Melbourne, Australia.
How did you first start playing music?
Music has always been a part of my life. I came from a lineage of piano players so having a musical instrumental around the house growing up was a normal thing. I taught myself how to play the guitar and started teaching myself how to produce music on Acid Pro, when that was the thing back in the day. I did all the music subjects throughout high school and just started writing and studying songs for fun, never knowing it would lead to this someday.
Been a little crazy, just released the second single, Just Another Love Song and the promo around that has been a little taxing. It’s super exciting though, just really happy to get some new music out there and to be working with an amazing management team (Cartel Management), who have really helped to streamline the process.
Danny and I met many eras ago lol! I was actually his singing teacher back in the day and he came to me with some lyrics that he’d written, and we sat down, and things just started to flow. Originally, we were working more on Danny’s solo stuff with his vocals on the songs but as time progressed, we felt that my vocal would be more suited to how we wanted the stories to be told.
Your debut single ‘Treading Water’ made it to the final of the international songwriting competition, how did this song come about?
Honestly, don’t know how it came about. We were very surprised but nevertheless, humbled, and very thankful for the opportunity. One thing we can attribute to its success is the amazing director for the video clip, Herson Delos Santos. Herson really saw the vision we had for the video clip which centred around the awareness of mental health and really brought it to life. If anything, we’ve got him to thank for making it as a finalist.
The song concept actually started as being a sappier type of love song but as we started to write it, Danny came to me with some lyrics that were a little more painful and about unrequited love. As songwriters, Danny and I both seem to lean towards the more honest concepts around life. If we’re going to write about love, we’re going to write about the little honest thought processes that go on in someone’s head, like how worried we are about being uncool in front of someone they’re attracted to.
JALS was 100% recorded, produced and mastered at my home studio and I did it all on my own. All of our tracks have been produced this way.
It’s the second single and especially after Covid last year, which effectively ruined all of our plans, this single means a heck of a lot. It’s about just getting back out there and being free to just speak truth. As a private person, there’s a lot of things that I write in songs that I’d never say out loud and that’s what these songs do. In effect, being able to speak my mind without actually saying any words. We’re really excited about JALS and for the rest of this year with some follow up singles but JALS is the first cab of the rank and we can’t wait to see how she goes.
Well, Covid was a little of a blessing in disguise. Both Danny and I found that we had more time to write and focus on our music. We were in Zoom sessions every couple of days, just writing our little butts off and JALS was actually a song that was written in Covid. I did a streamed show as well which was pretty fun and slightly awkward because I was clapping at myself at the end of each song.
Who are you listening to at the moment?
I’m really loving JP Saxe at the moment. I love how clever he is with the way he crafts his melodies around the honesty of the lyric.
I’ve recently started taking up bike riding. I’m not very good at it but it’s a good way to get out of the house for some fresh air whilst also incorporating some exercising.
We’re really excited about 2021. We’ve got another 2 singles we’re looking to drop and hopefully an EP towards the end of the year or early 2022. We’re also looking to get out there and do our own shows hopefully in the second part of this year.
Favourite food? That’s a tough question, ummm, everything! Being from a Filipino background, food is definitely a huge part of me. If I had to boil it down to a specific cuisine, I’d have to say Malaysian food because it’s got such a broad variety of flavours.
Favourite place to hang out? I love being outdoors, going on hikes or going camping so one of my favourite places to go to just get grounded would be Wilson’s Prom.
