PINOY blues band Electric Sala got their appellation on a whim. At the early stages of their career, they practiced at their parents’ living room, and they chose to memorialize their beginnings in their name. It didn’t stop the then-four piece band of barely teenagers: drummer Abdon Ferrer was all of 13 years old, fresh from representing the country at the Memphis International Blues Competition Youth Showcase in 2013 and three years after their founding.
Electric Sala’s debut album came out later in a haze of 1970s tribute sound grafted to socially aware lyricism. In an interview, vocalist Paolo Ferrer told SoundStrip that musicians now hardly give much thought to their lyrics. “Lyrics today come in short bursts. I want to go back to an era where words mattered as much as the riffs,” he philosophized. To mark their seventh year in the business, Electric Sala sent SoundStrip a preview copy of “Pulubi” and two other tracks that will be part of an extended-play (EP) album that should see daylight early this 2018.
“Pulubi” stands out because it folds the band’s love for 1970s rock sound into wry commentary about the human condition. The core words go: “Mahirap ang maging pulubi/Hindi ka makaangat, Lipas na lipas na ang tulog ko/kupas na kupas na ang maong ko, Ang taas na taas na ng tama ko/banas na banas sa kahahabol sa ‘yo, Ate pahingi ng ganda…” The band sings about poverty of the spirit in the face of society’s demand for something new all the time. They set their eyes on weak people who give up easily, refusing the fact that struggle—not happiness, or in some cases, a full stomach—is what living is all about.
The music has hints of Steve Miller Band and echoes of Foghat before a psychedelic guitar rave-up at the third minute. Despite its “raw” recording, it is already a killer. It’s “rough and tumble,” reflecting the band’s journey from their practice space at home to international and local stages. SoundStrip hooked up with the band to sum up their strangely cool trip so far.
Who are on the expanded lineup of the band?
The new members are Randall Enriquez, our percussionist and spare drummer and Andrei Paman, second lead guitar and backup vocalist.
We didn’t recruit them. It’s more like they joined us for a fuller sound as we would like to achieve the sound of the Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd, mixed with Santana.
The core members are brothers Angel Paolo Ferrer, our vocalist and lead guitarist with his siblings Carlos (bassist) and Abdon (drums) with Jello Marcelo (slide guitar)
What’s the idea behind Pulubi and where is the troubled swagger coming from?
The song takes inspiration from beggars and what they typically ask (“’Te, akin na lang bote mo, penge pambili…”) and it’s twisted to the story of a musician begging for fame and asking for gigs because his musical style and lifestyle have become outdated.
It also states the bitterness of artists toward modern music and is tired of chasing after the rock and roll fantasy. It’s sung as if the singer is drunk while the guitar riff is based on a ‘70s rock and roll-blues shuffle.
How is the song played now that you’re a six-piece outfit?
The song was arranged in a way that the instruments are not played all at the same time all throughout. There are only a few parts of the song wherein you hear all six instruments being used. The melodies used for the bass, vocals and guitar riffs are layered and played in-between the blank spaces of each other’s melodies. It is a style of writing independent melodies to achieve polyphony.
How was your core audience’s initial reception now that you have an expanded line-up?
They remain eager to hear our new songs and always look forward to what blues and classic rock songs we are about to cover and rearrange.
Six years as a band, what has been the more recent “highs” and “lows?”
We are grateful for the second contract with RJ guitars. Instrument maintenance is one of the factors to performing and sounding well. Lows? Well, we planned for an album and it looks like we’re likely to produce an EP.
Describe your best performance so far.
We got to jam two sets with Cirque du Soleil saxophone man Bruno. He told us that he’s jammed with a lot of bands around the world and we were definitely one of the best to jam with. A great player is nothing without a good jam band behind him.
Electric Sala celebrated their seventh anniversary of forming with a rousing concert at Handlebar Makati on December 14, 2017. They will reprise that electric show come February 16 again at the same venue.
Image credits: Mon Malana