But nope, not THAT plug. It’s more like, wanting to get in touch with our calm, introspective selves for a bit there. So in the recent POP Shoppe!, we did. And for the first time, we pulled it—and we pulled it off.Doing unplugged versions of our songs has always tickled my fancy since all the songs that I’ve ever written were with the sole aid of a worn out acoustic guitar. So, imagine my excitement upon knowing that there will be a POP Shoppe! event in that vein. The band was also itching to test drive new songs so it was the perfect venue.
Unfortunately, time wasn’t much of a friend lately. The constraints of day jobs and school work were taking its toll on us. The night before the event, we finally cornered a bit of time when everyone was free: 11PM. Yeah, close to midnight.
Tanya was sprawled down like linen on her couch; drained from that flight back from Bohol earlier that day. Eric and Khalid were exchanging anecdotes to cover up the yawning marathon they displayed. I arrived 30 minutes late, but nonetheless proceeded to business.
Nothing special really flourished from that practice, aside from my fascination for Eric’s pink toy melodica (Php99 cheap!) and the joy and glee to play two new songs. The first one, “I Breathe You In Instead,” an old twee pop number in which Eric voluntarily took over bass duties, and the wistful “In Washington Drive,” which is a tribute to my daughter Dylan.
A bit of a backgrounder: Dylan’s first visit to Manila left me in a guilt-ridden, melancholic state. Not a very good combination, I kid you not. This is sort of my coping mechanism, almost bare from all the machismo a certain guy would want to flaunt. That somber mood was somehow translated into a MIDI recording of the song (which I laid down in the confines of my office. Illegally.)
Below is that recording of “In Washington Drive,” done in one take. With my tunelessness retained. =)
In Washington Drive (Demo)
And this is the first-ever band performance of the song.
The night was full of pleasant surprises. With Eric playing the automatic front man for the night, clasping a tambourine, an egg shaker and that aforementioned pink toy melodica (Php99 cheap!), he traded punchlines with the crowd. Tanya and I just exchanged chords and eased out our vocals, while Khalid added riveting jam licks to half of the songs. We delivered our repertoire with an oomph even without relying on too much electricity.
And just by watching Joseph—THE Joseph!—swaying to the invisible beat of “By Beautiful Intentions,” we knew that, certainly, who needs batteries?
badtrip!di ako naka punta..good job guys!=)
there will be more gigs for you to crash.
check out the “sightings” column. =)