Last Sunday (Nov. 27), the day began with a silent calmness as toe fans appeared at the doors of Samsung Hall in SM Aura as early as noon, hoping to score tickets to see the Japanese post-rock act for their third time in Manila. Unfortunately for those who didn’t make the effort to buy their tickets earlier, organizers had to turn down the number of hopefuls at the door. “Sorry, it’s sold out,” security had to tell fans. Some decided to stay behind to at least get a glimpse of the instrumental quartet through the glass doors, and the persistent ones were able to steal a few photos of the band just as they entered the hall for sound check that afternoon. Behind the mixing board was Jay Eigenmann, who was beyond ecstatic to be back in Manila. Now based in New York, Eigenmann has been working with toe over the past year as their touring FOH engineer outside Japan. “It’s not really very often that you get to work with people you look up to,” he says. “They’re the sweetest guys. They’re such talented musicians. It really makes my job easy. They’re really amazing to be on the road with and they […] Continue Reading
Whatever you create—whether it be a visual piece, a dance, or a limerick—a little bit of your soul becomes a part of it. You dedicate hours of effort to your piece, loving it more and more as you go. And when it’s complete, you reach a point where many aspiring artists take a sudden halt. This is the first test any artist must face—hiding away to watch your stars fade or baring your true self to the world. This is where Moonwlk singer Gabbi Buencamino took a leap for the latter through her music and now with her debut poetry book When Words Fall. When Words Fall is a collection of poems Buencamino once kept to herself for half a decade, featuring illustrations by artists who interpreted her work into their pieces. Released into the wild through self-publishing, When Words Fall will definitely have something all readers could relate to. While traveling Europe, Gabbi Buencamino spoke with BillboardPH about her first book, the struggles of being a self-published author, and her future plans. Who are your favorite authors and how have they influenced you as a writer? I have more favorite stories than authors, but the writers I come back to include […] Continue Reading
As an introvert, becoming a writer completely made sense to me. There’s a certain kind of solitude that comes with the art form, and often times (if not always), us writers would rather pull ourselves away to a corner with a pen and talk by jotting all our thoughts down. Some writers prefer absolute silence, but others (like me) need sound to get things rolling. And I noticed something about my working habits and the genres that go well with whatever activity I’m doing: when I’m writing I listen to a hell lot of metal, but when I’m drawing or designing, my brain tends to lean more on pop and Disney soundtracks. When I try to flip it around, I can’t seem to function properly and simply wind up doing something else (watch old episodes of my favorite shows, play video games, look for food, sleep). It was clinically proven by a brain doctor over a decade ago that I don’t have the greatest attention span in the world , so when I get distracted, it’s difficult to turn back. But when I discovered how all that those darn heavy riffs help me focus on my writing, I really made it a point to blast it whenever I have […] Continue Reading
My first stint as a music journalist fell on my lap long before I even knew what I wanted to do in life. It was for a publication called MTV Ink and I interviewed Joseph Hahn of Linkin Park. And I was twelve-years-old. See, I was a hardcore Linkin Park fan (I won’t deny that), and I when MTV Ink emailed me about the opportunity, I went a little crazy. I had Hybrid Theory on loop, I watched Frat Party at the Pankake Festival the night before, and I even baked cookies for Mr. Hahn. I was the ultimate fangirl, getting help from my brother for questions to ask, and I was nervous as hell. Come the day of the interview, I headed up to the north to meet with the people behind MTV Ink and thought they were the coolest people in the world. Excitement took over as we waited for Mr. Hahn at a Burgers Burger in Ortigas. I saw him walk past and giggled like a twelve-year-old would, but he didn’t enter the burger joint. Instead, he went to get a footspa next door. So we waited a little more. And a little more. Until Joe finally came in with squeaky clean […] Continue Reading
IT’S OFFICIAL: I am incredibly excited to announce that I’ve taken a huge leap in my career as a writer! *squeals* Straight out of the query trenches (actually in this scenario, the #DVPit Twitter trenches) after the longest wait any writer must face, I’ve beaten the dragon’s lair and signed with Caitie Flum of Liza Dawson Associates. Ms. Flum will be taking charge as she guides me through the fast (not really) and furious (oh, totally) road of traditional publishing—crossbows, katanas, and all. It’s been a crazy ride so far, and I am thrilled to finally get things rolling to see my first novel on the shelves of our favorite bookstores. Goddamn—it feels so good to finally say it! At last, the saga continues… Continue Reading
