KULAY : BUHAYKULAY
and their Long Winding Road
by Lionel Zivan S. Valdellon

printed in FLY #005: Dec98/Jan 99

“Life is flava and flava is life…”

Which explains Kulay’s verve and passion. Their flavor’s improved with age… and providence.

Emerging from the netherland that is Philippine pop music, the trio have victoriously wowed European audiences and are set to conquer the US as well. They had a month-long tour of Europe, doing small clubs and TV appearances, even landing a gig on the Radio One Roadshow which brought them around the UK, playing to packed arenas alongside acts like Peter Andre, Republica and All Saints. Following that was a spot at the PopKomm, a German music fest where record companies showcase their top acts. Kulay performed next to Solid Harmonie and 2 Unlimited. Their Vibestation album’s hit charts in Europe and South America. And in 1999? They’re signing to Columbia Records in the US, being the first Filipinos under the major label. Meanwhile, they’ve set up their own Gen-X TV magazine show (Vibestation on ABC 5 Sundays, 5:30- 6:00 pm), their own record label and soon their own print zine, based on the TV show. Suddenly the old b-boy anthem is apt : “There’s no stopping us…no one does it better.”

I recently got in touch with the Flip-funk trio and asked them how the ride’s been.

How’s it been traipsing around world?
KULAY: It’s tiring. It’s not as glamorous as people think. The last trip to Denmark and Italy, hardly any sleep. 4 venues in 2 days. Our last show was 4:45 in the morning. It was to a bunch of techno people. It’s hard because we’re more on an R&B and funky vibe and we’re in stadiums with techno people and beats going “doom-doom-doom-doom.” Then we come on and it’s like let’s get down and dirty. But the reception has been quite good and exciting. It’s just really tiring. A lot of airplanes.

How did the international recognition start?
KULAY: It started with the video for “Delicious”. It really caught their eye, the music was really different for them and so the VP of Sony (where they have a label called Dance Pool) picked Kulay as a group they wanted to release worldwide as an album not just a single. When Jeannie died, they didn’t want to do it anymore. But somehow, we got Angel, they flew over here and saw us at Planet Mars and we started over again. That’s when it took off.
___Now we’re going to sign a deal with Columbia in the States. That’ll be a first.We’re supposed to be launching between Feb and March 99. It’s a whole new album, it’s a lot of the songs on Vibestation but with some new ones added. But it’s really tough, because it’s a whole new band. Without Jeannie, it’s a whole new Kulay.

Was going the international route really a part of the long-term plan?
KULAY: Yeah, that’s what I wanted from the start, but you know, we wanted to do it at the right time. We thought it was over with Jeannie’s death but we realized her vocals would never be heard worldwide if we stopped. We have a few more songs with Jeannie’s vocals that are unreleased, that’s the reason why I’ll consider another album. So we keep going. A lot of people were saying “Why quit now?” when she died. They didn’t understand that the soul of Kulay died with her.
___If we sign (with Columbia) we’re gonna have to sign on for a few more albums. For me, personally, I’m tired. I don’t wanna do any more albums for Kulay. But the fans have been strong. We’ll just see what happens. At this point we don’t really know.

How’s success treating you guys? Are you living your dreams now?
KULAY: We were never a group that wanted to be famous. We’re not huge in the Philippines. We’ll never get to the level of a group like the Eraserheads and that’s fine with us. Because if we tried to do just Tagalog songs like what record companies used to tell us, we’d never have gotten to where we are now. I think we just have to move, believe in ourselves and trust in God to lead us to where we should go.
___Right now, it’s really chaotic. A lot of people think it’s so exciting. Yeah, it is. But at the same time, you gotta remember we’re gonna be competing with Janet Jackson, and everybody. Then we’re representing the Philippines as well.

Do you still have any free time left?
BOOM: I don’t have any because we’re doing the TV show and we have a record label too. I’m just bitin’ the bullet. It’s expensive to do what we’re doing but, if I listen to a lot of people, especially Filipinos who have that crab mentality, we’re going to be pulled down. I’m gonna keep on moving, see what happens.
___There’s a lot of room for more things. What I don’t like about the Philippines is the mentality that goes “Amin ito” and then they don’t network. That’s why Vibestation, we’ll network with anybody as long as we’re all into the same vibe. Without networking, it’s gonna die. Filipinos are hyped at the beginning, the planning stages are always the best then they realize how hard it is. “Pare, hassle pala eh.”

Talk about the artists you’re releasing on your label.
BOOM: We want to do more underground acts with pop appeal to it. Crossover acts. The first group that’s coming out is 7 Shots of Wisdom. They’re more like straight R&B/Hip Hop whereas Kulay is more R&B, alternative, Flip-funk. What I do is I create some kind of group so that what I can’t do with Kulay, I can do somewhere else. Then we have, for me, the best Tagalog rapper ever. S.Y.K.E., who’s actually one of our PA’s too.
___We work is as a family. You have to learn how to do everything. If I tell you to clean the toilet, even if you’re an artist, you clean it. Our motto for the company is Be Humble.
___We’re gonna do everything: Electronica, Blues… a little bit of everything. We’re gonna have Binky Lampano for Blues because I think he’s just amazing. Right now, I have this group called Effren’s Beauty Parlor which is gay hip-hop, with 2 gay rappers speaking in their lingo . See, gays and hip hop don’t mix, which is why I mixed it. Then we’re gonna do poetry reading, spoken word. I just want it to be something different, something underground but with appeal to it that can help it cross over to the mainstream.

What are your views on techno and the dance culture here in the RP, think the scene will ever grow further?
KULAY: Well, (1), the technology has to be there and (2) people have to be brave enough to actually do it. The problem with most of the bands here… you know, the audience wants jukeboxes. They like Earth Wind & Fire to death. Are you gonna be brave enough to try and keep doing this music (techno)?
___Consortium will happen, but then they don’t join forces, and after a while they do so much of it aimlessly. The movement is so different in the UK where it started…the music makes sense because it’s enhanced by drugs. Here it’s enhanced by like, Blue Ice. I’m not dissing Blue Ice or Consortium but I mean that the scene is different. You go into a club and people are just standin’ around looking at each other, wanting to be seen. They’re not going there because there’s a vibe there that they want to ride.
___But like I said, build it and they will come. You can’t give up on it. Sponsors will give up on it when they see attendance getting lower because it’s the same old thing. That’s where people like BigStar, Groove Nation and Fly have to brave it out. And people have to support it or it won’t continue. It will only continue if people give a venue to just keep doing that.

You start it, and hopefully others follow…
BOOM: Then It’ll make it a movement. Other people will get brave enough to come up with their own stuff. Because if you’re the only one, after a while, you become like a novelty almost. It’s not a movement.
I’m gonna make a lot of mistakes doing this (TV show). And some people are gonna say the show sucks, but if I don’t try… It’s like Kulay. A lot of people didn’t get what Kulay was about. We went to about six managers who were saying we should be like this or like that, and we stuck to our guns. We don’t know, we might still flop. But we have to go throught the journey and enjoy it while it’s there.

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