The Pin-Up Girls: The little band that could

The year 1996 was when The Pin-up Girls were born. Kelts Cross former members Jeng Tan and Pam Aquino, together with good friends Mondo Castro formed a band wired on ’80s new wave and ’90s American British indie groups when they found themselves in a bar in Davao playing just that — new wave music. The band started out playing covers from Echo and the Bunnymen, The Church, among others. Just like any other band, they went through a merry-go-round of names such as The Ramon, Blue Juice, Ebenezer, and the Bubble Gum Crisis.

After a series of ephemeral band members, Ryan Nachura and Noel Garcia (former session keyboardist for the Eraserheads) joined the group. The band finally decided on the name "The Pin-up Girls" inspired by a Betty Paige T-shirt Jeng wore in one of their practice sessions.

Betty Paige was a famous pin-up girl, a bondage icon in the ’60s who always had her trademark whip. Betty is on the cover of "Hello Pain," The Pin-up Girls’ independently produced debut album under their own label Broken Records. It was co-produced by longtime friend Raimund Marasigan of Sandwich and Eraserheads and was released in 2001. Pam Aquino left for the States shortly after the release of the album. Jaja Manuel of Girl In Park, fills in for her.

"Hello Pain" includes hits such as Witching Hour that hit number one on NU107’s Midnight Countdown for seven weeks, Broken, A Cold & Better Place, and the cult song Ride Rocket Wild. Most of the songs are written by Mondo Castro, Jeng and Pam, while Ryan and Noel have a hand in arrangements.

The Pin-up Girls is the first Philippine-based rock group to get signed by an American label, Know-it-all (KIA) Records based in Tacoma, Washington. KIA’s roster includes Peter Coyle, vocalist of the Lotus Eaters, singer-songwriter Matt Easton, and rapper/CEO Lazarus. The Pin-up Girls could well be the next big thing.

Michael Sutton, Know-It-All records publicity head and a representative got hung up on The Pin-up Girls when he was sent a random broadcast of NU107 sent by a friend. He heard A Cold and Better Place being played and he was hooked.

"It caught my attention immediately. It sounded like nothing else the radio station was playing. After the track finished playing, I rewound the tape several times and listened to it over and over. I was mesmerized," Sutton said. He then searched for the band, finally ending up e-mailing band member Mondo Castro, who initially thought the offer was a hoax.

"It’s a jewel of a band, " Sutton declared.

In this interview, members of The Pin-Up Girls (minus Jaja who had a prior engagement) Ryan, Mondo, Jeng and Noel prove that they are a band beyond the ordinary.

Young STAR: Who is your favorite boy band influence?

Noel Garcia: Milli Vanilli.

Ryan Nachura: Monkeys! (everyone laughs) Pero hindi, Jackson 5 akin.

Jeng Tan: Jackson 5 din ako!

Mondo Castro: Menudo.

What was it like to produce your own album?

Jeng: Pahirapan ’yun.

Mon: Bayad na mga utang namin. Pumasok lang kami sa studio, then bahala na. We were just gonna record our stuff. We asked Shinji (Tanaka, sound engineer) if we could use his studio and pay him later. You could say it was a reckless thing to do.

I heard something about a garage sale.

All: Yeah, we had those.

Jeng: We borrowed money for mass production but not for the initial recording itself. Binigay ni Shinji sa amin installment. Siguro mga 20,000 gives. (Giggles)

Mon: And you know how much bands are paid — mga P200 a night, minsan wala. Everything we earned sa small gigs plus ’yung garage sale, ’yun na.

Noel: Kaya wala na kaming garahe ngayon. Hehe.

What’s your favorite song from the album?

Ryan: Kami ni Noel — Broken. Masarap tugtugin, eh. Mabilis. Upbeat. Masaya na malungkot. Kung nakainom si Noel ng mga apat na beer, hihinto kami sa gitna ng kanta. Mga isang stanza ’yun. Pero tama naman ang pasok. Depende pa yan ha, kapag nakaapat na beer tapos masama pa ang loob, hihinto na talaga ’yun!

Mon: Quicksilver. Pero pagpipili ako ng track na hindi ko sinulat, Down ’yung gusto ko.

Jeng: Pop na pop ’yun eh! Live at Broken. Pero ’yung totoo, Alright. Punk na punk siya eh.

When you go abroad, will you change anything in the album?

