Halik ni Gringo
For Halik ni Gringo frontman Joey Santos, there were periods amid the pandemic when days seem to just bleed into each other—kind of like being in the movie “Groundhog Day,” he quipped.
Social deprivation and being denied of the things he used to enjoy was taxing enough. And then, in March last year, he contracted COVID-19 and had to go into isolation. While his symptoms were just mild, the virus still took a toll on him, both physically and mentally.
The experience prompted him to write his latest single, “Home Alone.” The idea for the song—which tackles paranoia and social deprivation—was already at the back of his head after his bout with the illness. But Joey quite couldn’t articulate it.
“I got brain fog, had some difficulty speaking for a few days. It was a lengthy recovery. I didn’t think it would have a lasting impact on me. But when I was writing the song, I realized there were still traces of it,” he told the Inquirer in a recent Zoom interview.
By writing “Home Alone,” he hopes to spark a connection with people who find themselves in a similar situation. “I wanted to put something out to the world … something people can listen to or relate with,” he said.
Halik ni Gringo—also composed of guitarists Wacky Acosta and Joe Fontanilla, bassist Yai Agustin and drummer Bid Pambid—has no qualms using music to discuss topics that are otherwise tricky to bring up in casual conversations like politics, sexuality or social issues. Mental health is no different.
“It’s like how when you break up with somebody and you listen to sad songs. Music is this thing that’s like a constant companion. It’s there for you in your best and worst times. And so if you’re able to attach a song to those experiences, then those experiences are heightened … your understanding of them is broadened” he said.
Need for rest
Joey, who also runs a recording studio and works as a music producer and disc jockey, is a self-confessed workaholic. But the creative process that went behind “Home Alone” proved to be instructive as it was therapeutic: rest, he realized, is part of the job.
“Coming up with the song is part of the dissection process. I was able to deal with the things I’m thinking or feeling by expressing them through a medium I enjoy,” he said. “The biggest lesson is that working or recovering is part of work, which was difficult for me to accept because I didn’t think that way.”
Halik ni Gringo’s sound is described as being an amalgam of “punk, metal, rap” with a sprinkling of “offbeat humor.” But unlike the band’s earlier songs, like those in the band’s debut album, “The Call of Booty,” the newer material, including “Home Alone,” sounds palpably heavier.
Joey Santos
“I told my fellow songwriter Wacky that we needed a specific direction regarding the band’s sonics. The band used to have around eight members at one point. But now we’re just giving, so it’s easier to experiment with the sound,” Joey said. “So I was like, let’s try to make the songs heavier, let’s tune the guitars lower, let’s add lots of distortion.”
“Home Alone” will be featured in an upcoming EP, which will include previous releases, “Injustice for All” and “Mr. Big Data.” The said EP, in turn, is part of a bigger, ongoing project called #2stDebutAlbum—a collection of songs with a running track list.
What’s it like being a metal band and not having live gigs? “It’s painful. It’s difficult enough as a fan. But if you’re a performer onstage that’s magnified 10 times, because of the shared experience or the connection with the crowd.” INQ