’90s, where there was a hyped up rave scene. "Naaaliw ako," he remembers, "I was thinking, how did they come up with that music? I learned about synths and drum machines. Then, I went to Chicago, where my uncle was a DJ, he did weddings and parties for the Filipino community. My cousin, his son, introduced me to a whole bunch of equipment and that’s where it really started." He continued this discovery of equipment back home. "I also discovered different kinds of music software. Ian Magbanua [a.k.a. Morse] introduced me to Tutti Loops. I was literally doing all this on our family’s computer, yung PC sa bahay, yung may project ng kapatid mo, nandoon yung files ng Dad mo. Ganoon. "During that time, I joined Electronica Manila, a forum where we exchanged ideas, anything under the electronic umbrella. My first ever electronic gig was in Alabang, I brought my family computer and I could only play one song. Kasi kung may isa pa," he laughs, "magha-hang na yung computer." Neon8 would continue to bring his family computer to gigs for the next 3 to 4 years, but asserts that "It was good in that there were gigs. In Gweilo’s Carlos Palanca, there was a regular Wednesday night gig. Kami kami lang, from the Electronica Manila community, yung nandoon, kami kami rin lang yung kinikilig sa ginagawa namin. It was a good learning experience for us, it laid the groundwork, our nature of asking each other how to do all these things started from there. “The audience caught on din naman. The first year of Fete de la Musique (which had its own venue for electronica artists) walang tao, pero the next year, marami na. Recently, nawala yung electronica sa Fete de la Musique, but tuloy tuloy na yun for the individual artists." It was in 2005, after the last Fete gig, that Mark Lacay and Malek Lopez encouraged Neon8 to act as the beats person for Nyko Maca. "It was my first time to interact with a live artist and it was a flop." He laughs. "Sabi ko kay Nyko kelangan mag rehearse, sabi niya hindi daw. And then, after the gig, sabi niya sa akin, ‘Oo nga, Madz, kelangan nga.’ Hindi ko pa alam paano sumabay eh, but those were learning points. We did eventually get it. Every gig now challenges me to do more." They started to write original songs together as a band, starting with Neon8’s original "Turn My Head." "It’s a techie deep house track and I gave it to Nyko to put words into it. Nagsawa na din ako sa orig, so I rehashed it, now it has its own identity. It’s an ever-changing process, every gig is never the same. A song can be slow in one gig, then fast on another gig, and slow on the next." When asked what he listens to, he says "More progressive dance music. My influences are Global Underground, Kompakt, I mainly listen to breaks or house. Mark and Malek said I had an ear for beats. We in PlayGround [with sax player Alvin Cornista and guitarist Rick Sanchez] do remixes for other bands too. For Nyko, the process is, we three sit down and create a song, give it to Nyko for lyrics, then we change it up." Neon8 shakes his head at the general DJ scene, but offers a positive side. "The fun part is there’s always new things happening every weekend," he opines. "The scene may not be big, but at least there’s music, music in various areas, and demands for music. Listeners will actually look for more. Now it’s easier, there’s the internet, and it’s easy access, and people still ask for more, though they have to also think more for themselves, look for something new or listen to a different genre. In this way, also, I am able to reinvent myself and my music." What are his goals in the future? "More of my goals, I plan to move dance music further. I want to get dance music prods on its way, hindi yung rave-type, pero gigs with dance music. I also want our local artists to get outside our shores. Raves, kasi, it’s mainstream dance music. Dance music naman depends on where it’s being played, who the audience is, pareho ba ng wavelength. I want to elevate our taste." Neon8 is optimistic about the collaboration with Mike Cons this Friday. "We plan a mix of breakbeats. We’ll have an elaborate set-up but we won’t really ‘rehearse’ what we’re gonna do, at most, it’s a technical rehearsal, make sure everything’s working. We’re going to have a thousand songs ready but use only snippets. Put it all together like an orchestra," he smiles. "Mike Cons is more into soul and I’m more into modern breaks, so we’ll meet halfway sa breaks ni James Brown," Neon8 laughs. "It’s good that we’ll be testing each other’s skills. We may have different tastes in music, but we can come up with something. Something tasteful." Catch Caliph8, Neon8 and Pasta Groove at The Jack Mix Series launch at Alchemy, this Friday, Sept. 28, 2007, and find out first hand what they all meant by elevating taste. You can also find out more about Electronica Manila here.
