Shamrock sings Afterimage

Many rock bands are called but only few have sustained their music. Shamrock belongs to the latter for surviving the local music scene’s ever-changing landscape. This time around, the three-piece band with vocalist Marc Tupaz will sing Wency Cornejo of Afterimage in the album titled Legacy. 

“It’s a long history of not only friendship but also of working together,” says Marc of hatching a tribute album for Wency and the Afterimage music. “And if there was a (group that would) give him a tribute, it would be us. (Another) reason why we did the album is because we consider him an icon. We want to spread that word.”

Shamrock revives Wency’s songs all right, but it still echoes the band’s signature sound — “loveternative.”   

“(The album) is totally different,” Marc shares. “It’s our take on (Wency’s music). It’s not Afterimage. It’s not Wency. It’s still us. Let’s see how it works out.”

Before hitting the recording room, Shamrock picked out 10 songs from the songwriter-singer’s catalogue. According to Harald Huyssen, the band members considered the popularity of the chosen songs — meaning “people know (them) well.” At the end of the session, Shamrock had Mangarap Ka, Tag Araw, Magpakailanman, Walang Hanggan, Habang May Buhay, Tag Ulan, Finding It Hard To Breathe, Bai, Musikero and Next In Line to comprise its latest CD.

The challenge for the group was to take each song and make it its own. “It was like (Wency) was the songwriter and he gave us a song,” says Harald.

What’s their favorite Wency Cornejo tune?

“Naging favorite ko yung Finding It Hard To Breathe, Musikero, Magpakailanman and Tag-araw,” says Nico Capistrano.

“Next in Line is my favorite,” adds Sam Santos. “It’s simply because that was the popular song when I got interested in music. (By listening to it), moments like having my first acoustic guitar and (hearing) other songs of Afterimage (for the first time) are coming back to me. (I wish I could compose such song). Para maisulat ng isang tao yun, kailangan ng matinding talino. It is anthemic. Yung mga salita na ginamit ay malalim.”

Listeners definitely can go down memory lane with songs Wency only wrote for himself.

Testing the recording waters of Manila in 1999, Marc first met Paco Arespacochaga of Introvoys and the latter introduced the former to Wency. At that time, Marc was deadset to play with a band and formed his own band, now known as Shamrock, years after. Marc says Paco and Wency are generous in sharing their musical insights with him.

“(Wency) told me to stop singing,” Marc laughingly recalls one of the most valuable pieces of advice Wency has given him. “It only motivated me to improve my singing.”

Also known for singing theme songs of Captain Barbell, Fantastik Kids, Joaquin Bordado, Jewel in the Palace, My Sassy Girl, Jumong and Playful Kiss, members of Shamrock have learned to adjust to each other’s peculiarities to work as one.

“I think it’s just like relationships. For us, when things come up, we talk about them,” says Harald. This matters, especially when you have a member who has the straightforward Western upbringing while others tend to beat around the bush.

Where is Shamrock heading to after recording four albums and scoring some hits?

“To be honest, I don’t know,” says Marc. “Musically, we know where we will go. (That’s) wherever the songs and the compositions take us.” This means Shamrock will not try to sound this way or that way because it’s the trend these days. The group will simply do its best to interpret new songs and give them justice. With that, Shamrock seems not after the genre of songs it can explore and experiment because the song “depends on the composition and the arrangement,” says Marc. And it defines its form.

Marc recalls when they recorded Alipin, Sam told him “na i-try mo ang idea na may binubulungan kang babae. I whispered the song and it worked.” 

(Shamrock will launch Legacy on Dec. 1 at The Centerstage of Metrowalk in Ortigas.)