The Roundabout World of Bamboo Mañalac

Just recently, a colleague described me as a “music fan and magazine editor” both I have no issues with since they are true, the first is a known fact that I have been this since basically  forever (and will always will be) and the latter is something that I've really worked hard on achieving. Like probably anyone in my industry, I've also worked with different kinds of people and there was a phase wherein I worked closely with musicians whom some I've stayed friends with. 

Take musician Bamboo Mañalac for instance, whom I've known personally since he came back from the US to resume his favorite passion that he left behind here in the Philippines: music. When he was still in the group, that infamous good ol' larger-than-life band Bamboo, I never really got to talk to him that much because either I was too intimidated that I might bore him should I start a conversation or the fact that I would always have this notion of him that he's too serious to be bothered by a quirky person like me. But eventually, all those personal assumptions disappeared when I decided to come up to him and started talking. Have you tried talking to Bamboo Mañalac? Let me try and describe how he is, OK? He's a fast talker, especially if the topic excites him. He likes to smile when he talks. He does the whole hand gesture thing. His American accent comes out from time to time. He has a sense of humor, it's not weird or dark, it's just normal. He's witty and yet kind of stern if he wants his point to come across in the conversation, he's subtle in doing this; you just have to be quick enough to pick it up. 

It was a bitter breakup between him and his band mates but all have decided to move on. The three formed a band that they called Hijo and Bamboo decided to go solo. Stories I have listened to, explanations I have considered, and all of them I shall bring to my grave because for one, it was an issue that I was in no way part of and no opinion of mine should be put out there and most of all, I am but a friend of both parties and at the same time a fan who has been there to support them and who has also felt the loss when they decided to pull the plug on a group that is on the way to start a musical revolution. I'm not sure about how everyone felt when they heard the news about the break up but I was dumbfounded, I was honestly caught off guard. It was one of those WHAT THE FUCK!? moments. And calling one of them for confirmation was just like making the wound even bigger. A loss, that was it, it was just a big loss. But if they were able to move on, why shouldn't you? So here we all are. 

I got a chance to interview Bamboo recently for a magazine and one of the questions I asked was about his album No Water, No Moon -- his baby, his pride and joy. You have to understand that interviewing someone that I have a personal connection with can sometimes be a bane because you tend to protect them or you sometimes forget to ask the right questions that readers would want to know about because you already know the answers. With Bamboo, I was really curious on how he came up with this solo endeavor probably like most people are. The answer he gave me was too honest, too open, and candid. There was a moment there that I thought “Hhhmmm he probably forgot that I am doing an interview and this is being recorded and I will write about this” I wasn't used to this kind of honesty. Doing this whole magazine thing made me doubt certain things about people. In interviews I kind of sense if someone is lying to me and just trying to make everything around him or her mythical. But this was him admitting being broken which I'm not sure he ever had publicly. Read on: 

What inspired you to work on No Water, No Moon? How personal is this album and did you write all the songs?   

Yes I did and it’s personal in the sense na I wrote this in a time right when I left the band (Bamboo). I really had no plans on leaving the band, that's something that I never wanted to do. You can ask anybody, I’ve always been loyal. I like routine, I don’t like change much, and I’m like that. So to do something like this and to go through that process last year, I think in some ways when we ended the band, I was broken at that time e. At that point, in writing, I sort of lifted myself up again, sort of going through the process, digging through and just writing. The theme of this album for me was going home hence I wanted the idea of recording here and going to the US, in San Francisco, and finishing the album there. From the very start, that was the idea na, na kailangan ko tapusin sa San Francisco. I had to find the right engineer, the right guy who sort of matches the sound I wanted.  I did my research and luckily I found the right guy to work on the album and he was available and agreed to work on the project. I think the break-up generally influenced the album and at the same time it became like a joyous album, a celebratory album at certain points, hence from that point on, I found myself again, rekindling at joy again. Ang hirap e, it was a hard time, alam mo naman yan. I think if there was a bit more balance in the band we could have done something more but then we were just four strong personalities but sort of saw things so differently lang talaga. So that’s how it goes, that’s just how the cookie crumbles. 

Currently teamed with some of the top musicians in the music industry namely Ria Osorio, Kakoy Legaspi, Jun Jun Regalado, Bong Gonzales and Simon Tan, and backed up by his manager Pancho Gonzales, Bamboo has been doing tremendously with his career. There was a time that I told him that I was proud of him and asked me why and I just said "you've changed a lot, you've learned to adapt" and he just replied with a smile because he knew that the change that I was implying was a good thing. But the boy lacks sleep. It doesn't take an expert to figure that one out (although a friend can call him out on it as well as telling him to eat more) but his determination to entertain fuels that drive that a good long sleep can't give as of the moment. He will be one of the judges of the Philippine version of The Voice and he is currently a mainstay in A.S.A.P. as well as the endorser of Globe Tattoo@Home. He has a lot on his plate.

As of the moment his latest single "Carousel" which is a new song included in the repackaged No Water, No Moon album under Polyeast Records is making its rounds on radio stations. The video was just premiered yesterday. Bamboo said “It (Carousel) speaks of inspiration and finding oneself by going back. As the refrain starts “remember before….rush hour…” and that once you do open that door it’s a hard thing to close.  And that “home” for me isn’t a place but it’s me finding meaning in what I do what drives me to dare, be confident and continuing to look for that spark… and that is home.” And I really do think that he has found his. 

The repackaged album No Water, No Moon is available in record stores now.