Let the bands play!

The online program aims to showcase emerging bands and talents — true to its commitment and core values to promote Filipino talent and present it to the world.

MONDAY Mixer’s first live performers, The Pub Forties.

A big fan of music? An OPM lover? Or do you just want to stream new content on Facebook? If yes, Daily Tribune’s “Monday Mixer” is totally right for you! The newest addition to TribuneNow, the digital counterpart of the newspaper which releases and produces news updates and video contents, features live performances of the hottest, newest and up-and-coming bands via Facebook.

The online program aims to showcase emerging bands and talents — true to its commitment and core values to promote Filipino talent and present it to the world.

Debuting last 19 August, the livestream has already featured three local bands: The Pub Forties, KEN and the Caminos Band. Each of them shares the same passion for music but not the same music genre.

The Pub Forties is an alternative rock band composed of seasoned journalists from different newspaper publications. They gave an enthusiastic performance of 80s covers and their rock originals.

Next we had KEN, a synth-pop band composed of three doctors from different fields of medicine, with a slew of original songs they managed to create and release in record time.

Each band offers great music despite of the differences in their respective genres. They simply showed that music is indeed a wide language and can be used to express each person’s creativity and also to share a piece of themselves through their music.

Recently, our jam session with Caminos band gave us a chance to talk and here’s their story.

KEN is a band of doctors from different fields of medicine.

From the quirky songs of APO Hiking Society to the soothing melodies of alternative rock band Hale, there will always be a familiar tune which will never fail to take us back down memory lane.

At a time ruled by electronic music and the so called “hugot” music, one band is now geared up to bring the old school tunes back for a modern comeback.

Composed of AJ Uyan (vocalist), Jingee Trayvilla (guitar), Edsel Perona (drums) and Jino Raymundo (bass), the band Caminos is sure to treat listeners to a nostalgic dive with their wistful sound and quirky lyrics.

If one were to listen to their original songs, a pang of nostalgia will hit the audience.

Vocalist AJ credits the familiarity to the time the songs were composed. It was during the early 2000s when the band was still active.

“You will not believe it but our songs were composed in 2008,” vocalist AJ said when asked about how they ended up with their songs.

The long-time friends from De La Salle University and Mapua started playing as a college band in 2006, but had to take a hiatus to settle their priorities.

As both full-time musicians and university students, the four members admitted that it was difficult to juggle multiple hats at once.

Adulting and responsibilities, drummer Edsel said, prompted them to pause with their passion for a while.

Their friendship, however, remained intact. They would still jam once in a while but AJ credits their formal reunion to their drummer.

“Fortunately, Andrew (Edsel) was able to reunite us because of his passion for music,” AJ said, delight evident in his tone.

They are now fathers and professionals, with AJ and Jingee pursuing careers in engineering, Jino in information technology and Edsel in medicine.

The two-year break didn’t stop them from making their comeback as they are now determined to pursue their passion.

The Caminos renders nostalgic and quirky tunes to their songs.

If lined up with hundreds of bands, Caminos will have no trouble standing out.

They are distinct because of their upbeat music and quirky lyrics. “We want to write songs about things that are often unseen — personas which are neglected and cultures which seem to fade in time because there is no document of it in daily lives,” says Jino who is also the main composer of the group.

Some of theirs tracks include “MMK (Mamang Manong Kaskasero)” which talks about the difficulty of everyday commute and “Sergio” derived from the hit telenovela in 90s Marimar.

When asked about what songs they would love to compose for their new audience, the band jokingly answered that they would have songs about Lazada, Grab and the milk tea and Samgyupsal (Korean barbecue) craze in the country.

If there is someone the members are thankful for then it is their respective partners.

According to them, their dream of returning to the local music scene will never be a reality without the support of their families.

Just like how guitarist Jingee put it, “This will not happen without their support.”

The other members agreed, saying they could never have taken the leap back to their passion if not for their wives and children.

They might have taken a long break but Caminos remains optimistic of the future. They are not planning on taking a shortcut back to the scene but are now enjoying every moment spent on stage. Know more about them by visiting their Facebook page www.facebook.com/caminos.

Now, who says Daily Tribune is just for hardcore, fearless and straightforward news? Have a break, chill and enjoy music by tuning in @dailytribuneph on Facebook, every Monday, 3 p.m.

Watch our past episodes at Daily Tribune’s official website at https://tribune.net.ph/index.php/category/tribune-now/monday-mixer/ or follow DailyTribunePh on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for more updates.