www.myspace.com/faspitch
www.web-iac.nokia-asia.com/philippines
HMTV Asia : hi guys hows it going back there in the Philippines
henry: We're doing ok here, we're based in Manila at the moment so we can get more exposure, and more time to work on new stuff.
trevor: yup
trevor: thats the plan
russell: everthing's great kristine...we've been workin' on our second record lately.
HMTV Asia : thats awesome when did you guys started the band?
Alex: The band came originally from Cebu, Philippines.
Henry: We've been together for quite awhile, since 2000 actually but we didnt become Faspitch until around 2002
Trevor: It's an island down south
Henry: That's when we started making our own music
HMTV Asia : How did you guys come up with the name Faspitch?
Henry: Umm... Faspitch doesn't mean anything really
Russell: Yeah..it doesnt really mean anything..hehe :)
Henry: It's just a word we caught on to after seeing on some guys shirt
Patrick: Faspitch = nothing
Russell: Back then we didnt know what it was. it juz sounded cool for us hehe
Russell: We just found out that it was some sort of a softball league in the US
HMTV Asia : I agree it does sound cool, how many albums have you guys done
Henry: Just one.
Trevor: Just one sadly
Russell: We've only done one so far
Patrick: Agreed
Alex: Its called THE FUTURE OF EAR REPAIR and was released under a Cebu-based independent label called LIGHTER RECORDS
Alex: Yup we decided as a group to go to the main capital of the Philippines and start making it a career. and finish the second album, the band is halfway done, we hope to release it on 2009
Russell: WE HOPE
Henry: All of the members have had to give up jobs or school to move here to Manila but we've so far made really good headway in promoting the band, we've had more gigs, more media exposure and lots more opportunities to work on new music
HMTV Asia : Thats a good idea to move to the main capital lots of opportunities
Alex: So far the first album was a great hit and people from different corners of Philippines wanted to hear more so i told the guys to start packing their bags and start making the next album.
HMTV Asia : I think you guys did a good decision coz its all paying off now
Trevor: Yeah so far so good
Smolika: We've had no regrets whatsoever and cant wait to start recording on the new album
HMTV Asia : I remeber when a friend of mine told me to check out your band and i look up at myspace
Russell: Sweet! hehe :)
Henry: Is your friend from the US?
HMTV Asia : I personally like the song All under heaven please tell me more about it
Henry: All Under Heaven is one of the first songs we did for the album
Trevor: Yeah henry really did a good job with the vocals on that song
Henry: We took the song and used it as our official entry for the Philippine leg of the World Battle of the Bands, we finished 2nd Runner up
Patrick: We call it auh for short which is pronounced aw..hehe
HMTV Asia : Congratulation 2nd runner up is not bad at all
Henry: It is probably one of our more popular songs as it was our first album single and got alot of airplay and exposure through the competition
Trevor: Yup we were pretty shocked really
Henry: At the time we were based in Cebu so it was a complete surprise to get all the way to the finals
Trevor: We were up against some very good bands
Russell: We never thought we'd even get to the top 3..hehe
Henry: Some of the Philippine music giants
Russell: Very very very good bands!!!
Alex: Not to mention, bands like Greyhoundz, Chicosci and a lot of other big bands from the Philippines were part of it.
HMTV Asia : You guys are good too
Russell: And these were bands we grew up listening to since high school :) hehe
Trevor: Yup
Henry: Thanks
Russell: So it was a real shocker! hehe
HMTV Asia : There are a lot of bands now have you ever expected that you will make it this far?
Henry: Never, we never knew we'd get this far when we first started
Russell: We used to just jam when's school's out and all...
Henry: Our band was a just a group of friends who decided to jam deftones songs together and we never though we'd be in manila, or be playing in singapore or Hong Kong, and get to see our faces on youtube, it's been quite an experience
HMTV Asia : Is Deftones one of your favorite bands
Russell: We never really took our music seriously til' we kinda felt that we needed to do something about our sound..hehe
Trevor: very much
Trevor: They are our idols
Patrick: One of our Gods
Russell: Deftones = the shiznit! hahaaha!
