Pulse.ph : MUSIC + CULTURE
October 29th, 2007
October 21st, 2007
Here’s some new-ish stuff to listen to if your ears are tired of formula rock and empty so-called “urban” crap. Granted, these three acts are easily classifiable as pop, but it’s the good kind of pop: catchy without being brainless, influenced by various genres, heartfelt where others would be merecenary. Might sound a little slick for some, but even the most hardcore music nerds may need breathers in-between blasts of experimental noisegasms. First we have Asa, Paris-born and Nigeria-raised, who delivers sweet neo-soul/R&B. Though comparisons are often odious, I think if you like Corinne Bailey Rae, you’ll probably like her as well. For starters, go and listen to the lovely “No One Knows.” It will make you feel good. Then we have New York-based symphonic pop band The Sharp Things, “a reaction to the dead-end of indie rock.” Splendid magazine called them “a frothy confection that’s equal parts Cole Porter opulence, brittle Hal David pop punch and lovelorn Left Banke flicker.” Listen to “Cruel Thing.” And finally, Bella. They’re an 80s-flavored act that “channels its influences from a synthier time — but in a gorgeous, non-ironic kind of way.” I’m not sure if ’synthier’ is a word, but here, it’s perfectly appropriate. Music for Robots called their new album “dancey power pop, pure and simple.” Give a listen to “Give it a Night.” You’re welcome.
October 8th, 2007
HELEN AND HER COME-HITHER SONGS
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.
October 4th, 2007
I was very apprehensive about reviewing Are You Listening?, ex-Cranberries vocalist Dolores O’Riordan’s solo effort. Being a Cranberries fan—at least up ‘til the third album—I had high expectations from one of my favorite frontwomen. I also had a feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach. There was the obvious worry that her music would sound like a knockoff of her old band’s. Having a voice as unique as Dolores’ is both a blessing and a curse; there was no mistaking The Cranberries for any other band, not with that distinct voice at the helm. The downside of this is that we’d gotten so used to the sound of The Cranberries that it was going to be extra challenging for Dolores to branch out on her own. And then there was the question of the lyrics. After being in a band that did the whole mushy love thing (albeit in a cool way) and the patriotic/ political thing (which was great at first, but later became tiresome), I wondered: what’s she going to do that would set her apart from her past? The answer, unfortunately, turned out to be a little worse than I suspected. Are You Listening? sounds like a half-baked Cranberries (sans lush arrangements) album most of the time, and a half-baked Sinead/ Bjork/ Enya hybrid during others. I don’t even want to talk about the lyrics. I’ve heard better rhymes on Sesame Street. I mean, I’ve never heard the Cookie Monster rhyme “sea” with “sea” and “me” with “me.” Unfortunately, Dolores does just this in “Stay With Me.” Other songs are similarly impaired. “When We Were Young” starts off with Cranberries-style vocal acrobatics, and features a chorus with the lyrics “I wanna get out, I wanna go home/ Is anything better than you on the phone (Repeat x2).” Not exactly something you’d expect from a grown-up, respected musician and mother of two. On “In the Garden,” Dolores channels Sinead O’Connor by way of the music’s simple arrangement and vocals before segueing into a chorus that’s all her. Heavily laced with rock, the chorus complements her beautiful, strong voice. Unfortunately, again, I’ve heard better lyrics on children’s television. Points for effort, though. “Human Spirit” is a quirky mix of pop laced with traditional Irish influences. Unfortunately, the pipes and fiddles only enhance the piece so much, such that you get the feeling that they could have used other instruments to get the same effect. Still, the song has a nice, engaging beat, sort of reggae—but not quite. “Apple of My Eye” is a soft, simple song whose lyrics fit the arrangement well enough to be more than listenable, though if you listen hard enough, you sort of expect Dolores to segue into “Free to Decide” at any moment. Still, it counts as one of the high points of the album. Another high point would be “Black Widow,” which was supposed to be in the last Spider-Man movie but was pulled out at the last minute. The minimalist use of the piano and Dolores’ soft crooning shows off the depth and range of her voice. Just like anyone who’s listened to and loved The Cranberries, I want nothing more than to have Dolores O’Riordan’s solo album succeed, and it breaks my heart to face the reality that it’s just not all there. Dolores has still got a powerful set of lungs and one of the most beautiful voices in the industry, but if she wants to succeed as a solo artist, she’ll need to get a new lyricist and maybe a new arranger. So, to answer the album’s bold title: Yes, I am, but I’m not sure I like what I’m hearing.
