Thoughts And Notions, Not your ordinary Pop-rock band

2006 Album Review By: Josie Santos

 

Heard of any new refreshing sounds lately? Well if you haven't then you should try listening to Thoughts And Notions' debut album In Awe of his amazing Love. This writer was lucky enough to be given the honor to do the review of the album from a new band from down south in Cagayan de Oro named Thoughts And Notions. Initially, I hesitated because I still had other writing assignments piling up on my desk. But since this band is new, I decided to give it a go. At least it's something new to the ears. I took a careful look at the CD cover as well as the inlays, and I found myself intrigued by this band. They even got a message written in the CD inlay for people who were able to purchase a copy of the album. I hurriedly popped in the CD in my PC and decided to listen to it while typing my writing assignments away. The opening track, "My Love Song", immediately captured my ears as the guitar riffs played on. I didn't even notice that I was already tapping my fingers to the beat while I was typing on the keyboards. Then I remembered that the song rang a bell. I heard this song before but from what radio station seemed to escape me from the moment. The rest of the songs in the album offer an assortment of delicately balanced pop-rock tunes that will surely delight the listener's ear. It came as a huge surprise to me when I was able to log into their website and come to know their remarkable story. So I started a research about the band and contacted the band's manager/founder/Lyricist Jasper Lloyd Tan.

 

We scheduled for an interview at the band's makeshift rehearsal/recording studio a few days later. The band would then relate to me   their humble beginnings as a part of their church's music ministry. How they thought of writing and composing their own original songs and independently released the album where they donated a part of their earnings to their Church's youth group. "We actually never thought that our music would reach the national level." Thrina, the lead vocalist of the band would share to me relating to their surprise discovery by Praise Music. The band was actually founded by lyricist Jasper Lloyd Tan, songwriter Wilbert Tan, and Lead Vocalist Thrina Dimaano, who were the centerpieces of their Church's music ministry. The band has literally transformed from a backyard project to what it is now today, a band that is seriously playing their music to a larger audience. "When Praise Music signed us to a distribution contract, that was the only time we began to think of seriously pursuing our music. When we released the album independently through our church, people began giving us good reviews which in turn inspired us to send a copy to Praise music." Jasper enthusiastically relates. With that surprising development, the band decided to hold auditions that would formally complete their line up because Wilbert had to leave the group to concentrate on his other band. The recent additions of Vocalist/guitarist John Fernandez, Lead Guitarist Tim Marquez, Bass player Alvin Carreon, and Drummer Jun2x Dychauco (who also came from the same church) would then come to fully define the band's future.

 

What sets them apart from other bands out in the market is their drive to bring positively infused messages to their positively infused sound. The band looks up to Jars Of Clay and Sixpence None the Richer as their influences. And they want to follow in their footsteps in bringing the kind of music with faith driven messages. So I asked them if they are not afraid to be put in a box as an exclusively Christian band, knowing that there are still some quarters out in the mainstream market that discriminates Christian bands. "We have to admit that we do have fears regarding that, but we have faith in our music and what we really want to do right now is to share our brand of music and the message that we hope to communicate. There are a lot of Christian bands out there that are enjoying mainstream success, bands like Switchfoot, P.O.D, Jars, Sixpence, and even U2 was once considered to be a Christian band, and who still continue to have a very strong following. So we really don't see that as a problem." Jasper passionately tells me as the rest of the band nods in approval. The guys do have a point. John, Tim, Alvin, and Jun2x would also volunteer to share to me that the band still has a lot of music to share, this time with a universal message. "We have songs ready for our next album. We're going to be more diverse this time. Of course we know that universal themes such as romantic love are the norms, we have songs like that in the next album, but we won't be deviating from the band's main messages."

