the jing gaddi 2007 playlist

since everyone's coming up with their own lists, i decided to fashion my own. songs that have been tipping the scales of my iPod's repeat meter; songs not necessarily from '07, but have  essentially made my '07.

LINK

2007 music

disclaimers muna.

sinubukan kong isulat tong post na to na english para coherent sa shirley blogging, tapos di talaga kaya. parang ang yabang kasi kung english, dapat tagalog. haha.

marami pa akong hindi napapakinggan this year (katulad nung bagong jens lekman, pati may live album pala yung life without buildings?!) na sure ako sobrang ganda, kaya hindi ito all encompassing best of 2007 list. this is a most important to owel in 2007 list. haha. tapos di ko sinama yung mga masyadong malapit sa akin, yung may involvement ako. haha.

hindi ito parang best album best song best something. isiping parang bookmark, na nakaipit sa loob ng libro. isang kanta sa loob ng isang album na nagkkwento ng something na musical at mahalaga.

tapos this year pumasok ako sa music production sa csb, naging host ako ng isang show sa rj underground radio, nag-record ang shirley ng debut album, nagscore ako ng full length na pelikula, at nameet ko si cat (na part ng unpopular radio). kaya ganito yung pinakinggan ko haha. labo.


10) lil mama - lip gloss

http://youtube.com/watch?v=BCvXzjGRnKc

yung 2007 tungkol sa kickdrum at handclaps. tungkol dun sa unang snare hit sa umpisa bago pa dumating dun sa "ella, ella" hook ni rihanna. tungkol dun sa pinagkaiba ng the eraser ni thom yorke at ng in rainbows: phil selway na nagwawala. yung 2007 taon ng rhythm section, yung tug pak tug pak na hindi na kelangan ng iba pang layer ng tunog, yung lip gloss na cool at poppin.

09) sugarfree - ikaw pala

http://sugarfreecombo.multiply.com/

yung talaarawan na album ng sugarfree hindi ko talaga masakyan. maganda sya, pero sa wakas boy ako, through and through. naaalala ko pa nung launch nung sa wakas, freedom bar. back in the day. so yun laking gulat ko nung narinig ko yung kanta na to. ang ganda. "ikaw pala ang aking hinahanap" sabi ni ebe. tapos yung riff parang familiar, konting tip of my tongue action tas narealize ko "ripples" sya ng trembling blue stars. galing sa broken by whispers album. di naman sa sinasabi kong nirip-off ni ebe yun, malamang coincidence lang, magical alignment nung Fadd9 -> F (tama ba yung music theory ko? haha). tapos nung narealize ko putangina pareho ng kinakanta si ebe pati si bobby wratten. "i want to write songs about two strangers starting out, its been a long time since i fell, its time you knew as well" tapos parang shet babalik yung chorus ng kailan ka ba sa outro "sino nasan kailan ka ba" tapos sasagutin nung chorus nung song "ikaw pala" tapos you have a winner. yung 2007 taon ng love song. may 11 attempts sa shirley album. yung purplechickens tungkol sa girls yung mga kanta nila, so pwedeng implicit love songs (haha). tapos eto magic, yung bagong tagpo, yung i found it feeling. may syncretic element, dalawang malayong di magka-ugnay na bagay sa mundo na nagsasabi ng isang katotohanan.  

08) bon iver - re: stacks

http://www.myspace.com/boniver

nag-trade kami ni pol yap ng mp3s this year tapos nung pinakinggan nya yung for emma, forever ago album ng bon iver tinext nya ako sabi nya "nakaka shed-a-tear" haha. mag-isang mama (si justin vernon), kaka-disband lang nung banda nya tapos nag-kulong sya sa isang bahay nung winter (kaya bon iver = good winter) tapos isang buong album ng sobrang gandang mga kanta. paborito kong album this year. yung falsetto nya na puno't dulo ng lahat ng damdamin nung album. tapos yung salita na parang liham, sulat kamay para sa isang minamahal na magbabasa. syempre procedural, sequential. may bagong tagpo, may i found it feeling (sa #9), kaya pagkatapos nun may pagbabago, may pagmulat. "today is kumran, everything that happens is from now on" sabi nya, yung kumran yung lugar kung san nahanap yung dead sea scrolls. parang liham, sulat kamay para sa isang minamahal na magbabasa. "your love will be safe with me." tapos maniniwala ka tapos matatapos yung album tapos repeat all tapos ang saya tapos shed-a-tear. best album of 2007.

07) beirut - elephant gun

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjeh6P4sRfw

narinig ko yung kanta late 2006 pero lumabas yung lon Gisland ep ng 2007 so pwedeng dito ko ilagay. medyo madaya, pero karapat-dapat. world music na hindi, yung hurdy-gurdy yung accordion yung parang weird na ukulele-mandolin-rondalla instrument, pati yung HORNS. yung horns yung buong kanta. pang national anthem, parang may bayani na namatay horns. may mga kanta na parang normal lang pero lagyan mo ng torotot tumba ka sa ganda. last year yung paborito kong kanta (although di ko ginawan ng list, number 1 song last year ay "dress up in you" ng belle and sebastian) naging paborito ko dahil sa horns. tapos parang
kalahati ng kanta yung actual na "kanta" tapos kalahating kanta nagccrescendo, "let the seasons begin" tapos sobrang tapang as in brave, sobrang brave new world explorer sobrang this is new and i am ready. narinig ko tapos naging anthem sya, end of the year, beginning of the year, tapos andaming magbabago tapos game. tapos parang alam ko na madaming magbabago pati na handa ako dahil dun sa kanta? sinabi nya sa akin.

06) sean kingston - beautiful girls

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Lt6o8NlrbHg

this song was 2007. putangina lss all the time. overplayed to death. tapos ang ganda ganda nya. eto yung walang kamatayang stand by me ni ben e. king, sa bagong konteksto. (nung lumabas yung "banyo queen" ni andrew e natuwa din ako, so baka yung sample talaga. pero di hamak na mas maganda yung beautiful girls sa banyo queen.) counterpoint nung melody nung original, tapos catchy in a great way. ang galing. sobrang sarap kantahin lang sa utak forever and ever. tapos love song sya!!!! tungkol sa babae na maganda!!! tapos ang ganda nung moral of the story. iiwan ka nya tapos magpapakamatay ka kasi sobrang ganda nya tapos napasayo sya pero hindi na ngayon. is it better to have loved and lost? dapat ba talagang humanap ng pangit? tapos yung pinakamahalagang part nito, yung boses ni sean kingston. yung tamang cross nung mainstream dancehall ni sean paul (bat puro sean?) pati yung rnb gangsta nila akon, neyo, at kung sino pa. tapos yung boses, pati yung panalong lyric, na-meet yung panalong sample, e minsan lang mangyari yun. tapos nasa radyo pa all the time. good for us. haha.

