Walkie Talkies (photos from last year's shoot)

by Ton Palabrica:

by Sam Godinez:

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Last year we had a photo shoot for Audioclef & I was also one of the photographers they hired (see my photos here). We were close to being one of the artists under their belt but towards the end our parents advised us to hold off all types of contracts. It was becoming clear that Riz and I had to focus more on our studies. I am currently on my last few terms and Riz is trying to move out of her course (which requires her to perform better so she can present good grades the moment she transfers) and it's not easy being on full load while doing the music thing. A typical course here requires you to take at least 18 units per term (Riz is under the trisem system while I'm under the *gasp* quarterm system) which is a lot compared to what my cousins and friends have to face abroad.

Lemme tell you that I was DYING during the last few months of year 2010. We had at least 2-3 gigs per week, I had tons of projects, plates and exams, Riz was performing in her school. Both our courses are seriously demanding. I was drained, and I didn't get to have much time for myself. We didn't have a proper handler so I was left to manage our scheds and negotiate with people since I didn't want to bother our parents for that.

We're saddened by the fact that last year we were forced to turn down awesome offers. We try so hard to keep it to ourselves first and a lot of people say that we should get signed or get discovered already. The truth is, our efforts did get us noticed but we just couldn't commit to anything fully. On numerous occasions we'd all be excited but we had to listen to our parents as well. They've invested so much for us to be good students and I honestly don't want to give up school for music. They allow us to do whatever we want to do (hobbies, part-time jobs, etc.) as long as our studies don't get affected by it.

Riz and I are both young compared to the other artists. Most of them have loose scheds or are doing music full-time, and we can't do that. I have so many responsibilities in school and I'm trying to do things inclined to the career path I've chosen. We've had days wherein we had to attend band practice or recording sessions (for another label we were getting involved with before Audioclef) til 2 in the morning on school nights. I don't think anyone could ever perform to their full capacity and give their best on all areas with that type of lifestyle (studies + career + music). Plus Riz can't possibly write songs if she's under too much pressure from all sides. She's not used to that kind of system yet. Thankfully, people around me kept telling me to slow down. No matter how much we try to manage our schedules, sometimes I get too carried away with doing so many things at the same time, and that's never a good thing especially since the quality of your work/output is compromised.

Music keeps us going, there's no argument in that. But for now, it'll be something that will have to wait. We still do gigs, but we just can't commit to a label YET. Our parents know what's best for us, and the music industry right now isn't that great (especially in the Philippines). There are ways to earn so much from music but there are only a handful of people here who can successfully achieve that.

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We have a couple of performances lined up and another Church Simplified "Are You Listening" CD will be out by Holy Week- be sure to grab a copy of that! We have an original called "Oblivion" in the CD. It's an honor to be part of it and have our song included alongside those from other established artists in the country.

As with everything we go through, we're both really thankful that people still appreciate what we can give out to the public. We're blessed to be able to do one of the things we really love and have people enjoy it, too.

Gigs announced and posted on our sites:

Facebook page

Tumblr

Twitter

Rizza's YouTube page

And oh, do check out another article by us : Sister Singers by Irene Francisco

*Wrote this blog post just to clear things out-- we're not releasing an album yet! And we had to stop posting our originals for a while because of all that was supposed to take place last year :))

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