 

I took a close look at the lyrics of their songs on their debut album upon reaching home and I could easily conclude that one can easily identify to any, if not, to all the songs in the album. For Christians, there are songs that are an ode to the Christian faith like "Savior", an anthemic alternative rock sounding song that speaks about who could save us in our times of trouble, which of course is Jesus Christ. Or the conscience driven powerful song "Repentance." There are the standard Pop-rock songs like "Brand New Day", "Defender", "A Love So Real", and "Strength I Need." Or even the acoustic driven songs like the soulful song "Healer", and the acoustic delight "My Journey Ends." But what really captivated this writer is the song "Earthbound Angel." The song is just so damn beautiful! One listen to it, and it can surely melt your heart away. Some might call it cheesy, but for me, the song is truly one of the most honest and sincerest song that I've heard in a long time that talks about what love should be. I wonder how the band managed to make this song? Or what was on Jasper's mind when he wrote the lyrics of the song. I know that the band is quite new, and they might not be as well known as the more established bands yet, but they do show a lot of promise. And they can surely bring something different, something positive to our ever growing and evolving music scene. For those of you who want to hear something new, then Thoughts And Notions is your band. You might find the answers to your emptiness in their songs.

2021 UPDATE: Attaching the link to where you could listen/download our debut album in your favorite digital streaming apps. don't forget to follow our Facebook Band Page and Twitter Account too! As well as our YouTube Channel. Many Thanks! :)

Listen to our songs here:

https://bfan.link/in-awe-of-his-amazing-love

Follow and Like our Facebook Band Page

https://www.facebook.com/ThoughtsAndNotionsBand/

Follow us on Twitter:

Totsandnotions (@totsandnotions) / Twitter

YouTube Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/totsandnotions

Our second live gig: Love Radio Movie at the Park

With the disastrous debut live performance behind us (see last post), we were on the look out for our next live performance and we were fortunate enough to have been invited to guest in a Love Radio event in Cagayan de Oro. This was through the efforts of Brother Bong Bass, resident Love Radio Cagayan de Oro DJ. We also tagged along Alex Ramirez and Jessie Huyno's band to join us on stage for the live performance. Dubbed as Love Radio Movie at the Park, the radio station incidentally held a film showing of the movie Passion of the Christ. The movie back then was a controversial topic among Christians because of the excessive violence and bloody depiction of the brutality of the Romans on Jesus Christ's suffering and crucifixion. But personally, I found the movie so visually shocking to the point that one of the songs I wrote in our debut album was actually inspired by this move. The song is titled REPENTANCE and it was written in a way where I imagined and put my presence on that actual event and bore witness to Jesus' sufferings. When I wrote the song back then, I had a tinged of anger after the realizations I went through from watching the movie. To this day, lyrically, this is one of the most important lyrics that I have ever made because it in a way was my tacit acceptance of the sinful life that I had taken part of and also as an act of surrendering my life to Jesus Christ written in lyric form, that eventually became a song through Wilbert's music and Thrina's vocals. The song also strongly suggests that Jesus' sacrifice to save us from our sins should lead us to repent and change our ways. Specially if we come to appreciate what Jesus did for us..... at the cost of his life.

As for the event, this performance served us our final tune up before our album launching. And unlike our debut performance that ended in disaster, this time the band had better control on stage and the performance went smoothly and better than expected. This was during the early part of our singing careers and we were all so eager and enthusiastic to bring our songs to a live audience. So we opened the event by singing original songs from our debut album as well as doing covers of Hillsong and Jars of Clay songs. I'll end this post with the link to the song for you to listen and some more photos from the event that I managed to dig up from my old e-mails plus the invitation letter sent out to us. 

You can check the song in our Spotify and YouTube Music link below:

SPOTIFY Link:   

YouTube-Music Link:

And here's the Lyrics I wrote inspired by the movie:

Repentance

I looked at your bloodied face

And I was caught so amazed

How you did all these things for me

Even though I didn’t come and ask

For you laid down your life

And you breathe your one last breath

It took me quite a while

To realize how wrong I was

How I sinned to you the most

As I see you nailed to the cross

Cause I have finally seen the light

When you breathe your one last breath

God how I’ve been such a fool

To let myself drown into sin

You save me from my sinfulness

For all that I have done

Your blood is now in my own hands

Cleansed by your undying love

I turned away from sinfulness

Now this life is for you to have

 

You laid down your life for us

Showed us your love will forever last

We’ll offer this life for you

And follow you through and through

Thrina Dimaano on Vocals

John Fernandez vocals/guitars

Alvin Carreon on Bass Guitars

Tim Marquez on Lead Guitars

Nelson Dychauco Jr. on Drums

The actual letter of invitation:

March 8, 2006

 

Mr. Jasper Tan

Manager

Thoughts And Notions

 

Dear Mr. Tan:

 

Greetings!