05) musical o - ocean

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=106186354

demo recorded nung 2006, pero nakilala ko yung kanta this year. very nice boys, mababait, magaling tumugtog, may taste sa nota at sa timpla. tapos ang husay mag-sulat. terno labelmates at mga familiar faces sa school of design and arts (musicprod represent hehe). pero kahit hindi ko sila kilala, pati kahit kupal silang lahat, sobrang sobrang sobrang ganda ng ocean. nung una kapansin-pansin yung malabong pagka-kabit nung bagsakan sa ending, yung weird na part kung san magddrop out lahat nung instruments tapos si marco yung kanyang SEARING LEAD GUITAR TONE (haha) yung maiiwan tas biglang hahabol si miggy tapos wow tas balik ulit dun sa ascending na linya tapos wow ang ganda. yung ultimate na performance nung kanta na yun narinig ko nung death cab night this year, sa route 196. ang lakas ng volume, pero hindi maingay. tapos yung tenga ko sawa na sa ben gibbardness nung gabi (di sila nag-cover pero parang di kelangan) tapos shet ayun yung bagsakan outro tapos ang galing. upon closer inspection however, lalong gumaganda yung kanta. yung kanta love song! haha. 2007, year of the love song. yung persona ng kanta may natagpuan (parang #9 ulit!) tapos natatakot sya! wow! art mirroring life!! tapos yung outro bagsakan, may kasabay na vocal: "i wish i was strong enough to anchor myself down" (!!!!) putangina may ocean tapos yung love yung ocean tas shet haha. di ko maexplain it's more than words. i love you marco dinglasan, you made my year. haha. (ang hirap mag-sulat tungkol sa musical o na hindi nagiging gay)

04) the purplechickens - anumang oras ay hindi mahalaga (girl asks for the time)/ ean aguila - nakauwi na

http://thepurplechickens.multiply.com/
http://bolerooffire.multiply.com/music/item/12/Nakauwi_Na

ito medyo madaya pero majujustify ko. dumating yung parehong kanta sa akin ng halos sabay, tapos nag-intersect sila ng para sa akin, tapos parang isa lang yung ibig sabihin nila (sort of), parang surpresa. kasi (kabanda at higit pa dun) kaibigan ko si ean, kakilala ko sya ng halos dekada na ang lumipas. tapos naging bahagi ako ng manox, natugtog ko pa yung ibang mga bagong kanta na lumabas sa girls, etc. live. tapos biglang sinulat ni ean yung nakauwi na at biglang tinugtog ng manox (na partida absent pa si mr marco harder) tapos hindi naman sa hindi ko inisip na kaya ni ean/manox yun, pero sobrang nagulat ako kasi may mga sobrang gandang kanta na nanggaling sa sobrang lapit na lugar na hindi ko ineexpect at all.

pangalawa, nandun ako nung nirerevise ni ean yung nakauwi na. 630am sa camalaniugan, kaka-agahan lang dun sa scott burger ba yun? proximity attraction. kahit malayo ako at hindi ko alam yung kwento e sobrang ganda pa din nung kanta. pero dahil sa malapit ako at alam ko yung kwento, e mahalaga sya sakin, yung alaala na na-trap sa amber tapos nafossilize tapos pwede ko pakinggan 30 years from now tapos maaalala ko yung mga nangyari tapos babalik ako sa camalaniugan. tapos dahil sa malapit ako at alam ko yung kwento, mas malinaw yung intersection ng girl asks for the time at nakauwi na. parang question and answer, dalawang love song (2007 year of the love song!) na magkasunod yung tema. yung nakauwi na, malayong paglalakbay. yung kung gano kasaya yung moment of arrival. tungkol sa pagdating. tapos yung chorus na sobrang ganda, yung vocal line na sinusundan nung gitara, "pwede bang tumira sa 'yong kaharian?" tanong na earnest at wistful at cheesy at sobrang pamatay. i love you ean. tapos yung anumang oras, na paglalakbay na papunta't pabalik (paroo't parito). yung what now, yung plan b (haha pun!)! tapos yung pamagat pa, na palagi kong namimisread. alam ko oxymoron pero parang visual mondegreen. girl asks for (the) time. girl asks for time. as in panahon. konti pang oras? yung pagdating na wala sa panahon? yung ensuing confusion yung inaasahan at yung nangyaring di inaasahan yung almost not quite. ang galing nung kanta, makapal na sparse, tapos muntik nang di pa masama sa album. tapos yung chords pati yung salita parang iba yung pinupuntahan, paakyat pati pababa, tapos yung chorus nung nakauwi na parang sabay, sa isang direksyon? o ako lang ba yung nakakarinig nun tapos pinipilit ko yung association nung dalawang kanta? parang continuity sa dalawang magkaibang kanta na nanggaling sa magkaibang tao? syncretic at mahiwaga at big deal this year. i love you ean, i love you manox. ganda ng album nyo. hehe.

3) MGMT - time to pretend

http://www.myspace.com/mgmt

itong kanta na to out of nowhere naging major lss. ito yung tipo ng kanta na repeat buong araw tapos yung lyrics parang wow iniisip ko to all the time pero hindi ko alam kung pano sabihin, yung vicarious fantasy yung sex drugs at synthpop. "live fast and die young" tapos parang wow yun yung iniisip ko at the back of my head tapos kinakanta nya tapos parang ang sarap makikanta. dancing alone in your room music. eto yung tipong kanta na papakinggan mo kahit na anong pakiramdam mo tapos mafeefeel mo na may kelangan ka pang gawin sa buhay. rocky paakyat ng stairs music. love song love song, putangina let's find some models for wives. ang galing. hedonist revision ng buhay mo, in your head. yung idea na hindi mo dapat ikahiya na may pangarap kang malabo, yung tonic-dominant pati dominant-tonic na movement, yung finding "home" tonally, pati vicariously. it's all in the mind. nakauwi ka na in your mind. what you'll never have can't hurt you. it's time to pretend.

2) feist - 1 2 3 4

http://youtube.com/watch?v=p8Z-DIAthbM

yung 2007 yung year ng love song. tapos ito yung nanay nung lahat ng love song ever. smart informed love, adult love, at hindi adult na bastos a. yung growing up love. yung 2007 year ng growing up. andami dami dami dami kong natutunan this year tapos parang sinulat sa kanta na to, ang galing ni feist. parang, yung growing up yung pag-kilala mo sa sarili mo yung greatest love of all yung walang kamatayang pag-intindi sa sarili yung kalyo sa puso yung simple as pie na rule: when you're older it's different na. another year older another year wiser. tapos yung boses, yung boses! ang ganda ganda ng boses ni feist. sana pwedeng ilagay sa bote yun tapos bubuksan mo yung bote tapos may bulong nya tapos goodnight tapos pwede ka nang hindi magising. yung simple lang na maganda, yung sparse na malaman, yung banjo!!! yung handclaps!!! yung performance sa letterman na sobrang dami nilang nag "woah" lang! yung video na pinakamaganda EVERRRRR! yung 2007 year ni feist. ang ganda nung album nya. the reminder = album of the year kung wala yung bon iver na album. haha.


1) lcd soundsystem - all my friends

http://youtube.com/watch?v=FlogJqMFaYA

hands down without a doubt winner ng pinakamagandang kanta this year, in the running para maging pinakamagandang kanta this decade. 7 minutes at 37 seconds na parang sandaling sandali lang, paulit ulit na parang walang katapusang sobrang ganda. yung intro na piano, yung drums, yung gitara. lahat talaga tama. lahat tama. may kwento sa internet na sinasabi daw ni james murphy na masyadong maganda yung all my friends para sa lcd soundsystem (banda nya!!! haha) tapos sinusubukan nyang maghanap ng ibang banda na pwedeng umangkin nung kanta, tapos sya magpproduce or something. pero walang kumagat, kaya kelangan na ikwento ng lahat ng tao na nakarinig na nung kanta sa ibang tao na di pa nakakarinig na sobrang ganda nung kanta, pero hindi sikat hindi big name yung artist kaya kung pwede pakinggan nyo, sandali lang sya, 7 minutes at 37 seconds. "that's how it starts" (!!!) tapos ikkwento nya sayo yung buhay mo. yung parang whip na drum sound sa intro, papasok 35 seconds into it tapos sobrang 80s na parang tangina seryoso ba to tapos marerealize mo na nagsimula yung kanta sa crescendo tas tuloy tuloy na yun hanggang ending. tapos yung boses nya na parang sigurado pati natatakot (?) at the same time. yung mga plano, yung mga kaibigan mo yung lahat ng gusto mong mangyari, yung "that's how it starts" na second time, iba yung pagka-kanta tapos sabay pasok yung gitara 2:15 into the song. heart of the sun, sun coming up, staggering home, yung synth sound sa 3:22, parang musical na ambulance, may mali pero magandang mali, yung "i wouldn't trade one stupid decision for another five years of lies" tapos marerealize mo fuck ilang taon na si james murphy? tapos sa wikipedia makikita mo na pinanganak sya 1967 tapos putangina party music to a, tungkol dun sa hedonist revisionism (ng #3) pero galing sa senior mo, tapos buhay pa sya after living fast and not dying, tapos sinasabi nya sayo na may sikreto sya, na "if i'm made a fool on the road there's always this" "if i'm sewn into submission there's always this" tapos tatanungin ka nya kung nasan kaibigan mo tapos synth crescendo tapos di pa tapos yung kanta umaakyat pa rin tapos pumuputok na yung sky kasi new year tapos isipin mo sa sarili mo kung yung sikreto ba nya e may kaibigan sya? yung growing up na ginawa mo yung lahat ng gusto mo tapos alam mo na pinagdaanan mo yun. "it comes apart like it does in bad films/ except the part where the moral kicks in" tapos alam nya na hindi mo dapat sabihin sa indie crowd yung moral kasi pag masyadong obvious hindi ka cool. tinanong ka nya. the socratic method as club anthem. pinakamagandang kanta ng 2007.


