Red Horse Muziklaban 2013 winners Manila Under Fire may not necessarily want to see the world burn, but they sure would like to burn a few things.
Frontman Gab Gamboa would want to burn away racial and social profiling, for instance. “It’s like I’m this person, right? Tapos may mga foreign people. Nagiging differential yung culture, parang [they label me as] ‘Tangina, amboy.’ Dapat walang ganoon. We’re all equals, we’re human beings from the same planet.”
When pointed out that Gamboa was referring to an idea over an object (that deserves burning), the singer replies, “Ideas are the most dangerous things.”
If guitarist Drexler Mongalo would have it his way, he would prefer something more extreme. “Yung mga kabataan na walang ibang ginawa kung hindi mag-Facebook,” he says. “Ang sarap nilang pakainin ng dictionary.”
Mongalo has a few words to say to them: “Read books!”
The band has gone a long way since winning the Muziklaban tilt. With an album tucked under their collective belts (feel free to imagine how that can physically be possible), Manila Under Fire is at work on their second record which hopefully will be released in 2017.
Gamboa finds it hard to describe their sound. “We try to go out of the norm based on our sound na tina-try naming i-develop,” he shares. “It’s cliche, but…it’s chaos and harmony combined.”
There’s also the metaphor of the buffet table. “It’s labeled ‘rock,’ but on top of it is a variety of different foods: jazz, samba, bluez, country,” he adds. “Nobody knows what the ‘Manila’ sound is.”
Check out the video above for the rest of the interview.