MANILA, Philippines – Picture this: you’re a member of a band setting foot on a dimmed stage, in front of a crowd eagerly waiting for your performance to start. When the stage lights finally switch on and signal you all to start your set, you completely lock in and shift into your own bubble, where only your music and the crowd’s resounding cheers are present.
That’s exactly how it is for ONE CLICK STRAIGHT. When you see them in action, it’s easy to tell that all this energy they have isn’t a front. The band of “three blood brothers and one spiritual brother,” as they call it, just genuinely enjoys making music and sharing it with others.
Curious to know what it was about playing at gigs that they loved so much, I asked brothers Tim and Sam Marquez, “You guys always seem to be having such a good time when you’re performing. How does it usually feel when you’re on stage?”
Tim, the drummer, was quick to correct me, saying, “It’s not a good time. It’s a rad time,” and I knew exactly what he meant. When ONE CLICK STRAIGHT comes on, you don’t just have crowd members politely nodding along to the music. You have people jumping up and down, fully lost in the rock band’s sound. It’s apparent, then, that there’s this sort of magic that’s produced.
“Most of the time, once the sound starts, that’s the greatest feeling in the world for me. That’s how life is as a musician. Being in a band, you work 24/7, and then you get that prize of a 30-minute to an hour-long set on stage. That’s untouchable. In that part of the day, we feel like we’re not working anymore,” vocalist-guitarist Sam shared in a mix of English and Filipino.
That sensation — or something along its lines — is present even when the band is at the drawing board, thinking of their next hit.
Owning their process
When you listen to any song, the way it was conceived probably won’t be at the top of your mind. With ONE CLICK STRAIGHT, though, as soon as you hear what their creative process is like, it becomes hard not to think of it with every track you put on.
“I feel like from an outside perspective, the way it looks is nasty, tapos nakapambahay kami. But vibes. Feeling ko ang nangyayari doon is, in our heads, it’s like, ‘wow, we’re like space cadets doing these space things.’ But from an outside perspective, kung naglagay ka ng webcam diyan, para kaming mga weirdo lang na nagwawala through the sounds that we’re creating. It’s some weird ass stuff,” Sam explained.
(I feel like from an outside perspective, the way it looks is nasty, then we’re just in loungewear. But vibes. I feel like what happens is, in our heads, it’s like, “Wow, we’re like space cadets doing these space things.” But from an outside perspective, if you put up a webcam, we’re like weirdos freaking out through the sounds that we’re creating. It’s some weird ass stuff.)
“It’s not as glamorous, but the magic is there,” Tim quipped.
Perhaps that’s what’s so easy to love about ONE CLICK STRAIGHT. The band is so unapologetic about their music-making and the chaos that ensues from it that the mere process somehow becomes art itself, too.
“Music-making is such a spiritual thing. I think it’s just as raw as it gets. The magic is with the people that you make music with. It’s not with having grapes or coffee in the studio or having unli chicken from your record label. I don’t think that’s the way music should be done. I think music should be done kung saan-saan e (anywhere). And if nasa kalye ka (you’re on the street) one time and nag-snap sa’yo ‘yung melody at biglang may lyric na pumasok, ‘yun na ‘yung music-making process mo (the melody snaps and a lyric suddenly comes, that’s your music-making process). So, walang (there’s nothing) glamorous about it at all. [It’s] really all in the little things,” Sam added.
And even in the midst of all the exhaustion that came with releasing an entire album and going on tour to promote it, the four-piece band still had much to say and just as much juice left. With that, after nearly two years, they ended up putting out another track: “Siga.”
On creating ‘Siga’
“[Siga] is just the culmination of every moment that you had to say, ‘it is what it is,’ na ganyan talaga ang buhay (that life is just like that). ‘Yung ganong (The kind of) thing where you feel like life is unfair but it’s bearable when you’re with your friends,” Tim explained.
“Inspired siya sa mga hassle sa buhay. Pero napansin namin kasi ‘yung pinaka-common denominator ‘pag may mga hassle sa buhay is may camaraderie kami. Or at least, at the end of the day, what gets you through is having friends or just tibay ng puso kind of things,’” Sam added.
(It’s inspired by all the hassles of life. But we noticed that the common denominator is that when there are hassles in life, we have camaraderie. Or at least, at the end of the day, what gets you through is having friends or just things that make your heart stronger.)
The inspiration behind “Siga” was brought to life by the work that went into creating its music video, too. There, you see four members in a warehouse, each of them individually preaching and acting out how it feels to get screwed over by life. In the shots where they’re all together, though, the agony seems to lessen significantly.
The band had spent the whole day in that warehouse, shooting takes with a production team who they had endured the sweltering heat with. But sweat aside, the most important thing ONE CLICK STRAIGHT got out of that shoot day was the genuine good time they had with each other. That’s what “Siga” is all about.
“Small Talk” from 2017 was my (and perhaps many others’) earliest gateway into ONE CLICK STRAIGHT’s discography, and it noticeably sounds different from “Siga.” There’s a seven-year gap between the releases of those two songs, and changes are obviously bound to happen in such a wide time frame. But the band just keeps at it, all because of their love for sonic exploration.
“We love to experiment and we never settle for comfort. Even with marketing ideas, even with the videos and the visuals we do. So, I guess it came naturally that every release we do is sort of different from each other. I think that’s why there’s a big difference between the stuff that we put out before and the stuff we put out now. It’s because we just follow where the wind will take us,” Sam said.
Interestingly, Tim says these changes aren’t forced; they happen naturally.
“As you grow as artists or as people, there’s no urge to go back to [your old sound] kasi alam namin na nagawa na namin ‘yun, na-push namin ‘yung max namin (because we know we’ve done that and we already maxed ourselves out) at that time for that certain sound….Right now, we’re always moving forward. Lagi kaming (We’re always) forward thinking. So, whatever’s new or whatever’s exciting for us, that’s what we do,” Tim shared.
Despite all the ways ONE CLICK STRAIGHT’s discography has evolved, the way they approach each aspect of their artistry — from being on stage to working on new music — will always remain one of the most admirable things about the band. And from the looks of it, that’s here to stay. – Rappler.com