honorable mentions:

5) animal collective - strawberry jam

http://youtube.com/watch?v=fxvGHQHiY70

sobrang hypercreative na mga tao na walang harang sa utak parang malaking malaking malawak na outerspace lang. ang galing nila. baka magets ko yung album next year.

4) radioactive sago project - tangina mo andaming nagugutom sa mundo fashionista ka pa rin

http://www.radioactivesago.com/

pinaka advanced na banda sa pilipinas, breaking new ground. wild. kumakanta na si lourd, watch out. haha. pero tangina pag gig nila ang wow e. isipin mo parang andami mo pang kelangang malaman kasi ang galing nila haha. tapos pinaka panalong lyric this year, courtesy ng mambo rat: "super tulis ng tite" hahaha.

3) gwen stefani ft akon - sweet escape

http://youtube.com/watch?v=8tEROk-Y27Q

ang ganda. bad girl sya pero love ka nya kaya magpapakabait sya. tas ang hot pa ni gwen stefani hanggang ngayon. what's up g.

2) the squeezers - address

http://squeezers.multiply.com/

total surprise. naalala ko yung early days nung nagsisimula pa lang kami magbanda. ang ganda ganda nung kanta, tapos yung chorus, na nagbabanggit lang sya ng address nung "place to be" e pure genius. haha. narinig ko lang sa rj underground, kung wala ang rj di ko maririnig to. what's up rj, ru listening to ur? hehehe

1) spazzkid!!!!

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=75820769

si spazzkid walang katulad, lalo na dito sa atin. no offense to the old guard of pinoy electronica pero di ko masakyan yung dati, kasi ang hinahanap ko parang dntel parang postal service. tapos dumating si mark redito to save the day. i love you mark!

tapos babanggitin ko na din na yung transcendental gig this year yung binky lampano gig sa rj bar! ang galing galing nila. si simon tan di na kelangan ng guitar player, kasi kaya ng two hands nya yung lahat ng notes na kelangan. tas si binky lampano di kelangan ng mic! yun ang boses!


wooo. next year shirley album!!!!!


haha ang haba ok thanks for reading. comments would be appreciated. haha.


-owel

merry christmas, shirley friends

hi! just some updates to make your christmas merrier:

we finished mixing all our songs for the album about two weeks ago. all that's needed is final tweaking and then mastering. we hope to be ready with everything by february and we're all excited about it :)

this weekend, we'll be playing at a wedding in tagaytay. first out of town gig for shirlley! i wonder how that's going to turn out...

and please support death cab for cutie night 2 this january 5 at route 196!

happy new year!

ang bandang shirley - xmas lights

is lo-fi & versus produced "xmas lights" video was brought about by the disconnection of my pc internet and inspired by the word Abligurition! (ahaha pa-smart) and of course unconditional band love.

merry christmas!

love, kathy g.

ang bandang shirley news!

Yesterday we had a mixing session at love one another studios with maestro engineer joey santos! We finished the radio edits for the new single xmaslights! and the remastered version of our wbob entry masamang damo! After mixing i went to deliver the cds to NU107.5 and JAM88.3, and today i just gave the songs to RJUR105.9. We need your help in monitoring the stations, if you hear any of the stations playing the songs just leave us a message here at our multiply!


Also, you can vote for masamang damo in the new RJUR105.9 PINOY ROCK COUNTDOWN!

just text MSG<space>RJUR<space>VOTE<space>DAMO and send it to 2959!!

help ang bandang shirley get on the countdown, we need all the airplay we can get!!!!!

super thanks friends!

Ang Bandang Shirley covers 7/4 Shoreline by Broken Social Scene

Hello Broken Social Scene! Ang Bandang Shirley lite v.2 at an RJ Underground 105.9 live radio guesting last October 22, 2007

love, kathy g.

hyperactive child

look at him go!!!

me zig, me drum!!!!!!

mr. climax himself -- in action!!!! :D

isa pa!

ako naman! hahahahaha
=jing=

sayaw zig, sayaw!

isang eksperimento gamit ang Adobe ImageReady CS2
=jing=

themesongs mixing session no.1

last night wednesday began one of the first mixing sessions for the upcoming Ang Bandang Shirley album entitled "themesongs". present that night was mister love one another himself, joey santos as master engineer. 2 shirleys graced last night's mixing session -- heidi and yours truly. heidi was also with her friend and jv, who's a food designer. finally i was able to confirm that what they used for ice cream photo shoots was mashed potatoes, among other materials of choice.

last night's session was quite productive. we tweaked 3 songs namely, "patintero/habulan/larong kalye", "di ko matake", and "christmas lights". fixed levels, added some effects and compression to the said songs. turned out quite well. joey burned me a copy so i could test it on different players.

after mixing, the four of us went to mom and tina's because heidi and jv hadn't had dinner yet. i was able to grab a good burger (herb delite) before mixing began. heidi ordered (upon my suggestion) paella (which she found superb), while her friend jv had the rib-eye steak. i just had a brazo de mercedes for dessert, while joey just had a coke as he had eaten dinner as well, and he had a client at the studio who was going to record a campaign jingle for the upcoming barangay elections.

next mixing session's this saturday night.

love,

=jing=

CLICK FIVE

I saw the Click Five today at the alabang town center. It was a blast, singing along to the old songs like "Good Day" and "Catch Your Wave" with the rest of the pre-pubescent fans. there were funny moments, like when the vocalist was introducing the next song by saying: "this next song is about falling out of love.. it's called empty." (HAHAHA) or when he screams: "suh-lah-maht!" (crowd goes wild, HAHAHA) and really really cool moments like when the whole building was singing along to the choruses of the really good songs. No surprises, i'm coming clean. I'm a fan of the Click Five. I'm not the biggest fan in the world, i don't have real copies of their albums (i have mp3s though, i like the first album better!) and i didn't know the names of the members or anything (me and my sister called them click 1, click 2, click 3..). But at the gig today i was dancing and it wasn't ironic dancing, like how you dance when you're mocking somebody or like you're pretending to enjoy some music. I was enjoying the music. Derivative pop, yes. But very very good derivative pop. Lots of Ric Ocasek and Rivers Cuomo, bits of Lou Reed and Mike Love. Power pop!

Some songs really sucked, but their bread and butter material was very bread and butter. I know i probably won't get to watch the fountains of wayne anytime soon (maybe ever, but i hope not) so watching the Click Five and pretending that Click 1 was Chris Collingwood ranks a far second haha. I love the Click Five. haha.


I SUPER LOVE THEIR SETUP. I CAN'T GET OVER THAT I WAS ABLE TO WATCH THEM.

I remember thinking during their set that i would've paid to see them. I remember passing up Incubus, and Fall Out Boy haha. I remember regretting being too young when Sonic Youth were in town. And I remember thinking how in an alternate universe Ang Bandang Shirley probably sounds a lot more like the Click Five haha.