When she isn’t writing the next heart-wrenching song capable of drowning listeners in tidal waves of emotion, you’d find Up Dharma Down frontwoman Armi Millare in a corner devouring a book. Though Millare has yet to write a song based on a book, reading about social sciences and how the brain works gives her a better understanding of human emotions and relationships by exploring the realms of non-fiction. “It’s nice to observe from afar and also dive deeper through books, because there’s always a new development especially in these fields,” she tells BillboardPH. “Sometimes certain people respond to stimuli because of their genetic limitations or disabilities, but also the expanse of human emotion and psychology sometimes validates many things we’ve experienced—and to know more gets us to understand better.” With a penchant for non-fiction over novels, Millare’s vast collection mostly covers topics from empathy to fields in neuropsychology and sociology. “I just got into reading these kinds of books, because I wanted to know why or how I felt certain things.” She notes that it isn’t safe to self-diagnose, take these books too literally, or to base everything on them, and to see them merely as guides. Here are the books that […] Continue Reading
The past few months can be summed up to one hell of a roller coaster ride featuring heightened levels of the feels. A ride so fast, it rolls at 100Gbps. A ride conducted by the awesomest people at Billboard Philippines. A ride that’s just getting started. Today, straight out of our weekly editorial gathering, the Ed Team kids kicked back in the meeting room at the BillboardPH office, when our dear graphic artist Emmie started making some beats. Forming an editorial band was something we’ve been talking about for weeks, and we suddenly just got to it. We’re called bek(n) feat. UNCLE T—except, “n” a.k.a Nigel didn’t come in to work (but he’ll definitely take the spotlight on our next single). Our genre? Manual EDM. Our purpose? To release an EP before Ben&Ben do, precisely on December 17th at 7:59 outside the doors of Teatrino, Greenhills. Backed by Garage Band, Photo Booth, pizza, and the support of our incredible office mates (who had to endure our passion), we wrote, recorded, and shot our vey first single “100GBPS OF FEELINGS” in one sitting. We hope you enjoy. Continue Reading
Mark Holcomb is possibly the happiest nerd in the world, and being one of the three guitarists of progressive metal act Periphery is just a small indication of that. From his hilarious onstage antics, having his own signature PRS 6-string guitars, to holing up in his room playing video games for days on end, and coming up with the strangest (though impressively creative) Snapchat video stories, Holcomb surely loves where the tides are taking him. Born in Clark, Pampanga in 1982, Holcomb holds great pride in being Filipino-American, and has a soft spot for adobo. “My mother is Filipina,” he tells BillboardPH. “She raised me to be close to all of the Filipino side of my family. When I was young, she constantly cooked Filipino food, and encouraged me to stay in close contact with my relatives in the Philippines.” Four years before releasing their fifth studio album Periphery III: Select Difficulty, which peaked on the Billboard Independent Chart at No. 2, Periphery visited the Philippines for the first time to perform at PULP Summer Slam 12, finally giving Holcomb the opportunity to return to his motherland since relocating to the US in 1991. “It was a bucket list dream of mine to come back and play music […] Continue Reading
There’s a Post-it note of personal goals Mario Jose carries; a note he would check once in a while to help him stay on track of his dreams. With one of the brightest smiles in Los Angeles, it is certain that he has accomplished one of those goals—to step out of Berklee College of Music an educated musician. And now with the release of his debut record Heart of Gold, the world now has the opportunity to hold its breath and listen to the golden voice its long been waiting for. The lively 28-year-old has always been surrounded by music. His father, a first-generation Filipino trombone player, and his mother, an Italian singer, brought Jose up with all the support that would lead him to where he is today. They raised him on the soulful voices of Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, Marvin Gaye, and powerhouse singers Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, and Céline Dion. A life of music was inevitable, and Jose knew right from the start that it would be his main focus. He attempted writing as a teenager and while he was a student at Berklee, but didn’t feel that he was giving his all until he sat down with songwriter JP Saxe. “I don’t want to […] Continue Reading
What a night. I was only supposed to stop by the bookstore for my weekly comics and a copy of Magnus Chase: The Hammer of Thor, but they didn’t have Magnus Chase, so I wound up getting two additional comic books and three drawing pads. And then traffic still sucked, so I figured I’d wait it out at Starbucks, when I spotted on Twitter that #DVPit was going on. I stared at the tweets from aspiring diverse authors, amazed by the incredible stories they had to share. Some had a few dozen hearts and RT’s, some reposted their pitches several times. And to be honest, it was quite daunting to throw a pitch into the trenches, but I had a lot of time to kill and a book I wanted the world to know about. So I gave it a shot: BE MORE CHILL + NICK & NORAH: Introverted metalhead hits the stage to expose a teen pop star who plagiarized his song. #DVpit #YA #ownvoices — Kara Bodegón (@karabodegon) October 5, 2016 I got a total of seven query requests that night, and one of them asked for a full right off the bat! Getting all these hearts really astonished me, mainly because […] Continue Reading
