Ladies and gents, meet the new Imago
MANILA, Philippines - A poster of Imago’s 2006 album, “Blush,” still hangs on the wall of our band rehearsal studio in Maginhawa, Sikatuna Village. I often wonder as I stare at it — the four of them in bloom, wearing fairy makeup and styled hairdos; dashing, debonair and smelling pretty — What happened?
For a huge majority of the listening public, Aia de Leon’s parting from the band only became known when she made a brief (and tragic) appearance on The Voice Philippines. Before that, the band’s last release was “Effect Desired None,” the album responsible for the single Ang Huling Yakap ng Mundo. Perhaps the single was a sound farewell to a member and, in part, to a musical style and direction. “Kapit,” their recently released album, is undoubtedly one of their grittier and heavier albums.
I caught up with the band at one of their gigs at The 70’s Bistro and the questions about Aia’s leaving and about the band’s new lineup were at the top of my list. The band and I sat on the curb outside the venue as Pedicab played their set. “Aia wanted to pursue a solo career,” Zach Lucero said. “That was March 2013 and we weren’t going to stop anyone from pursuing anything they wanted to do in life. So, she left. And then we decided to pursue the band and continue.”
Zach spoke for the band and, yes, it was as simple as that for Imago. “Practicing and songwriting took awhile. But even that wasn’t long for us — everything was pretty fast,” he added. Also, he has since changed his role from being the band’s drummer to one of its guitarists. He says that it had been his longtime desire to move back to playing guitars and the reshuffling presented “a pretty good excuse.” Tim Cacho stands his ground on lead guitar and so does Myrene Academia as the band’s bassist.
“At that time, we just wanted to play. So anything goes naman,” Myrene said. “So, sige, we’re starting out again — sort of — ‘So, yeah,’ sabi namin kay Zach, ‘maggitara ka.’”
“Isa lang naman rule namin diyan, eh: Kung gusto mo maggitara, maggitara ka all the way. Seryosohin mo. Don’t half-ass it,” Tim said.
NEW RECRUITS
With the loss of Aia and Zach moving on to play guitar, there was no question that the band needed new recruits. They said it wasn’t hard for the band to look for someone new to take on Zach’s old post. Mervin Panganiban, their new drummer, narrated his short conversation with Zach, “Sabi ko, ‘Okay, I’ll play. Anong banda?’ Sabi niya, ‘Imago.’ Sabi ko, ‘Are you sure? Di ba ikaw ‘yung drummer no’n?’ I didn’t know na nagrere-group ang Imago no’n so sabi ko, ‘Okay.’ Ever since naman, gusto ko na sila katugtugan, eh.”
Tim explained further, “Dati kasi, sa college band namin (called “Feerless Freep”), si Mervin sa drums tapos si Zach at ako sa guitars. Eh sumikat si Mervin kasi tumutugtog siya sa Sugarhiccup. Iniwan niya kami. So ngayon, bilang payback, inagaw namin siya.”
Mayumi Gomez takes the place of Aia as the band’s vocalist. Before she was taken in by the band, she had stints modeling and hosting. But what caught the band’s attention was Mayumi’s self-produced electro-pop EP. “Darwin (from Soupstar Entertainment) was able to get hold of one,” Mayumi said. “He called me up. I thought he was going to manage me as a solo artist, but he told me, ‘Parang bagay boses mo sa Imago. Gusto mo bang magjam with them?’ So, ayun, napunta na sa studio.”
“I’ve been a fan of Imago ever since I was a teenager,” Mayumi said,. “‘Yung unang song na natutunan ko sa guitar is ‘Taning.’ It’s a big honor for me to continue the band’s legacy — to sing the songs na dati ko pa minahal. It’s also fun to be with them na veterans na because I get to learn a lot.”
“In fairness kay Mayumi,” Tim said, “Ang dami niyang kinailangang i-absorb na techniques on performing onstage at iba pa, atsaka kailangang gawin kaagad kasi we wanted to get the band up and running as fast as possible. Buti mabilis naman siya. Actually, si Zach pa nga ang maraming sabit.”
To which Zach replied, “Sinasabi nila sa akin, ‘Ba’t ang laki mong bulas sa stage?!’ or ‘Ano?! Hindi mo alam ang “A”?!’ or ‘Ang tagal-tagal mo nang alam ‘yung Akap nagkakamali ka pa rin do’n?!’ ‘Yung mga gano’n ba. Si Mayumi naman, ‘di namin siya pinapakain ‘pag nagkakamali siya.”
Onstage, however, Mayumi sings with a certain lightness that contrasts the towering figures of Tim and Zach on guitars. She dons a vintage design microphone and maintains a vocal prowess that blankets the pounding of the drums and the guitars’ gnashing sound. Their rhythm section of Myrene and Mervin performs in solid form, powering through and sending a confident message to whoever’s listening: make comparisons all you want, this band will keep on playing.
“The end goal is to be onstage,” Myrene told me before their set. “Every night that you play, that’s already some fulfillment. If you have to worry about comparisons, that’s just going to paralyze you and color your every move. It takes the fun out of things. You don’t have to worry about criticisms like that — wala na rin naman kaming magagawa kasi ito na rin naman ‘yung lineup. That was then, this is now. You can’t do anything about that. There’s criticism that we can do something about. Maybe we can talk about those. Pero stuff like that na ‘It’s not the same as before.’ We say, ‘Yes, of course not.’ Kasi iba ‘yung members na, eh. Wala na kaming magagawa ro’n, sorry.”
Imago has neither left music nor has the music left them. In fact, they have just welcomed new blood to join the show. And the changes are evident, even in Kapit’s album artwork which comfortably rests far away from Blush. From a heavily manicured cover in 2006, we’ve got the band turned into action stars drawn digitally on an ‘80s-style cinema billboard in this newest release. In a hundred ways, that answers my first question best.
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