I'm really happy i saw the Click Five. And i'm glad that there are really really really good bands like the Click Five that are "mainstream" hahahaha, and that there are kids who are getting exposed to stuff that isn't so crappy haha.

yehey.

-owel

MISC SHIRLEY PICS

ang bandang shirley pictures through the years! awww memories! i love you guys! dagdagan nyo pa ng pics!

-owel

soundcheck

last night at cafe saguijo ang bandang shirley performed for ninja kiss productions! thanks for the invite guys.

we were on first, so we got to soundcheck for a bit and before we knew it we were playing a new song, something i wrote a while back but we didn't record it for the (long-awaited) album because it was something we hadn't gigged yet and it was new and we haven't practiced it much but it sounded really really really nice last night i wish all of you could have heard it! i want the album to come out and for the old songs to get retired so we can write new songs that we haven't played before!

last week we did the death cab for cutie night and i thought it was going to be fun but i didn't know it was going to be that fun, it was a monster sing-along-slash-cryfest haha thanks to all the bands that played, and to everybody who came! we'll have a part two soon!

-owel

shirley documentary and a rare occurrence that ean is the one intoxicated.avi

and so today i have decided to start the arduous and energy-zapping task of finding good performance footages and funny insightful upsounds from the 20 plus mini-dv tapes i have compiled from the time i bought versus the video camera (5 months ago) to come up with the ang bandang shirley witty documentary i promised the band i will make. i don't know where to start. haha. and i'm not even halfway re-watching and digitizing the tapes pero eto teaser haha:

one night on our way to las pinas for a gig. starring me, joe, zig, owel, jing and a very rare occurrence that ean is the one who is intoxicated. inside the jing mobile. enjoy!

love,
kathy

congrats!

ean aguila, our bandmate and dear friend, has been named the new governor of the up underground music community, succeeding previous governor doc urbino of the brew!

congratulations ean!

Missing Tonight's Gig

Yes. I missed tonight's gig at RJ bar.
But It's not because Makati is very far.
I don't want to miss any more shirley sets
because I don't want to have any regrets

I also want the album to be finished and be out
Even if mixing and mastering will make me more stout
Recording at Love One Another is really very good
plus the nearby restaurants have excellent food

-ean

ultimately, however

Reklamo, Oremuz and Kaikatsuna got the top 3 slots in this year's WBOB contest.   

Thanks to all our Shirley friends who texted and helped us reach the top 10. I never thought we had that many friends haha.

It was fun while it lasted (at least yung 300 smart buddy load ko tatagal na siya beyond 1 week hahaha)

And so my dear bandmates: Let's get the album out!!!

love, kathy g.

disco envy

lots of xy zone was rubbed last night at the student disco + saguijo debut of one of our favorite bands, halik ni gringo.

they played a new song, "good AM", and they threw panties at the audience.

haha

-owel

rivermaya: bagong liwanag (the show)

it's fucking brilliant.

i just saw the pilot episode, tapos sobrang excited ako for the band, and the future of the band. ang sarap nung pakiramdam.

early pick ko dun sa top 13 e si kenneth, just because of the audition footage. tunog manchester na walang halong bulacanchester.

on a lark

we made it past the second round of eliminations for the 2007 world battle of the bands!

on behalf of my nice sexy happy go lucky wonderful bandmates, i profess neverending gratitude to each and every single voter that voted for the band! this is a victory in and of itself, which is to say i'm very happy! but nevertheless a crease forms on my forehead everytime i think about how this is all going to end, because we want to win, and with every passing round the stakes are getting higher and higher and i just want to put the album out already and stuff.

we joined wbob at the suggestion of the real christian bautista without much planning, the thought process was "hey we need a song that you haven't released that has been recorded nicely that you want to put on the radio" and shirley was all "we have an album that is yet to be released that we just recorded!" and so we sent it in, 100,000 pesos and singapore in our heads.

and we didn't really campaign at the start, it was more like "hey vote for us if you have load" and people would be all "sure!" and somehow we got into the top 10 and now there's this pressure to just keep voting and voting and voting ad infinitum

last night i was with kathy and selena and the ciudad guys, and mikey said he votes for shirley every so often and i was floored, flashbacks of drunken nights at millenia and freedom bar, kafe katipunan and rock radio alabang, watching ciudad play typical ciudad sets, and me in the audience pulling my hair (i do that when i see something cool and i have no other means of expressing it) because ciudad is so cool. mikey votes for shirley!

so i dunno if this is some cop-out, a cheesy moral of the story ending, or just really cliche-d but it really doesn't matter much to me if we win or not anymore. there are lots of people voting for us that i didn't even know cared about the band.

wooooooo haha

-owel

Kung Ikaw ay Magbe-bass

“I play the bass because I like to play the bass” – sagot ko sa tanong na “How long have you been playing the bass?” sa isang radio interview sa LA 105.9 (circa 1994)

Ako si Jing Gaddi. Bahista ako. May kailangan pa ba kong sabihin? Maraming haka-hakang umuugong na kapag bahista ka, wala kang imik o di kaya’y masyado kang balot sa sarili mong mundo. Oblivious ba? Bagkos may kaunting katotohanan yan, di rin naman parating swak. Sari-saring tanong ang sumalubong sa akin, pero ang pinaka malimit ay “Bakit bass?” Simple lang ang sagot, “I play the bass because I like to play the bass” 'Nuff said.

Marahil nabasa ninyo na sa magasin o naulinigan sa mga usapan kung ano ba ang halaga ng bass sa isang band setup. Kung hindi, marahil kayo yung mga taong oblivious na merong such a thing as a bass sa isang band setup. Frankly, I have nothing against those na oblivious sa existence ng bass. Masyado kasing focused ang marami sa mga mas-obvious na tunog tulad ng tambol at gitara. Marahil, tinuring din nilang gitara ang bass. Kung sa bagay, bass "guitar" din naman ang karaniwang turing sa kanya.

Subalit, lingid sa kaalaman ng marami (sana hindi na ganun karami), merong special at unique function ang bass sa isang band setup. Kakaiba ang bass dahil it possesses both rythmic and melodic properties. Sa palagay ko, ang pagiging doble-kara ng bass ang siya ring dahilan kung bakit hindi siya gaanong pansin ng karamihan ng manginginig. Because it plays a melodic fucntion, kadalasa'y naoovershadow siya ng mas ear-friendly na gitara. "Ear-friendly" because mas madaling madinig ang gitara dahil sa pitch range nito which is generally mid to high frequency. Samantala, dahil mas sakop ng bass ang mga low frequencies (kaya nga "bass" duh), hindi siya upfront at mahirap siyang maulinigan. At dahil madalas rin kasing sabay at kumakabit ang bass sa kickdrum, all the more it gets relegated to the background -- to the point na iisipin ng manginginig na walang bass.

Ito ang madalas na stigma ng bahista -- that of being in the background and thus not as "important" as the guitar (a primarily melodic instrument) or the drums (a primarily rhythmic instrument). But just ask any empowered bassist. S/he will tell you: In this dual role lies the true power of the bass.

Because you wear two hats, you can control both the rhythmic and melodic direction of a song. Drop the bass out from the mix, you get that "bakit parang butas yung tunog?" feel. Although some may argue that some bands have no bass in their band setup. Despite this, and upon careful listening, di mapagkakaila na may ibang instrumentong gumaganap ng bass role -- maging gitara, keyboard o kung anuman. The point is, paramount na mag-lock ang rhythm at melody sa isang kanta. The bass acts like glue, melding the other instruments, vocals included, into one organic sound which will either make you want to shake your thang or sing your heart out... or both... at the same time.