All: The artwork, yeah. We’ll change the cover, but use same artist Leinil Yu. He’s doing the birth right of Superman. Pinoy. Ganoon kadaming talent sa Pilipinas. As a comic book artist, what can be better than doing X-Men and Superman? It’s gonna chronicle the story of Superman. For the album to be released in the US, we’ll take out fillers. We already have materials for the second album. We’re releasing an EP. Hopefully, next month. It’ll be called "Taste Test."

If you weren’t The Pin-up Girls, who would you be?

Mon and Jeng: The Pin-up Boys! (everyone laughs)

Mon: Ako — trying hard magbanda pa din siguro. O kaya Rexona boy of The Hunks!

Jeng: Belly dancer o kaya bold star.

Ryan: Stunt double ng bold star! Banda pa rin siguro ako. Nagkakilala na kasi kami sa banda.

What are your expectations after being signed by an American label?

Mon: We’re proud of being an independent band. But I don’t want to think of what’s going to happen in the States, because it has yet to happen. I believe we’ll get a bigger audience. Mas open-minded ang mga tao dun, eh. If you’re gonna dream, might as well dream big.

Jeng: Hindi pa nagsisink-in ang lahat. Wala pa akong ine-expect. Siguro, most of us same feeling as when we were working on the album. Pinagawa lang kami ng couple of songs, medyo excited, pero nandun sa stage na "Tara pare, gawa lang tayo ng kanta, record ulit tayo, papasok ulit tayo sa recording studio." Ako kasi si Miss Udlot, baka mawala, mahirap pag-usapan.

Noel: Pagpasok namin sa studio, I had no expectations at all. Noong araw kasi, lahat naman independent talaga. Sumikat lang tapos they were offered a recording deal. That’s how everyone started. Juan de la Cruz Band started exactly as we did. Wala silang hinahanap na "ito ang gusto natin mangyari." Wala silang expectations. Ang gusto lang nila tumugtog. They started as a garage band. Well, kami garage sale band. However, when a good offer comes along, hindi mo maaalis na may expectations ka. Pero panandalian lang ’yun. You snap back to reality, thinking "Eh baka hindi ganun ang mangyari." Maraming possibilidad kasi. So after recording, parang "Hey, we’re still pretty much like when we started."

Ryan: Sana may isa o dalawang makinig, tapos magandahan, magustuhan, matuwa, tapos sabihin sa iba na maganda. Ganun lang.

If you could front for a band, what band would that be?

Noel: Sana bilis-bilisan na natin kasi isa-isa na yatang namamatay ’yung mga taong gusto ko pagfront-an! (everyone laughs)

Jeng: ’N Sync, ok ’yun! Bagay kami dun! Haha!

Mon: The Cure, Stone Roses, kaya lang wala ng Stone Roses.

Noel: Habang pupwede pa, Rolling Stones! David Bowie, pwede pa.

Mon: Juliana Hatfield!

Are you guys nervous?

All: Sa pag-alis? Excited more than nervous.

Mon: Dalawa ’yung feeling. Medyo kinakabahan ako, kasi ayoko ma-hype. Pero pagdating sa States, kahit anong mangyari, masarap na mag-play. Not because we’ll be paid in dollars. It’s not that. Iba ang audience, bigger ang audience. Pag nagustuhan nila, nothing can beat that.

Jeng: Sana. Pero hindi ko pa nararamdaman yung bayad sa ’yo — dolyares. Hindi pa. (Giggles)

Will you be shuttling to and from the US?

Jeng: We’re open. Kung ma-launch kami internationally, kung saan kami mag-hit, dun kami mag-settle muna.

Mon: Kasi if you really want to succeed, you have to be determined. In the States, kahit indie scene lang, buhay ka na.

Noel: Sino ba naman ang hindi gustong bumalik dito kahit na ganito na ang Pilipinas? Uuwi at uuwi din naman tayo dito.

Are you the first Philippine band to be signed by an American label?

All: The first Philipppine-based band. Kasi there are Filipinos in other bands, but they are not based here.

Are there people who applaud, or perhaps loathe you for your accomplishments?

Jeng: Wala!

Noel: Merong pumapalakpak. Mga totoo sila, in the sense that they have their hopes up. They’re probably independent like us, and trying to make a living, at hindi rin sila sikat. Masaya sila kasi there is one band that was able to break through. We have one foot in the door.

Jeng: We can open the door for them, too.

All: They should be happy that a band —no matter how small and unknown — has broken through the so-called iron curtain of music.

Jeng: More than anything else, nagustuhan nila music namin.

Noel: Ganun ’yung pakiramdam namin with our fan, umm, fans ba? Ganun na din pakiramdam namin after all the hullabaloo. May naniniwala pa din sa amin.