Two Songs in Two Days

We experienced living without electricity for a few days here in our city because of the typhoon. It proved to be a blessing, however, because in between service projects (distributing goods, helping people build temporary shelters), our band had the chance to sit together and jam longer with an acoustic guitar and a cajon. Because of that, we were able to write two songs in two days (May 22 and 23). These two songs are just really different from one another that it sounds like they have been written by two different bands.

The first one we wrote was “Gray.” It sounded a bit funky and jazzy with a dash of r&b.; Wendelle wrote the chorus, I came up with the two stanzas, and then Elder Ratana, as encouraged by Raymond, added some rap parts to it (which feels a bit like “Cold Summer Night” by Francis M). It’s actually a comfort song - the type that assures a girl that even when everything goes wrong, you, the guy won’t leave her. Wendelle sings it with attitude and brings out some P.O.T. influences to it. It sounds cool, I think. Our friends love it and enjoy singing along with us, when we play it. We’re excited for Chester to throw in his solos when the electricity returns.

“Running Away” was the title of the second song. It actually started out as a joke. Paolo was just playing around with some heavy guitar riffs when Wendelle and I started to sing some old rap lines. The melody sounded pretty cool and it really stuck with me. As I was doing my laundry the following day, I managed to come up with some lyrics for it. We tried my words and that was it – it workd well with the melody and the riffs. The song is about the inescapable, guilty feelings that a person feels whenever he does something wrong. This one has been obviously influenced by Kjwan, Sandwich, Slapshock, Korn, Deftones, and other heavy but melodic bands I used to listen to when I was in high school. Paolo’s really excited to play this one live and so am I. This one’s really gonna rock - especially with Raymond’s full-swing beats.

Right now, we’re working on two more songs. The first one is Wendelle’s “Star,” an edgy, alternative-serenade track and the other one is Chester’s “One Last Song,” a song which has some Latino music elements on it.

I’m excited for us to get these two songs done, too. It’s actually our goal to write at least 8 to 10 songs within this year and have them all recorded before December. It’s going to be a record that will feature the different genres of music that each member of the band loves.

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