EVEN

As most of you may very well know, I am the vocalist for the band Even. But I don't think that most of you may very well know the history of my band. This is just to answer the most common question a musician is frequently asked: "How did your band form? Why the name Even? How did you and your band mates came to be?" So for our friends and everybody else out there, this blog entry's for you. 


Way back in 2003, I met Jam Bumanlag and Jerich Mojica in a place called Feedback, which was informally the music blender of Baguio City during that time. Even though the place wasn't that awesome when it came to the gears, amps and whatnots, it was the only place that musicians felt welcome, made tons of friends, and started pairing up for band members. The three of us formed an alternative band (which lasted for about 4 years until we finally called it quits for several reasons). I met Coco Saupan during college and we've been together ever since. However, he played bass for another band.


It's 2007 and fresh with new ideas, Jam thought of forming a different kind of band that included Jerich on drums and Coco on bass. They wanted, for this band, a male vocalist so I was out of the picture. But it wasn't successful because they had difficulties in settling who would be the front man so they had to go for another plan. 


The four of us went drinking one day and we decided to give it another go but the music is going to be a whole lot different. We were searching blindfolded in the dark for a music direction and we started grounding on a path by covering "Mother Mother" by Tracy Bonham. After that, it just came naturally. We started making originals and trying to experiment on the music and Jam thought of adding an electronic element to it. Using his laptop, he would punch in samples while playing the guitar. I know, it was crazily difficult. Jam decided to get Ghe Guerrero to play the part of the DJ, and so Even was born. We now banked our influences upon the likes of Tool, A Perfect Circle, Karnivool, among others.


While thinking of a band name, we thought that it should be short and catchy enough so that people are going to remember it easily. We were hanging out at Jerich's place and while thinking of a name, I took a small dictionary and started randomly flipping through the pages. If I pointed to a word and somebody laughed or smirked or reacted in that way, it wasn't for us. But if nobody made any sound, that would be the name. I went through about 3 to 4 words before pointing to the word EVEN. And because nobody reacted, it was decided that we would call ourselves that.


Most people are wondering which genre we would be classified under. Some would say we're metal, some say we're progressive, and some would even say we're alternative. But even we ourselves are having that kind of difficulty. Being called metal or progressive garners several criticisms specially from the purists. I mean I know for a fact that we're not purely metal nor purely progressive so it's difficult to explain sometimes. Whenever asked, we just say that we're experimetal electronica. It doesn't count as a standard genre but, hey, to each his or her own, right? 


Even is now 3 years old, with a debut EP album with 6 tracks plus a bonus acoustic track, still under Red Horse Beer, with some other unofficial endorsements. I hope this blog gave you guys clarity, at least, haha. We hope to still make tons of songs for everybody to enjoy, get inspiration from or even criticize in the next 50 or so years. We will continue to make music until our ethereal river of passion runs dry. :)