September 25th, 2007
If you grew up in the Philippines but aren’t familiar with any of the Apo Hiking Society’s songs, I’m guessing that you were the product of a secret government experiment in total sensory deprivation, and that you’ve only recently escaped and have somehow gotten internet access. Thank you for visiting Pulse.ph and OH MY GOD THEY’RE RIGHT BEHIND YOU! RUN!! Just kidding. Knowing how our government works, it’ll take them days to even realize that you’ve escaped from your containment facility. In the meantime, if you possess any superhuman abilities, particularly the ability to bend time or type fast, Pulse.ph is hiring. Anyway. The music of the APO is one of those rarities in Pinoy pop music: ubiquitous yet not unwelcome. There’s more to the APO’s longevity than the Pinoy’s penchant for nostalgia and sentiment. It all comes down to the songcraft: they have created 26 albums of memorable, insanely catchy pop, both immediately appealing and clever. Even if the original recordings may occasionally seem dated or passé, the songs themselves are so strong that reinterpretations by contemporary bands resulted in perhaps the best of the recent spate of tribute albums (I’m talking about the first APO tribute album here; I haven’t gotten my hands on the second one yet). Like me, you may be interested in checking out how the trio puts on a show these days, almost four decades into their illustrious career. If so, you’re in luck; they’ll be playing soon, at the Music Museum. Here’s the press release: The APO at Music Museum After the resounding success of “Mga Kuwento ng APO… 38 Years of Music and Friendship†held at the PICC Plenary Hall last August, the APO HIKING SOCIETY are all set to reprise their show at the Music Museum on October 12 and 13, 8:30 p.m. with a new show title, “The APO Collection.†Jim Paredes, Boboy Garrovillo and Danny Javier of the APO have stayed on for more than three decades in the music scene, and show no signs of stopping. APO has waxed 26 albums, mostly certified multi-platinum or gold records, and starred in hugely successful major concerts here and abroad. This exceptional trio combination makes them a total entertainment team that is unparalleled in the country, three distinct personalities with great chemistry. “The APO Collection,†which is presented by The Thirdline, Inc., promises an evening of pure entertainment that will treat the audience to a journey showcasing decades of genuine Filipino music. Even after 38 years, APO continues to inspire every Filipino, which brings out the pride of being Pinoy every time we hear their songs. For ticket reservations to “The APO Collection,†call The Thirdline, Inc. at telephone numbers 426-0103, 426-5301, 0918-9379209, 0917-5324556, 0921-6650923. Tickets are also available at all TicketWorld outlets or call 891-9999 or visit the TicketWorld website www.ticketworld.com.ph “The APO Collection’s†media sponsors include the Manila Bulletin, Crossover 105.1, Jam 88.3, WRR 101.3. RJFM, Dream FM, and Liquidpost.
September 24th, 2007
"So Christian Bautista staggered into the restaurant raving incoherently, pumped full of an insane cocktail of grain alcohol, cocaine, mongoose blood, and other, even more dangerous substances. His eyes were unnervingly red and alarmingly wide and unblinking, and he addressed all of us—the press people assembled there—as ‘blood-sucking, gossip-mongering bastards.’ When one of the reporters tried to get a quote about “Christian Inspired,” the upcoming major concert, Christian grabbed him and, with a deadly and blindingly fast Krav Maga move, threw him straight into the buffet table. The sickening crack that resulted told us that the unfortunate reporter would never walk again. There’s your quote, bitch, Christian Bautista spat." "Wouldn’t that be great?" I was talking to Cris Ramos Jr., who, like me, was covering the press conference for Christian Bautista’s first major solo concert for the year: “Christian Inspired,” coming very soon (October 6, to be exact) to the Cuneta Astrodome. I was spinning a highly unlikely scenario involving the much-loved and acclaimed singer, who has amassed an enthusiastic following both here and all over Asia. "That would be the most exciting presscon ever." Cris laughed in agreement; it would certainly have solved our perennial problem of what angle to use while writing about an event. Fortunately for the reporters assembled there, no such scenario actually took place in real life. Christian Bautista, as always, was charming, polite, disarmingly self-deprecating, gently funny, and had great hair. Seriously, his hair is a thing of beauty. Not too neat and not too messy: just messy enough. The reason I cropped my head close is because I will never achieve hair like Christian Bautista’s. (Small wonder that Bed Head was one of his sponsors, dispensing freebies at the presscon. Thanks for the hair spray, guys; I have no use for it, but I’ll pass it on to someone who actually has something to spray.) Stage director Freddie Santos—another person who has no use for hair spray—spoke first, taking the makeshift stage that had been set up inside Tempura, the presscon venue. With a combination of almost-unsettling authority and insider humor, he told us about the show they had put together for Christian. First, he clarified, despite the title, this was not going to be a showcase for inspirational (i.e. religious) songs. Instead, it’s dedicated to Christian’s inspirations in life, which all begin with the letter F: Family, Friends, and Freddies… I mean, Fans. Freddie Santos also stressed that this would be a “concert talaga, hindi TV special”—meaning no cheesy production numbers and no cheap tricks. They would focus on the music, and Christian. In fact, Freddie Santos said, he was trying to figure out a way for Christian never to leave the stage during the whole running time of the concert, even if he needed a wardrobe change. But focusing on the music doesn’t mean the concert will be without