Cattski speaks volumes in new album

CEBU, Philippines - Finally the music is set free! This statement is seen all over Cattski’s teaser ads for the upcoming launch of their much-awaited new album, “Sound Minds Speak Volumes” come March 28 at The Outpost bar in Lahug.

Homegrown band Cattski emerged in the local music arena in 1999 and came up with two studio albums—“Cattski Extended Play” (with songs like High and Low, Drunk, Secrets) and “Vacuum My Inside” (with songs like Comfort Zone, Palm of My Hand, Boys, Bound). The group’s musical brilliance gave them opportunities to get recognized and to reap awards. Frontwoman-songwriter Cattski Espina, bassist Brian Sacro, guitarist Anne Muntuerto and drummer Junnell Condilla make up the great combination that defines Cattski’s kind of Cebuano-stamped music.

“Sound Minds Speak Volumes,” which is released under 22 Tango Music, Inc. record label, is a testament of their long-running musical journey as well as a product of an urge to pursue a new direction. Anne Muntuerto, despite her exit from the group to earn a degree in Nursing in the United States, is still part of the album, having been able to contribute in its four-year making. SMSV contains 11 all-original tracks composed by Cattski herself, namely 100, Hero, Blunder, Up All Night, Me, 50, Temporary, Tsaeh, Being Good, Same Risk and Genius.

Here are excerpts from The FREEMAN Entertainment’s exclusive interview with the frontwoman:

The FREEMAN: Why did it take four years to release this album? What did you do during the lull?

Cattski Espina: It took us four years to write all the materials. I’ve written songs for MYMP (Now and Wish List). I’ve also written other songs for publishing. These 11 songs in the album are the ones closest to my heart. We had to go through a lot before releasing the album. We had financial struggles, technical struggles… we have to make do with what we have but had to come up with the best sound. We also had our personal issues. We had to deal with each other also. This is the result of what happened in four years’ time.

TF: Why “Sound Minds Speak Volumes”?

CE: It has double meaning (laughs). You can take it literally. Sound Minds because we’re into sound and then we Speak Volumes, meaning levels—higher level here and lower there. We are very religious when it comes to our technicalities. Figuratively, I’d like to believe that I am a person of sound mind. I am just emotional that’s why I’m inclined to writing songs. And I speak of volumes through my songs, something to that effect.

TF: Anything new in this album?

CE: It’s the same genre. We are not very genre-conscious. For the first album (Cattski EP, 1999), we were really experimenting. We were a bunch of kids, trying to come up with songs because we’re in a band, you know, ‘we’re cool, let’s do this.’ When it was already out, we were happy at first but after a while, we thought, ‘wait we can do some more.’ For the second album (Vacuum My Inside, 2004), we already had a direction. We wanted a guitar-oriented sound. After the release, we thought we were able to achieve it, but after a while, after listening to a lot of other references and growing up a little bit, I figured it was still not it. This time, we’re almost there. This isn’t the end of Cattski. We’re still going to make more songs for as long as we can. Like today, I feel like writing a song man gani. I don’t think I’m ever going to stop. I’m particularly proud of this one. We did it on our own. My bassist, he’s the guy who recorded, mixed and mastered it. We produced it together. Brian has been there since day one. He’s not only a musician, he’s also now a sound engineer that’s why I’m so proud of him. What I’m also proud of in this album are the musicians who collaborated with us.

TF: What’s your songwriting inspiration?

CE: Inspiration-wise, you gotta have someone to look up to, and I would have to say it’s Cynthia Alexander, first and foremost, while the rest are foreign like Alanis Morisette, Imogen Heap, Madonna, Everything But The Girl... More or less, female-oriented, and I’m into more of the poetry of the song.

TF: What’s the underlying message of the songs in the album?

CE: Each song has a different story but I would have to say that the main, common thing is about looking into your self. I don’t know how to express that gyud because I haven’t gotten there myself... Aside from that, what I would love to point out is impermanence. I have a song called Temporary. I’m saying everything is temporary. I also have a song called Being Good, it’s about being in a relationship but not entirely in it. At the end of the day, it’s just you. More or less, [the songs] are leaning towards those kinds of concepts.

TF: What’s your message to the budding and struggling Cebuano musicians?

CE: Padayon! If you love it then you do it. Lisod man gud here because we all have our concepts of success—one is getting sold, being in Manila, having music videos on TV. Usahay, you try to brush these things off, but it gets to you because people tell you to go. Apart from that, you can actually make music without having that in your head. When we started out, I admit that we had these dreams of becoming rock stars. After a while, I realized that, ‘No, that’s not the direction we’re taking. If that’s the direction we’ll take, we’re no longer artists. That’s not the kind of artistry that I want. I don’t want you, people, to tell me what to do.’ Our experience was, first song pa namong na-write, we already had a call from Manila, giving us all these promises, but we also have to compromise, which we didn’t do. Thank God! What would have happened? Mura jud ko’g mabuang siguro karon. So I realized that that was not the direction we want to take: we want artistry. So now, our challenge is how to sustain it. It’s not going to put food on our table; we have to have day jobs. We have to survive then at the same time, we have to do this. That’s the way it is.