00:00 Pinoyaco is one of the things that I almost regret doing in my career as a songwriter.
00:07 For the record, this is one of the rare moments that I will talk about this song because we really
00:12 don't want to talk about Pinoyaco ever since it came out. I kept on avoiding it. So to set
00:18 the record straight, I want to talk about it now.
00:21 [Music]
00:39 History muna, Pinoyaco is a commercial project. We didn't write it. It was written by Jonathan Manalo.
00:49 He approached us on behalf of ABS-CBN to co-produce or co-write the theme song of the first
00:56 Pinoy Big Brother edition. That time, I didn't know what Big Brother was because we were getting
01:03 popular that time. We were getting a lot of projects thrown to us and one of them was this
01:08 project, Pinoyaco. So when he approached me, he said, "We need a band to interpret, to put music,
01:19 to interpret the song, to record, shoot a music video in one week." That's the beauty of being in
01:28 a band. There is magic pag nagsama-sama na kayo. You know? And pag na-interpret mo siya in such a
01:37 way na you know, you were, na-incorporate mo yung sound mo. Because when Jonathan Manalo gave it to
01:46 me, meron na rin siyang melody. I didn't use it. I told him, "Can I create a new melody for this song?"
01:53 Because hindi siya bagay sa banda. So we want to own it. You know, make it ours. I think dun yung
02:01 magic nung inangkin namin yung kanta and put our influences in it. And of course, being a melody
02:09 maker, na-surprise din ako sa sarili ko how I created something so singable that people would
02:17 remember it instantly. I don't know. It's hard to explain. It just happened. Ganun ka-stressful yung
02:26 project niyo. I mean, pressure was one week, everything in. When we got to the details,
02:31 he gave me the lyrics. Ang original title niya is "Pinoy ako, Pinoy tayo."
02:36 I read the lyrics and then I started working on it. It took me a day to work on the melody
02:51 and arrangements. I worked on finale. I was notating everything. My father heard it, actually.
02:57 I was clueless what how big it was going to be. Like Pinoy Big Brother, how big it was going to
03:10 be. We have no idea. I was just enjoying working on a project and challenging myself.
03:16 So we were able to deliver in a week everything. And we went on with our regular lives, touring,
03:24 gigging, and then it came out. And boom, it changed everything. It changed the game for our band.
03:35 It became massive.
03:38 [Music]
03:50 We weren't ready for it. We were just starting with a major record debut. And then after a few
03:58 months, we were doing Colosseum shows all over the country. It's like this national anthem that
04:04 we didn't expect. Everyone was expecting to release something like that again. So the third album that
04:12 we wrote was Hindi Siya Masa. But I told them I have to do this because we have to redeem ourselves
04:18 as creators.
04:19 I almost regret doing in my career as a songwriter. I don't regret it now. I mean,
04:33 it's part of the experience that I had that made me who I am right now. I learned a lot about it.
04:39 And I'm happy it's being played still until now. And Rico Blanco has the courage to cover it and
04:47 make his own version for the new season of PBB. So meron talaga eh. That one song the band hates,
04:55 it was Pinoy ako. But now that I'm mellowed down, I don't hate it anymore. I mean,
05:01 it's part of the learning process. That's the reason why yung third album namin sa Orange
05:06 and Lemon sobrang lalim na eh. And we disbanded after its release.
05:11 I went back to indie for so many years. I refused to sing Orange and Lemon songs. Nag
05:28 underground ako for a long period of time until I decided, okay, it's time. It's all about
05:34 continuing the legacy of what we're doing, what we've started. Malaking impact yung Pinoy ako in
05:41 our music career during that time. We weren't ready for it. Pinoy ako does not reflect our
05:50 music per se because it's a commercial project. But you know, it became big. It actually made the
05:58 band and at the same time, sad to say, broke us. So many opportunities coming in and it distracted
06:18 us from our goals and our, you know, what the Orange and Lemon is really about. Our music is
06:25 not about that. It also contributed to the disbandment of the band. Because of that success,
06:32 everyone was expecting that we create more songs like that. Something that the public would want
06:41 to hear. So commercial projects or masa projects. Hindi naman kami masa eh. Hindi masa ang Orange
06:50 and Lemons to begin with. Naging masa lang kami because of this one song. Pinoy ako became
07:08 controversial as at the same time, massive. We were being accused of plagiarism. A lot of
07:17 accusations. I was dealing with lawyers telling us not to say anything about it. It even reached
07:25 the publishers of that song. Pero wala naman eh. Walang nagdimanda. There was nothing. It wasn't
07:32 a big deal to them. Before we released that track, we consulted a lot of people. My engineer,
07:39 my producer. And they said yes. I was being responsible as well. Negative publicity is
07:45 still publicity. It's a matter of sampling. Like for example, blues. Reggae. Pareho lang
07:59 naman sila eh. Yung progression eh. Kasi when I wrote Pinoy ako, may lyrics na eh. Ginawan ko
08:05 ng melody yung chorus line. Yung nauna eh. I was heavily into New Wave and The Care was one of our,
08:19 one of the bands that we cover. So subconsciously, it was there. And the chord pattern was there.
08:27 So inaplay ko. It sounded similar but the notes aren't. The intro is what I was doing with.
08:35 It's just three notes. The original from The Care was four notes.
08:43 So it's different.
08:50 For me, I consider myself an original artist. Sumasakit para sa akin na,
09:05 to be accused of such. Kaya grabe yung drive ko to be original. It's hard to build respect.
09:15 Ganun ang nangyari sa akin. I avoided a lot of commercial projects. I'm happy it happened
09:22 because I'm in a better place. I make music as a therapeutical experience to document my life.
09:35 To preserve memories and experiences. I want to release something that's going to be
09:43 timeless. That's always been the goal. 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, 50 years from now,
09:50 it's going to be there. And new generation might be able to discover it.
09:55 This is Clem Castro. Please don't forget to like and subscribe this channel. OG.
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