October 2nd, 2007
Here’s something you should open your eyes to: Traffic: an MTV EXIT Special. As the title implies, it’s about the tragedy that is human trafficking, specifically in the Asia-Pacific region. “We premiered the half-hour documentary at Hard Rock Cafe in front of an audience made up of people from the US Embassy, various NGOs, and press people,†said Lizette Claudio of MTV Philippines. “Dicta License performed a song commissioned by the Visayan Forum Foundation, one of the largest anti-human trafficking organizations in the Philippines. The song, entitled “Tinangay”, was written by Pochoy Labog and it is a call to empower victims of human trafficking. Christian Bautista, the MTV Exit Philippine ambassador, was also present, and so was US Ambassador Kristie Kenney.†Liz went on to say that “This is a campaign that we’re very proud to be a part of and we’re also very passionate about the cause, since it’s very relevant to Filipinos.†More info in the press release: MTV Exit in Manila MTV PHILIPPINES BROADCASTS THE LAUNCH FEATURE OF THE MTV EXIT CAMPAIGN, TRAFFIC: AN MTV EXIT SPECIAL, HOSTED BY CHRISTIAN BAUTISTA, TO RAISE AWARENESS AND INCREASE PREVENTION OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING (October 18th 8:30 pm) 25 September 2007—Traffic: an MTV EXIT Special premiered at the Hard Rock Cafe today in the Philippines with popular singer and TV personality Christian Bautista presenting the documentary. Traffic, the lead feature of the MTV EXIT campaign, is a unique and powerful program which aims to raise awareness and increase prevention of human trafficking in Asia-Pacific. Today it was announced, for the first time, that Christian Bautista is part of the Asia-wide campaign as one of a number of international artists to host the documentary. MTV researched and produced the documentary with the help of various expert organizations. Traffic features the stories of real people in Asia connected by the trafficking issue, including Anna, who was trafficked from the Philippines and forced into prostitution; Eka, an Indonesian woman trafficked into forced domestic servitude in Singapore; and Min Aung from Burma, who was trafficked to Thailand and imprisoned for 2 years in a factory. Their harrowing stories are told alongside other people in the trafficking chain, including a trafficker from the Philippines who has been forcing girls into prostitution for over 20 years, a young man from Taiwan who pays for sex, an anti-trafficking police officer from Thailand, and a woman who runs a shelter in Singapore for victims of trafficking and other abuses. The documentary gives an insight into the realities of trafficking, addresses the part that everyone plays in the issue, and provides information on how individuals can protect themselves against trafficking, as well as what everyone can do to help end exploitation and trafficking. Traffic: an MTV EXIT Special has been produced in multiple languages to maximize local relevance, with different celebrities hosting each different language version—Christian Bautista presents the documentary in Tagalog and English, Tata Young presents the documentary in Thai and English, Rain of Korea will present the Korean version of the program, Karen Mok in Mandarin and other artists to be announced shortly will present versions in English, Japanese, Bahasa Indonesian and Mongolian. Traffic is the launch feature of the MTV EXIT Campaign in Asia and the Pacific, which aims to increase awareness and prevention of human trafficking through television programs, online content, live events and innovative partnerships with local, national and international anti-trafficking organizations. Christian Bautista said, “I am proud to join Tata Young, Rain, and other celebrities in the fight against trafficking. To hear one of the stories from this documentary of a young Filipina girl who has been trafficked into modern-day slavery causes me great sadness. We need to be aware that the exploitation is going on in the Philippines. Young people’s hopes and desires to improve their lives can make them vulnerable to traffickers. Many people are currently being trafficked in the Philippines and I hope that this documentary and the MTV EXIT campaign will give people the information they need to stay safe as well as encourage others to join the fight to end trafficking.†Simon Goff, Campaign Director of MTV EXIT said, “We are very proud to be launching the MTV EXIT Campaign in the Philippines. As the Traffic documentary shows, trafficking is of critical importance here both in terms of vulnerable young people being trafficked and in respect to the exploitation of trafficking victims. We hope that this campaign provides key information for people to protect themselves as well as inspire our audience to join the fight against trafficking.†“This film, made possible with assistance from the American people, is meant to save lives,” said U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Kristie A. Kenney. “Through MTV, it will reach millions of young people, the group most at risk in Asia.†“We are very proud to be expanding the MTV EXIT Campaign to the Philippines,” Francis Lumen, Chairman and CEO of MTV Philippines commented. “MTV Philippines is one of the most influential platforms to reach young people in the country. By showing this programming we hope to communicate to our audience the importance of understanding what human trafficking is, how to avoid it, and how to prevent it happening to other people.” Traffic: An MTV EXIT Special, presented by Christian Bautista (English version), will premiere on MTV Philippines on October 18 at 8:30 pm and will be repeated at the following times: Saturday, October 20 at 9:30 pm (English) Wednesday, October 24 at 3:30pm (Tagalog) Saturday, October 27 at 1:00 pm (English) Monday, October 29 at 5:30 pm (English) Friday, November 2 at 10:00 am (Tagalog) Christian Bautista photos courtesy of Perlas & Luna PR Group.
October 2nd, 2007
We are The Pipettes We’ve got no regrets If you haven’t noticed yet We’re the prettiest girls you’ve ever met Oh, I want this album. Been listening to a handful of Pipettes tracks for over a year now, and I have yet to tire of their ’60s-style girl-group charm. (Do yourself a favor and hunt down some mp3s or clips on YouTube. Check out “Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me” or “Pull Shapes,” for starters.) And today their North American full-length debut gets released! Nice cover. Go RiotBecki! Go Gwenno! Go Rosay! Love those names. Love those songs.
