3rd Avenue. Photo by Alex Brosas
When 3rd Avenue dropped their newest single “Diskarte” in all digital form worldwide, it is with a vision to produce more songs that they can sing in wedding events where they are very much in demand.
“We feel na (that) it’s about time that we release our own music. We do a lot of weddings. We do a lot of corporate events and we have written songs for couples, ‘yung mga couples na gusto nila original ‘yung kanilang (couples who want original in their) bridal march. We compose for them. So, we have been writing songs for other companies also,” vocalist Paolo Ledesma said during their single’s launch, November 30.
With the pandemic, the group was sidelined for a while as there were not many gigs available. That’s when they were able to concentrate on writing songs.
“Parang nabanggit ni Paolo, sulat kami nang sulat sa ibang tao, so tayo naman. (Like what Paolo said, we’re writing for other people, to this time for us only), original songs this time. It’s about time,” drummer Beng Gatmaitan shared.
Vocalist Muriel dela Paz feels that the band’s decision to release “Diskarte” is “perfect timing in a way” because the theme of the songs can happen in every generation.
“So parang feeling namin kahit ‘yung mga anak, apo namin, makaka-relate sila sa song,” she said.
Ledesma noted that weddings nowadays are big production events.
“They spend two million pesos just for the flowers. That’s how it’s done now. There’s a director. We’ve done weddings for 1,000, 1,500 guests. Especially Chinoy weddings,” he said, adding that they have already started including Chinese and Korean songs in their repertoire, or as requested by the couples.
While they were busy singing in wedding events, the focus now for the group is to come up with songs which they can call their own.
“We want to focus on our original songs because we want to be able to sing our songs in our shows, in our bar gigs, and hopefully in the future, sing them in weddings. Iba pa rin ‘yung feeling na kinakanta mo ‘yung sarili mong kanta, na iyon ang pinili ng bride and groom, na ‘yung ang pinili ng couple (It’s really a different feeling when you get to sing your own song, or which was chosen by the bride and groom, that it was chosen by the couple),” Ledesma said.
“Actually, our ultimate dream is ‘yung mag-show na they’re singing our songs,” he said.
“Diskarte” is just a prelude to the band’s full-length album “Transverse” which will be released next year and which will cater to all walks of life. The other members of 3rd Avenue are Lester Cerda (saxophonist), Gino Madrid (guitarist), Migs Nuñez (musical arranger / keyboardist), Alchris Ramirez (vocalist) and Joy Reyes (vocalist). EDV