1. Whose idea was it to gather a group and as it came?
Hi there, I'm Francis and I sing for the band. The guitar player, Raph and I started an earlier incarnation of Caitlyn Bailey on the third of February 2007 following the collapse of our old screamo band. Eventually, we drafted our old band's drummer and that's pretty much where we got started for real.
2. Your songs are filled with pain and sadness, why, where this pain and sadness?
2. Your songs are filled with pain and sadness, why, where this pain and sadness?
I wouldn't exactly say our songs are all painful and sad but at least for me lyrically, the songs are an extension of myself and my own personal sentiments. They're pretty varied and cover a fairly wide scope of topics. Looking into it, my bandmates and I have so much to say about so many things be it boredom, existentialism, herd mentality, nationalism and anti-nationalism, or something as varied and specific as our personal insights from day to day experiences. It isn't so much as being filled with pain and sadness as us just being true to ourselves and how we feel.
3. How often do you play gigs in their homeland, whether you ride in other countries, your most unusual concert?
We usually play a few shows every month, early on we were involved with the City Of Thorns crew. Things got a bit stagnant there however so we've decided to branch out and start organizing our own shows again. We used to play a lot of shows with the longer standing veterans of the punk/hardcore scene but seeing the state of the music scene in Davao City in general it seems that we have to cater to kids who are just getting into the louder forms of music. Getting our message to them before all the rotten elements of the general scene eat them just might save this city. As for other places, we toured Manila last year and we're going on another northern Philippine tour. We also have plans of hitting Malaysia in 2010. Unusual concerts? Well, two shows ago we played this one set where our guitar player's strap broke while he was moving around and the unusually heavy guitar he was using hit one of our friends RIGHT IN THE FACE. Guy was hit pretty bad but still managed to headbang throughout the final half of the song. That's a pretty thick face if you ask me.
4. Tell me about your country, how you live, tell me about your scene, what else is the group? (not necessarily screamo)
Well, we live in a third world country and by a stroke of good luck most of us in the band grew up with the conveniences of a middle-class household. We're not exactly the most political band on the planet, but we do advocate and endorse various forms of humanist and existentialist thought. Revolutions start with a revolution of the self, do they not? We're the kind of band whose politics are centered around the individual. I think that seeps into the way we think and live as well. The general music scene in this country is amazing when it's good and amazingly horrible when it isn't. It's really polarized. I think social and class dynamics factor into this as well, but that's a different matter entirely. The hardcore/punk scene at large doesn't have a particularly sizeable screamo/post-hardcore oriented demographic but there are some fans and some of them started their own bands. The screamo scene is mostly in Manila and is still in its birth pangs but the future looks bright with bands like Birds In Formation, Call Them Quits, Shirley Steinberg and Oh Man! Oh God! organizing their own shows. We continue to be the only constituents of the style in Davao and Cebu city has Van Gogh's Ear among the artier bands in their scene.
5. What do you do besides music?
Most of us are in college, the others have jobs. Our other singer, Mia is in Japan working as an english teacher. Koy, our bass player pretty much does his own thing. Jireh, our drummer is finishing his degree in information technology and Raph is a communication arts major. I'm in college myself, taking up psychology. We're a band of nerds and dreamers when it all boils down to it.
6. Is there a group of people adhering to the principles of sXe, think about the sXe and Hard-line?
The Philippine hardcore/punk scene has had its fair share of straight-edge constituents but there really aren't enough of them to constitute a straight-edge scene. I myself was straight-edge for more or less five years. Straight-edge is good in theory but as with veganism it isn't for everyone. That's all I have to say about it, I guess.
Our country is one of the worst in terms of corruption and the politics are some of the dirtiest I've seen. It isn't so much the system's fault as it is the fault of the Filipino people for allowing this to happen with our damaged national psyche and ambiguous national identity as its crutches. The educational system is in shambles as with most public services, yet again because of the people's mindsets. It's the people, really. Take into account that we're overpopulated and you have this wreck of national nerves to sort out from the ground up. I care about people and people making the most out of their faculties to lift this country out of whatever rut it's gotten itself into, as much as I can I'd like to do my part by touching one mind at a time. Praxis is just so hard to illicit from such a resistant populace.
8. Which groups have influence on you?
Some bands that come to mind: Orchid, Pg.99, Kaospilot, Sed Non Satiata, Joshua Fit For Battle, Neil Perry, City Of Caterpillar, Circle Takes The Square, Portraits Of Past, Indian Summer, Converge, Botch, Mastodon, Buried Inside, Isis, Starkweather, Loma Prieta, Envy, Thursday, For The Fallen Dreams, Between The Buried And Me, Spitfire, Scarlet, Genghis Tron, Meshuggah, Tragedy, Remains Of The Day, Black Flag, Discharge, Tool, Helmet, The Melvins, My Disco, Explosions In The Sky, Mono, Yndi Halda and so many other great bands. This could drag on forever, really.
9. Should musical style screamo bear a protest, or to be politicized?
That's the beauty of screamo, really. Given that the subject matter tends to be personal, the lyricist has all the freedom to write about things that he or she may feel strongly about. Even beyond the realm of music, the punk ethic was always about the empowerment of the individual to think for oneself. Why not if you're towards the persuasion?
10. Have you heard anything from Russia's music (not necessarily screamo)?
We have a lot to thank Russia for. First and foremost, our very first EP was released on a small Russian label called Hidden Rainbows Records by our friend, Anton. We were the very first release on that label. You could reach him via http://hiddenrainbows.ru, by the way. I've heard a lot of Russian bands because of that. Some I remember off of the top of my head are Marschak, The Bride Of Changes, He Called Himself Jesus, Advertising On The Channel Of Dreams, Aurora, Optimus Prime, Lopatka, Prea Hrada, Fortunae Verbera and others.
11. Was the desire to release his record on vinyl? Do you think that mp3 is killing the value of music?
We'd release this record on vinyl if we could but I don't think anyone presses vinyl in the Philippines anymore and so far we haven't gotten any offers from any labels who'd want to put our stuff out. We might press a few CDs ourselves though. I don't think mp3 is killing the value of music, if anything it puts music in the hands of the people who actually want it. It makes it less of a commodity and gets it across quicker and easier. I'll leave the rest to people who'd want to seek this stuff out. If they like what we have to give, they could always order the actual CD. I'd like to think you're paying for the packaging and the physical element of the album experience rather than the music.
12. Your plans for the future?
We plan to take things one day at a time, writing more songs, releasing records, playing shows and touring. As far as this band's concerned, that's what we're set to do as a band in the first place.
13. Wish something your listeners Russia
Be it with this band or myself, I hope to see all of you someday. I'd love to learn your language and see the sights your cities have to offer. I'd love to meet all of you and enjoy your company when the time comes. Thank you so much for listening to our music if you have and even more so if you bought one of our CDs off of Anton. Stay beautiful. :)
Russia loves you man! You and your pain and sadness!
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