=jing=

just rolling about on the floor (just rolling about on the floor)

last night we played at nightwish bar in malate for the first leg of the pulp magazine and the world battle of the bands bar tour. apparently we are ranked 14th out of 15 bands, and if we don't get into the top 10 by tomorrow, we're gonna be eliminated.

help.

hahaha

in other news we played at the cure night @ route 196 after the nightwish gig, and even though we missed the set of our favorite band taken by cars, we were in high spirits because of slight inebriation and the wonderful wonderful powers of kowloon house dimsum :D

we played sa madaling salita, catch, why can't i be you, just like heaven, and patintero/habulan/inbetween days, then for our encore (because the shirley fans @ route 196 wanted more hahaha) we played bato.

we just love the cure so much.

our favorite bassist mr jing gaddi, also played for the cure cover band disintegration! they were great. try to catch them if the cure night happens again. haha.

-owel

hero worship

asking the band about how they got into their bands (none of us began our musical journeys (naks) with shirley) everybody mentions some hero or other that just made them want to do the things we do more than the normal person wants to do the things we do.

a common member of this mythical group is buddy zabala, bass player for the eraserheads, and musical genius extraordinaire.

i remember hanging out at maginhawa with mr. mark villena, engineer and producer of our rizal day sessions ep, reminiscing happily about eraserheads gigs at club dredd (the old ones, not the one in eastwood, ha ha), and a point he made clear was that the instruments the eraserheads were using were the same instruments that mark and his then tungaw bandmates were also using, cheap fender and gibson copies that were the only instruments available then (since the music stores weren't as abundant as they are today) and feeling this sense of awe since his heroes weren't just heroes, on some level they were equals. haha.

there's this strange feeling of elation achieved when you realize you're at a point where a hero of yours was, like somehow you're taking the route they took.

i remember being at a gig at saguijo, selena was introduced to buddy zabala, and she proceeded to tell us after the whole encounter at the jingmobile. we were changing shirts, having played a really sweaty set. ean's mouth started watering, pupils dilated, and he began muttering about how the bassline in the chorus of maselang bahaghari is probably the best bassline in the world. then he changes his mind, mentioning a string of eraserheads hits and b-sides and how he'd just study them for long periods of time, trying to wrap his brain around how mr. zabala was able to do something so transcendental in a pop song. jing starts travelling back in time in his head, back to the club dredd of old. selena is still visibly shaken at the meeting, and kathy is drunk in the jingmobile. hahaha.

before shirley, way way before shirley, i auditioned to play bass for twisted halo, when the band and their then-bassist jal taguibao parted ways. i didn't get in, buddy zabala became the new bassplayer. but i didn't feel bad at all because if i were in their shoes i'd also have picked buddy over me haha.

one twisted halo gig, that was an nu107 alternativity concert, buddy's flight back from zamboanga was delayed and i subbed for him on short notice, leaving the gig to go practice with twisted halo, and coming back to play the gig to find myself jumping up and down so much that i jumped on my glasses rendering them unwearable. i was subbing for buddy zabala. my hero. haha.

years later (haha ang tagal ko na palang nagbabanda) after a lot of other bands, i'm in shirley and outerhope and happy and i get a text message from leigh of cambio, asking if i could sub for buddy on bass with cambio. i say of course. i practice with just diego, learning the chords of the songs, and just really hammering on my guitar at home with the cambio cd playing. ang galing galing talaga ni buddy. one really fun gig at al's bar, and i thought that topped them all. but no.

last week i got the text from leigh again and of course i wanted to, and no i wasn't doing anything, and yes i love sessioning for cambio. thing is, the dawn were also playing that night. i didn't know why i was called in to session, but i was there. leigh said something about buddy having another gig or having to go somewhere so he couldn't come early so a sessionist had to play. great. getting ready for the gig, buddy zabala shows up and i'm petrified, i mean he wrote the basslines that i would be butchering. he was giving me advice, simple things people in bands should know, like "watch the drummer." "just relax." haha. coming from him those words meant a lot. my knees were shaking and kathy g commented on my playing after the set (we split 6 songs between us, the first three were mine, the next were buddy's) saying i wasn't moving at all haha.

ayun. haha. hero worship.

-owel

so here we are

dear diary,

started the day early by watching damas de noche in ateneo. music was good! and we are proud of our ean :). ate at avenetto after and stayed at the gaddi's crib to pass time (had a mini heart to heart haha semi-serious chat about life w/ mommy ava my favorite! whilst daddy jing is napping hehe i know am weird but talking to her, she makes me feel like i'm doing the right thing always haha i love you!) then out to katipunan to fetch the boys of shirley for a paying gig in las pinas! woohoo!

cramped (as in cramped! zig was shouting my eggs! haha) inside the jing mobile: ean (seated in front and is as meek like a lamb sabi ni owel) is intoxicated vs. joe is lovelorn fighting it off for my sister's affection. haha. zig is paos but was the one asking "where are we?" the whole time, owel is laughing like crazy as always and i the sandwiched one was the only girl (as the 2 lovely crushable haha ladies of shirley were absent -- we missed you heidi and selena!) and the butt of jokes from time to time but i love those boys like fireworks so its okay.

shirley jing mobile kwentuhan is always a riot! favorite topic is music of course! and lovelife of course! haha. joe showed off his newly tattooed arm (dragon heart ang emo haha) to us and we therefore conclude will once and for all wipe off the sissy look shirley the rock band is emitting to rock listeners from now on. leveling the asthma attacks = weaklings aura. haha!

it was a long drive to las pinas but was worth it. the guys played a whole set at club streakers (whoa! 11 songs haha parang album launch haha) and there were lots of beer (always fun if its the case ;p) and it touched us to know that someone appreciates the band outside our circle of friends haha so shoutouts to our new friends: the sweet girlfriend Melanie and the lucky boyfriend Dan plus Boogie for inviting us! hope you enjoyed the set! we had fun!

ended the night by an after gig eat out at sinangag express then we raided the alvero mansion (waking up our favorite brother joey!) and after, us northerners went north haha. duh.

sobrang pagod pero masaya as my used to be favorite boy would always say. haha. eh?

yun lang.

love is such a bore coz you don't care anymore,
kath-g! (but mer-nel's cake is love courtesy of the gaddis)

ha ha ha

The Secret of Happy Bands

I just read an interview with TC of Stars and I loved his views on art and politics. But the effect on me is some internal thing that can’t really be expressed in words so never mind that…

 

What struck me most (and is relevant to this blog) is how he described their songwriting process. He said what works for them is having a Taste Leader who, after everyone has banged everything out of his or her instrument (ooo), says “I’m satisfied” and that will be that, since everyone generally trusts his judgment.

 

I agree. I think different flavors/influences within a band is healthy and makes for some intersting nights out with alcohol (haha), but it helps to believe in someone who can take everyone in a direction that satisfies everyone simply because they all have faith in that person’s musical taste. It’s just simpler that way.

 

Which is one of the reasons why we are happy.

- selena

extracurriculars

In the philippines, it is rare (though not impossible) to be in a band and just "be" in a band. That is, to be in a band all the time, as opposed to being in a band and having work and school and other things to do - and more often than not, even if you want to "be" in a band those other things come first and being in the band has to wait.

We here at ang bandang shirley all want to be in the band all the time, but of course things happen and tonight i'm at home typing this post instead of destroying cafe saguijo haha.

Atty. gaddi is out of town because of work, emmanuel david "emong" cabrera aguila has his hands full because of his musical directorship of the upcoming damas de noche musical this weekend (watch watch!). joe and zig are zapped because of work. selena probably needs the rest more than a sessionist-laden shirley performance, and a lineup of me, heidi and kathy g. probably won't do much destroying.

I wanna gig na ulet.

