Peso Movement: New fangs for the old hands

“Damn! I love that band,” Kjwan bassist Kelley Mangahas exclaimed as he popped out of Alphonse Bistro one Wednesday evening in May. He was, of course, referring to Peso Movement, the quartet onstage that had just finished powering through a blitzkrieg set as part of a benefit show organized for someone’s father who was to undergo bypass heart surgery. Mangahas wasn’t alone in his awe of the familiar faces who, by then, were already packing up their stuff and about to hop off the platform. All around, one could hear applause, cheers and the occasional playful jeers from the audience. When the four stepped out the door, sweat beading their faces from the efforts of the past 20 minutes, they were greeted by friends and fellow musicians who commended them for a pretty fun, solid set. The scenario is textbook. It seems everywhere the foursome of Japs Sergio (guitars/vocals), Francis “Brew” Reyes (guitars), Macky Macaventa (bass), and Kurt Floreska (drums) go, so does the outpouring of admiration for their collective’s work. This is not surprising: Reyes was with The Dawn for most of the band’s run, Floreska hit the skins for pop-rock outfit Soapdish, Macaventa sessions for The Dawn every so often and is a prolific reggae/dancehall bassist, and Sergio was with Rivermaya. But being veterans from acclaimed bands is not stopping them from taking it all in—not with the arrogance of one whose relative level of success consumes his ego but with the gusto of a kid who just wants nothing more than to play in his band. With this new project they call Peso Movement, it’s back to square one for Sergio, Reyes, Macaventa and Floreska—and they’re loving every moment of it.

'Shocker' As far as Sergio is concerned, he started writing what would eventually be Peso Movement’s songs to live out something he wanted to do after the release of his synth-pop-driven solo project, Monologue Whispers. “I wanted to do something totally opposite na ‘shocker’ in a way, pero within my comfort zone pa rin,” Sergio starts. “But [it has to be something] that a lot don’t know I can do. Actually, it was something I’ve been wanting to do even when I was still in Rivermaya.” Reyes, apparently, was one of the very first ones to be taken aback by the grit of Sergio’s work. “As in sobrang contrast eh. Dirty, distorted, fuzzy guitars,” Reyes relates. “[When I first heard it], I said, ‘Ano plano ni Japs dyan? Is he gonna turn that into a band? Because if he is, I’m in. I don’t care what I’m gonna do.’” Reyes jokingly adds that in a sense, he “forced” his way into the band. “Hindi naman,” quickly interjects a chuckling Sergio. Benevolent dictator Peso Movement has no doubt been fuelled by Sergio’s vision from the start, and no one’s arguing. In fact, everyone in the band not named Japs is comfortable with the direction the band is going. The collective’s resolve to do exactly how Sergio envisions the songs says as much. “Japs laid down the law,” says Reyes. “Unfortunately,” Sergio chimes in. “Hindi naman unfortunately,” Reyes replies back. “Fortunately.” “With the way Japs wrote the songs, there’s no other way for it to work,” interjects Macaventa. “You just have to play it as it is.” “But I guess the secret why nag-react kaming lahat to the songs [in the first place] is because it’s a gigantic-sounding thing,” explains Reyes. “So, if you have one main riff and then yung bass nagka-counterpoint lagi, or the other guitar is making a counterpoint, it weakens the riff. So, we’re all, ‘Here’s the riff. We’ll play it to death.’ It’s that. Japs laid down the law na, ‘I want to be the benevolent dictator here.’ He writes everything and that’s fine. So, may common sense kami na, it really has to sound like this. We accept it because we believe in what he’s writing.” Renewed fire For a band whose members are not-so-young, Peso Movement plays with youthful vigor. “It sounds contradictory, but as a band, we’re hungry. But as individuals, we’re not,” Reyes says. Indeed, if one looks at the accomplishments of each of the members of Peso Movement, it is not hard to imagine that there’s anything left for them to be excited about. But that’s just the thing. Their personal histories make the prospect of collectively “starting from scratch” even more exciting.      “Nakadagdag talaga sa excitement—lalo na sa aming dalawa,” says Sergio, referring to bandmate Reyes. “Kasi, when Kiko joined The Dawn, The Dawn na 'yan eh. Very established band. Nung sumali ako ng ‘Maya, ‘Maya na yan eh.” “By default, we kind of became—for the lack of a better word—rock stars as a result,” adds Reyes. “In a sense, nakisakay lang kami eh. And thank you for those experiences. Thank you talaga. We don’t deny [our history]. But, we always go back to, 'Wouldn’t it be great if [we started] from the ground up?’ And that’s exactly what we’re doing right now.” “I was pleasantly surprised because I consider this an old new band,” Macaventa interjects. “It’s a new band in a sense na, well, the songs for me are fresh. The approach is fresh. Playing with these guys is a fresh experience because I’ve never really played with these guys in a band setting before.” Floreska, who for the most part of the conversation is content with listening, flashes a smile while nodding in agreement. “I think everyone felt a genuine excitement and it really does feel like it’s our first band ever, which obviously it’s not,” says Reyes. “It’s a weird combination of experience and personality and understanding eh. And it’s actually the sort of thing that I think everybody wishes for when you join your first band.” Passion, purpose, push The band acknowledges that the landscape of the present-day local music scene is different from when each of them first got in years ago. “Honestly, it’s not an ideal time to form a band with intentions to—syempre, like any band, goal namin—become bigger. Kahit in terms of influence man lang,” says Sergio. “Kasi, nasa period of uncertainty yung eksena. Di lang locally. Everywhere.” But that doesn’t deter the quartet from doing what they do best. They offer different takes on why they push forward, but if there’s one thing that can be taken away from what each of them said, it’s that at the end of the day, they are on the same page. “We’re very optimistic that the wave will go back to a more recent level,” says Sergio, “And when the time comes, we want to at least have one foot in the door.” “You can play your guitar in your bedroom and that’s great. But when you play a guitar and play a song, play a riff and someone outside of that says, ‘Hey! That was really good! Galing!’, then, what you’re doing in your bedroom actually has a purpose,” explains Reyes. “You’re trying to communicate something. Initially, it’s for you because may gusto kang i-express. But it’s a...great feeling when someone goes, ‘I really like what you did. I can relate.’ Eventually, it’s not even about you or about the person anymore. It’s about that exchange. That moment. Nothing can replace that.”      “Ako, ang sarap lang ng feeling na I’ve been playing for a long time but still don’t stop growing as a musician and as a person,” shares Macaventa. “It’s a validation na music is something that I probably will never give up.”      “Our future is not limited to any idealistic thoughts. Pero bottom line is, we’re gonna do this,” Sergio says firmly. “We’ll be in the scene. We’re gonna release an album.  We’ll help in our own little way. We’ll support whichever bands—the big bands, the small bands—anyone. We’ll give help to the younger bands.  And we’ll see from there if things pick up. Pero whatever happens, win-win sa amin.”      “Bottom line is, right here, right now, masaya kami [sa ginagawa namin],” says Reyes. — BM, GMA News