~ ~ lllliDB

Sett,Al-t/
At~
I
t's late on a Wednesday night, and an
unassuming rock club/gallery in the heart of
Makati is playing host to a gathering of some
of the more prominent figures of new Pinoy
rock. Behind me, members of Imago are
talking shop with one of the guys who used to
play in Twisted Halo. To my left are dudes from
Sugarfree and Sandwich and the girls of Duster,
laughing it up, trading high fives and chicken
wings. Inside, Us-2 Evil-O is playing their brand
of art-damaged spazzpop. A highly creative
bunch of folks, to say the least. You'd have
a tough time firrdinq a more creative bunch
however, than a group of five clustered closely
around a corner table.
Collectively, this party of four guys and one
girl is known as Cambio. A pretty well-known
name by now, after their unbearably catchy
ode to the cheap retail center of Metro Manila
brought the affectionately abbreviated name
Divi ("DV") into the national consciousness
in 2004. And even more so after the two lead
singles off their new album Matic (" Call Centet"
and" Pasaway)", swiftly took to the top of the
charts. Still, even with the band's successes in
recent years, the name Cambio will probably
mean less for many people than the names of
the individuals who make up the band. The
members' collective musical resume reads like
a veritable who's who of local rock spanning the
last fifteen years.
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~ ~ lllliDB
You have Diego Mapa, who handles guitar
duties; he's also in Monsterbot and Pedicab.
There's Ebe Dancel, also on guitar, most
famously known as the frontman for pop-rock giants Sugarfree. Kris Dancel stands in front and sings; she was
in the well-regarded all-girl group Fatal Posporos, and also plays with the relatively new Duster (watch out for
them). And of course, there's elder statesmen Buddy Zabala, (who's been in Twisted Halo and now handles bass
duties for The Dawn) and Raimund Marasigan (who's also in Pedicab and is the main screamer for Sandwich). Oh
yes, and the two also played in this little group called The Eraserheads.
But for all the big things that each member has done and is doing outside of Cambio, they're quick to tell me
that this is no mere side project. "Hindi kami side band lang," Diego assures me. "I <give all three of my bands
equal time>. And the thing with this album is that we actually sat down to write songs for Cambio, unlike before.
Mas kilala na namin ang ise't ise"
True enough; the gusto each threw into their performance later that night belies any suggestion that this was
just something to do during Sugarfree downtime. Ebe could hardly walk, strapped with a cane after an accident
("Natapi/ok aka:' he says), but as Cambio ended their last song in a crashing swell of angular guitar, bass and
drum, he got up to join the rest of the group in their final rock-out moment, faced off against Raimund's drum
set, caught up in the moment of musical creation. Watching them play, I quickly realized that this wasn't anything
less than an actual, serious, here-to-stay band. The concept behind Cambio, after all, was exploration, a chance
to try new things with new people-things
that just couldn't be done in the context of another one of their many
musical endeavors; things that required a proper band .•••
w108
bCtt-tvitv'vrfZ
I
t's late on a Wednesday night, and an
unassuming rock club/gallery in the heart of
Makati is playing host to a gathering of some
of the more prominent figures of new Pinoy
rock. Behind me, members of Imago are
talking shop with one of the guys who used to
play in Twisted Halo. To my left are dudes from
Sugarfree and Sandwich and the girls of Duster,
laughing it up, trading high fives and chicken
wings. Inside, Us-2 Evil-O is playing their brand
of art-damaged spazzpop. A highly creative
bunch of folks, to say the least. You'd have
a tough time findinq a more creative bunch
however, than a group of five clustered closely
around a corner table.
Collectively, this party of four guys and one
girl is known as Cambio. A pretty well-known
name by now, after their unbearably catchy
ode to the cheap retail center of Metro Manila
brought the affectionately abbreviated name
Divi ("DV") into the national consciousness
in 2004. And even more so after the two lead
singles off their new album Matic (" Call Center"
and" Pasaway)", swiftly took to the top of the
charts. Still, even with the band's successes in
recent years, the name Cambio will probably
mean less for many people than the names of
the individuals who make up the band. The
members' collective musical resume reads like
a veritable who's who of local rock spanning the
last fifteen years.
,
--1
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tllIiITl3
You have Diego Mapa, who handles guitar
duties; he's also in Monsterbot and Pedicab.
