Beyond the Brim: Fans weigh in on Up Dharma Down's 'Capacities'

Pop-rock band Up Dharma Down (UDD) is, hands down, Terno Recordings' most successful group to date. Its monthly performances at Manila watering holes such as Saguijo, 19 East, and Route 196 as part of the label's Terno Inferno gig series often lead to packed houses well in advance of the ensemble's set.
 

So it was with little surprise that fans flocked to their favored band's third album launch at One Esplanade near the SM Mall of Asia. That same day, November 28, had plenty to offer the live music lover as well. See, Wolfgang played its 20th anniversary concert at the Henry Lee Irwin Theater in the Ateneo de Manila campus, while the Borough restaurant and bar hosted the first of two events to launch a soundtrack from a Cinemalaya film.
 

"Capacities" (Terno Recordings) is UDD's first album in four years. The band has gathered a strong following since the middle of the noughties.
 

Its performance that Wednesday night was no exception. As early as 5:30 p.m., a few dozen fans were already waiting in line to get in, and inside the venue, approximately a thousand or so people were already there.
 

In the run-up to the launch, Up Dharma Down's lead singer Armi Millare (in an interview with The Philippine Star) mentioned the role of fans in getting the word out about her music—and she talked about “a UDD [fan's] community on Tumblr and Facebook.” The Up Dharma Down Community site is run by a group of friends who all share a long-time passion for the band and its music.
 

Two of them, Bel Certeza and Mayee Gonzales, told GMA News Online that they had been fans not long after the band started in 2004. Gonzales, who plays with the post-rock band Mount Analogue, added, “I've been a UDD fan since 2005, back when there was no Tumblr or Facebook, [and there was] just good old Yahoo Groups.”
 

Certeza has recently gained a reputation among some independent musicians and fans for her video documentation of live gigs. “I created the site in August 2009, and [we've] gained [more than] 8000 followers since,” she said. When asked about the site's crossover into social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook, she says that the decision was to help create more buzz for “Capacities” since, as she said, “almost everyone is on Facebook. And on Twitter.”
 

The site has been intensely promoting the album's launch, and channeling fan excitement and buzz about it. They even launched a competition where contestants were asked to explain in a short video why they should be invited to an exclusive “meet and greet” with the band before the launch. Another one of the site's administrators, MC Galang, said she even came out with a series of illustrations called “Countdown to Capacities,” as much of the album's material had been tried out live over the last few years.
 

Much of the focus that night had been on Armi Millare, the lead singer and songwriter for the band. Not a few people noted the energy with which she played a two-hour set and an encore. She told GMA News Online that the most challenging part about making “Capacities” was writing it.
 

“I did not realize that I had written a total of 14 songs until I had been interviewed about the exact number,” she said. “It's not easy to put oneself out there about the experiences that you've gone through as an individual and to let people know how you are at your most vulnerable moments is something rather more personal to me.”
 

“Capacities” is a very different album from the band's previous LP “Bipolar,” and it reflects a conscious decision on Up Dharma Down's part to constantly evolve and change.
 

“Stagnation is not welcome in this group,” Millare said, adding that the band's new sound is just part of a series of changes to come. The aim for this album, she added, is to make something that listeners could grow old with, a bit of nostalgia much in the same way that the album reflects the music the band grew up with.
 

The administrators of the UDD Community site, though, had varied reactions. “They always bring something new to the table,” Gonzales said, “so I suppose the songs from `Capacities' have been a surprise we've waited for so long.” Galang added, “`Capacities' made me cry [and] dance. It stunned me.” She said that she admires the band for always challenging itself in the way it made music and told stories.
 

Certeza said that the album “exceeded her expectations as a fan” and noted that the band is quite comfortable with their new sound. “You could see Armi actually moving to the beat in [the album's carrier single] 'Turn It Well' and she and the band really moved a lot on stage at the launch,” she said. “It made the fans embrace and love them more.”

 

Millare said that there have always been plans to go on the road to promote the new material. When asked about an oft-used trope about the band, that they would be the first Filipino band to break into “the lucrative Anglophone market,” she explained: “I think it's great that people think that. But as much as I'd love for that to happen, I'm also fine with being here.” --KDM/KG, GMA News