Henry: Chino is da man
HMTV Asia : Deftones is one of the best bands ever
trevor: Pretty much the reason we started the band
Alex: It's really cool when i see the guys having gigs nowadays together with the big bands of the Philippines. i consider the band to also be part of the industry. now i see major bands here giving their time to chat and even ask Faspitch to play with them.
Henry: Yup, one the amazing things about being in Manila is that there is a huger audience and a more widespread appreciation. Your music also gets to seep into the mainstream even if you are hardcore, and we've been really lucky that our myspace has been getting more and more hits. The internet has really helped us alot
HMTV Asia : Its always nice to see bands grow and made it to the music industry
Henry: Alot of the younger people have been able to access our music through the internet
Patrick: Internet is a way of life for musicians like us
Russell: Times have changed really...hehe
Russell: I mean..
Russell: There was a time that we'd have to take a cassette recorder to record radio tunes that we liked...and now the internet's making every music fanatic's life easy..hehe
HMTV Asia : Thats true internet made it a lot easier for artist to promote their music
Alex: Just to give you a bit info, how the internet has helped the band. Recently, they were part of a wide-internet search for artists sponsored by Nokia called the Nokia Independent Artists Club. And because of Faspitch's community, they have made a great impression with Nokia. So Nokia flew the band to Hong Kong to showcase for an event called MUSIC MATTERS, we were there to represent the Philippines.
HMTV Asia : Wow thats really amazing
Trevor: Yeah that was unexpected again
Trevor: hehe
HMTV Asia : I'm pretty sure that the filipino people where so proud of you guys to represent the Philippines
Trevor: One of the perks of being in a band i guess
Henry: We played with bands from Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand at the Nokia Showcase for the Music Matters Convention in Hong Kong. It was a huge thing for us to be representing our country.
HMTV Asia : Congratulations guys are you on tour right now
Alex: And because of that Hong Kong gig, we got to know more contacts from different countries in Asia. we are currently working on a trip in some of the asian countries. The band recently was part of Baybeats Festival in Singapore last August.
Trevor: Yeah that was one of the best gigs ever
Russell: As of now, we're not on tour yet...but soon after the 2nd record is done then we might start touring to promote it :)
Henry: Everyday in Manila is almost like being on tour, we've had alot of gigs here and the nice thing is even though you play at alot of the same places there's always alot of people in the audience who have never seen you before.
Russell: That was prolly our best gig to date! hehe:)
HMTV Asia : We will surely wait for that, Are you guys planning to do US tour one day
Trevor: Wow that will be the day
Russell: Yup that will be the day!
Russell: haha!
Henry: Damn
Henry: That is a dream we wish would come true
Alex: We hope so. but it really depends on the contacts i can get there. I'm planning to fly in first quarter of next year to check out where we can start there. maybe check out small clubs or something.
Alex: But for the meantime, we are concentrating on going back to our asian neighbours. We hope next year to do an asian tour. then maybe from there go to the US. we'll see. nothing to loose if you dream big. hehe.
HMTV Asia : Hollywood Music TV is dedicated to artist from all over the world our shows is seen to more than 100 countries and it would be an honor to one day see you here in the US
Henry: I hope that one day we will conduct an interview face to face with you Kristine Performing in the US would be our most amazing achievement yet.
HMTV Asia : That would be my pleasure to meet the band
HMTV Asia : As A band whats your biggest challenges ?
Alex: Yup, any help we can get so to break a new market would be awesome.
Henry: Probably just trying to stay sane along way from home, trying to live with each other in a cooperative way, and dealing with the long gig nights.
Henry: Performing is it's own reward though, everytime we play in front of an audience we remember why we are here in the first place and why we are still together as a band.