As per the last post, yeah we were on the radio and it was a lot of fun! I got to wake up at 4:45 in the morning to hitch a ride with Memphis of RJUR to the station and there i spent most of the show "wooooo" -ing into the mic. That was fun. I can't wait for the time when the whole band can afford to just shirley all the time, so that all 8 of us could be "wooooo" -ing into the mic.

inaantok na ako pero walang nagpopost

-owel

09:11 am - "the smart band" hahahahahaha

 

shirley was on rj underground this morning. owel woke up really early and he called me at about 545am to ask me what i wanted from burger machine. i said i needed to take a bath hahaha.

i was out of the house by 610 and got a cab despite morning rush. the atmosphere in the booth was really relaxed and we were just talking and laughing and teasing and i don't really know if it made entertaining radio, but WE were certainly having fun.

when ean arrived, i could only stay a few minutes, and i really didn't want to go because there was another whole hour to waste away but the boss expected me at work by 830 so...

... tore myself away at 815 for a sprint to citibank center and i barely made it to grace period! continued listening to bandmates on my player and shocked officemates several times by lauging out LOUD suddenly hahaha. this only confirmed what they've suspected for a really long time....

now it's back to the real world.

+++

rewind to staurday. had lunch with the joyluck club at mom and tina's. things will be ok.

kathy invited me to a screening of cinemanila that night. they changed the schedule! we ended up watching waitress, which was ok. it touched me in some ways. quietly. then i became depressed for the rest of the weekend (but part of that was the hormone pills).

+++

but the point of this whole story is: thank god for my support group.

+++

"i love you all. i love the world--- despite what it's done to me!!!"

haha.

 

- selena

Ang Bandang Shirley - Bato

ang bandang shirley. terno inferno @ saguijo. may 30, 2007.

debut ni versus. haha.

10:03 Friday Night

was able to tune in to NU last night to catch the first slew of wbob bands. although shirley's "masamang damo" didn't get played, the dj said they'll be airing more songs from the other bands in the coming wbob segments on NU. guests on the wbob show were pulp head honcho vernon go and wbob founder new zealand guy who was simply introduced as "andrew". in between playing wbob entries (which vernon and andrew picked randomly), they explained the rudiments of wbob. who will get to play in the face-off in november will be those who wil garner the most number of text votes. i think they will narrow it down to 3 or 4 bands.

vernon also said that, they will periodically drop bands who get the least number of text votes. like every two weeks or so they'll check the voting tally and the band/s with the least votes get eliminated. if my memory serves me right, the songs/bands they played last night were (in order): The Best Mistake - Angulo, Time of My Life - Alibata, The Test - Imbue No Kudos, Labistori - Spinach (a late entry, hence wala sa initial list of bands), I Am - Lucille. they capped the night with a song by last year's wbob winner Jaggedy Ann, which i didn't bother to listen to anymore because i was so damn sleepy already.

the morning after (that's today), i did some research and discovered that Jaggedy Ann is a las vegas based all-girl quartet who plays AC/DC-influenced rock. in fact their debut album Boiling Point was produced by AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd. here's their myspace if you want to check them out: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=2159344

=jing=

mass text, wbob

kagabi (last night)

i sent a mass text to people in my phonebook who i thought would most probably go through the trouble of listening to the radio to hear one of shirley's songs

mali pala yung alam ko na oras (apparently the time that i thought was right was wrong)

so bandmate jing texted NU107 and the reply was that the wbob songs would be played at 10pm and not 8pm as i had originally texted and i was contemplating whether i should send another mass text saying "10pm pala" or something of the sort

pero nakatulog na ako (but i fell asleep already)

- owel

territorial

dear diary,

it was was another nice shirley weekend! friday night was lagare night meaning we were scheduled to play 2 gigs in 2 diff venues. heidi coundn't make it so both sets were keyboard-less. we played first at route 196 for weng weng nite and the the setlist was: themesong, tsuper...they were about to play sa madaling salita when our favorite band taken by cars requested for christmas lights! got awestruck that the guys played it right away even if it wasn't on the setlist. haha. played sa madaling salita after, then our wbob entry masamang damo, and bato for encore.

but a weird thing happened right after the set: a woman which i think was drunk w/ long bleach streaked hair went up to me introduced herself asked for my name held my hands and told me: "you're beautiful!" i almost fell off my seat and got dumbstruck (for no one has ever told me i'm beautiful and that she was a woman like me haha) but i said thank you and was shaken the whole night. haha.

anyway the 2nd gig was at bigskymind for yey friday. played last and the setlist was:  madaling salita, themesong, tsuper duper, masamang damo, sasamahan ka parin! and bato should have been the last song because hank from bigskymind was signaling for it to be the last song (it was already 3am!) but owel didn't get to hear him right and so they continued and played noodles which i think captured everyone's heart. haha.

the other shirleys went home after, while owel and i stayed. we saw JP (mr. route 196 hehe) and he graciously treated us to a round of beer. a bit more drunker, we bonded w/ our engineer joey and his lady love maite and listened intently as he told us their magical love story. haha. we rode w/ them to edsa and along the way joey thought of burger machine and again was treated to free a meal. owel unashamedly asked for double bart burger while i only ordered sansrival. haha.

owel and i got off at edsa and rode the bus home but caught traffic in south super highway. the traffic was awful and heard stories of a car flying. we even changed seats inside the bus beside the windows to see the catastrophe but none of us got to see it because i think we slept through it. haha.

the next day, saturday was the pulp photoshoot for the wbob competition: the band waited along the corridors of grey area studios and bonded over wigs (which joe brought!) while video shooting and picture taking w/ raymond gutierrez and oogling at georgina wilson.

the shoot was fast and we think ours was the most innovative and stupid looking of all the other band photos haha. we can't wait to see it on pulp magazine.  

and as per ang bandang shirley's most favorite activity: we ate at sango after the shoot (2nd time that day for me and owel) and feasted on their delicious burgers, amusingly watched the japanese version of david blaine on tv and made beautiful origamis and tear-a-gamis haha and scheduled our own band photoshoot.

after eating we decided to call it a day went on our separate lakads--the others to katipunan, heidi and melvene i think went home, selena to landmark and zig and i tagged along w/ the gaddis to fully booked the fort and ate at mr. kebab after.

at 9pm i finally got home, saw my parents eating dinner (they were in a good mood i think) because they didn't even questioned my sudden reappearance a day after haha so it was indeed a nice weekend!

that is all.

but sunday is depressing me.

love,
kath-g!

wbob photoshoot

8-3-07. grey areas studios for the photoshoot then to sango for lunch.

stage frustration, kg

i don't mean to be the bad guy but often there are things that happen during a gig where i lose control of my temper momentarily and want to reprimand people haha. i know last night was not an isolated thing because i've made bandmates cry before (upfair 2004? 05? i'm not sure) and i've been confronted more than once about it and i know i really should be a lot calmer onstage and they're just songs and mistakes don't really mean the end of the world haha, but i dunno it's not me doing the reprimanding hahaha

i know it's just not me, either. i haven't seen it personally but ean keeps telling these stories of some bandmember having these spats of just kicking bandmates, or giving evil stares cause of mistakes or being off time or out of tune or something. and i don't think ean and i can forget that rivermaya gig where rico was just kicking his pedalboard and then kicking the roadie who was trying to fix the problem with the pedalboard hahaha (i remember thinking "wow idol ko sya" hahahaha)

and i don't know usually i'm a pretty stubborn person but i feel guilty when i lose it with shirley haha awww cue sappy music.  sorry bandmates you know who you are hahaha

and in other news kevin garnett is now a celtic. boston now has paul pierce, ray allen, and kevin garnett. wow. that's the sound of the balance of power shifting. hahahaha ang weird ng english.

nasa akin ang kapangyarihang sakupin ang buong mundo pero di ko kayang sakupin ang puso mo,

-owel

wasakan week post # 4

after last night's recording session, the band went to angel's sweden love party to have some drinks and relax with friends, in celebration of angel's 22nd year of life. engineer joey and maite plus engineer edu also arrived in support of sweden love, and soon we were talking about how edu gets his shorts for halik ni gringo gigs, and ean's devirginization. haha. it was sort of surreal, being with the band and drinking outside of the context of gigs. angel's ipod was playing on speakers and the +/- song "leap year" came on and ean kathy selena jing (now renamed magnus gaddi haha) and i lost ourselves in the music (haha cliche, kadiri) and i knew i was wherever i was supposed to be? i like that feeling.