October 1st, 2007
GOING FOR A RIDE WITH TAKEN BY CARS
Sometimes, a new band breaks out of the local music scene and hurtles forward in a Katamari Damacy fashion—picking up momentum and devotees and getting bigger and better, until they reach perhaps monstrous proportions. Suddenly, they’re everyone’s favorite band. And you watch them blow up and you ask yourself, "Where’d they come from?" This is how I feel about Taken By Cars. Well, maybe they’re not at monstrous proportions just yet, but they’re getting there. Suddenly, they’re being talked about by everyone—and I stress "suddenly," because they were quite unheard of last year—probably much to the chagrin of bands who’ve been around longer and are taking a bit more time to get noticed. What haters don’t know, however, is that as a band, the members of Taken By Cars have been together around ten years already, without getting noticed much either. The band was formed while sophomores in high school. The boys were all neighbors and schoolmates: guitarist Bryce Zialcita, bassist Benny Yap and drummer Bryan Kong all knew each other in the first grade, and they met guitarist Siopao in high school. Sarah Marco, their husky, dusky vocalist, was a friend of a friend; the brave girl met up with the boys, without any clue as to what they even looked like, to jam one afternoon. They hit it off right away, and spent the next ten years having fun as a cover band. "It was only June of last year that we said, let’s take this seriously," Sarah relates. "So we stopped playing covers and started writing songs." It’s easy to imagine that Taken By Cars always sounded the way they do now—some psychedelic dance, some shoegaze, some punk beats, lots of heart—but their current sound also only really began in June of last year. Stylistically, the band started out as an alternative band before they ventured into blues and classic rock. They covered bands like K’s Choice, Veruca Salt, Flickerstick and, later, Led Zeppelin and ACDC. "We all have different tastes in music," Bryce tells me, almost apologetically. "So our current sound is like a collective." "But freestyle," Sarah adds. "We just get all our ideas and put them together, we just get them from whereever. So our music starts out unstructured and then we make it structured." "It’s a democratic process," Kong further describes their songwriting process. "There’s a lot of give and take, because we’re all friends and we’ve been friends for a long time. We respect each other’s opinions, we meet halfway." "We ask each other, ‘How does this sound?’ " Siopao contributes. "Sometimes, when we write it’s a kind of multiple choice," Bryce grins. "What goes into what part, and so on. It’s very fun." The band meets up at Bryce’s house twice a week to jam. It was there that they wrote most of the songs from the album, though it felt more like hanging out than writing songs. Next thing they knew, here they are, only a little over a year of writing songs, with an album currently being mixed. "We’re all on the same wavelength," Bryce opines when I ask why writing together came so easy to them, especially when they never tried writing songs before. Always? They nod, yes always. Don’t you disagree at all? "When we do, we talk about it until we find a middle ground," Siopao concedes. The best thing about being friends in a band, he says, is you can tell each other anything. "We’re very straight with each other, because we’re all thinking about what’s best for the song." Bryce agrees. "We never really get into an argument. If there’s tension, it’s positive tension." I wonder by this time how we managed to skip ten years of band history. They all laugh, with Sarah admitting, "It wasn’t exactly ten years, it just started ten years ago. We were dormant, sometimes, for long periods of time." They each assure me I didn’t miss out much by only coming to know them this year. They played in school fairs, in parties. They had bad names. I pressed for those bad names and they laughed before enumerating. "Sedated," one said with a snicker. "Kung Fu Betty," another smirked. They took on the name Taken By Cars only, you guessed it, June of last year. "We listen to music in cars," Sarah explains where their current band name originated, with no snark in her voice. "And we’re taken by the music. We wanted our name to come from there. It’s also because our music has a lot of movement involved in it. We have songs that are fast, but also slow and ambient and really chill. If you listen to our album, you’ll hear that the music is pretty casual, you know, not papansin." Their current sound, as Bryce earlier mentioned, is a fusion of their influences. Bryce listens to jazz, Siopao listens to the blues, Benny is into funk and Kong into prog rock. You can actually hear elements of each in their current sound, and yet the whole scope of it is altogether something else. "It came to a point where we were all listening to the same thing," Sarah explains. As a collective unit, they found out they were individually listening to Bloc Party, Minus the Bear, Joy Division, New Order and the Cure. You’ll find elements from these in their new sound, too. "Our songwriting process is a conscious effort," Siopao offers. "We know our roles and our sound. For example, Bryce’s guitar sound is mid-range, somewhat spacy. Mine is high-treble, jagged, more aggressive." The rest of the band know their roles as well, with Kong and Benny keeping it all together and Sarah shining powerfully in front of them. Sarah has another role, as the lyric writer. She says her lyrics depend on the songs, she bases them on the vibe. "The dance songs aren’t emotional, they’re catchy. The slower songs, they’re the emotional ones. I worry that the sad songs