spectacle. According to the press release, the concert “will highlight the use of “Watch Out,” an enormous multi-display presentation technology with the dimension of 9X42 feet that will surround the stage. It is the same projection technology that Celine Dion uses in her long-running show at the Colosseum, Las Vegas strip.” Also, Christian will have special guests, such as “fellow ASAP ’07 mainstays Toni Gonzaga and Sam Milby, with the special participation of Kuh Ledesma, Joni Villanueva, Tricia Amper Jimenez, Sam Concepcion and Mr. Gary Valenciano.” Mel Villena is musical director, and technical director is Mart Miranda. For those who are unaware of the man’s achievements, Christian’s self-titled debut album reached Double Platinum, and his second album Completely is near the Platinum mark in Indonesia. His hit single “The Way You Look At Me” was no. 1 foreign song in Singapore last year. Christian’s recent concerts in Indonesia (Bali, Surabaya, Jogjakarta, Jakarta, and Medan) were sold out. Despite all this success, he remains approachable and helpful; a magazine editor-in-chief of my acquaintance will be forever grateful to him for agreeing to a rush interview when her main feature, for various idiotic reasons, failed to materialize. And speaking of helpful: “Christian Inspired” is also a benefit concert for the construction of a school building at the Imus Unida Christian School in Cavite. “I was very much involved with this school when I was still a student,” he said. “I had very good memories there and my experience there has helped me gain confidence.” So go and have a good time at “Christian Inspired”—there won’t be any substance abuse, profanity, or excessive violence, but there will be Christian’s voice, Christian’s songs, a slew of guests, a visual spectacle, and, director Freddie Santos promised, some surprises to make it well worth your while. Photos provided by Stages Production Specialists, Inc. For tickets to “Christian Inspired,” call Ticketnet at Tel. No. 9115555 or 9114087. Tickets at PhP 200, 600, 1,500, and 2,000.
September 21st, 2007
BIG HOWEVER: SONGS FOR ANY WEATHER
New bands come and go, and it can be hard sometimes to distinguish between them, particularly if they’re all following certain templates: whether they’re showbands-in-the-making or pogi-rock lemmings, sometimes your ears just want to weep, “Enough. Enough.” Big However is refreshing for a number of reasons. First, of course, there’s the music itself: ranging from gently soothing to heart-pumpingly soaring, sometimes within the same song, it recalls 90s influences, and could very well put you in mind of a more stripped-down 10,000 Maniacs, with faint echoes of Juliana Hatfield and other identified-with-the-90s female rockers here and there. At first, I assumed the band name itself was meant to evoke 90s indifference—it was, after all, the era of “well, whatever, never mind”—but there’s a better reason for it, as I soon learned. Second: if you listen carefully, and especially if you were once upon a time an enthusiastic student of literature, something about the lyrics might strike you: the word-choices, the turns of phrase, the imagery, are all a little better than you might expect from your usual pop-rock fare. And you might notice that two of Big However’s songs so far are adaptations of pre-existing poetry: Beni Santos’ “Bago ang Wakas”—transformed into a song called “Katahimikan”; and Emmanuel Lacaba’s “Kundiman.” There are good reasons for these qualities as well. Three-fourths of Big However—Don Alanis on lead guitar, David Naguna on bass guitar, and Don Salvani on drums—are based in Naga. The final member, a Manileño named Mookie Katigbak, is both their vocalist and their not-so-secret weapon. Mookie is a familiar face on the local literary scene, widely acknowledged as one of the best young poets in the country. She attended the National Writers Workshop in Dumaguete in 2002, earned her MFA from the New School University in New York City, wrote the libretto for an original musical, won a Palanca Award in 2005, and recently took home this year’s grand prize for poetry at the Philippines Free Press Literary Awards. We talked to her about her band, their influences, and the distance, or lack thereof, between poetry and pop music. PULSE.PH: When, where, how and why did Big However first form? MOOKIE: The band formed accidentally in 2005 when I met Don Alanis in Naga City. I was visiting my sister who was based in Ateneo de Naga. Don was the husband of a friend of hers and a really good guitarist. We decided to jam. He lent me his guitar and the only song I knew how to play was Dylan’s "Most of the Time." He complimented me on my singing (not my guitar playing) and gave me songs he and his band had been working on on-and-off for the past ten years. The only thing they needed were lyrics. I was happy to comply. Where did the band’s name come from? The name comes from an old writing workshop strategy wherein a literary giant would begin a session by complimenting the good parts of a story—say, its plot and characters—and then go into hardy, often wincing critique by saying "The story was good, etc. … However…" That, in workshop lore, has come to be known as the Big However. [smiles] Name some of the band’s inspirations/influences, and what you think they have contributed to the sound of the band. For Don, it’s Led Zep, Soundgarden and the Beatles. I’m a Dylan and Joni Mitchell fan. All influences have allowed a folk-meets-rock sensibility. How does being a poet affect your lyric-writing for the band? Do you feel that poets have a harder or an easier time writing song lyrics? Why? I do it for levity. Poetry is serious stuff. When I write a song, rhythm and rhyme come out entirely unplanned. I think I get that from my training in poetry. Poets should have an easier time of it—if they let go and see what happens. Describe the first time you guys played before an audience composed mostly of strangers. Well, I think it was raining, the