(L-R) Me, Jett Pangan, JB Leonor, Kenneth Ilagan (Truefaith), Ricci Gurango (Hungry Young Poets, Mojofly)

New wave has got to be my unconscious genre.  I was born in the late eighties, so most of the music I remember from my earliest living memory is a combination of new wave radio hits and clumsily spurned grunge.

Growing up, I never knew The Dawn but when I did my homework prior to my interview I immediately recognised their songs.  Most probably, the only reason I would ever get the chance to hear their music is if someone older than myself had been picking the tunes on the radio and I just happened to be in the same room at that time.  The night before the interview, I sent everyone on my phonebook ages 30 up to see if any of them knew the band.  I get an urgent reply from my lawyer, our veterenarian, an engineer, so on.  People of considerable stature.  This is the generation the band sung to.  And so as someone who was barely born at the cusp of their prime, my Filipino music history was enriched and had a brush up last friday with The Dawn.

Unfortunately, my record of the said interview was of such poor quality I wouldn’t dare upload it to grate your ears. Instead, I wrote a transcript of the higlights of the interview that fans might appreciate.  Viola.

I see we have a couple of powerhouse sessionists that’s Kenneth of True Faith and Ricci of Mojofly. How come Buddy and Francis couldn’t make it?

(Jett) It’s really a coincidence because Buddy’s wife is having her graduation from her Masters today and Francis is taking a leave from the band.  Really busy guy.

You’ve been a band for more than 20 years.  Five of those years you spent in hiatus, did you ever think at that point when you first disbanded that hey, this is it?

(Jett) I really did think that that was it for us.  We were just fatigued and picked up on the new trends where we really didn’t fit.

All of you did several side projects during that time and we’re doing well on your own, how did it occur to you to have a reunion?

(JB) I just wanted to play the drums again.  And I thought why should I be playing with anyone else when we had these guys here?  I called Jett, Caloy, Kiko and even Atsushi.  I just wanted to play music again, and you know it was a good thing to have a breather to have dealt with all the clutter we’ve accumulated, because after that it was just about the music.

I want to talk about your newest album The later half  of the day and noticed a number of new wave covers.  Some of your old songs have been “jazzed up”, I would say, to a point they are distinctively mellowed from the originals.  How did you come up with that?

(JB) We wanted to do something rock bands never do, at least in the Philippines.  Because normally, we want our music loud.  But we agreed to push through with the concept anyway, did a series of shows in Makati, in Greenbelt to be exact, and they proved very successful.  I thought people were going to thrash it. (Laughs) But people flocked it, they actually loved it.  We did five or six more shows and then we decided, it made sense to make an album out of it.  Surprisingly it was selling very well.  Basically putting old songs in a new way, that’s what new wave’s all about.

What was the idea behind the movie based on your band called Tulad ng dati?  Did Mike just approach you one day?

(Jett) Oh yes, definitely.  He’s a big fan of the band.  He worked for us shooting another video, but he wasn’t directing.  He was like just watching there.  Really anticipating the chance to talk us because he had this idea for a long time to come up with a film about our band.  One day, we borrowed a video camera and did it.  It was just refreshing working with Mike because he’s very passionate about film and the story.  He had been developing it for years, made us read the script and we talked about it, and we put in our input.  By the way, the film won Best Film in Cinemalaya 2008 and that was just an utter surprise.  Then it was a flurry of opportunities for the band.  We even had a musical based on our songs.

I posted a notice online to see if any of your fans would chime in with their questions for you.  I have one here that is a bit peculiar, it’s from Mickeyboy:  If you were stuck in an island, how did you get there?

(Laughs) (JB) That’s a really profound existential question! An island, huh.  It depends how I got there.  What’s my favorite mode of transportation?

(Jett) I know what’s your favorite mode…

(Laughs) (JB) Well, really I’m trying to come up with a wholesome image here.  Say, I got there on my imaginary yatch packed with hot chicks!  But there you go.

I have another one here from a fan named Cheska, she asks:  Do you guys have any openings?

(JB) Are we talking about a physiological opening? (Laughs)

But more to the point, I understand that you wanted a female vocals initially.  JB, you were there with Ted Diaz when you formed the band.  I know about this story but I want to hear it from you.

(JB) Actually, it was Ted’s idea to get a female vocalist, whereas I, you know, I’m good with anything.  And so this guy (points at Jett) shows up with a girl who he was helping out and she had a hard time singing.  So he was demonstratively helping her out and when he sung on the mic he just blew away the place into high heavens!  You Jett, you really broke those speakers.

(Jett) Which reminds me, I haven’t paid for their damaged goods. (Laughs)

I have here a question from Ria, how did you guys manage to stay together for a long time?

(Jett) Wow. It’s all about the music.  We never imagined getting this far.  Plus, we’re all in a way educated enough not to get in to physically hurting each other when we fight. Basta, music is always number one.

My friend Blogie wants to ask you guys, how did you get the strength to move on after Teddy passed away?

(Jett) That’s a very good question, because at that time, we felt there was no band without Teddy.  And so we were like, let’s not talk about it, let’s bury our friend first and talk about the band later.  We wanted time to mourn because we didn’t just lose a bandmate, we also lost a friend.

(JB) So we asked ourselves, if Teddy could speak to us now what would he say? Were we just going to let up? He’ll probably say, “You wimps!” if we didn’t let the band go on.

You said earlier that you’re currently recording a new album.  Tell us what’s new with The Dawn.

(Jett) We have a new one coming up this June or July, it’s a lot louder than the album we released in 2008.  We also have a new video that will be showing on MYX.  It’s called Love will set us free.

(JB) I want to talk about the video briefly, the director’s cut that is.  It’s set in a museum, and there is this statue in the middle of it of two beautiful women, naked, and are embraced.  As the video progresses, the mold on the statue gradually washes away.  And at the end of it, they walk away from the Museum. Love will set us free.

(Jett) We’re still getting it through MTRCB.  So it’s uncertain yet that it will actually be shown on public television.  They are seriously contemplating on giving it an X-rating!  I mean, can you imagine our band being x-rated?

(JB) Good luck to that.