friday's session joe and ean arrived at the studio while i was doing a vocal take. we didn't expect them to be there, the members who were scheduled to track were just me and selena, with kathyg filming the "making of the album" documentary so it was a quiet night and when the guitarists got to the studio i realized how much i missed them and how much more fun a recording session is when they're there (aww)

we've nearly finished all the vocals, and not to wax poetic or anything, but i really think the whole process of recording an album is like taking a picture of how a band works at the time of recording, and depending on how closely you listen you can see things about yourself (if you're the one doing the recording) that you don't normally see, and how songs change during recording and after recording and how you change as the songs change, and how you adjust to recording parts that you can't do live, and basically just finding how you can do something the best that you can do it, and deciding what's real and how you show it, and i dunno what i'm saying but i love feeling that between all the money we spent and all the sleep we lost and all hoarseness, lockjaw, repetitive stress injury, etc, that the recording of this album is gonna be a great picture soon?

haha walang sense don't mix your metaphors

owel

wasakan entry no.3

diary dear

twas a quiet night last night

save for my gutteral sneers

for a good take of di ko matake

and good burger cheer

 

love,

jing

Wasakan Week 2007 Post #2

Dear Diary,

The second of this week's sessions at Love One Another went well. We were able to finish Ean's cures and harmony vocals for his song Sasamahan Ka Pa Rin complete with "ratata's" and "yoohoo's" and hetfield-ian groans. There was a proposed "totka" section but instead the winner word used for the great bridge was "yeag-vah" matched to the horn section melody. Ean envisions it as a sort of army harmony, with army stomping sfx ala 300 (awooo!). Suffice to say, Engineers Marc, Wacky, and Joey, along with innocent bystanders KathyG and myself were amused to no end. A "no smiling" rule was imposed so during takes of the great bridge most of us in the control room were facing the wall, grasping the wall and our clothes or the baseball couch or whatever in hopes to keep from falling over because of laughter. I love recording.

Last night also marked the return of the ZEN VOCAL TAKE where all the other tracks of the song (drums bass guitars synth guide tracks etc) will be MUTED and I had to keep my eyes closed to FEEL the ABSENCE of the MUSIC. I nailed the line in one take like magic. Marc just has to "make usog-usog" the track haha.

Another high point was Engineer Wacky's makeshift lightsaber grip, composed of a mic-stand leg, a broken pl cable, and a flash disk + id strap. The contraption made Engineer Joey reminisce about his Padawan training at Tatooine. Hahaha.

However, we were not able to do the "sampalin" portion of Ean's song, as Ean tried slapping his face in different ways but the mic was just not able to capture the fury conveyed in the song. Engineer Joey then conceptualized a solution wherein a room mic would be placed in the middle of the studio and many people would slap each other in the face at the same time. Ean protested, saying "hindi ba pwedeng taasan nalang yung reverb pati volume nung sampal ko?" and this was met with a resounding "NO" from the LOA engineers. I love recording Hahaha.

Tonight we will do the Jing cures for 'Di Ko Ma-Take, as well as finishing vocal cures for Tsuper Duper and Morrissey.

Dear Lovey Hart, I'm desperate.

-Owel

Meet the engineers!

Waskan Week Night 1! Kathy gave me scratch n' sniff Ratatouille cards last Saturday and I shared them with the group. Our album engineers, Marc and Joey experiment to see if they really work.

Love One Another rawks!

- selena

Wasakan Week 2007 Post #1

Dear Diary,

Tonight will mark night 2 of the Love One Another Wasakan Week (featuring marathon recording and inuman sessions)! Last night we accomplished a lot of stuff! One of the major buzzwords from the July 23rd session was "portamento" haha. I don't really know what it means and maybe I can google it but I'd rather the mystery be left to the word so it would be more magical. Haha. It is an effect of Heidi's Yamaha CS-10 that we abused in the synth parts of Together Forevers. I love that song now. The synths really make the song. I can't wait to hear the finished version!

(Yamaha CS10)

In other news, we also did a lot of vocal cures! We ironed out the vocals in SMS, Bato, my parts in Themesong (omg my voice on that song sounds so ETHEREAL haha, POWER-BALLADY even..) and another composite run of Patintero/Habulan/Larong Kalye. That song is so hard to sing in the studio, particularly because the melody of the vocal lines are so fast and close together that it really takes my (and Selena's) breath away (considering we are both asthmatic haha) and even though it would probably be easier doing a lot of partial vocal takes, there's a quality to the out of breath delivery that really really really sounds good with the song. So we have to strike a balance between good takes, and "natural" takes. or we can try to keep doing it until we have "good natural" takes. Haha. I'm not making sense.

Another interesting event last night was the presence of Scratch and Sniff cards (promos of the upcoming Disney Pixar film Ratatouille) given to Selena by Kathy, and at the end of the night (we finished at around 130am) Engineer Marc De Vera  had his eyes closed and Engineer Joey Santors was scratching cards for Marc to sniff, and guess what the scent was. That was funny, even if I was on the other side of the glass barrier separating the control room and the recording booth. Also, Heidi and Selena had an informative discussion on boobs.

Tonight we will be doing vocal cures for Ean's Sasamahan Ka Pa Rin, and Tsuper Duper harmonies after Engineer Marc "makes usog-usog" the "bagsakan" in the song that isn't "sabay" haha.

I love one another!

-Owel

Once In A Blue Moon

I had a very informative YM chat w/ our beloved Love One Another Master of Love engineer Joeyhloey last night which just started with "hoy! kamusta?" then to the wasakan week 2007 Shirley recording schedule next week to the origin of the band Taken by Cars then shifted swiftly to the phrase "once in a blue moon". hahaha. Ang labo. BUT then it was interesting because do any of you actually know the explanation behind the commonly used/very popular phrase? i remember having a similar conversation w/ some of the Shirley dudes last month as we were about to go home after a gig in UP Manila w/ a very clear view of the full moon on top of our heads wondering if it was a blue moon? 

I actually had a faint idea about the explanation of the said phrase thanks to the movie "Blue Moon" Starring Eddie Garcia and Boots Anson-Roa and Dennis Trillo. Seryoso. Basically it said that the blue moon is not literally a blue moon but a very rare appearance of a certain kind of full moon hence the phrase.

I was actually quite contented w/ that explanation until that very informative YM chat w/ Joeyhloey took place. and so i made some research on the net and here it is:

http://www.obliquity.com/astro/bluemoon.html

Once in a Blue Moon ... is a common way of saying not very often, but what exactly is a Blue Moon?

According to the popular definition, it is the second Full Moon to occur in a single calendar month.

The average interval between Full Moons is about 29.5 days, whilst the length of an average month is roughly 30.5 days. This makes it very unlikely that any given month will contain two Full Moons, though it does sometimes happen.

On average, there will be 41 months that have two Full Moons in every century, so you could say that once in a Blue Moon actually means once every two-and-a-half years.

When will the 2007 Blue Moon occur? May, June or July, depending on your timezone. (HAHAHA! I TOLD YOU! BLUE MOON YUNG NAKITA NATIN SA UP MANILA! hahaha!)

Does the Moon actually change colour during a Blue Moon? No, but there have been rare occasions when the Moon really did turn blue.

Does a Blue Moon have any effect on human behaviour? It has no more effect on human behaviour than any other Full Moon. (MERON! MALAS AKO KAPAG FULL MOON LAGING OLATS PALAGI NANGYAYARI SAKIN)

Who wrote these pages, and why should we believe what we read here? His name is David Harper. He lives near Cambridge, England with his wife and two cats. He has a Ph.D. in mathematics and astronomy. He used to be a professional astronomer, but now he just does it for fun.