 

96.9 Love Radio of the Manila Broadcasting Company is coming up with a lenten event "Movie @ the Park" on April 08, 2006, 6:00pm at the Community Amphi Theater, Divisoria, Cagayan de Oro City.

 

This free public movie showing features phenomenal film, "The Passion of the Christ" from academy award winning director Mel Gibson.

 

In the connection, we would like to request your band, "Thoughts And Notions" to be the front act before and after the film showing.

(Out Door Sound System to be provided by: St. Benedict Lights & Sounds)

 

As our gesture, by participating in our event. We at 96.9 Love Radio offers you a media mileage as follows:

 

- Full blast playing at 96.9 love Radio of your carrier single "My Love Song"

- 12 x merchandising plugs as part of the event over at 96.9 Love Radio per day daily

- local newpaper ads at Goldstar Daily, Sunstar, & Real Review

- 15 x ad at Parasat cable TV, Ch. 24

- Thoughts And notions will be included in our Posters and Streamers

- Album plugging at the community Amphi theater during the event, using the high-end LCD projector 10.5 x 14 ft. rear projection of strz, and 6x6 of STI college

- Album Selling (if Available)

 

Should there be questions or clarifications to the above, please let me know. i can be reached at tel nos.---------- 

 

We look forward to your favorable response on this matter.

 

Very truly yours,

 

Gene "Brother Bong" R. Bass (sgd.)

Discjockey/account executive

 

Noted by:

 

Ramil T. Malinao (Sgd.)

Operations Head

 

In Awe of His Amazing Love is also available in YouTube Music

I just discovered that there's actually a separate YouTube app called YouTube Music. This is a mix of video/music app that offers a higher sound quality than the default YouTube video. Our songs are also available here in case you don't have SPOTIFY. So please do check them out and share them too. There are a lot more Digital Music Streaming sites that we haven't promoted yet. The links are all in the upper right portion of this site. Do check them out. Thank You😊

Building the BAND... and our first gig of Embarassment

Thoughts And Notions Poster featuring the First Official Band Line Up circa 2006 

I will be continuing our origin story from the last blog entry I wrote. This time, it concerns the formation of the first line up of our band Thoughts And Notions. So as per my last story, Praise Music encouraged us to form a band, because we were tasked to promote our album with the intention to do Mall Tours. There was an agreement that we will also do cover songs of foreign bands whose albums are being distributed by Praise Music in the Philippines. So with this suggestion by Praise Music A&R Al Torres, I went home to Cagayan de Oro searching for musicians that would compose our band. The first priority was our Church's Music Ministry. Unfortunately, not everyone could commit because first of all, most of them were still students in High School or College. Fortunately the resident keyboardist, Nelson Dychauco Jr. (we call him Jun2x) offered to volunteer his College band called "Sadhana" to audition since they were also looking to explore a career in music. At that time, they were already a four piece band with a male vocalist, John Fernandez, who also plays rhythm guitars. The other members were Tim Marquez on lead guitars, and Alvin Carreon on Bass Guitars. Nelson, John, and Tim hailed from the small beautiful island of Camiguin down south in Mindanao and have been friends since they were kids while Alvin came from a different province, East of Mindanao, in Pagadian. They were a mix of raw but talented musicians who were looking to break into the music scene in Cagayan de Oro while mostly playing in school gigs.  

