If you've attended All of the Noise last year, a lot of their Filipino fans swooned over their songs such as How You Forget, Always Been Right Here, and Distraction, among others.
How have you guys been doing since the rise of the pandemic?
Paddy: We’re okay. Hahaha.
Peng Sing: This is our first time seeing each other since the lockdown so everyone’s in a super good mood.
Were you able to travel far from where you reside?
Jeryl: Most of Singapore was actually in a lockdown state, we weren’t really allowed to go to other people’s houses and meet. The lockdown just got lifted around 2 or 3 days ago. So that’s why the three of them (Peng Sing, David, and Paddy) are together and I am in my house because I had Father’s Day dinner today.
David: Well, the rest of us….
Peng Sing: Have no fathers! Hahahaha.
When you played at All of the Noise 2019, what became your first impression of the Filipino crowd?
Paddy: They were very nice to us. They were very generous with the reception considering it was our first time to play in the Philippines.
Jeryl: But yeah, there was this major sound issue and we couldn’t get the gear to work for quite a while.
Paddy: We had to wait really long to get it set up and a lot of people were waiting for us to get ready on stage. But they were very patient with us so we just like to thank them for being patient with us. We weren’t even the band that most people were there to see, so it was very nice to get to play for everybody for the first time. We really can’t wait to come back to play for everybody again.
David: Manila’s the best!
What was your favorite food/spot/experience when you got to stay in the Philippines last year?
Paddy: We wanted to eat lechon but we weren’t there long enough to find any good lechon. Such a waste, so we definitely need to come back.
David: You can’t get good lechon here in Singapore.
Paddy: We had a lot of Jollibee though.
With “Small Lanes” being released recently, what can we expect from your upcoming album?
Paddy: New songs coming out. They all kind of sound a bit different from each other. So I guess that’s one feature to look out for. It’s not like we did it intentionally, but that’s just how the ideas came out. So we're looking forward to that, we got to show different sides of ourselves with our different new material that we’ll be putting out.
Daryl: Being locked up in this period quarantine has given us a lot to think about. It’s given us more time to actually just talk to each other about things and really centralize and hone in on a direction and think about our future a bit more. So I think that would be reflective a bit as well.
Peng Sing: Very introspective stuff.
Can you tell us about the inspiration for “Small Lanes”? Have you been writing new songs lately since the quarantine?
David: Small Lanes was actually written before the whole COVID thing went down. It was written in 2019. It just happened to be finished around this period and be released around this period. The songs that would be written in this period would be out later on, that’s how our process works.
Paddy: Essentially the song is about taking things one step at a time even though you don't really have everything figured out. Sometimes you just got to remember it's about putting one foot forward, one after the other, and seeing where that takes you. So in the time, we wrote it, it was more about the constant battle between and reaching a point in our lives where we pay the bills and do music and how it all reconciles off each other. But we just figured -you know what, sometimes it's not important to think too much and to overthink about what you’re doing and what the future holds. Sometimes it's just you just gotta move forward. Do something and see where it takes you. That is what essentially the song is about.
What are some current music you’re listening to right now?
Peng Sing: I’ve been listening to meme music non-stop. I’m currently into music that comes out from meme videos. You don’t always know what the song titles are so I just do research, like Googling “what song is in the weird dancing video whatever” and I’d figure what the song titles are and I just dive down this internet rabbit hole. That’s what all I’ve been listening to.
David: Shame.
Peng Sing: Heyy! Meme music is music still!
David: Yeah but there’s just so much music now. Everybody’s been releasing music these days. It’s so hard to keep up. Our guilty pleasure is still indie pop and indie rock. So we still pretty much listen to Bombay Bicycle Club.
Peng Sing: Yeah Bombay Bicycle Club, this indie band from the UK. They started putting out new music again.
David: For me its Sondre Lerche, from Norway. He just came out with new stuff as well. Yeah, it’s just non-stop these past few weeks.
Peng Sing: What about you Paddy?
Paddy: Uh, I don’t know. I’m currently listening to a lot of podcasts, not a lot of music. Just some random stuff.
David: Self-help.
Paddy: Yeah, I definitely need a lot of help.
David: Like, how to be a better person. How to not treat your bandmates so badly.
Peng Sing: OOOOOHHH
Paddy: Yeah, precisely, precisely. A lot of self-reflection. How about you Jeryl?
Jeryl: I actually liked one of the songs that Peng put up. Maria Takeuchi. So yeah, I’ve been looking into city pop quite a bit on YouTube.
Paddy: Oh wait, yeah. I’ve been listening to Cassiopeia. Some really technical stuff. It’s like elevator music on steroids.
Any future plans, announcements, and maybe a message to your Filipino fans out there?
David: We’ll be back.
Jeryl: Stay safe, we’ll see you soon.
Paddy: Stay safe, we want to come back and try out all the food this time.
Peng Sing: Oh also, if you follow us on social media, feel free to introduce more Filipino music to us.
If you have a chance to collaborate with a Filipino artist?
David: I think Oh, Flamingo! And some RNB guys like CRWN. Maybe RNB and indie-pop have an interesting kind of mix. Also, some singer-songwriters like BP Valenzuela or Kiana Valenciano. If anyone wants to connect, feel free to hit us up!
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