sound too… cheesy?" She looks at her bandmates for reinforcement and they all subtly shake their heads. "As much as possible, I like the lyrics to be well thought out. They’re not brainless songs." Kong shares that they didn’t have it all figured out right away. "Our main goal was to play in SaGuijo," he says. I must have looked at him funny because he adds, "Seriously." That was the main goal? "That was the main goal," he nods. "Because we were there every week, and we got to thinking, hey, we’re in a band, why aren’t we playing here?" From the time they decided this in June of last year, also the time that they started writing songs, they didn’t surface until October, where they played their first gig as Taken By Cars in Kublai’s Katipunan. Why did it take so long? "Our attitude was we wanted to go out sure of ourselves," Kong explains. "Rather than force it." Plus, they all had day jobs and writing songs and gigging would have been too hectic for them. They got to play in SaGuijo in the same month, for the prod Peace Sign, with Lahi, Ursa Minor, Southern Grass and Day One Movement. The reason why they remember this is because Bryce has a photo of the lineup chalkboard in his phone. His bandmates giddily tell him to send them copies of the cam pic. "The scene right now is great," Benny enthuses. "It’s the perfect opportunity for bands to start playing, get their music out." Sarah agrees. "Everything really started falling into place." One of the pieces of Taken By Cars’ destiny that started to fall into place was having a chance to record their demos, which you can listen to on their MySpace page. A friend of theirs, Joey Santos of Boy Elroy and Halik ni Gringo, offered his Love One Another Studios, "If you guys want to record." Their demo of "Weeknight Memoirs in High Definition" was picked up by NU 107 and played on the radio, giving the band what they call their cheap thrill. "I mean, big deal right, but I don’t care, it’s another experience altogether to hear your song played on the radio," Siopao laughs. Ironically, they discovered only after it was played on the radio that "Weeknight Memoirs" was written in the wrong key. They were recording the song for the actual album in Mong Alcaraz’s Danger Danger Studio when their new producer informed them it was too low for Sarah’s voice. The band gamely welcomed the criticism, as they did having Mong as a producer. "What we never thought would happen was to have a collaborative producer as well," Kong shares. "[Mong] gives his own opinions and ideas when we record and mix and he’s been a really big help. It’s something unexpected, but it’s great. We’re all on the same wavelength in making this album." "And, again, recording feels like we’re also hanging out," Siopao adds. "That’s how good the vibe is." "We feel really lucky too," Benny says. "We’ve had Raimund [Marasigan] and Mike [Dizon] drop by while we’re recording and they give their input also. It’s nice that we have the support of other bands." "Yeah," Bryce says, "because there’s definitely lots of room for improvement." The album is currently being mixed, and is moving into mastering and post prod. They hope to be done by November, although Kong is pretty sure it’s coming out earlier. They asked Inksurge to do their album cover. "We think they mirror what we do in terms of art," Kong explains. "Like, we’re very particular with how we want the song to come out." "Yeah," Sarah agrees and elaborates on what Kong means by "particular." "If it’s not the right sound, we really insist a retake. The other day, we ended up mixing up to 2:30 in the morning." A friend of theirs comes over and says to them, "What band are you again?" They laugh good-naturedly, while thinking twice about telling her, as if they don’t want to let a secret out. While they all do seem like very good friends, you can tell that music is their bond. The boys all went to Hong Kong to watch The Cure together, for which Sarah hasn’t forgiven them yet. How are kids their age such big fans of The Cure? "Bryce and Sarah have older siblings," Siopao says. "Yeah, I have Tears for Fears cassette tapes!" Sarah grins. "But it’s also friends telling you, ‘Hey, listen to this…’ so you have music bouncing off each other. [Discovering] new stuff, that’s how we’re friends. We just get high on listening." Siopao nods. "Sometimes, we’d just be hanging out in the car, listening for hours." Benny smiles. "For days." Kong shakes his head. "Weeks," he says. "Like that time we just packed all the instruments in the car and drove to Subic. We just went and ate and jammed. And went home." "We didn’t get anything done," Benny adds. "Or write anything." "But that was the best weekend," Siopao finishes. Now that they’ve played at SaGuijo countless times within the past year, what’s the next main goal? "Well, just get the album out, have a good launch," Kong enumerates. Then, quickly adds, "And mix it properly." "We’re not signed," Sarah shares, "so we’re careful with what we’re doing. But not being signed gives a certain flexibility and freedom. Whatever happens, happens." "The goal is to just have fun," Bryce nods. "We’re learning more about each other, about the band, about the music. It adds to who we are." The Katamari Damacy ball is getting bigger as we speak, but they don’t really seem to notice. Bryce sums it up perfectly. "I’m still surprised that we have a gig. Whenever they tell me, you have a gig this week, I’m always, hey, that’s so cool." Main photograph (the sorta black-and-white one) courtesy of Suyen. The rest ripped off from the band’s MySpace page. Speaking of which, the band’s "Weeknight Memoirs in High Definition" is in the wrong key on that page, but it still rocks. Check check check it out.