Baptism of Fire: The band gig that went down in Flames

With the band in tact and ready, I contacted an old friend of mine who produces concerts in our city, Anne Sepulveda. I was asking around if there were any concerts or gigs that she knows of where our band could play or guest as a front act. Luckily, she told me that she was producing a Bamboo (the band) concert. I asked if she could still squeeze us in on the line up of bands guesting for the concert. And she readily obliged because we've been working together producing concerts for a time. Then I asked her who were the other bands playing. To my horror and surprise, the other bands that we would be sharing the stage were the cream of the crop of Cagayan de Oro's finest and most popular bands at that time. From the top of my head, we shared the stage with Tabularaza, Gasulina, Peachfuzz, and there was one other band I can't seem to remember. It was either Swerve or was it K9. And then there was us. Compounding things was the fact that Bamboo was the biggest Filipino Rock band at that time. So if you were performing that night, you are assured of a sold out crowd and a packed audience. What have I gotten our band into? But of course when I presented the news to the band, they were up to the challenge. So we started doing our band practices and rehearsals in preparation for this gig. Siblings Alexis Ramirez and Angeli Ramirez (who were also part of our Church's Music Ministry) were gracious enough to offer their place for our initial band practices. So we spent a good amount of time honing our craft, hoping that we could prove ourselves worthy to be lined up with such prestigious bands in the coming gig. And on the day before the concert, we went to an actual rehearsal studio and did our final band practice. Other bands that were lined up in the concert with us were also there. At that time, we didn't know each other yet. So while they were waiting for their turn, one of the band members exclaimed "Ah, there's a showband practicing." I can't really forget this incident even if it happened some 15 years ago because I really find his comment amusing. However, I won't be revealing who exclaimed that, because months after, we became friends and had been a constant help in finding gigs for us.      

The disastrous Baptism of Fire

So the day finally came for the band to show their stuff. And to my horror we messed up onstage big time! Maybe it was the inexperience to play in such a big venue. Or the band was pressured to not mess up their respective parts, knowing that a huge crowd was watching the show. I still keep a picturesque memory of that gig. I don't have a video of it, but it probably looked so much like that scene from that Tom Hanks movie That Thing You Do! (see video below) where the band was performing in a Pittsburgh Concert, their biggest gig at that time, and they messed up with disjointed parts and pieces of their harmony as a band. That's what happened to us. Tim broke his guitar strings. John and Thrina couldn't hear the music properly, making their vocal delivery off from the music. Jun2x was drumming off beat and too fast, and Alvin could not hear the other parts. IT WAS A TOTAL MESS. IN FRONT OF A HUGE CROWD. As John would later say, he was ready to jump off the stage and not finish the set out of sheer embarrassment. Good thing though that the band was able to get over it. Because we have an album launching and a Mall tour coming up as prepared by Praise Music in two of our City's most popular Malls.  

I guess the lesson to be found here is to be not afraid of failures and just soldier on. It was a big break to play in such a huge crowd but it also became a huge embarrassment. What a debut it was. What a way to introduce ourselves to CDO's music loving fans. But we had fun. And we had GOD to clean up our mess and start all over again. And be a whole lot better next time. Just the same with our life, we all go through mistakes and embarrassments. Some, too tough to get out of. But we should always trust GOD that he can make things better for us as long us we put in the work. That's a promise that GOD WILL ALWAYS KEEP. And we all should trust his plan for us. As we did all those years ago..... until today and tomorrow.

Our Praise and Worship Track Savior is on ChristianDance.EU

I don't know what to say..... But here goes. 

ChristianDance.EU is an Europe based Music Promotion group that specializes in Christian Music. Their passion and ministry is to help, curate, promote, and assist Christian Artists that is in need of promoting to get their music kick-started. They are connected with the Official Spotify Team in a way that they get to access the "New Song Releases" every Friday. They told me that 40,000 tracks are being uploaded to the Spotify platform each day (an equivalent of 280,000 songs per week). Which they have to trim down to Christian Songs. Like finding a needle in a hay stack. Now I submitted our song "Savior" but ran some glitches when their system states that this is already an "old" (2006) release, hence not included on the Spotify "New Song Release" radar. 

So the chances are slim that they would be able to include our song. This is due to Spotify's certain requirements and restrictions for a song to be classified as "New." But nevertheless, they decided to include our song. Inspite of the restrictions. I'm speechless..... beyond words..... Call it luck? Or Call it Divine Intervention? You choose, you decide. But for me it's definitely God's plan and grace. My heart has always been pure when I started this Thoughts And Notions effort. I don't want fame, I don't need money. But the desire to share God's Love thru our songs has always been pure in my heart. Everyday is a miracle. Everyday is a blessing. Everyday is a journey, one step at a time. To capture the hearts that needed Jesus the most. This is the story of Thoughts And Notions. And the thing is, ChristianDance.EU exactly shares the same Vision and Mision of our band. As their website states:

Our passion is Christian music. If our ministry somehow contributes to saving one soul, we feel that it is worth it to do a million times more to save one more.