amp was busted, the audience was a Catholic high school crowd in Naga City. And I did not do the happy jig when the gig was over. [smiles] Tell us about the Big However’s song-adaptations of poems. Describe the process of choosing/adapting. Sometimes I would listen to the music and they would recall certain lines that I’d memorized from poems. So it would be a matter of the music choosing the lines. Tell us about the inspiration behind some of the band’s originals—particularly "Ballad for Any Weather" and "Autopilot." Autopilot was my "I refuse to think" song. It came at a time when I was overthinking everything—poetry and art and life. "Ballad" was a kind of homage to New York because I spent a couple of years there. So it’s about wanting something familiar in a strange place—like wanting a letter from the only person in the world who really knows you, or some such 22-year-old sentiment. What, for you, are the band’s most memorable moments/achievements thus far? Being a successful creative team just because it never occurred to us that we couldn’t make solid songs. Don was always a great musician but I had never written a song prior to our meeting. It didn’t occur to me to say no. Also, when we finally did a professional recording, Don did these great improvs for "Ballad" that gave us all goosebumps. And I think that happened because his melody complemented the lyrics and vice versa. The music became expressionistic in the best and least-pretentious sense of the word. Another great achievement is being fed well after a gig… for free! Soon after this interview was conducted, Big However opened for Bamboo at a gig in Naga. “It was wild!” Mookie recounts. ”First time I’d ever seen a crowd that massive, or a real Pinoy rock star. I’m trying to get the band over here so we can do Manila gigs soon.” That’s certainly something to look forward to. Photos provided by the band. Many thanks to Sarge Lacuesta.
September 20th, 2007
This double disc anniversary album was very fun to go through, I must say. Basically, if, like me, you grew up on Disney movies, you’re really going to enjoy this anthology of “50 songs celebrating 50 years of Walt Disney Records.” I’m guessing they tried to cover as big a scope as they could—they even included snippets of some Disney movies I’ve never heard of (such as a 1951 version of The Parent Trap, a 1967 version of Pirates of the Caribbean and a 1969 version of the Haunted Mansion), given that I wasn’t yet born in the 50s and 60s and they most probably hadn’t shown those movies in this country even then. Though, I do know track # 2, “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf,” quite well. All of you who have seen this cartoon on TV, raise your hand and say Aye! Aye! The album starts and ends with the Mickey Mouse Club theme songs. Of course I remember the cartoon of the “Mickey Mouse March” with Donald Duck jumping in and yelling his name in between each “Mickey Mouse!” sung by the Mouseketeers. I think the inclusion here in this format is a good representation for the two most beloved Disney characters, as well as Donald’s segment on Mousercise, “Ducks Dance Too” on the second disc. As much as I want this to be an album of all my childhood memories, I have to acknowledge that they tried their best to include more favorites, more “hits.” Songs like “Someday My Prince Will Come” from Snow White, “When You Wish Upon A Star” from Pinocchio, “It’s A Small World,” “Cruela de Vil” from 101 Dalmatians, “The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers” from Winnie The Pooh, “Part of Your World” from The Little Mermaid, “Be Our Guest” from Beauty and the Beast, “A Whole New World” from Alladin, “Circle of Life” and “Hakuna Matata” from Lion King, “Colors of the Wind” from Pocahontas, “Strangers Like Me” from Tarzan, “Why Not?” from Lizzie Maguire and “Breaking Free” from High School Musical. There are more of course, but you know, 50 songs. They also included songs not just from the animated films but from the Broadway musicals as well, serving different versions of “Beauty and the Beast” and “They Live in You” from The Lion King, which featured more African-inspired percussion. There are times that the songs fade out, I’m guessing so that all fifty songs fit in the two discs. What happens sometimes is that the songs are bitin, ending too too soon, particularly on “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes” from Cinderella and “A Spoonful of Sugar” from Mary Poppins. My absolute favorites on this album are “Baby Mine” from Dumbo, the absolutely gorgeous “Little April Showers” from Bambi, “The Siamese Cat Song” and “He’s A Tramp” from Lady and the Tramp, “Once Upon A Dream” from Sleeping Beauty, “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” from Mary Poppins, the ultra-jazzy “I Wanna Be Like You” from the Jungle Book with the beloved scatting duel between Baloo and the monkey king Louie, “What’s This” from Tim Burton’s A Nightmare Before Christmas, “The Bells of Notre Dame” from The Hunchback of Notre Dame (though it’s not easily listening for when you want background music at work), “Colors of the Wind,” “Reflection” from Mulan, and the tearjerking “When She Loved Me” from Toy Story 2. I’m also glad that they included the film versions of the songs and not the for-marketing versions; as much as I like Christina Aguilera (well, in general), I think the Lea Salonga version of “Reflection” is more touching. Listening to the entire collection in one setting is also a kind of history lesson on soundtrack technology: you can hear the songs advance from amusing ditties to symphonic works of art. I have to say though that I don’t very much care for the songs at the end of the second disc, which are Hillary Duff’s “Why Not?” from the Lizzie Maguire movie and “Breaking Free” from High School Musical. Does this mean that Disney has become less magical now than it has been for the last 50 years? Or that I’m too old for Disney? Such serious considerations, yes.
