MANILA, Philippines - One way to tell if a band is a favorite is to note the frequency of its visits. The US band Boyce Avenue isn’t too sure if its return on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, for a concert at the Big Dome is the fourth or the fifth visit since it first performed here in 2009. But no doubt, it has always been a pleasure for this band of brothers — Alejandro Manzano (lead vocals, guitar, piano), Fabian Manzano (guitar, vocals) and Daniel Manzano (bass, percussion, vocals) — whom purveyors of new media have had cited as one of the best examples of an artist successfully harnessing non-traditional platforms (specifically YouTube) for spreading music and amassing fans.
As Alejandro tells The STAR in this exclusive phone interview, the reception during the first Philippine visit was a “huge affirmation” that he and his brothers were on the right track — and that it kept them going.
Raised in a musical household, the Florida-based Manzanos (who are of Puerto Rican lineage but always get mistaken to have Asian or Filipino blood) have been playing “for years and years.” But it was only in 2007 when things started to “get real” after they grouped themselves under the name Boyce Avenue (after a street they grew up in) and began uploading performance videos to YouTube, resulting to “real-time feedback from people” around the world.
The brothers particularly became popular for their viral covers. On putting a unique stamp on the songs and making sure that these were not simple reworked versions, Alejandro says, “I think a lot of it starts with knowing yourself, your limitations and whatever your interest may be… knowing where your voice sounds best. For me, a lot of it stems from the acoustic guitar and the piano… and it’s gone better in years.”
To date, Boyce Avenue holds the honor of being “the most-subscribed-to and third most-watched band on YouTube” with over one billion viewers and over five million subscribers. In the Philippines, Boyce Avenue is Spotify’s No. 1 most-streamed international artist.
The massive digital fan base has made it possible for Boyce Avenue to travel to 20 countries and five continents (including the US, Canada, Australia, Asia, Brazil, Europe and the UK) in the last three years for live shows. In 2012, the trio also became vocal coaches on the US reality TV show X-Factor. The brothers have also been tirelessly creating original work and last year, they released the No Limits EP under their own label 3 Peace Records.
Here are excerpts from the phone chat with the youngest Alejandro, whom Fabian and Daniel have proudly described in interviews as the “musical genius” in the family.
From left: Fabian, Alejandro and Daniel Manzano STAR
On how special the Philippines is to Boyce Avenue:
“The Philippines is very big deal for us. It’s a very special country for us because when we first started, when we started making and posting videos on YouTube, we didn’t know what to expect, especially from a touring standpoint. We hadn’t played outside the US (at that time). The Philippines was the very first experience wherein we actually went abroad. I believe it was also around Valentine’s Day in 2009 and it was just a very magical tour (four mall shows) and thousands of people came out and supported us. We will never ever forget that feeling, that first time, that first success of playing together outside the US.
“That was probably the best example (of affirmation). Again, we didn’t have any idea of what to expect. We were going (there) because we were getting a lot of comments from people in the Philippines. So, when we got the offer to play those mall shows, it was a huge affirmation that we were on the right path and that (using) YouTube as a platform was a very, very good decision. Because at this point, YouTube has become so mainstream that it’s on everyone’s radar in that sense, but at that time, back in late 2008 or 2009, it was very much a new platform as an artist, as an independent artist, so yeah the Philippines was a huge, huge affirmation for us to keep going.”
On favorites — memories, food, places, etc. — from the band’s visits to the Philippines:
“For us, it’s all about the people — they’re very warm and sweet. And yeah, the production companies, they’ve always taken great care of us and that’s indicative of the culture. We actually did try something, as crazy as it may sound, but it wasn’t bad. It was a fun experience but so typical of the culture. We tried the balut — it was interesting, hahaha! No, it wasn’t bad, it was very salty. Then the malls are obviously epic, some of the biggest malls we’ve ever been in. To perform in them was pretty crazy. Then even just a lot of the stuff (from the Philippines) like Manny Pacquiao, Arnel Pineda, the singer of Journey, like we grew up watching boxing, we grew up listening to Journey, one of our favorite bands of all time. So, (there’s) a lot of cool stuff that has come out of the Philippines.”
On being part of a band of brothers and going solo:
“The best part is the fact that you have your family around, and that kind of love and trust. I love and trust them more than anyone in the world. Especially from a family perspective, there’s a lot of love, bonding and the best time as best friends. On the business side, there’s a lot of trust there, and you don’t have to stress over a lot of things that other bands out there have to stress over. In our case, each brother specializes in a different thing. Daniel graduated from Harvard Law, so he has a very great business and legal mind while Fabian graduated from the University of Florida with an architecture degree, he did a lot of the artistic things for website, videos, album covers, then I kinda do a lot of the music stuff. So, it’s cool I get to benefit from that. It can get maybe a little intense.When you’re with family so much, you need a little separation, but I feel we have struck a really good balance in the last few years, in terms of respecting each other’s space and artistic integrity, whatever.
“As for going solo, I really don’t have interest in that. And it’s interesting because I feel like with us, we all like to express ourselves in different ways, I don’t even view that as going solo as much as… the market is so flexible you can put out this or that artistic idea. Like I don’t view Fabian having his own clothing line as going solo, but it’s just that he has this cool additional thing that he does on the side. I can feel us doing side projects and supporting each other.”
On being more than just a YouTube sensation:
“I’m happy about it. I feel very blessed. Early on, I think we never knew what was gonna happen, especially in the industry, it changes so much, the way people consume music, the way people consume entertainment has drastically changed. Our goal — we were in it for the long run, and always after longevity, not just for the short-term gains, the fact that we’ve survived, with all these changes, it’s a testament to our fans. We feel very blessed to have gone this far, almost on YouTube for eight years now.”
On plans to release a full-length album featuring more of the band’s original music:
“Oh yes, that’s kinda our latest thing. We have been writing a lot of new material. We hope that later on this year, probably, that we have a full-length album. We’re hoping it would be a very dynamic album. It’s shaping up to be like that. There’s up-tempo stuff, but we will have ballad-y stuff, acoustic-driven songs, so we’re excited about it.”
(Boyce Avenue Live In Manila 2015! is presented by Ovation Productions. Ticket prices for the Big Dome concert on Feb. 14 are P5,280 VIP, P4,755 Patron A, P4,225 Patron B, P3,700 Box Premium, P3,700 Box Regular, P2,115 Upper Box and P795 General Admission. Tickets are available at all Ticketnet outlets nationwide and online at www.ticketnet.com.ph or call Ticketnet at 911-5555. For details on the SMX Convention Center-Davao show on Feb. 15 , call 0932-6376185 or 0932-3494499.)