October 1st, 2007
INTOLERANT: DEATH, WAR AND KILLER GUITARS
For the average unadventurous music listener, hearing a song by Intolerant is like unwittingly wandering into an Ultimate Fighting Championship: before you know what the fuck is going on, you’re going to get your ass kicked in so many creative, brutal ways. You won’t be able to defend yourself against being battered to a pulp by the experts, but in the end, you just might develop a taste for the blood in your mouth. Needlessly violent imagery, perhaps—and certainly, if you are instead a longtime fan of heavy music, you’ll find much that is already familiar and welcoming in Intolerant’s music. The fact is, I’m probably the last person in the world who should be writing something about a band like Intolerant, seeing as how most of the music I listen to is, for lack of a better word, pretty candy-ass. (I own almost everything the Pet Shop Boys ever recorded, for God’s sake.) But there’s something to be said about trying to go beyond your usual listening fare, and to be honest, I had reached the point where I couldn’t bear to listen to yet another blogged-about, whiny-voiced, bearded/goateed, quirky/sensitive, American/Canadian independent so-called rock band. That’s why I found songs like “God of War” and “Death Toll Rising” such a refreshing change. Intolerant’s underground cred is impeccable, being made up as it is of members of two of the more respected heavy acts on the local scene: L.O.C. and Skychurch. Having said that, the very reason Intolerant exists is to push the boundaries a little—in other words, to break the rules of a genre that is known for breaking rules. It’s this spirit of re-creation that makes Intolerant’s music a gateway drug of sorts, which is not to say that it is in any way lacking in speed, power or aggression. Intolerant guitarist Joey Dizon, whose other bands have included Skychurch, DNYD and Moyg—and who, incidentally, is the Editor-in-Chief of PULP magazine, which often celebrates heavy music in its pages—filled us in on his new band. PULSE.PH: When, how and why did Intolerant come together? And why the name "Intolerant?” JOEY: Let’s see. I’d say it’s been two years since me, [vocalist/guitarist] Russell dela Cruz and [drummer] Pepo Gohu got together for a beer and started talking about putting the band together. We didn’t have any songs, we didn’t know exactly what we wanted to do, but we sort of knew that, if given the choice, we’d want to create and play music together… I guess because since we’ve always had good vibes between us since years ago, when I started sessioning for Skychurch and L.O.C. was pretty new. It seemed like a long year at first, because we were just jamming on this one song—now known as “Shift”—and just adding on to it, twisting the parts and arrangements and shit like that. We didn’t even have a bass player. What happened was, Russell had so much riffs and was writing a lot of music which we couldn’t exactly play in Skychurch, mainly because there was a significant difference to ‘em… and we didn’t want to confine ourselves nor alienate Skychurch fans with something totally left-field. Though we’re both pretty open-minded with music, both of us weren’t too comfortable with the concept of a band—which has already established its identity/ purpose—suddenly doing a 180 for whatever the fuck reason. So we called in Pepo, who we hadn’t seen in ages, and he seemed excited about the whole idea of sort of “breaking the rules” with heavy music… because after he left L.O.C., he pursued many other projects and had a well-rounded sense of music: he was a guitar player, sessioned for other bands and even became a DJ. He also knew his way around the studio, so we knew that he was the type of guy we wanted to work with. Then after a long time of trying out bassists (well, we only tried out one… then drew blanks the following rehearsals…), we sort of all decided to call in Mic Gallegos, who formed L.O.C. with Pepo and played bass for ‘em. He was involved with Moyg then and had his own band Man Down, but he also expressed a lot of excitement, and we found out he was on the same page as we were. I don’t know exactly “why” we came together, there was no real urgent reason to, but it sort of just worked out. What started off as a project band, became something we’re all committed to… probably because there’s a good balance in personalities and musical chemistry. It’s a pretty rare thing. As for the name, no deep story there. We were nameless for the longest time. At first, it was Reasons for Unrest, but then, we sort of went for something simpler. We each have stories/ interpretations explaining why we’re called Intolerant, but to be honest, they probably change as often as we change socks. Which is often… I assume. How does being in Intolerant compare to your experiences with DNYD, Moyg and Skychurch? Personally, it’s way different, and still very rewarding. DNYD was my first serious band with close friends who were really into the hardcore thing… we managed to make a small name for ourselves, we came up with original songs that were pretty okay, but then… we just got tired of it, I guess. We joke about it to this day, because we were just some new band but we sort of acted like… jerks. We had egos and we were pretty strong personalities, so I guess it wasn’t meant to last. Besides, we’re all better off as great friends now. Skychurch of course, will always be close to my heart… but that band was already made, and had an ethic I dared not fuck with. I was just happy to play guitar with those guys because they were my mentors, and I looked up to them so much. I was always keeping myself in check because Skychurch really is about three brothers who fucking killed any band out there. Period. I will always first be a fan of Skychurch, rather than a “real” member. And I’ll be happy to play for any of those guys any day. I also met my Moyg bandmates through Skychurch, because we were always playing these productions together (alongside Badburn, who are also close friends…), so when they needed