The Bee Eyes are self-aware and globally conscious Manilenyos, which makes it easier to introduce them to you on their behalf. Just read the bio from the trio's Facebook page:
With influences as far-ranging as hardcore to hip-hop to classic Filipino love songs, the garage pop outfit Bee Eyes is slanging sunny lo-fi jams left and right, a melting pot of not-quite-soul and not-quite-surf, but a sound all their own.
Bee Eyes hails from Metro Manila, where they incarnated in the mid-2000’s as The Love Team, a brohammer hebigatin three-piece churning out in-your-face garage rock. After undergoing a few edits to the lineup, the core group of Julius on vocals, Idris on guitars, and Diego on bass welcomed Ian on drums and emerged onto the indie scene as Bee Eyes with a tighter and more melodic sound that’s now getting noticed on an international scale.
A few months before Bee Eyes open for Canadian rock band Sum 41 in MNL (Oct. 16), let’s get to know each member on a first person account:
Introduce yourselves.
Diego Abad: Diego. I play bass.
Julius Valledor: I'm Julius. I sing and play guitar.
Idris Vicuna: I'm Idris, I sing in some songs, I play the lead guitar and I also play the drums in our recordings.
Describe your band in three words.
Diego: New, genuine and nostalgic.
Julius: Nakakakilig, nakakagigil, nakakainlove.
Idris: Sweet, relaxing and earnest.
Give us a day in the life of your jam sessions.
Diego: We smoke up and jam (joke!). It's almost just like any other day we hang out, except we put our thinking caps on and get our creative juices flowing…kind of like hanging out, but with a purpose.
Julius: It's pretty chill. Sometimes we'll have songs already written, and fill them in, and sometimes we'll come up with something entirely new just from feeding off each other’s energy and creativity.
Idris: We usually just jam it out and pick the best parts from our jam, and then we add the structure afterwards.
Who (or what) inspires your music?
Diego: My love for music inspires me to be in a band and make music.
Julius: Saab Magalona, childhood and dreams.
Idris: I draw inspiration from things that really happened to me, like dreams, my girlfriend, the music I listen to, my insecurities, etc.
What’s something listeners should know about you guys?
Diego: We're not what most people perceive us to be. We're just a bunch of simple, unpretentious guys.
Julius: We want to go on tour with Bruno Mars.
Idris: We do other things besides make music. I direct films and music videos. Julius is a great writer, and Diego is very passionate about learning Spanish.
Do you have any connections with Pil-Am or overseas Pilipino musicians?
Diego: Do we? (Guys?)
Julius: We're cool with TeePee and XRAYEYEBALLS. I was also a big fan of My American Heart. Some of my homies are homies with them, but I don't know them personally. San Diego represent!
Idris: Yeah, but we’ve only ever spoken through the internet. It would be nice to be able to meet these guys and get to hang with them. I think it's important that Pilipinos around the world get together and help each other get to where they want to go.
Which direction do you feel Pilipino music is headed towards?
Diego: Well, I think what most Pilipino bands/musicians want is to reach a global audience. It's no doubt, much easier now with the internet, but there's more to it then just putting your songs online.
Julius: I think Pilipino music and our culture as a whole is definitely going to go global pretty soon. Artists from here are already touring abroad and a bunch of Pil-Ams are making a splash internationally. It's only a matter of time that Pilipinos start really blowing up!
Idris: It depends on how much your music matters to you. I would like to be an example to all walks of life…and that no matter where you come from, you can be recognized for doing something that beautiful and inspirational to others.
Where do you plan to take your music?
Diego: As far as we can. Or where no other Pilipino band ever has.
Julius: We want to be as big as possible to provide a platform for other Pilipinos; not only musicians but filmmakers, artists, designers, writers, etc.
Idris: All over. We want to show Pilipinos that artists can be appreciated not just in their own country, but anywhere they please to be seen or heard.
To listen to Bee Eyes, check out these pages:
*Photos courtesy of Bee Eyes Facebook page.
