Introducing... the sleepyheadszzzzz
We never thought we’d see the day when compact discs, the once commonplace CD, would be endangered species, a mere instrument of nostalgia and its local variants, sentimientos de patatas and himutok de muscovado, but alas, here we are listening to a couple of Sleepyheads CDs, the post grunge, pre-visual arts band with time and Lani Maestro on their side.
“See Saw,†the band’s 2013 release with cover designed by Maestro, is sure to catch you off guard, with its alternate combinations and contrapuntal mixes that remind the listener of Talking Heads, Velvet Underground, Steely Dan, Asleep at the Wheel, etc., depending on the time of day and not necessarily in that order. Until you realize that they sound like no other. And thus, a band that can only come from the Philippines, ready to trade licks and riffs anywhere from a cruise ship on the Indian Ocean to opium-filled dives west of Calcutta. And you wonder why they’re sleepy — only in their heads of course.
Met the band, courtesy of Maestro, at the Oarhouse in Malate some months ago and they were not boring. Artist and sleepy have been doing some collaborations aside from the aforementioned one, and any synergy of arts is sure to be a positive especially if the stars are propitious. Not only to resuscitate the craft of CD design but appreciation of what’s in it, in short the whole package from tearing off cellophane to looking at the sleeve and jacket from different angles to actually listening to what spins on the player loud and clear — beam me up, Scotty.
Drummer/vocalist Jayvee del Rosario is designated spokesman, and he relates how as a young man in España, Sampaloc he would study lyrics closely, in fact consider them as poetry, which they very possibly were if you listened to Lou Reed David Bowie Bob Dylan David Byrne, all the impressionist elder statesmen when they were not so old or in the case of Reed, not yet six feet under. Del Rosario says he kept a notebook filled with lyrics for potential songs, or maybe he didn’t say it and I am just imagining things because don’t we all — that is, keep a notebook of material we’re working on, watch it grow to perdition or fruition depending on the weather or slant of light.
Guitarist Rico Entico, present during interview at Oar, occasionally side glances at the bar and the pretties flitting in and out through the narrow corridor, decorated with artworks and gewgaws perhaps lifted from a steam liner on the Indian Ocean. He gets his hooks in when spirit moves him, says Lani’s daughter on the cover of “See Saw†resembles many of those who flock to their gigs, she with the fully dilated eyes all black as if possessed by the Jezebel spirit. You should hear his guitar work on Memphis Murder Mystery, never missing a step of the narration about how the Elvis we thought we knew was actually an impersonator because the real one was gay and closeted by the marketing-conscious colonel. Please run that by me again.
Soon enough bass player Erick Encinares comes along and with him a copy of another sleepy CD, “Walk Slowly, See the Peel,†a tribute to the Velvet Underground, which is as serendipitous as it gets because Reed had just recently died and his influence is all over this album of VU covers. They don’t depart much from the originals, but that may be the point after all being tribute, the only things missing are the string colorings and eccentricities of a John Cale and the sexy ambient presence of a Nico. The rest they got down pat, the bass in particular plumbing the depths of lower register back to the basic Velvet beat. This walk is on the wild side where heroin and heroine are interchangeable, yet not one and the same.
Read somewhere that Encinares and del Rosario became friends in Trinity College campus off Cubao, but can you trust blogs? Entico also seemed to balk when upon intro I said, ah, the anti-instant band. Which could be true, though they are not necessarily fans nor purveyors of slow music. Del Rosario also mentioned that he had met me years ago at a poetry reading in UST, by way of Ustetika of Ophelia Dimalanta during the undergrad days of J. Neil Garcia, where he remembers the Tagalog erotica I read about the kasaysayan ng babaeng hubad.
“May bigote ka pa nga no’n,†the vocalist says.
Lani says during a break in the beers that these guys have so much energy. Del Rosario occasionally looks fit to be tied, which can be a good thing. Notwithstanding the Jezebel spirit on the cover of “See Saw,†now a fledgling country singer in Nashville, working on her own collaborations from that side of the world.
Sleepy I read were on the bill when Red Hot Chili Peppers played at Clark last February, so maybe next year the band and Maestro can be invited to Malasimbo for a soundscape adventure. They are bringing back the art of the CD, but no throwback. Just for the pure joy of it, and a healthy reminder that not everything can be found on YouTube or Twitter and there’s a life beyond cyber.
