Jimmycycle began offering, almost two years ago, a smorgasbord of "soupy songs" that upheld a radical stand on human sexuality as a topic that should not continue to suffer from incredible ignorance, confusion and misinformation. In fact, such songs were delivered the wacky way so as to tone down – if not avoid – brushing with people's sensitivities.
Negative attitudes toward sex and sexuality have proven to be more potent than ignorance in stunting the sexual and emotional lives of so many of our youngsters, resulting instead to teen pregnancy, early parenthood, abortion, drug/substance abuse, sexually transmitted/venereal diseases, suicide and population explosion, among many other pressing issues.
This has happened over and over in time – like a vicious cycle – as most young people are unfortunate to have entered into a critical period of their life ignorant about the purpose of sex, confused about sexuality and guilty about gender preferences.
It is this honesty that draws me to the music of Jimmycycle. After a year, I jammed again with the group for a segment of "BisrocKabataan" aired over 93.1 Smash FM. The acoustic jammin' session pooled in a "new Jimmycycle" with the joining in of Ringgo Jay "Gogoy" Diñero (guitarist), Miller Gabuya (bassist) and Engelbert "Jimbot" Campomanes (on drums).
Down memory lane, bespectacled Jimmelou Daclison, the guitarist/vocalist with a chick-sounding name, was with Expedito "Choyex Doyek" Siaboc (dunno if related to Eduardo "Jay-R" Siaboc) and Arniel "Potenciano" Ong. Siaboc was bassist. He used to deliver a playful rendition of "Pilok sa Kanding" – a song on an intimate adult toy and "Lansiao", one of soupy servings sizzling with double meanings, from erection to dereliction. While, Ong used to strike concave metal plates with a clanging gusto; obsessed with his shimmering Zildjian. He used to cap the foreplay in every jammin' session with that Bisrockin' orgasm that only a Bisrocker could come to terms with.
After playing music together for quite some time, the three decided to part ways for conflict in personal priorities. So, Jimmy pooled in other artists to make way for a "new Jimmycycle".
With a new set of songs, comes a new direction for Jimmycycle. This time, the band collaborates on more mature themes and works on more "empowered melodies" that also mirror the transition of their music from silly goofiness to a more profound examination of life's elegies and celebrations.
The three new members aren't new at all to making music. Gogoy is just so happy to have been "recruited" into Jimmycycle. "Nindot kay ang tirada ni Jimmy mao sad ang akong tirada," he said during the interview portion of the program. It was also learned that Gogoy hails from Cagayan de Oro City and had an orientation of death metal-screamo music with his past colleagues. But because of the lack of support of radio stations in his place, it still is a struggle for them CDO indie artists to be as vibrant as Cebu's.
Miller and Jimbot are members of Bisrock band Timeslot. They clarified that Timeslot hasn't yet disbanded. "Nahitabo lang nga ang among vocalist is having a date with the stork, so ni-"lie low" sa siya," Miller explained. This means the group will be deactivated for some time, so that their transfer to Jimmycycle to create a new set of songs has the blessing of previous bandmates.
The first song given an acoustic rendition was "Adios", Spanish term for "goodbye/so long/farewell". Jimmy tagged this song as "medyo dark". This is based on his personal experience and that certainly many people would be able to relate to the message of the song, as people definitely have their share of highs and lows. "There are moments in our life nga mo-stop la'g kalit pag-revolve ang kalibotan. Mora'g wa ta'y nahimo, wa ta'y na-achieve, mora'g wa tay padulngan. And that there's no other way out," Jimmy said.
Before he gave in to a request via SMS to serve his well-loved "Bakasi", lifted from an old Extended Play album, actually one of first few songs he submitted to Smash, he first introduced the powerful, evocative and the genius in the guitar works of Gogoy in "Open Words". Written in English, Jimmy assured that "even Bisrock artists makamao sad mosuwat og English songs."
That's also where Jimmy would want to bring his music. To redefine Bisrock. "Bisaya rock is about us playing our music. It could be in any language that we believe we can be best understood. We don't make music para lang dali masakyan sa mga tawo. The fact that we are artists, we are here to spread our wares so to broaden people's choices or preferences in music," he explained.
And then he moved on to "Wa Na'y Gugma", a soulful marriage of the melody in his head and the passionate arrangement of chords woven by Gogoy and Miller. "Kon imo ning paminawon kantaha mora siya'g love song, pero kon imo gyud nga sabton pag-ayo imong mabantayan nga anti-love song diay siya. Mao na karon ang transisyon sa among musika," Jimmy pointed out.
"…wa na'y gugma…puro na lang kayugot, puro kasamok." So much trouble in the world, turf war on a global scale. Man prays for peace, yet fights for selfish reasons. Peace becomes a Utopian dream.
Enthusiasts would be able to grab a copy of their new EP album in the next months featuring Jimmycycle's six new songs. "Naglisod gyud mi tungod sa skedyul nako sa trabaho ug unsaon sad ani pag-funding sa among project, pero paningkamotan namo nga mag-EP," he assured.
Other than Lansiao, Jimmycycle is the voice behind Tomboy, Peling Gwapa, Pilok sa Kanding, Kodigo, Unsa Ning Tama-a, among many others.