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So you want to be in a band. You have a few options. You can get together with your schoolmates, play in tiny bars in indie productions for a few years, and aim for that big break thatll hopefully get you a recording contract and the accompanying fame and fortune. Or you can try out as the frontman for a band with a 14-year history, notable for catapulting Bamboo into the spotlight, and fast track into the big leagues.
Surely its been done before. With a little effort, you can conjure up images of J.D. Fortune trying out for the late Michael Hutchences position with the Australian band INXS on a TV reality show. Then there was the saga of Ripper Owens, hired to be Rob Halfords replacement in the metal band Judas Priest. Throw in a bit of Hollywood, and its also the plot of that Mark Wahlberg/Jennifer Anniston flick Rockstar.
In OPM-land, you can also reference South Border, who has been in the situation so many times that band leader Jay Durias swears he can go through the process while on auto-pilot.
This time, its Rivermaya, who is losing no time in filling up the slot vacated by frontman Rico Blanco, who was last seen strutting down the catwalk in a new career move as a t-shirt designer for the Bench label Human.
On Monday, the band, now down to founding member Mark Escueta, Mike Elgar and Japs Sergio, officially announced all-out auditions for a new member of the band.
Everyone is welcome to try out, said Rivermaya co-manager Lizza G. Nakpil in a press statement released Monday.
In the wake of Blancos departure, the scuttlebutt went out that the band had actually broken up, an impression that the surviving members worked hard to counter, by performing gigs as a trio with guest vocalists, and even releasing a new single on radio, Sayang as their statement to the fans. "Sayang" was written by bassist Japs Sergio, who also performed the lead vocals.
Whats keeping us going, said Lizza, is the tens of thousands of text mssages, emails, phone calls from our listeners and fans across the country and even from the rest of Asia -- who have urged us to keep going.
The public sentiment is that Rivermaya belongs to everyone and not just to one person, she continued. We believe that that is the true meaning of banda ng bayan Rivermaya is still strong mainly because of its supporters, the people who have believed in the band since Day One. The response to our new single Sayang has been just overwhelming. Nakakataba ng puso.
If you think youre up for it, candidates should be 18 years old and above, male or female, Filipino, and have neither management nor recording contracts.
Rivermaya has always been about discovering new talent and giving it the right home to develop it and let it shine through, says Lizza. We want to give every young Filipino musician out there from inside and outside the Philippines -- the same chance. Please note that we are not limiting this to just vocalists songwriters, guitar or keyboard players, everyone is welcome to come and audition.
Candidates can email bio-datas and mp3s to myrivermaya@gmail.com or snail mail to Circe.Rivermaya at Unit 809, Madrigal Building, 6793 Ayala Avenue, Makati, Metro Manila. For questions, please text 0921-4011480 or 0916-6080417.
B.Y.O.B. -- bring your own boses and by that we mean, whatever your talent is, just be yourself, says Lizza, No copycats, please!
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