Loving Pranksters
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Kamikazee Loving Pranksters By Karlo C. Cleto Kamikazee has come quite a long way from the band that launched its career with a nu-metal limerick about a lost pair of tsinelas and a lovingly sloppy cover of Britney Spear’s “Lucky”. Formed in 2000 by singer Jay Contreras, guitarists Jomal Linao and Led Tuyay, bassist Puto Astete and drummer Bords Burdeos when they were students at the College of Fine Arts of the University of the Philippines Diliman, Kamikazee has in the eleven years of its existence eclipsed its rather collegiate jokecore roots and become one of the most consistently engaging and surprising rock bands on the local circuit. The jokes are still there- comedy is an indelible aspect of Kamikazee’s music after all- but the laughs are tempered with an ever expanding musicality and compositional confidence. First gaining notoriety for their confrontational, off-kilter and completely irreverent live performances, it was the release of Kamikazee’s 2006 sophomore album Maharot that established the band as one of the top rock units in the country. At its center was the soaring ode to unrequited love, “Narda”, which revealed that the band could handle earnest sweetness as adroitly as it could the comic-punk histrionics with which they had first made their name. The band’s third album, 2009’s Long Time Noisy, would see the band expand its sonic palette as well as the scope of their songs’ subject matter, infusing biting social commentary and a greater sense of adventure and rock experimentalism into songs like “Wala.” The band’s latest album Romantico, is, according to Contreras, a collection of love songs. Which isn’t to say that it’s a departure from the searing punk-metal the band has become known for- Romantico still hits as hard as any Kamikazee release before it- though the band points out that they were aiming for a softer touch on the new album. “Mas mature na rin kami sa banda at maririnig mo ‘yun sa mga kanta,” says the burly and affable Burdeos. “Puwede ka mag-sing along sa mga kanta namin ngayon. ‘Di na kasing-ingay ng dati pero mabigat pa rin.” “Mahilig rin talaga kami sa love song,” adds Contreras. “’Yung last album kasi namin, ang title e Maharot, kaya ngayon naisip naming ilabas yung soft side namin.” Sure enough, it is the more sensitive side of pop that the band is now looking to explore. Having already worked closely with other stalwarts of loud like Chito Miranda of Parokya ni Edgar, Reg Rubio of Greyhoundz, and Ian Tayao of Queso, Kamikazee hopes to now forge ties with a more unlikely but no less important musical influence. “Kung nabigyan kami ng pagkakataon na maka-collaborate si Sir Jomari Chan- ‘yun na ‘yung isang matagal na naming pinapangarap,” says Contreras. .