Who would you say has had the greatest influence on your style as an artist? Why and how so?

Andrew de Pano: While we each have our own musical influences, one unanimously important one for us all is Coldplay. We look up to them when it comes to exploring the whole rich spectrum of everything it means to make music. From the breadth of themes they tackle in their songs, to the contrasts of their musical palette, all the way to making the most of music as a holistic experience for our listeners, they really push us to explore so much, and we have much much more to give because of it.

What is one genre you’ve always wanted to explore further? Why?

Poch Barretto: I’ve always been intrigued by the deep hole of jazz music. There’s just something so attractive to me about the complexity, musicality, and freedom of expression in jazz. The play on rhythm, melodies, and harmonies are absolutely boundless. The level of influence it has on today’s pop music is unmatched, in my opinion. I’d truly love to explore it and learn more about it to further push our boundaries in creating music and translating messages into aural emotion and expression.

Which of your songs was the most challenging to complete? Why?

Andrew de Pano: Each song has a different story and journey, and it’s hard to pick a single song, but we definitely had a lot of hardships to overcome in making our second album, Pebble House Vol. 1: Kuwaderno, as it was a full-length album with numerous collaborations made during the peak of the pandemic. Not only was it difficult logistically, but [it was also challenging because of] the kinds of themes we tackled for the album. It took a lot of outward thinking to really consider what might bring value to people’s lives during a time so many were fighting just to make it through the week. We really wanted to make an album full of songs that would serve to accompany people during the most difficult times, and that in itself was a challenge that we all feel was absolutely worth taking on.

See also: How Singer-Songwriter Gentle Bones Is Beating The Pandemic Blues

What do you love most about what you do? What is your least favourite part of what you do?

Patricia Lasaten: Personally, what I love most about what we do is that we have the ability to accompany people in whatever they’re going through with our music. We feel honoured and grateful whenever we hear from some people that “Leaves” or any of our songs are their go-to when they’re down. We feel like making music is one of the ways that we, as a band and as individuals, can make a positive impact on people’s lives.

To be honest, it’s difficult to name the least favourite thing about our work without seeming like we’re complaining. But I think the most challenging thing about what we do is running on three to four hours of sleep whenever we tour. I don’t know how we manage to do it without getting into fights with one another.

Paolo and Miguel, what is it like to work with someone you know so well—your twin brother? How has this influenced the way you work with each other, as well as the rest of the band?

Paolo Benjamin: I think working with my twin, someone I practically lived half of my life with, taught me an important lesson: building authentic relationships is important in making beautiful collaborations happen. Most of the musical synergy comes from having a deeper understanding of how the other person feels things. This concept is something we eventually expanded when we became a band. That is why our collective musical harmony actually comes from the stories we’ve built together over the years.

See also: Are we Filipinos Because We Love Music, or Do We Love Music Because We are Filipinos?

Back in 2017, you expanded from a musical duo to a nine-piece ensemble. What was that transition like? What were the new opportunities and challenges you encountered, and how did you have to adapt?

Miguel Benjamin: We started out as a duo in college, doing a lot of open mics and coffee shop shows. Each of the band members was a part of different musical groups and acts. But then we got together to do a few songs, which ended up as a few shows, and eventually, we decided to formalize the band in May 2017.

From the get-go, our journey has always felt like an uphill climb. It was quite a challenge to introduce our music to an audience unfamiliar with our sound. Becoming a nine-piece band didn’t make it any easier!

But then, we kept on playing shows in small bars, with barely anyone watching. One of our first shows had three people in the audience (yes, we outnumbered them). This crowd of three slowly grew into full houses in bars, which became school crowds, festivals, and now, full-scale concert audiences. The way we adapted to our initial hurdle was to really work on our music from the ground up.

The dynamic of our group as a “found family” definitely helps us face our challenges. And by this, I mean we’re like a real family with all the bliss and turbulence of it all: we fight, disagree, make up, team up, and figure it out together. There are a lot of checks and balances involved. So when the big waves of change come from the circumstances around us, we’re more ready to face them head-on as a unit.

Working on each other’s strengths in musicality and in our relationships enabled us to expand the possibilities of where this journey could take us.

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How do you unite such a large ensemble of individual artists with their own artistic styles and preferences to produce a cohesive sound and identity?

Andrew de Pano: I always love comparing our group to how a perfectly balanced dish is made: so many ingredients and possibilities. But once you have a dish in mind, a good cook knows just how much of each is needed. Each of us is an ingredient that is meant to either supplement, complement, or shine. It takes a lot of years of collective experience to reach that point, and we’ve definitely learned this more and more over the years, but honestly, I think the biggest secret ingredient is the fact that we’re all good friends who know how to listen to each other and give proper feedback when it’s needed.

If you had the opportunity to collaborate with any artist, local or international, living or dead, who would it be and why?

Toni Munoz: Queen and The Beatles. No explanation needed.

What is your favourite new find as of late?

Keifer Cabugao: I recently discovered Ethan Gruska through his collaboration with Bon Iver in their song “So Unimportant”. I enjoy his calm moody sound, heavenly sprinkled with the right amount of adventure.

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What excites you most about the local music scene at the moment? How do you hope the industry will change in the next ten years, and what needs to happen for us to get there?

Andrew de Pano: There’s just so much talent in the Philippines. There are so many young people honing their craft and sharing it online, and it inspires more and more young artists to do the same. What I hope for these younger artists is [that they] keep at it and to not let disappointment or a lack of public validation turn them off from working hard on the things they love. And with each generation becoming more and more sensitive to emotions and mental health, my hope is for a music industry that really thrives on supporting each other, building each other upward and making music a viable career that is able to support the artists’ needs, be it physiological, mental, etc.

How can we better support and empower our local Filipino artists?

Andrew de Pano: I really hope for more government support for artists, having associations that protect new artists’ rights and secure their earnings. We need to call out schemes that are predatory and take advantage of the fact that there is an abundance of real talent in our country. I know there are already some of these measures in place, but I just hope that moving forward, it becomes the norm rather than the exception.

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