It runs parallel to our band's mission to "Help Uplift Wounded Souls" by sharing God's Love thru music. I've kept on repeating even in our initial inception that even if we cannot reach a million people with our songs, as long as we could help save one soul, then that soul is worth the effort. I'm just overjoyed to be a part of ChristianDance.EU's playlist. Before I encountered ChristianDance.Eu, I myself gathered a dozen different Christian Artists from Facebook Groups and created our own playlists. This is to pool and gather together different Christian Artists that are trying to learn and gain listeners to their songs (will be writing about this in another entry but one of those artists on our playlist is also here in ChristianDance EU's playlist, The Alley J Band). Something ChristianDance.EU has been doing since 2019!

Seems like a match made in Heaven!

Thank You Nico Zwaneveld for your kind gesture. May God Bless your kind heart.

To know more about ChristianDance.EU you can visit their site at:

https://www.christiandance.eu

Like and Follow their Facebook Page at:

https://www.facebook.com/christiandance.eu/

Follow their Twitter account at:

https://twitter.com/ChristianDanceM/

And I'm attaching their Spotify Playlist as well.... Follow and like their Spotify account for your daily fix of fresh Christian Music!

Today's Online News and on the printed Newspaper edition...

So today I woke up to some news.... the Newspaper articles and interviews that I've done with Cagayan de Oro news correspondents Mark Francisco (Business Week, Mindanao Daily News) and Jaime Frias (Gold Star Daily) is finally out. I'm sharing it here so that you guys can access them in one stop. Thank God for allowing us the opportunity to share his LOVE and his WORD through our songs. We hope and pray we could help "Uplift Wounded Souls" one step at a time. To God be the Glory!

Business Week Mindanao

Mindanao Gold Star Daily by Jaime Frias

The return of Oro’s gospel band: Thoughts And Notions (mindanaogoldstardaily.com)

Mindanao Daily News by Mark Francisco

The Re-emergence of Thoughts and Notions - Mindanao Daily News

Oh by the way, I also started a group with various Christian Artists all over the world who shares the same passion as our band. And I've created a playlist featuring chosen tracks from their album and releases on Spotify. You know, it isn't such a lonely world out there when different musicians come together to bring Honor to God and share his Amazing Love. Do check them out in the playlist below. Will be writing about them and our group in the coming days....

A Very Old Interview for our Church's Newsletter

As I continue to dig my old e-mails, I came across this very old interview by our Church's Newsletter FCCY Link. Read on as our feelings and sentiments about the album is as fresh as you can get before our album actually got noticed and distributed by Praise Music. What a Journey it has been! First produced and sold through CD-R burning, then as a professionally pressed CDs from Praise Music, and now Digitally Distributed in Digital Music Streaming Sites!

Q&A with Thoughts And Notions

 

*** How it began...(how you guys got together, who does what..)

 

Jasper: It actually all began from the failed emo album that I was trying to make. Wilbert and I for quite some time were already discussing a possible collaboration for I was a huge fan of his. Thrina came along when we decided to collaborate on a Christian contemporary album. Hands down she was the only choice because she has been singing in our music ministry for quite some time now... and it wasn't such a bad idea to start something original.

 

Wilbert: Yeah, it's been circulating in our minds for quite some time, and we wanted to build a fundraiser for the FCCY-CDO Chapter, so we pooled our resources together and this album was the end result. 

 

Thrina: It actually started with Ahia Jasper and Ahia  Wilbert. They were planning on making an album for the FCCY, they started composing songs and searched for a vocalist. They chose me! :)

 

*** How you guys came up with the name...

 

J: Even way back in my failed emo album, I was already thinking of naming the band Thoughts And Notions. It just came natural because as I was writing the lyrics, thoughts have been circling in my mind, these were my thoughts communicated through music.

 

W: Plus, we all have TAN as our surname. Thoughts And Notions is simply us putting meaning to those initials.

 

T: Ahia Jasper made it up.

 

 *** How you describe your music...

 

Jasper: It's actually Christian contemporary music, for those who are familiar with the genre. But for those who aren't, it's pop-rock with positive meanings... not your typical pop-rock songs. Personally I'd like To call it Emo-Christian hehe...