September 13th, 2007
I can imagine what a very kind and easily amused Paula Abdul would say to this young singer-songwriter if she ever listened to his album. Maybe something to this effect: “I love it that you just did your thing and just had fun with it.” And surely, she would say it very sincerely. It’s something a very kind and easily amused critic would say when what she really means is: “That was an overall mediocre performance, but you seem to be satisfied with yourself, so I’m happy for you.” There are about two or three good enough songs on Life in Cartoon Motion, and that already includes the single “Love Today,” currently a cable channel’s theme song for the season. The song is undeniably catchy and interestingly flamboyant, much like its all-too-obvious influences: namely, Freddie Mercury, the Bee Gees and, a lot of people will say, the Scissor Sisters. A song with a danceable beat and playful vocals, “Love Today” surely has the makings of a par-teh! favorite. Two more songs follow the same vibe as “Love Today.” One of them—“Big Girl”—seems to employ an identical beat; in fact, the two songs almost sound the same. Only, with a refrain like “Big girls, you are beautiful,” the song sounds like it should be the theme song of the Dove Self-Esteem Fund or any similar women’s support program that Oprah Winfrey or Tyra Banks would vehemently support. “Relax (Take It Easy)” for me is a much better song, if not the best on the album. It is danceable but toned down and puts you in a sort of mindless state, which is what danceable pop should at least achieve. I would have liked Life in Cartoon Motion better if it was an all-out disco pop album. That would have justified MIKA’s overused, oftentimes overstretched falsetto. Sadly, apart from the three songs mentioned, the rest of the CD sounds like some outdated, juvenile musical. Certain songs are overly dramatic (“Any Other World” and “Happy Ending”), complete with life excerpts of some woman, predictable orchestral elements and hallelujah parts by a girl’s choir (he likes children as backup singers, this guy); and others are just plain infantile (“Lollipop” and “Billy Brown”). “Lollipop” is a cutesy-but-ironic jump-rope ditty that gets old too fast and is filler in an album full of fillers, while “Billy Brown” is just a gay nursery rhyme that discerning gay men wouldn’t enjoy. Musically, these songs don’t do anything but bat their false eyelashes at the listener. The rest of the songs, meanwhile, oscillate from weak to excruciating. “Grace Kelly,” apparently a very big hit in the UK and the album’s first song, almost turned me off from the whole thing—mostly, because MIKA’s “Freddie Mercury” voice reaches such a high point of being irritating. I really think he is not at all a bad singer but he has to quit impressing himself with his own falsetto. He could have redeemed himself with more melodious (though very Robbie Williams) songs like “My Interpretation” and “Stuck In the Middle,” but then the songs themselves are quite bland in composition, however palatable they may otherwise seem to juvenile pop listeners. Life in Cartoon Motion is somewhere between trendy novelty and potential breakthrough pop, and whatever real substance it may lack, can always be made up for by good marketing. However, while a pop album may not really require substance and depth, I guess I still expect more from an artist who takes himself so seriously as to spell his name in all-caps.
