This is the Raimund that we sometimes get a glimpse of when he's offstage - happy guy with his feet on the ground, and very much a family man.
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http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/sim/sim/view_article.php?article_id=48768Bonding 24/7
By Eric S. Caruncho
Inquirer
Last updated 08:48am (Mla time) 02/11/2007
MANILA, Philippines -- They could be any young suburban couple out malling--he in polo and jeans, she in oversized tee and leggings. But Raimund Marasigan and Myrene Academia are hardly typical. They’re two-fifths of Sandwich , one of contemporary Pinoy rock’s most durable and baduy-proof franchises.
The band has managed to become huge without selling out. Hits like “Sugod” and “DVDx” from their current EMI album “Five on the Floor,” combine savvy pop hooks with a sly humor and an ironic edge, proof that “masa” doesn’t have to mean “baduy (gauche).” It’s a fine balancing act between commercial appeal and “underground” credibility that few bands have managed to pull off. Recently, the band even made a guest appearance on Sharon Cuneta’s show—their second, with the Megastar singing “Walang Kadala-dala” with the band.
Says Raimund: “Ten years ago, we wouldn’t have accepted the invitation, nor would they ask. Now, we’re like ’it’s cool to be on the Sharon Cuneta show.’ ”
Which only goes to show how times have changed.
Bands now have more platforms than when Sandwich first started out: from music television and the Internet to movies and cellphone ringtones. Sandwich has cut soundtracks for the videogame “Tantra,” the TV series “Nginig,” and most recently, the film “Super Noypi,” making their music an ubiquitous feature of the current mediasphere.
Today, however, Raimund and Myrene are rock stars incognito. “I think people are still surprised that we’re a couple,” says Raimund. “We don’t hide it naman.”
Since leaving the Eraserheads to focus on Sandwich, Raimund has become something of an indie rock renaissance man, playing with, and producing, a slurry of other side bands and musical projects including Cambio, Pedicab and his hip-hop studio band Squid 9.
Myrene meanwhile plays bass for Imago. Before that, she spent 13 years on board as a disc jockey for NU107 FM, warping young minds with “Not Radio,” her program of adventurous new music.
Like many long-term couples, Raimund and Myrene have developed a tendency to finish each other’s sentences.
But isn’t being a couple while working in the same band claustrophobic, kind of like working in the same office? “We were bandmates before we became a couple, so it was never an issue for us,” says Raimund. “Besides, being in a band isn’t like working in an office,” he says. “We only work at night, so the rest of the day we each have our own thing, and we can be together or not. The shows aren’t a daily routine either—it’s a job, a really good job…”
He adds: “Everytime we go out of town, it’s a free trip for us, and you’re touring with your best friends. You all get free beers backstage and free accommodations and you all get to use the pool or the van. Parang gumi-gimmick kayong magkakabarkada."
Says Myrene: “We each have other bands and other interests, and we don’t require each other to do the same things, watch the same shows or even listen to the same songs so it’s not claustrophobic for us.”
“So far,” laughs Raimund.
It wasn’t too long ago that punk rock (or any music-based lifestyle) was something you outgrew as you “matured” and buckled down to grim task of earning a living, raising a family, etc. As in real life. But Raimund and Myrene have shown that it’s possible to build a real life out of the music that you love. “It’s because of the people that we are, a little luck and the opportunities that we took,” says Myrene.
Adds Raimund: “We still follow the punk rock instinct of not doing it just for the money or because you’re going to get famous or have a show somewhere. The sincerity should be there. You must like what you’re doing.”
Of course, the partners have to balance the demands of band life with the responsibilities of being parents to their daughter Atari Kim, now six.
“Being a couple in a band, you need to separate the work part of it from the relationship,” says Myrene. “I don’t think we ever do it consciously, but you have to keep your priorities right. If I can’t make a gig because Atari has a school program, I get a sub because one of us has to be there at the program. Those are the things we make time for.”
As it turns out, being in a band and being in a long-term relationship have a lot in common: the most important being the ability to keep things fresh and exciting, and to make time for the things that count.
Recently, Sandwich has decided to cut back on its gig schedule because it was starting to feel too much like work. By pacing themselves, the band keeps each gig enjoyable while avoiding burnout—one of the pitfalls of earning your bread and butter by performing.
Ely Buendia’s recent heart attack has also brought attention to the fact that the “alternative rock” generation of the ’90s are now middle-aged, though you wouldn’t guess it from Sandwich’s energetic live performances.
“We try to keep healthy, to keep up with the kids. You spend 45 minutes on stage with a heavy guitar, you have to be healthy,” says Raimund.
And the music helps.
“You have to keep listening to things with fresh ears, that’s how you keep interested,” says Myrene. “ I tell my friends, batukan mo ko pag nadinig mo sa bibig ko yung ‘wala nang magandang music’ o ‘narinig ko na lahat before’ If you keep at it, you don’t just lose it.”
