FEATURED BANDS:
BAMBOO / BARBIE'S CRADLE / IMAGO / KITCHIE NADAL / KJWAN / MAYONNAISE / PAROKYA NI EDGAR / RIVERMAYA / SPONGE COLA / SUGAR FREE

Bamboo

Bamboo (vocals), Ira Cruz (guitars), Nathan Azarcon (bass), & Vic Mercado (drums)

[source:manilatimes.net]

LOOKING at the cover inlay of their debut album, one couldn’t help but notice the sheer number of snapshots printed.
“There are no rock star poses,” says Nathan Azarcon, the bassist. “Hapi-hapi lang.”

“If you’d notice there are no professional poses in the cover,” says Vic Mercado, the drummer. “Nakahiligan naming magbaon ng Kodak or ng Digicam.”

“Kung sino yung wala sa photo, siya yung kumuha ng photo,” says Ira Cruz, the guitarist. “Naka set-up yung timer dun sa mga shots na kumpleto kami.”

“Look at how happy we are, that’s exactly how excited we are for the band and our album. Magiging masarap ang year na ito para sa amin,” beams Bamboo, the vocalist. “When I was in the States, na-miss ko yung company ng mga naging friends ko dahil sa tugtog. I want to continue the journey.

Yes, that’s the same Bamboo that gave a voice and an image to nineties Pinoy alternative hits such as “Ulan,” “Awit ng Kabataan,” “214,” “Kisapmata” and Hinahanap-Hanap Kita,” among others. The original Rivermaya frontman returned last year from a hiatus in the States and reformed a band with fellow Rivermaya alumnus Nathan and former Passage mates Ira and Vic to form a band not only named after the enigmatic musical presence that is Bamboo, but with the steadfast native tree itself.

“Wala nang paligoy-ligoy pa,” says Nathan. “A lot of people want to hear him sing again, so here we are.”

“We originally wanted Audio Barangay, kaya lang biglang nagka-Audioslave,” says Ira. “We wanted a name that can be identified as Filipino.”

“We also thought of Bamboo because matibay ang kawayan,” says Nathan. “Matibay in a sense na kahit anung bato ang gawin nyo sa amin, nakatayo pa rin kami. Resiliency, pare.”

The band will have to stand taller as they weather the brewing storm that will be brought about by the release of their debut album As the Music Plays under EMI Polyeast. The album contains 10 original compositions collectively wrote by the band, including the carrier single “Noypi.”

Judging from the songs in the album, As the Music Plays is a unique concoction of different musical genres such as alternative, jazz, funk and folk tempered down by the undeniable hooks of radio-friendly pop rock.

“One thing we learned through the years of doing this is that simplicity works. What are you going to do with a track that’s made up of a million notes if the listeners can’t find meaning or solace in your song,” says Nathan. “On the other hand, some of the world’s greatest songs take only three, sometimes even two, notes.”

Sorry to disappoint the rumor mongrels, but there’s really no extraordinary circumstance, much less any bad blood with former bandmates that brought these guys together aside from the music. “When we first got together to jam, we were able to make something out,” says Bamboo. “ First note pa lang that we played, it lead to an intro of a song, then the verse, the refrain, the chorus and so on and so forth. Parang magic talaga.”

As the title track of their new album suggests, it’s a chicken or egg situation of whether it’s the band that plays the music or if it’s the music that plays the band. Does this mean that the semi-notorious acts that reek of youthful abandon that naturally came out during their early rockstar years a thing of the past and is replaced with—gasp!—maturity?

“Nag-mellow down na kami,” Nathan says with a deviant smile. “We’re proud of what we’ve come up with. Ibato na nila kung anumang issue ang gusto nilang batuhin sa amin, basta we’ll work hard to dish out the best music that we could possibly come up with. Diyos ang agimat namin.”

“Hindi naman sa nag-mellow down,” clarifies Ira. “It’s just that before we could not control our restless energy. Now we have the discipline to channel it positively.”

“We don’t have grand expectations for this album, but we are confident in the songs included here,” Bamboo says before stating without batting an eyelash that, “heto na yung pinaka-astig na ginawa namin. Lahat ng saloobin namin nandito. Lahat ng kayang ibuhos namin dito binuhos namin.”

And so starts this saga of four battle-tested road warriors forming a brotherhood, seeking the way to eternal music and fun. Judging from As the Music Plays... this band deserves all the fun they could possibly get and we should expect to see more snapshots of them in the coming years...