Patrick: For me, my biggest challenge was to move here in Manila leaving all my loved ones behind
HMTV Asia : Whats your inspiration when writing a song
Henry: We've all left loved ones behind, but we've gained some new loved ones here as well hehe And our fans make us feel at home here but we do miss home very much
Patrick: Indeed
Henry: Real life and the struggles that we all go through are some the main inspiration for our music
HMTV Asia : To what type of genre will you consider your music?
Trevor: hmm
Trevor: Thats always been a hard question for us to answer
Russell: The thing is, we never really limited ourselves to listening to one kind music...hehe
Patrick: It's simply rock and experimental i guess
Trevor: id like to think numetal
Henry: This is one of the hardest questions we've encountered in several interview mainly because our music isnt a genre thats set in stone, it isn't easy to categorize
Henry: Lots of people of called us Emo, Metal, Hardcore, etc... but the truth is we are the sum of all these parts.
Russell: I'd like to think it's a lil bit of everthing that u can call a genre..hehe
Henry: We are what our individual influences bring to the table
Trevor: Yeah something like that i guess
HMTV Asia : How will you describe the music scene there in the Philippines?
Trevor: Thriving?
Trevor: There are alot of really good bands here
Trevor: Gigs here and there
Russell: It's rich. cuz Filipinos make music a big part of their lives..hehe
Henry: Yup, lots of good bands and lots of promising new musicians its a very vibrant scene probably one of the best in asia. And we've seen the music scenes in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong
Trevor: I agree
Trevor: Probably one of the best in asia
Alex: The scene here is active. really depends on the back-up and the amount of work you put in. the good thing is there is something to look forward to if you work hard coz the scene is alive.
HMTV Asia : Thats true people get inspiration to music whether they are sad, happy or just want to chill
Patrick: The music scene here is different from the other parts of Asia. Most of the bands here are amazing. They just lack the opportunity to be recognized.
HMTV Asia : What is your main goal?
Russell: MUsic really makes it easier for people here in the philippines to talk to one another making it a medium of some sort to communicate. there are more than 700 dialects spoken in our country btw
Henry: One of our main goals at the moment is to get our second album recorded and released
Trevor: Yeah that was the main goal before
Trevor: The first album
Trevor: Now thats done a second would be our goal
Henry: Without it there really is no hope of getting into new markets like Japan or the US or even into Europe. As a band we really want people to hear us and know what faspitch sounds like live, we've always been a live band
HMTV Asia : Do you guys have any messages to your fans?
Russell: play world of warcraft! hehe
Patrick: rofl
Trevor: Theyre not suppose to know that rusty baby
Trevor: hehe
HMTV Asia : I tried that once but I cant figure it out I play diablo
Trevor: Thats a great game too
Trevor: Same makers
HMTV Asia : Yep
Trevor: BLIZZARD
Trevor: I love starcraft too
HMTV Asia : Before we finish the interview do you have any people you want to thank or anything you want to promote?
Russell: I'm sorry bro...hehe..but u guys sit around all day clickin' your mouse/mice..hehe
Trevor: Henry just got dc
Russell: Thank you Alex!
Russell: hehe
Trevor: Yeah alex is the man
Trevor: We do owe alot to him
Henry: Hi sorry I got disconnected
Trevor: I'm not being kiss ass man
Henry: What was the previous question?
Henry: Alex is our Popsie
Trevor: It's fact. i just want you to know
Russell: We owe a lot to alex, right guys? hehe
Trevor: hehe
Russell: Papsi alex! hahaha
Patrick: We want to thank hmtv asia!
Russell: HMTV Asia is tha bomb!
Smolika: Yup, much thanks to HMTV Asia
HMTV Asia : Thank you guys for this interview i had a great time chatting with you and I hope you will continue to inspire us and make us filipinos proud
Trevor: Thanks a bunch!
Alex: No probs. Lets keep in touch. as soon as we finalize our first song from the second album, we will definitely give you a copy.
Russellmanaloto: daghang salamat HMTV Asia!
