The Itchyworms returns to Sony Music PH with two new songs

05/21/2020 04:07:08 PM

The Itchyworms just released two new singles under Sony Music Philippines.

The songs, titled Armageddon Blues and The Silence, are inspired by the band’s response to the ongoing social, mental, and emotional crisis that people from around the globe are facing in the midst of a pandemic. 

According to the pop-rock act, “Armageddon Blues,” in particular, is an update of an old demo recorded by Jazz Nicolas (lead vocals, drums, piano, keyboards, keytar) and Chino Singson (lead guitarist and backing vocals). It boasts crunching guitar riffs, Beatlesque pop melodies, and raw but in-your-face production, the latest track from the band exhibits both ends of the emotional spectrum, as filtered through the lens of happy-sappy music geeks. 

As guitarist Chino Singson recalls. “I remember it being a fun song to record. If you listen to the lyrics, you'll see it's very tongue-in-cheek but very heartfelt.” 

This track was supposed to be part of the critically-acclaimed album Noontime Show and the follow-up Self-Titled, but the quartet felt that it was thematically different and completely ahead of its time.

Time jump to more than 15 years later, I was the only one who had a copy of the demo,” Jugs Jugueta (co-lead vocals, rhythm guitar, percussion, keyboards) narrates. “Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) happened, and I sent them the demo of ‘Armageddon Blues,’ telling The Itchyworms to release the song because it captures the somewhat end-of-the-world vibe of our present situation. A couple of weeks into the ECQ, we realized that we’re in this for the long haul and that we had to do something creative. We decided to write and record a few songs inspired by our experiences during COVID-19.”

Itchyworms'recent songwriting sessions paved the way for another single which already made its rounds on Facebook a week earlier.

“The Silence” was a product of the Enhanced Community Quarantine imposed over Metro Manila due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, for it was written by Jugs Jugueta and Jazz Nicolas, and recorded and produced by The Itchyworms.

“It’s what we think everyone is going through right now. Nobody could’ve foreseen 2020 to be like this,” Jugs shares the underlying theme behind the song. Musically, it’s a mish-mash of influences that put Depeche Mode, Radiohead, The Beatles, and The Walking Dead in a blender: The production seethes with soaring builds and nuanced sonic details, but ends abruptly in faded noise—as if the transmission is suddenly lost in the background, its silence “killing us” infinitely and metaphorically. 

The two songs are part of their upcoming album, Waiting For The End To Start, which was conceptualized and recorded while the members of The Itchyworms were confined in their homes, connected digitally by their resounding “shared” experiences. This record is set to have 8 tracks and would most likely be dropped by sometime in July 2020.

“Expect it to be unpolished and imperfect,” Jazz describes the new album. “Maybe a little lo-fi. It’s not necessarily all about COVID-19, but this is the result of what we feel during this time. So there’s restlessness, loneliness, boredom, delirium, fear, uncertainty, and all that jazz.” 

“Like any collection of music, it is a record of its time: A snapshot of the artist's reaction to his or her circumstances. But it's a concept album in that our aim was to create art in the midst of a pandemic, to capture our emotions in the music we record, even with the limited recording gear we have at home,” Chino Singson shares. “So you'll hear amp buzz and imperfect vocals, but for me that's part of the spirit of true rock.” 

The two new releases also marked the reunion between the Itchyworms and Sony Music Philippines, a major label that helped the band release Self-Titled in 2008.  Since then,  the band was forced to go indie after the label’s short-lived hiatus handling domestic releases.

 “Aside from the fact that we felt a sense of familiarity with Roslyn Pineda of Sony Music PH, as we’ve known her since our college days, we believed that Sony, being an International record company, could help us reach a wider audience. We want to reach new and foreign audiences because our music is universal and capable of touching several hearts here and abroad,” commented Jugueta. 

Chino adds, “I feel that Sony is a good place to be for an artist. Their team is small but they work hard and have their artists' interests at heart.”

Author: slickmaster | © 2020 The SlickMaster's Files