September 12th, 2007
RHYTHM IS GONNA GET YOU: BRIGADA AND THE SOUL OF SAMBA
Chances are, you’ve probably heard of Brigada already, or better yet, you’ve actually heard them live and in all their glory. Brigada is the Philippines’ first samba bateria, a percussion ensemble that’s most likely going to get under your skin, as well as get you up on your feet. Inky de Dios is their founder and leader—he also started up the Hairy Dawgs, a precursor of Brigada, but first gained deserved acknowledgement from fellow musicians as part of Pinoy reggae pioneers Indio I. Brigada plans to release their debut album by the end of the year. PULSE.PH: What other bands have you played for, leading up to the current ones? Which would you say were important in your musical development? INKY DE DIOS: I’ve played, sessioned, jammed, or recorded with: Indio I, Brownman Revival, Piranha, Brownbeat Allstars and POT over the past 15 years or so. Currently I’m playing for: Brigada (musical director, percussion), The Out of Body Special (keys), Ten (vocals, acoustic guitar), Marshmellow (piano). I would say that Indio I and POT were the most important in my musical development because they were the first truly professional bands I played for. These were hardworking, gigging bands, and playing for them was basically my on the job training, confirmation that being a musician is a legitimate profession. Of course, being a musician is more than playing a lot of gigs so I’d say my current bands are the biggest influence in my musical development right now. Did being a music major lead you towards the diverse spectrum of music you are currently playing? Or did it have no effect whatsoever? If the latter, were you disappointed? Other thoughts? I think it’s a bit of everything. Being a music major exposes—even forces—you to be open to all sorts of music. On the plus side, you gain an innate knowledge of the structure, form and inner workings of music, sort of like blueprints of a building or the encoding language of computers. On the downside, your appreciation of music changes too. Sometimes you can’t turn off the training and you can’t even appreciate a catchy pop song anymore. I’m trying to find the balance between, say, a second inversion on the borrowed II leading to the V, back to the root and that riff just kicks ass. Where did you discover the samba bateria? What inspired you to form your own bateria group here? It was when I studied in England [Liverpool] in 1998 that I discovered samba when played by a bateria [percussion ensemble]. I was just on my way to a club one night and I heard an amazing sound about a block away. It was a bateria of around 20 people and the memory still gets my blood racing. I joined the Liverpool Samba School the following week and learned how to play samba. When I got back, I missed playing samba so much I looked for people who understood. Unfortunately, the Philppines has never progressed beyond bossa nova, which is ironic because samba is the root of bossa nova. Was the forming of this group harder or easier than you imagined it would be? It was hard in the beginning, but I’m still amazed at how easy it was to gain momentum. I don’t confess to be a bonafide percussionist, but I believe playing samba goes beyond playing percussion. If you tap into that spirit and let it loose, you’ll find your groove, and playing, dancing and singing samba will be easy. The great thing is that with all my years of studying music, I figured out how to teach ANYONE how to play samba with enough time and patience. I can hit them with terms, theories and notes for hours but if they don’t listen and feel the music and the spirit behind it, well, it isn’t samba. Who were the first people who came on board? What kinds of percs were there initially? I was fortunate to meet Toni Bernardo who was a percussionist and a sambista [a person who palys samba] like me way back in 2000. I had collected a few bateria instruments over the years and so had she. We were both excited in forming a bateria, the first in the Philippines. She called up a few friends and we started jamming in UP, behind Vinzon’s Hall where the jeepneys parked. The group came to be known as Hairy Dawgs. Initially we had a couple of surdos [brazilian bass drums], some tamborims [small high pitched hand drums] and other basic instruments of a bateria. How many members are there now? What is the vibe like currently? How does a regular practice session go? Well, around 2005, Toni and I went our separate ways and I formed Brigada, which is the group I run now. There are 10 core members with about 10 trainees and whoever comes in to practice on Wednesdays. The vibe is totally informal, with the core members teaching everyone how to play the instruments, and then I try to get them to play samba. I try to identify what instrument the person is comfortable with we go from there. We learn around two pieces every week. It’s always a challenge teaching especially if the person has no prior percussion experience, but I never get tired of hearing anyone play samba. When a bateria starts grooving for the first time it still gives me goosebumps. How do you write your original songs? Most of Brigada’a pieces are either standard Brazilian bateria rhythms, or variations on the pieces I learned from the Liverpool Samba School, or whatever sounds good if played by a bateria. I usually write new pieces with the core group. New pieces come from anywhere, so I try to remember any flashes of inspiration that come to me before we practice. Then it’s either a long process of finding what works or a quick jam with what works already. Sometimes someone else will come with an idea and we work with that. So we try to keep it an organic process. It might take longer sometimes, but by the end everybody has had a say and we all feel good about playing the finished piece. Are your live gigs these days more or less set in stone, or is there still a lot of room for improvisation? It depends on the gig. If it’s a corporate event, then we have a set of songs with set arrangements. For other gigs, there’s room to play around, have friends jam—like Nyko Maca, Eileen Sision or Sitti—and have even more fun. Brigada has been playing so long that if I decide to toss in a break or a turnaround, they can easily pick it up with a few whistle blows or even a look. It keeps things fresh and interesting. Tell me a little about Ten. I’ve been a songwriter since I was 13 years old. And although playing instruments is something I love to do, writing songs is the one thing I want to be good at. Ten is where I can take all the things I’ve learned about music and put it into song. What other projects are keeping you busy right now? I work at Circus Studios in Loyola Heights as a sound engineer. I also teach samba at Miriam High School, and I do session work as a musician and/or a composer. Pix courtesy of Jorel Corpus (who is a lot thinner now than he is in these photos). Thanks Jor!