a guitar player to fill in, they called me up and I accepted instantly. Moyg is a fun band, great guys to get wasted with, and though things can really get goofy, the band is principled; I get my punk fix with those guys. We’re actually not called Moyg anymore… we’re now called Today Arsenal, and Mic also plays bass with us. Intolerant is my main band, and I’m really down with it because even though we’re into the heavy music thing, we’ve totally eradicated all boundaries and made it a point to come up with something fresh-sounding. I mean, I don’t want to claim that what we’re doing is totally new, but I admit that I love it when bands don’t only play, but challenge the way people think and feel about music. Also, even though Mic, Pepo and I still have high respect for Russ, the four of us agree that this band isn’t driven by just one person, or dominated by key members, like Skychurch and Moyg sort of was. It’s really about four different musicians really letting loose. I guess that’s probably why it takes us quite a while to totally finish a song… we feel there’s always something more we can add onto a simple progression, or riff. The cool thing about it is, there’s no pressure… we’re not rushing to beat a deadline or anything, though we are teaching ourselves NOT to take too long… Intolerant is made up of members of "two genre-defining bands in the Philippine underground music scene…” what does Intolerant do that would be familiar/unfamiliar to listeners of Skychurch and L.O.C.? Definitely, Intolerant can conveniently be tagged as a heavy band, and Skychurch and L.O.C. are pretty good primers (among many) for local heavy music. The musicianship can also be pretty demanding, and we’ve always had high standards when it came to performance… Intolerant really takes pride in playing the songs the right way: it’s loud, it’s heavy but it’s also very refined. Skychurch was very disciplined when it came to performing, and wasn’t the easiest shit to do, but it was, again, very rewarding. On the other hand, Intolerant is a lot more mature in some aspects… I mean, we even have a ballad-type song, so you can imagine how flexible we are compared to your average metal band. Skychurch had ballads and melody and shit, but they were used as tools. With Intolerant, we wouldn’t be as afraid to use those melodies and that certain approach from start to finish… if that’s what we feel we really want to do. In a way, Intolerant is also pretty open-minded to having people outside of the genre give a listen. So right now, we’ll play anywhere and everywhere as long as we’re down with the people we’re playing with. Our gigs don’t necessarily have to be limited to underground metal gigs. Your Purevolume page describes the band as "Metal /Metalcore / Death Metal." For the clueless—meaning myself—please describe the qualities of these genres, and how they feed into the sound of Intolerant. I guess those labels/sub-genres are mainly for convenience, but it’s pretty hard to take it as scripture… we’re definitely a metal band, we’re definitely willing to play something with melody and unafraid to try out new, more modern elements like progressions and arrangements, and we also won’t think twice about fucking going bonkers and pushing the limits as far as death metal does—blistering guitar work, guttural vocals, double bass drumming, extremely fast yet also extremely slow, and all. I guess it’d be safe to say that we’re all commonly rooted in our love for bands like Slayer, Pantera, Sepultura and even bands not exactly dead-center in the metal heap… bands like Earth Crisis, Strife, Sick of It All, Madball. I know it doesn’t sound pretty intelligent, but put all those influences together, add our own craziness, and that’s Intolerant. If Jesus and the Devil were to form a band, we’d be the perfect opening act for them. How does the songwriting in Intolerant work? Please describe the process/inspirations behind some of the songs. ("God of War" is my current favorite). It either starts with a riff or a drum pattern. Like I mentioned, Russell had all these leftover riffs and what would happen was, we’d tie ‘em together and slave over them for hours in the studio. We’d all add onto those few riffs and play it until we felt it sounded right. It was a very meticulous process, considering we’re four critical personalities… but for some reason, whenever something worked, we were all unanimous in deciding it was the way we heard it in our heads. Pretty cosmic… and funny because we don’t really share the same vices or habits. Or whatever the fuck it is that causes musical inspiration. Is that a second vocalist on "Left Standing," doing the ‘cleaner’ vocals? And why does "Shift" sound so different from the other songs so far? On the recorded songs, Russ sings all the vocals so on “Left Standing,” that’s both his vocals. He’s a pretty well-rounded singer, and we are all proud to say that he has a powerful voice and a fine sense of pitch. No studio trickery at all, what you’ll hear on disc is what you’ll hear live… we guarantee it. I mean, there are singers these days who sound bad on their album! (It’s pretty dumb, granted there are so many ways to sound good in the studio… cheating or not). “Shift” is also a really good song that shows how dynamic he can be, and it’s also a very personal song for us. It was the song that sort of defined us during the beginning: it was one thing, but it was also something else… minus the compromise a normal band on the radio would have to undergo. “My Demise” is also pretty complex, yet it’s as brutal as “Shift” is subtle. “God of War” is also currently my favorite, because it’s really just a mean motherfucker (yes, inspired by the video game, because Russell was hooked!). It’s an all-out, no bullshit, metal-as-fuck track that we all enjoy playing live. Just like “Death Toll Rising…” when we play those two songs live, I think that’s when we’re pulling out the big guns. There’s a lot of great guitar work on these songs—the searing solos are what a listener inexperienced with this genre (again, such as myself) latch on to first. As a guitarist, who are your heroes/influences? As a guitarist, there are so many guitar players I look up to. I divide them into groups because it’s sort of like comparing apples to oranges whenever people ask me who I think the better guitar hero is. For downright shredding, my faves are the usual: Satriani, Vai, Paul Gilbert, Marty Friedman. But as far as heavy metal and rock goes, you can’t go wrong with the late, great Dimebag Darrell… he was the true example of what it meant to be a well-rounded musician: he could shred, but he also had attitude and kicked ass onstage, and was an impressive rhythm player. That’s very important to me… before you become a shredder, you gotta know how to play rhythm… you gotta know your timing. That’s why I really admire guitarists like Eddie Van Halen, James Hetfield and Kirk Hammet, Scott Ian. They’re not necessarily shredders, and probably not the fastest guys around, but they’ve got personality and they fucking respect the musicians around them and know that the spotlight’s not always on them. Yngwie Malmsteen and John Petrucci can fucking suck sheep balls for all I care. Yeah they’re good, but sometimes there’s a fine line between tasty and just wanking at 500mph. Plus, I’m pretty sure if Dimebag was to ever get in a fight with Malmsteen or Petrucci, he’d kick their asses with one hand tied behind his back. Even if it was a beer-drinking contest he’d win… even non-guitarists who’d listen to the albums all three of them played on would probably agree that Darrell’s playing has the most impact. Because it’s not only technical… it, er… rocks. Really. How do you build on/develop your guitar-playing? I’m actually guilty of not always “building/developing” my chops. I got a day job, so I guess that’s my excuse for not always being able to go through the proper rudiments and exercises and whatever. But my technique to keep myself from rusting has always been picking up the guitar at least once a day, and playing entire songs from start to finish instead of just the same licks and exercises over and over again. I also reserve certain days for jamming with other guitar players… usually on weekends, I get together with two buddies and we just crank the amps and go solo-crazy! Sort of like a G3, only goofier and a little crappier, and we’re all Filipino and nobody’s filming the shit. Nobody should. What’s the line between a good solo and a bad one? A good solo? I guess a good solo makes a good song even better. A good solo can highlight a song, it can also take you to a different place, or it can simply blow you away. You feel a good solo, not hear it. It’s because it’s the perfect balance with, again, melody and technical skill. That’s what I think, at least… there have been many debates over what the perfect solo is. Many people say that Kurt Cobain’s solos were genius because they were pure emotion, but I, on the other hand think they were just plain crap. It was right for the music, I guess, but in no way would I refer to those solos as “influential” or “essential.” I am one of the very few people, I guess, who doesn’t give a shit about Nirvana or sees them as a great band. I wasn’t happy when Cobain blew his brains out, but I also wasn’t sad. I think I was busy practicing my chops. I look at guitar solos in a way that it’s sort of like when you’re eating the perfect pizza, then adding another layer of mozzarella: you don’t really need it, but if you do it right, it’ll make it extra special, say on an all-meat kind. But in that regard, it can also backfire… like when you realize that what you’ve got is a cheese pizza… it’s a plus, but it doesn’t really do or mean anything. (I’m hungry.) Do you personally have any favorite songs among Intolerant’s output so far? Which one/s and why? They’re all my favorites… all five songs, though I do joke a lot about how much I “hate ’Shift.’” I guess it’s because, like I mentioned previously, we played it for the longest time over and over again in the studio. I have to admit though that I’m pretty biased when it comes to the songs with guitar solos… they keep me on my feet when I’m playing live, because I definitely don’t want to screw up the parts of songs I was given free reign to write. “God of War” and “Death Toll Rising” are current faves because they just make me want to bash somebody’s head in whenever I hear/play them. In your opinion, what does each member of Intolerant bring to the band, in terms of musical ability and personal qualities? Well for one, I like to think that we’re no slouches when it comes to our individual instruments/ immediate roles in the band. I’ve been fortunate to play with many musicians from college and afterwards, but the thing I love about the guys in Intolerant is that they all know what they want/want to do and how to get/do it. Though we’d sometimes coach each other in the studio and suggest ideas and shit, we’re all very secure with the fact that we can individually hold our own and don’t need to be told what to do. It’s very liberating. With Russ, I guess he’s pretty much the most seasoned musician since he was doing the Skychurch thing as early as high school. I mean, he was a fucking influential musician way before he knew shit about calculus or whatever. And our personalities match, because we’re brutally honest even if it means we come off as assholes. Pepo, I’m also proud to say, has such a wide vocabulary of knowledge when it comes to music, and he’s always willing to learn. It really shows in his playing, because it’s pretty well-rounded and unpredictable as far as metal drummers go. He’s got a great attitude too, very sociable but he also knows when it’s time to speak up and fucking pound somebody in the face with the truth. Again, the three of us are pretty extreme personalities, and Mic balances all that out, even though he definitely has his crazy moments too. But yeah, he’s the most grounded guy, and he’s always great company on or off the stage… because he lets us pick on him. Ha! Seriously, we’ve all been through