 

Wilbert: The music does lean on the Christian pop-rock genre, similar to the style of bands like DC Talk, Jars of Clay and Sixpence None the Richer. Although we didn't set out to sound like any of them, we have such high regard for these bands that I guess their influence on us shows in the music. 

 

Thrina: Well, it's modern Christian Music...

 

*** Your first album's theme...

 Jasper: Six words... In Awe of HIS Amazing Love! Figure that out =)

 

Wilbert: It's about acknowledging the change that God's love has done to us and wanting to be a better person because of that love.

 

Thrina: God's love is everywhere...

 

*** What/ who were the people who influenced you to come up with an album?

 

Jasper: It's got to be Barbie's Cradle. I mean they were the first Female fronted Filipino band who expressed their faith through the song "All you need is God." the band though that inspired me to write these types of songs is Sixpence None the Richer. If you got a copy of their "best of" album, try reading the linear notes, you'll know why.

 

Wilbert: Jasper Tan. 

 

Thrina: Ahia Jasper.. :)

 

*** How was making the album like? (How long it took, major obstacles, highlights in the timeline...)

 

Jasper: Well the making of the album was a lot of fun. A lot of sacrifices and patience was needed to pull it off. It took us 10 months to finish the album. The major highlights were the live performance of the FCCY music ministry last Christmas singing our song and the launching of our first single "Savior" when I was giving a talk to FCCY.

 

Wilbert: The making of this album was a very enjoyable task, albeit a very difficult one. We had to be constantly aware if we were sounding like anybody else and veer away from them as much as we could. The 10 songs in this CD took a long 10 months to materialize because I ran into a lengthy bout with artist's block during the time. I was in a rut! But God's grace pulled me through and so finally, here it is, the fruits of our labor.

 

Thrina: It was fun and at the same time exciting.. it took us 10 months to finish the whole album. Since I'm a 4th yr high-school student, there are times when we have to move or cancel recordings due to exams, quizzes, projects. There was even a time that we finished recording 4 songs in one week! hehe.. The first song that we recorded was "Savior". I was so surprised because after Ahia Wilbert taught me the song, we immediately recorded it! 

 

*** The best advice people gave you while making the album was...

 

Jasper: Hmm... Advice? I think the album was a secret project. Nobody knew much about it. So no one gave us any advises. It was just the three of us who were exchanging advises. And the best advice I got was from Wilbert, convincing me to give up the emo project in exchange for something positive.

 

Thrina: ummmm... No one actually knew about us making an album.. Except for my family.. 

 

*** Given that you could put one of your songs in a time capsule, which one would it be? Why?

 

Jasper: I believe Savior is a very good song. It can actually be a very good theme song for Christian life programs. It certainly fits the process. You spend 3 days of knowing your faith and then when that last day comes, someone grabs an electric guitar along with a full band, and everyone starts rocking to SAVIOR! Also Earthbound Angel is a very personal song. It’s actually a love song I wrote for no one hehe… 

 

Wilbert: For me, "Strength I Need" is the song that inspires me to always be aware that in every step I make, God is sure to be there, because more than any vitamin or food supplement or stress tablet in the world, God is my inner strength.

 

Thrina: It would be "My Journey Ends" because I believe that even when you’re already satisfied with what you have done or achieve, you always end up turning back to God. You then offer all that you have done to him.

 

*** Besides the shared family name -TAN, what do you guys have in common?

 

Jasper: We share the same passion in our faith. We might have our shortcomings because we are not perfect but we know deep inside whom we want to live our life for

 

Wilbert: We do have similarities in our likes and dislikes, such as favorite types of music, movies, and comic books. If the three of us could be superhero characters, Jasper would be Superman, Thrina would be Darna, and I would be Batman. We may have different opinions about how to reach our goals, but in the end it's all about trying to make the world a better place to live in.

 

Thrina: We all love music and we always fight for what we believe in...

 

*** Next great leap? (Future plans)

 

Jasper: World Dominance!!!!!! Hehe... seriously, we are just hoping and praying that we could spread HIS love through our music. Winning em' one heart at a time.

 

Wilbert: Well, the Word has been said, now it's up to us to spread it, I guess. So please buy the CD. 