Haha. See, we at Ang Bandang Shirley not only like food but astronomy as well. Our bassist even wrote a song about a comet!

Love, Kathy g.

Recording Etc

Love One Another is a really really good studio. I feel like it is a wonderful environment to record an album. There is nurturing involved, like the songs (and band members) could grow in that small space.

I just came from there with Selena, we tried to do vocal tracks for Habulan but my lousy voice showed up instead of the power balladeer voice I sometimes channel for gigs, and thus not much was accomplished, but I realized how great a studio the studio we record at is, because even though we didn't accomplish much, we didn't feel like we wasted time! I love not doing anything and not wasting time while not doing anything. I think it is an art.---------------------------------

Last night Shirley played at a the despedida party for Annette Ortiz, the drummer of the wonderful girl-band Fatal Posporos. The set was alright, but what made me want to post about last night was how i felt while watching Fatal.

I don't know if everybody feels that way while watching Fatal, but I'm sure everybody knows the feeling, when you used to like something but you forget about it, or it just isn't as prominent as before because you've moved on to more important things, or you outgrew something, or for whatever reason things change, band members leave, ganun, then you watch the gig and it all comes back and you're a 15-year-old starstruck fan again. I love that feeling.

Top 5 starstruck-fan gigs:

1) Last night. Wow.

2) Cambio/Pan at the UP College of Mass Comm parking lot a couple of years ago. Halos walang tao, they played  Huwag Mo Nang Itanong/Senti, I heard it for the first time. I almost cried. Wow.

3) Free-era Rivermaya at the Ateneo softball field siguro year 2000. Channel V event. Rico Nathan Mark Jjohn lineup. Ian Tayao of Cheese and Reg Rubio of Greyhoundz jammed on stage to an improv kupaw version of Sunog. Wow.

4) Pepe Smith at Mag:Net Katipunan with parts of Snakecharmer, Jing Gaddi, and the late Weslu. Lee's night yun, December last year. Impromptu standards set, with Mr Pepe Smith lecturing the rhythm section sometimes, and other times praising their TIGHTNESS. like i said in a previous blog update about that gig, "parang nag-simba ako tapos imbes na pari, si Jesus yung nagmimisa" haha. Wow.

5) A tie, between the reunion gig of Sugar hiccup with Melody on vocals at the 4 Calendar Cafe  I dunno when haha. And the Rock U event held at Tower Records Makati. That was Sept 11 2001. I remember the date I dunno why haha. Me and Ean cut class to watch it with our good friend Jean Navarro, standing in one spot for a very long time. Kathy G was also there but we did not know each other yet. That was a fun gig. Wow.

Haha

That is all I love you all

-Owel

Band Love

The random meeting of people sometimes seems not so random at all.

I feel safe in this place, the place where we meet, where we can tell stories, our happiness and our sorrows, where we can eat a lot of good food, spicy and sweet, where we can be ourselves and enjoy playing the songs for everyone we love and hate.

I don't want to leave.

I've never felt this way for bandmates before. True band love, if there is such a thing.

My head hurts right now... it's hard when you feel like you've been falling, tumbling and rolling downhill for ages, as if it's never going to end. Yes, i've been feeling this way for years now, but I don't know if this is the reason for this stupid headache.

Thank you Ang Bandang Shirley for breaking my fall every now and then. I am truly happy that I am part of this random meeting.

-Ean

This is a Food Entry.

I always get the munchies after gigs. Drumming (particularly my drumming) is a very physical activity and I guess it's only natural to crave sustenance afterwards.

Like me, the girls and boys of Ang Bandang Shirley lean towards the heavier side of the weight spectrum. Our pesudo-tagline, "We love to eat!" is actually an understatement. We live to eat. I have a suspicion that we'll one day ditch a gig and just hang out at Mr. Kebab's. I really think it will happen.

For me, the hands down winner for best post-gig dining is Kowloon House. The reasons:

(1) It's cheap. 40 pesos gives you either 2 pieces of siopao (or one jumbo pao) or it can give you 3 HUGE pieces of siomai. You get more for less.

(2) Open 24 hours. No matter what time the gig ends - 12 midnight or 3:30 AM - you can be sure that there's a Kowloon House branch open. The ones we frequent are Sikatuna (at the supermarket on Maginhawa St.), E. Rodriguez (walking distance from Bigskymind), the big one near Nakayama and Visayas Avenue (close to where I live). It's accessible and always available.

(3) It's relatively healthy. It isn't as oily as, say, shawarma or kofte. Plus it's dimsum, man. It's what Chinese people eat. And they're one of the oldest civilizations around. If it works for them, it works for me. Sure, you're not certain if it's really meat you're eating whenever you bite into a bola-bola pao but you'll certainly enjoy it.

(4) They sell noodles. If you've had a bit too much alkyhall at the gig, what better way to battle inebriation than with a nice hot bowl of noodles? We have tons of stories about this, but they're best told with a nice bottle of beer. :-)

Anyone up for siopao?

-Z

Lunch Out

I took another long lunch out today so iIcould submit Ang Bandang Shirley's "world conquering" (haha) WBOB entry to the Pulp office. My taxi got lost around Ortigas so I just decided to go to SM Megamall first and eat lunch. As per band description that we love to eat...

This is what I ate for lunch today:

Sbarro's White Chicago Pizza. It's a deep dish pizza filled w/ pineapples, pepperoni and another kind of ham I think w/ mozzarella cheese topped w/ white creamy sauce. It looked really enticing so even w/ it's hefty price (159 pesos!!!) I ordered it. It was delicious of course but nothing to rave about as it was just like eating a bulky white cheese pizza but then again white cheese pizza is the best pizza ever so ok: RAAAAVE! haha.

Anyway gusto ko lang sabihin: Guys, napasa ko na nga pala yung CD. Goodluck! :)

Love,
KathyG.

On Recording

Kathy sent us the WBOB mix of Masamang Damo and I couldn't stop listening to it for about an hour. I love it! It's so addictive. Last night, we listened to a rough mix of it in Joey's car (to round out their mixing perspective) and I liked it well enough... but today it sounds so adorable hahaha and I feel much, much better in many ways because of it. I agree with Owel that our recorded vocal performances are improving, and I'm immensely proud of the work we've done.

 

I'm also proud of the album in general. There's a lot of variety we put in there and i feel it will appeal to something different in everyone. Good job, guys! I love you all hahaha.

 

We'll be putting in the final tracks within the week, and next week LOA will be doing marathon work on it so we can finish by the end of the month. Expect to see the fruits of all our hard work sometime in September. (Don't tell Dolguldur, shhh...)

 

- Selena :)

Ang Bandang Shirley Blog Entry # 1

Last night we recorded the vocal tracks for the Jing Gaddi-penned-opus Masamang Damo. I am very happy with the outcome of said recording session, as my vocal prowess is increasing and it showed in the multiple takes composited to form the wonderful vocal track I layed-in. Also, despite feeling under the weather, Selena managed another wow-performance demonstrating how awesome it is when both our vocals are done cleanly and done well (often it is my fault as to the dissonance between vocal lines ha ha) and the song is much better because of her efforts.

Mixing was performed and after a couple of level tweaks we have the very first album track off the soon to be released debut album! We will be submitting the said track to the Pulp office today along with a fun quirky band profile to finalize our entry into the World Battle of the Bands (WBOB). I feel like we have a good chance of placing high in the WBOB because I think we are one of the best bands in the world (next to Taken by Cars, ha ha).

A weird observation, I am beginning to enjoy screaming on the Shirley songs, and when the song calls for screaming (the screams on Masamang Damo were screams of anguish, as directed by KathyG and Joeyhloey) I seemed to perform fairly well. Maybe this can be incorporated in future songs?

Anyway, that is all I have to say, 'til the next blog by any of the members of the band! Goodluck to me in my bible study long quiz later this morning!

-owel