some pretty crazy shit individually and collectively, but there’s a fine sense of balance among us. I guess I’ve used that word a lot—balance—so it’s pretty important to me personally, be it musically, or within the band. That’s where the dynamic comes from… a sense of balance. How have the reactions to Intolerant from audiences been, both the underground/ hardcore community and the more mainstream crowds that may have heard you? What do Skychurch and L.O.C. fans think? I honestly don’t know, and to some extent, I don’t really think about it as much. I’m happy that we’ve gotten a lot of positive vibes from the people who go to the gigs, of course, but even if we didn’t get as much good feedback, it probably wouldn’t interfere with what we’re doing. I was expecting a lot of reactions especially since our first song was “Shift,” but surprisingly, nobody actually went up to our faces and said “Dude? What the fuck?!!” I think Skychurch fans and original-lineup-L.O.C. fans also have a more mature attitude towards music now, just like us. The great thing about it is, there’s quite a number of non-Skychurch fans who actually dig what Intolerant is doing. So I’m pretty sure we’re doing something, or a lot of things, right. We’ve changed and evolved, but we’ve also maintained some aspects and principles worth sticking to as to who we are as musicians and as people. What, for you, are the band’s most memorable moments/ achievements thus far? Fete Dela Musique 2007 was definitely memorable because even though we were a new band, things went extremely well. It was a pretty tight set, if I may say so, and that’s when we all realized that all the work and sleepless nights were very much worth it. Our Purple Haze gigs are always memorable because there’s a great vibe to that place, it has great gear which they allow us to crank and we’re almost always playing with our buddies from Badburn and Today Arsenal. We had a pretty great gig in Caloocan a few months ago when this Hong Kong-based metalcore act Shepherds The Weak came and played a show. And our recent out of town trip to Pampanga was a blast because we all got really drunk but still played an amazingly tight set. Same thing with the Olongapo gigs we played in early ’07. Always a great crowd, always really, really loud. Of course, recording the demo/EP we’re currently giving away was pretty awesome in my book as far as achievements are concerned, because for a rough recording, we all could hear that there was so much potential within the group. I don’t want to sound arrogant about it, but we all pretty much achieved what we wanted to do at that point in time. Right, in the sense, that we got the respect from people whose opinions mattered to us: the cool guys who catch the shows and support us, and our friends from the other bands we play with. Where can people watch/listen to Intolerant? Our skeds are pretty tricky by choice, because we all got priorities and we understand that priorities come first. But we’re pretty much playing at least twice a week, most of the time either at Purple Haze, Mayric’s, or whichever venue where the people are cool with our music. There’s also a handful of out of town gigs every now and then. People can reach us through Friendster or MySpace, or email us directly at intolerantmetal666@yahoo.com if they want to ask where we’re playing. We’re still giving away free copies of the demo/EP at the gigs, and if people want to hear the songs, we’ll be more than happy to email ‘em mp3s of whatever rough recordings we have at the moment. Is the full-length still set to come out before year’s end? Right now, it’s the next step for us, we’re totally redoing everything and have new songs, and we’re slowly but surely figuring out how to achieve the sound we want to be heard on our full-length. Studio recording is a whole different beast, but we’re really pushing to get the album out by the end of the year. What’s right and what’s wrong about the music industry right now? Hmmm… a lot if it’s wrong. There’s so much useless shit on the air and on the radio, and rock is in a sad, sad state… call me a dick or whatever, but in my opinion, so many bands these days just deserve to beaten to shit. I mean, I’m a music fan, and so many people are bastardizing and making money out of this whole “band” thing. And so many great, great bands are going unnoticed because of this whole slew of untalented wankers “dominating the airwaves.” So many artists aren’t getting the credit they deserve. I’m saddened by the fact that venues would rather choose a namby-pamby G-rated pop/ showband-type/ formulaic group over a band that really has something to offer, or over what an artist like Noel Cabangon or Skarlet has to offer. I mean, I know it’s really the nature of the industry to support anything that sells, but why not extend the other hand to people who deserve it? And it wasn’t as obvious, and as hard-sell compared to a few years ago… now, a majority (not all, mind you) of the industry still supports crap and doesn’t even have the courtesy to, at the very least, choose the most decent artist in the crap pile. Anyone can get a record deal now, even if they’re totally retarded and can’t sing a note to save their life, as long as they’re part of a trend and have the right look. At least a few years ago, Alamid had chops even though they were kind of cheesy… they knew how to tune their guitars and the guy could sing the right notes. But now, any honest musician can instantly name ten bands who deserve to be fucking dragged out in the streets and shot for being so fucking lame. It’s not totally hopeless though… I still believe that a lot of companies really want to get their shit together, and that a lot of the younger guys are really coming up with great stuff. But I’m not holding my breath and waiting for it to happen… Intolerant isn’t either. We’re just going to keep doing what we do best. Listen to Intolerant’s songs on their Purevolume page. And visit them on MySpace and Friendster.
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