Indie Showcase: Cosmic Love
It is high time the spotlight be focused also on our indie bands and acts. They form a deep well of diverse and amazing talents in the local scene. I will be showcasing once in a while an indie band or act that to my mind deserves a look and more attention. So below, let’s get to know Cosmic Love:
What is the origin of your band? Please give a brief history on how you came together to form your band.
Anton Santos Saldana: Cosmic Love has been around since late 2003. This reincarnation is probably generation 2. We started out in the Taft area. Bong was looking to put a band together with Kc Kassanova on bass, originally. Then through the years, we had a line-up change here and there. Then when Kc said he had to focus on work around ’09, we were lucky to have Tuts Calinawan (Queso) join us. We changed the line-up.. Pow Rosal on drums, Bong and Anjo Elemos (Kapatid) on guitar, Tuts on bass. We used to be eight or nine in the band. It’s not that easy to find a space to practice and out-of-town gigs were hard for the organizers… Haha! We keep the roster to a minimum now for practical and logistic reasons. But in big gigs, we still have Erwin play percussions or we have a DJ jam with us, or whatever. Mas rock yung set up ngayon.
What are the band’s musical influences?
Anton Santos Saldana: Many from James Brown to Jamiroquai to the Peppers to Keziah Jones and for me, a lot from friends like Queso and Kapatid.
Can you describe your style of music to the unfamiliar?
Anton Santos Saldana: It’s sexy Funk Rock, ‘lil bit of something extra in between, sometimes a ‘lil Dub, sometimes a ‘lil Soul. I’d like to think Cosmic Love has a sound that we can call our own. To me, it’s all just rock n roll. I don’t care to name genres nowadays.
What do you think of the current local scene?
Anton Santos Saldana: I think a lot of what’s going on in the local scene is exciting because we have a lot of bands playing alongside DJ’s or around Electronic samples. What’s good about what’s happening now despite what people think about OPM and what happned to it… blah blah blah…I mean, labels don’t sign anymore and it used to be a buyers’ market but I think there’s a good side to it. Everybody is independent. All the kids are tight. Everybody does home recording nowadays. People are learning to promote themselves especially through social media like FB and essentially BE more than just their music. I mean..am I making sense? I mean, people can now pitch their demo fully recorded and write about their band, too. Plus, design logos and t-shirts, etc. It’s a D.I.Y method of doing things. To me, it’s Punk Rock! The down side is we don’t get support from mainstream labels or whatever, and very little money in the scene. But that won’t stop us and it’s not going to stop all the kids now buzzing for me. I think it’s all great, really!
Any upcoming gigs you would like to promote?
Anton Santos Saldana: Can’t remember any dates to promote. But stand by for our LP ‘BADSIGNS’. It’s coming out soon! Thank you.