There's Ebe Dancel, also on guitar, most
famously known as the frontman for pop-rock giants Sugarfree. Kris Dancel stands in front and sings; she was
in the well-regarded all-girl group Fatal Posporos, and also plays with the relatively new Duster (watch out for
them). And of course, there's elder statesmen Buddy Zabala, (who's been in Twisted Halo and now handles bass
duties for The Dawn) and Raimund Marasigan (who's also in Pedicab and is the main screamer for Sandwich). Oh
yes, and the two also played in this little group called The Eraserheads.
But for all the big things that each member has done and is doing outside of Cambio, they're quick to tell me
that this is no mere side project. "Hindi kami side band lang," Diego assures me. "I <give all three of my bands
equal time>. And the thing with this album is that we actually sat down to write songs for Cambio, unlike before.
Mas kilala na namin ang ise't
ise,"
True enough; the gusto each threw into their performance later that night belies any suggestion that this was
just something to do during Sugarfree downtime. Ebe could hardly walk, strapped with a cane after an accident
("Natapi/ok aka," he says), but as Cambia ended their last song in a crashing swell of angular guitar, bass and
drum, he got up to join the rest of the group in their final rock-out moment, faced off against Raimund's drum
set, caught up in the moment of musical creation. Watching them play, I quickly realized that this wasn't anything
less than an actual, serious, here-to-stay band. The concept behind Cambio, after all, was exploration, a chance
to try new things with new people-things
that just couldn't be done in the context of another one of their many
musical endeavors; things that required a proper band....
.
w108
boct-tv/L-./
v/f~
I
t's late on a Wednesday night, and an
unassuming rock club/gallery in the heart of
Makati is playing host to a gathering of some
of the more prominent figures of new Pinoy
rock. Behind me, members of Imago are
talking shop with one of the guys who used to
play in Twisted Halo. To my left are dudes from
5ugarfree and Sandwich and the girls of Duster,
laughing it up, trading high fives and chicken
wings. Inside, Us-2 Evil-O is playing their brand
of art-damaged spazzpop. A highly creative
bunch offolks, to say the least. You'd have
a tough time firrdinq a more creative bunch
however, than a group of five clustered closely
around a corner table.
Collectively, this party of four guys and one
girl is known as Carnbio. A pretty well-known
name by now, after their unbearably catchy
ode to the cheap retail center of Metro Manila
brought the affectionately abbreviated name
Divi ("DV") into the national consciousness
in 2004. And even more so after the two lead
singles off their new album Matic ("Call Center"
and" Pasaway)", swiftly took to the top of the
charts. Still, even with the band's successes in
recent years, the name Cambio will probably
mean less for many people than the names of
the individuals who make up the band. The
members' collective musical resume reads like
a veritable who's who of local rock spanning the
last fifteen years.
;
-~I
,
'
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I
I"
"
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-
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/
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-,
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~
You have Diego Mapa, who handles guitar
duties; he's also in Monsterbot and Pedicab.
There's Ebe Dancel, also on guitar, most
famously known as the frontman for pop-rock giants Sugarfree. Kris Dancel stands in front and sings; she was
in the well-regarded all-girl group Fatal Posporos, and also plays with the relatively new Duster (watch out for
them). And of course, there's elder statesmen Buddy Zabala, (who's been in Twisted Halo and now handles bass
duties for The Dawn) and Raimund Marasigan (who's also in Pedicab and is the main screamer for Sandwich). Oh
yes, and the two also played in this little group called The Eraserheads.
But for all the big things that each member has done and is doing outside of Cambio, they're quick to tell me
that this is no mere side project. "Hindi kami side band lang," Diego assures me. "I <give all three of my bands
equal time>. And the thing with this album is that we actually sat down to write songs for Cambio, unlike before.
Mas kila/a na namin ang isa't ise,"
True enough; the gusto each threw into their performance later that night belies any suggestion that this was
just something to do during Sugarfree downtime. Ebe could hardly walk, strapped with a cane after an accident
("Natapilok eko," he says), but as Cambio ended their last song in a crashing swell of angular guitar, bass and
drum, he got up to join the rest of the group in their final rock-out moment, faced off against Raimund's drum
set, caught up in the moment of musical creation. Watching them play, I quickly realized that this wasn't anything
less than an actual, serious, here-to-stay band. The concept behind Cambio, after all, was exploration, a chance
to try new things with new people-things
that just couldn't be done in the context of another one of their many
musical endeavors; things that required a proper band.,*,
w108