Leigh Nash was still a baby the last time she was in the Philippines, but not really.
A “baby” is just how the charismatic Sixpense None The Richer vocalist described herself when she was last in town, emphasizing how long it’s been and how much she’s grown since.
“When I was here the last time, everything kind of scared me,” Nash said, looking back on her 20s. “I was brave on the front end but, on the flights, I was terrified.”
The “Kiss Me” and “I Need to Be Next to You” singer, now 41, made her return to these parts recently as one of the headliners in the Playback Music Festival, where the Globe Circuit Event Grounds in Makati City got slinky-ed back to the 1990s and early-2000s with some of that era’s biggest music acts.
A day before the concert that welcomed people in track pants and fanny packs, Nash, along with Blue, Vertical Horizon and Stephen Speaks, spoke to a roomful of media members and bloggers and shared their thoughts on what made 1990s music special, what they’re up to now and the life lessons they’ve picked up since they first came out.
Leigh Nash on what has changed, and what has remained the same. It’s one of those things where everything has changed, and yet nothing has changed for Nash in the last 20 years.
On the one hand, she lost her father 10 years ago, and admitted that it’s only recently that she’s coming to grips with his death. Meanwhile, she had a son, who’s now in middle school and is over 6 feet tall.
On the other hand, she continues to do what she loves the most. “I came for the music, and stayed for the music,” she said. “I just want to be part of perpetuating love and beauty and, as long as I’m able to do it, I’ll do it.”
In 2015 Nash, a Texas native, released her first country music studio album, titled The State I’m In. She performed a couple of songs off that album in Playback, while wearing a hat, and then took it off as she went on to sing favorites, such as “Don’t Dream It’s Over,” “I Need to Be Next to You,” (the first time she’s sang that live in 17 years), and a new song, titled “You and Me” (which she wrote while waiting backstage at a local noontime show where she guested).
Asked what has changed the most on a personal level, Nash kept her answer simple: “I feel so much more wise.”
Simon Costa and Antony Webbe of Blue on what set them apart from others. Costa said there have been a lot of boybands, from the Jacksons in the 1960s to today’s groups, but no one could really compete with Blue. “We’re the best,” he said, raising his shoulders before letting out a good-hearted laugh.
Webbe picked up on the point and added: “A lot of bands have been put together by a manager or a record company. For us, we’ve always been friends,” he said. “Getting on this business, you need to be friends more than anything, and have respect and love. Those are what me and the boys as Blue have, and that’s how we’ve lasted on and off for so many years.”
Blue made it big in the early aughts with three studio albums that all captured the top spots in the United Kkingdom music charts for nearly half a decade. Members Lee Ryan and Duncan James, along with Costa and Webbe, were around their early 20s when they sang and danced songs mostly about love.
Webbe admitted that he didn’t connect with all of their songs back in the day. “I hadn’t been in love back then, but I was singing ‘If I Come Back,’” he said, laughing. “But now I know how [the song] feels.”
Webbe and Costa said that Blue has a sixth album underway.
Rockwell Ryan Ripperger of Stephen Speaks on the magic of 1990s music. The vocalist of the band named after the first martyr of Christianity from the Bible’s Acts chapter 7 said that the key is longevity.
He said while their music came out between the late ‘1990s and early-2000s, a lot of it was recorded and heavily influenced by bands in the 1990s, when the music was “very raw and instrumental.”
“The ‘80s was a lot of synthesized music, and then it came back in the 2000s. There’s nothing wrong with that; I use that a lot myself. But I don’t think it has that longevity,” Ripperger said. “You think all the way back to The Beatles, when it’s just instruments and singing. It’s kind of an organic genre, and I think that’s what gives it longevity that other genres don’t have.”
Ripperger, who’s been in the country for three weeks at that point, having done six shows across different islands, said he’s aware of the popularity their hit songs “Passenger Seat” and “Out of My League” have amassed here.
He said they get royalties from 200 countries a month, and most of that comes from the Philippines. “I think those songs just fit the culture here and the native attitude of the people.”
Matt Scannell of Vertical Horizon on the truth of their songs. “As a songwriter and a singer, I always want to write words that I mean, and sing songs that I’m proud of,” he said.
During Playback, the band sure looked proud performing hits such as “You’re a God” and “Everything You Want,” among many others. Scannell, who was celebrating his birthday on the day of the concert and even got surprised onstage with a cake, also put his Tagalog to the test, and engaged the crowd with spiels, such as “Masaya kaming kasama kayo ulit” and “Sabayan niyo kami, kanta kayo!”
Another hit the band played was the 2001 break-up anthem “Best I Ever Had (Grey Sky Morning).”
Scannell told the story behind the song during the news conference. “I met a woman, and she was incredible—absolutely stunning in every single way, except for me. And we knew that we could never make it work. It was never going to last. But we had the choice to kind of experience it, and kind of let the supernova explode, and feel the beauty of that, and so we just rode into the fire together until we burned down, and it was the most amazing thing. It was fantastic, and she was incredible, and she’s gone now, and that’s okay.”
Also featured in the Playback Music Festival were local acts Rivermaya, Moonstar 88 and MYMP.
Regina Reinoso, managing director of Super Awesome Productions, said concertgoers could expect Playback to expand after this maiden iteration.
“We want to make it not just an event, but more of a brand,” said Reinoso, whose group has put up all-EDM concerts prior to this new project. “When you hear Playback, we want you to recall throwbacks, and it’s not just the ‘90s or early 2000s, because we can go as far back to ‘80s or ‘70s. Everything playback.”
And that goes with the memories of the audience and artists, as well.
Image credits: Dixie Garcia