Life is about moving on. And that was what Nathan Azarcon, Ira Cruz and Vic Mercado did when their former band Bamboo ceased being a group. With their passion for music, they decided to form their own group in late January 2011—a band they would eventually call Hijo.
“The name Hijo was suggested by Vic,” Nathan said. “It is short for HIJO dePuga”
Nathan, aside from playing bass now mans the vocals with Ira and Vic still doing the same thing they are good at- guitars and drums respectively. But adding to the band’s members are Radioactive Sago Project’s Junji Lerma on guitars and Wowee Posadas (who replaced Jay Orduna) on keyboards. For people to get a taste of their music, Hijo released an EP entitled “Slow Rock Vol. ½”which they tag as “Kung-Fu Rock”.
“It is slow rock… and we wanted a funny title for it. It’s so dark as it is,” Nathan said.
Compared to their previous experience with their former bands, it was a different recording process for the group especially for Nathan, Ira and Vic.
“Working with the band is just amazing. This is the first time the three of us recorded most of our parts separately. We already had a formula for laying down tracks but this time we pushed ourselves and went the opposite way. I love how it all turned out. It’s still us. Plus, of course, with the addition of Junji and Jay o, it sounded fresh. Working with Shinji Tanaka and Eric Perlas was pretty cool,” Nathan said.
“Slow Rock Vol. ½” contains four tracks like “Tamalee” which is about insatiable greed; “Di Mo Na Kaya”- a song on separation and loss; “Torquemada”- about pain and torture and “Dahil Sa Iyo” which speaks about love. The videos for “Tamalee” and “Di Mo Na Kaya” are currently playing on top music channels in the country.
“The music videos are amazing. Direk Jason Tan and Erwin Romulo is the shiz. We have a good team,” Nathan said. Though a lot of bands have been mushrooming left and right, Hijo belies they have the traits that differentiate them from others.
“We are in our prime. Kung baga sa modern warfare, veteran. We pack light, hit hard, retreat, regroup, we adjust and then we attack again. Such is the nature of the pride,” Nathan said.
“Slow Rock Vol. ½” is now out under MCA Music in CDs at leading record bars nationwide or online via mymusicstore.com.ph. To download Hijo’s music on your mobile phones, just text HIJO to 3456.