September 7th, 2007
Not too long ago I found myself in an unfamiliar bar in Quezon City, watching a bunch of bands I had never heard of before. Normally, this would be a recipe for a quick spiral from teeth-grinding annoyance to suicidal depression, but I lucked out, and found myself liking the show, for the most part. There was one band in particular that I enjoyed. They played originals that sounded like soundtracks to courtships and car chase scenes, to acid trips and alien abductions. Gleeful guitar-pop with enough rough edges not to be wimpy, and enough sweetness not to be mere noise. They had a real sense of fun, and seemed unafraid to laugh at themselves (or, for that matter, at other people). Soon after, I learned their names: They are Rocky Teodoro on vocals and guitar, Allen Samson on bass and vocals, and Iñigo Mortel on drums. They are The Haneps. According to their MySpace bio, The Haneps are “influenced by British music icons The Beatles, The Kinks, Cream, The Who, Radiohead, Blur, Coldplay, Tears for Fears, and Morrissey (among others).” It goes on to say that ”the band’s sound is jokingly referred to as “brip rock” – a happy union of Britpop and Pinoy Rock.” They released a four-song EP last December (entitled, amusingly enough, “Han-EP!”), and are gearing up to unleash a full-length album soon. They also give fun interviews, as you will see if you do not suddenly develop a serious reading disability between this paragraph and the next. Why call yourselves “The Haneps”? ROCKY: The short and corny answer: All of us are hanep. The long and in-depth answer: there is none. ALLEN: I have my own explanation why we’re called The Haneps. Hanep was derived from the pinoy insect Hanip. That’s it. INIGO: Allen is an idiot. But since he’s brilliant, he’s ok with me. I like the name because it doesn’t really say anything about us or our music, maybe except that we like what we do very much. Plus, it’s catchy without being obscene, and psychedelic without being too long How did you guys first get into music? What made each of you want to be in a band? ROCKY: Discovering the music of the Beatles in high school made me want to write my own songs and form a band. To me, music is the ultimate form of self-expression, because you can communicate abstract and complicated mysteries in just 5 minutes or less. ALLEN: I started playing band music in our church during masses and seminars. I liked the freedom and creativity that goes with playing good music. INIGO: I got into music because practically everyone around me at least listened to music. I wanted to make music because not everyone did it, eh as a teenager I wanted to be different, so that’s one motivation. Judging from previous interviews, unlike some bands, you guys aren’t childhood friends or former classmates or anything. (Allen met Rocky on PinoyExchange and Inigo met Allen for the first time when they jammed as a band.) To what do you attribute your gelling as a band, especially since you guys have claimed that you all have very different influences? How has the interpersonal/musical dynamic of the three of you evolved? ROCKY: As far as "gelling" is concerned, I use it everyday on my hair, to keep it spiky. Oh, you mean "gelling" as a band? Sorry. Well, for some reason, the three of us get along pretty good together; I think it’s basically because, deep inside, we’re all wacky nuts. Regarding our different musical influences, I’ve got this to say—there are only two types of music: good music and forgettable music. We gel because we make good music. ALLEN: I believe we bring into The Haneps the lessons we’ve learned and unlearned from past musical experiences. I see our musical differences as one of the factors to our longevity. It’s fun trying to come to a compromise during jammings and recordings. INIGO: We also have patience and we always keep our egos in check. And we do it all at the same time. And we talk a lot, keep communication going, and we think about what we do and what we’ve done. In that sense, we’re very sensible people, really. “Chunami” and “Love Drive” have been getting radio airplay. Tell us a bit more about those two songs—how they came together, why they were chosen as singles, how representative they are of “The Haneps sound.” ALLEN: The songs are upbeat and fun, perfect for introductions. INIGO: Those two songs actually begin and end our sets. ROCKY: When I write a song, sometimes I have a specific concept in mind. "Love Drive" is one of those songs—I wanted to write a song specifically for listening to while you drive. I took the concepts of driving songs like "LA Woman" and "Highway Star" and made them my own. "Chunami" is one of those songs that was written quickly. I was in Puerto Galera, and at that time, the waves were furious—they could really drag you under. Out of nowhere a guitar riff entered my mind, and I tied it up with the idea of the giant waves—the tsunamis. In both cases, I brought these songs to Inigo and Allen, and they filled in the blanks and helped arrange the songs. They were chosen because they represent The Haneps well—they hit hard, they hit fast, and they leave you wanting more. How do you come up with the subject matter for your songs? (Some of them seem to have very specific references, like “Chocolate Kiss.”) Your MySpace profile says that the band “relies on lyrical and musical hooks to delight listeners.” Explain what you mean by “lyrical hooks.” ROCKY: A lyrical hook is a word phrase or sentence that captures your audience’s attention, pretty much like what a musical hook does. "Chocolate Kiss" is a good example of a lyrical hook; so is "Love Drive." I’m