 

Thrina: After we’ve inspired people through God's amazing love, we're planning on making another album... 

 

 

United North Mindanao Music Artists on Spotify and Youtube!

So a week ago (prior to our Digital Music Streaming Launch), I received a private message from Nilo Quitoriano. Nilo is a band member of Southrace, one of the pioneers of Cagayan de Oro's Bisaya Rock music genre. He was asking me if I would be interested in helping him organize and unite various musicians from North Mindanao whose songs are available on Spotify and Youtube. I've worked with Southrace before. They were generous enough to have us guest in their second album's launching way way back in 2008. And we returned the favor by having them play as guests during our second album's launching. So I said let's work it out. So after a week of planning, we have finally planted the seeds of our effort.

So what is United North Mindanao Music Artists? 

VISION

With the easy access of music through the Digital world, it is our vision that one day the songs created by various North Mindanao Music Artists would be discovered, heard, and appreciated not only in North Mindanao, but all over the country and the world at large. Giving various rosters of North Mindanao Music Artists an opportunity to monetize their songs and create a lasting legacy for future generations. 

MISSION

Rooted from our Bayanihan Culture, we come together and help one another achieve a common, greater goal. We aim to grow from individual Music Artist into a community of Music Artists that promotes a culture of collaboration and empowerment through teamwork, innovation, and action. 

The State of North Mindanao Music Scene

The Covid-19 pandemic completely obliterated the local music scene, causing various musicians to lose their monthly gigs. In effect, this shut down the various income generating gigs and concerts that local musicians had been living on to sustain their music. With this development, most musicians turned to the next evolution of music consumption by getting their songs on the Digital Music Streaming sites. There are already various efforts undertaken by the bands (i.e. having their songs distributed by Digital Music Distributors) to jumpstart their career and passion to make music, but some up and coming musicians are struggling to keep up with the change of direction. This brought about the plan of coalescing every North Mindanao Musician under one banner and help each other out in starting this Digital journey. So in the absence of money generating gigs and concerts, musicians with original compositions and materials have turned to Digital Music Streaming. But generating money to be able to pay for their passion isn't such an easy undertaking. To know why, check out the chart below: 

Source: www.freeyourmusic.com

Generating enough streams for the musicians to earn isn't as easy as you think without the awareness. For example for Spotify, your songs would have to be streamed/listened to 229 times to earn your first P50 (minus the share of the Digital Distributor). We may have the entire world as our listeners but these amounts to nothing if nobody streams them. So while bands and artists are able to upload their songs on Digital Music Platforms, earning from them is another problem to tackle. And this is where Nilo, John Paul Gallego Deriquito (from the band Bloodflowers), and I comes in. We have decided to pool our resources together to help pave the way for the next generations of musicians to learn with us. Admittedly, none of the three of us have a total grip on how to do these things correctly in the best way possible (we are learning this together). But with our knowledge of the music industry in our years of studying and being in it, we are hoping that we would be able to share the best practices and learnings that we got in our various efforts to promote our own bands. So one of our initial efforts to create awareness is the creation of the first volume of the North Mindanao Music Artists Sampler. This Music Sampler is the first volume of a monthly mix of songs featuring various bands and artists from North Mindanao. It is our fervent hope that in this little way we would be able to introduce to our North Mindanao listeners a good mix of artists and songs that are proudly Mindanao made.

Picture this. Back then, you'd have to pay a certain amount of money to watch gigs or buy a CD to listen to music. Now, all you need is an internet connection (or LTE data connection) and you'll have your access to the songs. Basically it's a free access to music while helping your favorite bands and musicians earn something from their songs. It's a win win actually! 

So without much further ado, here's volume one of our monthly music sampler that we hope you guys support, share, and stream. As a fellow North Mindanaoan, let us discover together these musical gems that is heard here first. And hopefully heard all over the world! 

Basta, stream lang ug stream! Ug, kung usa ka ka Musician nga taga North Mindanao, comment sa comment section para maka tabang mi guide sa inyo unsaon pag sugod. :)

Or if you don't have Spotify, you can listen to them for free in Youtube:

And you can like and follow the Official Facebook Page of the group to be updated on the latest news:

https://www.facebook.com/unitednorthminmusicartists