a writer by profession and devour books of all kinds, so I know when a certain word combination has potential or not. Here are several other examples, which I plan on making into songs soon: "Monsoon Mami," "Happy Ninja," and "Magnetic Yes." INIGO: Rocky has this thing he calls "painting with words". The words don’t necessarily mean anything, but since they contribute to some sonic atmosphere, they have some merit of being there. If they convey meaning to you, then better! When I watched you guys at Purple Haze, the songs I liked most were not on the EP. Tell us more about those songs, and the other tracks that will be on the upcoming full-length album. ROCKY: Thanks for watching us. I guess you’re referring to “Chunami” and “Cagayan.” Cagayan is a "love" song I wrote long ago, transformed into its current psychedelic state by The Haneps. INIGO: It’s about love lost in some distant land. It’s our cheesiest song, so far. You’ll like it. ROCKY: Everyone who listens to us has a different favorite song, so we decided to put them all in the upcoming album. ALLEN: We plan to have songs in every Pinoy radio station, he he. And speaking of the upcoming album, how’s it coming along? How is the experience of the recording process so far? How is your songwriting process developing? Is a definite release date in sight? ROCKY: We’ve recorded 7 songs so far, and 3 to 5 more are on our to-do lists. Recording is great, it’s always nice to see one of your songs develop, much like watching a son or daughter grow up. Not that I would know much about having a son or daughter, mind you. INIGO: Songs are going to tape slowly, as we can only work on it once or twice a week—we take our day jobs seriously. No definite release for the album though. Right now, we’re in the middle of talks with some labels, so the originally-planned independent release will be set aside for the meantime. ROCKY: We’re talking with some people now, but definitely the album will be coming out soon, whether through indie or major label channels. Definitely this year. Cross your fingers and hope for the best for us! ALLEN: It’s still a continuing learning experience for us. Hopefully the album comes out the way we envisioned it to be or not to be. It’s always interesting when a band strays from the usual four-person setup. You guys have settled on three as your magic number. How did you decide on that, and did you ever consider taking on more members? ALLEN: The line-up is not yet final. We plan to add 11 more members. Just kidding. ROCKY: At the beginning, we really wanted to be a four-piece band, but we couldn’t find a keyboardist. We started playing gigs and got used to being a three-person outfit, so we decided to stick with the current line-up. Besides, people say that our sound is already "complete." INIGO: I thought it was cool to be 3 because it wasn’t 4, as in the usual. So we’re unusual. So you’re right about "straying". But I guess it also makes it easier to be in tune and in sync, because you only have 2 other members to coordinate with. I think because of this, without any one of us being very good at our instruments, we’ve managed to sound "tight" to some people. Let’s talk about the local music scene right now. What’s good or bad about it? Where do you think it’s heading and where do you think it should be headed? ALLEN: I see local music as maturing with every new artist introduced. I’d like to compare it to J-pop, where all musical styles are appreciated. ROCKY: Good: Kids are starting to pick up guitars and form bands again. Bad: Still too many revivals and bandwagoning, playing what is currently "uso". Musicians should concentrate more on making original sounds that stray from the usual formulas. INIGO: What’s bad is that everyone sounds the same, production-wise. Like nobody wants to make a different kind of sound anymore, as in a different sonic quality. Take 2 different records from 2 different genres and you’d think, well, they sound the same, as if they were in the same recording session with the exact same people, using the exact same sound engineers. Areglo lang ang pinagkaiba. What’s good is that because of that, it’s so easy to sound different nowadays. You just don’t do what you always hear. With all things saturated, the only way to go is to get out, to think of change. Change always feel weird, but with all things weird, they can tickle you a bit. Could each of you comment on the other two people in the band? What do they bring, in terms of musical abilities and personal qualities? What makes them integral to The Haneps? ALLEN: Rocky is a lyrical and musical genius. Inigo is an instrumental genius. Bukod sa drums, ang lupit din mag-gitara!! ROCKY: Inigo is a wacky nut. He usually helps shape the songs into their current "Hanep" form with his great drum fills and 60s-style drumming. Allen is also a wacky nut. He usually helps arrange the songs, and fills the "holes" of a one-guitar band with his excellent bass lines. Actually both of them do. Also does back-up vocals, making it easier for me to sing lead vocals. INIGO: Rocky has been the main songwriter so far, in as much as he has a deep archive of songs he’d written from way back. Allen has some amazing arrangement ideas, and they come spontaneously, sometimes on the rehearsal before the gig, that if you hear our songs live and think that they’re different from the record, it’s probably Allen’s fault. These two people have a strong sense of song structure that I’m still learning from. Photos provided by the band. Visit The Haneps’ MySpace page and sign up on their mailing list!
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