HALE: January 2010

HALE

Hale resides in a small-but-fertile corner of the musical landscape. This land is populated by men and women who spent most of their youth in the rock scene, but who have recently discovered the simple beauty of a haunting melody and a few honest words. The music emanates a very sad undertone which the band describes as “melodrama”. The lyrical content of their songs are insightful, sad, angry, and earnest; producing music with substance and that explores the full range of human emotions.

HALE means SOUND IN BODY

BAND MEMBERS:

Champ, 23 - lead vocalist / guitarist

REAL NAME: Arthur Bernard Lui-Pio
SCHOOL & COURSE: College of St. Benilde, BS BA Human Resource Management
IF NOT MUSIC...: "I'd probably be teaching pre-school. Teaching ABC."
WHERE DO I DRAW INSPIRATION FROM: Friends, Family, Loved-ones. Life itself.
FAVORITE RECORD: All Coldplay albums
FAVORITE BOOK: "I'm not into books, but I'm a big comics fan"
GREATEST COLLEGE EXPERIENCE: Doing thesis
RANDOM FACT: "I easily get intimidated by women I like.
I'M CRUSHING IF... "I stutter and I can't look her in the eye."

Sheldon, 21 - bassist, vocals

NAME: Sheldon Gellada
SCHOOL & COURSE: Music major at UST
MUSIC HEROES: Dirk Lance of Incubus, Peanut of 311, and Victor Wooten. "Di ko kaya ginagawa nila -- sobrang bow ako sa kanila."
CHILDHOOD DREAM: To be an astronaut
LIFE-CHANGING MUSIC EXPERIENCE: " A friend introduced me to this guy and I saw him play the guitar. He was shredding, and I thought, 'Uy, kaya pala ng tao yun!'"
FIRST GUITAR PIECE: "Yung buong-buo? 'Nothing Else Matters.' Ha, ha, ha!"
IF NOT THE BASS, THEN WHAT: A pen
BIGGEST MISCONCEPTION: "We're always mistaken as a boy band. Hindi kami fabricated."
RANDOM FACT: Just started eating vegetables a year ago.
CAN'T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT: Toilet paper. "Right, Roll?"

Roll, 20 - guitarist, vocals

NAME: Roll Martinez
SCHOOL & COURSE: College of Music, UST
FAVORITE BOOK: The Leviathan
THINGS THAT KEEP ME GROUNDED: Family and bandmates. "Kami bumabalanse sa lahat. We look after each other. Pag wala na sa hulog, ibabalik sa hulog."
HAPPINESS: Being onstage. "When you see the people, at that moment, ang kanta namin, nagiging kanta rin nila. At that moment, kanila yung kantang yun."
INSPIRATION: Life itself.
WHEN INSPIRATION HITS: "I pick up a pillow. Hihiga muna ako."
MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACE YOU'VE BEEN TO: Star Toll Way to Batangas. "Favorite place kong dinadaanan yun. I'm from Batangas kasi."
YOU ONLY HAVE P82 BUCKS. WHAT DO YOU DO WITH IT? I will buy 5 packs of Tictacs and the remainder, parang trust fund na yun."
RANDOM FACT: "Hindi ako marunong magbike at lumangoy!"

Omnie, 25 - drummer, percussion

NAME: Omnie Saroca
CHILDHOOD DREAM: To be a pilot.
FAVORITE TV CHANNEL: Now Channel. "Kaya lang tinanggal na sa cable namin eh, sayang."
MUSIC HEROES: The Eraserheads
FAVORITE TOY: Scooter
FAVORITE PAST-TIME: "I take out my helmet, my jacket, and ride my scooter all night!"
CAN'T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT: "My gear.Kahit walang gig, kailangan dala ko sila."
LAST MOVIE SEEN: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
BEST ADVICE RECEIVED: Garbage in, garbage out.
DAY JOB: Architect. "I was taking up architecture in school, so Iwas already accepting design jobs."
FASHION ICON: The Sex Pistols. "Si Sid Vicious syempre."

INFLUENCES
Their musical influences include a diverse eclectic group of musicians.
Champ -- Dave Matthews, John Mayer, and Kurt Cobain
Roll -- Damien Rice, Switchfoot, Nina Gordon, Vertical Horizon, Shades Apart, Feeder, Travis, Nine Days, Chris Carraba, and The Corrs
Sheldon -- Sean Malone, P-Nut, Dirk Lance, Jaco Pastorius, John Myung, Bud Gough, Victor Wooten, Buddy Zabala, Aston Barret, and Stefan Lessard
Omnie -- Muse, Dave Grohl, Soundgarden, James Iha

EQUIPMENTS
Hale exclusively abuses Fender Guitars and Cables, Ibanez Guitars, Ovation Acoustic Guitars, Yamaha Bass Guitars, Vox amps, Digitech, Boss Pedals, Korg tuners, Tech 21 Sansamp, Neutrik Cables, Planet Waves Straps & Cables, GHS, D'Addario Guitar & Bass Strings, Gator Cases, Tama Pedals, Zildjian Cymbals, Pearl, Nokia, Toyota, and Tic Tac.

GOAL
The bandâs goal is to reach out to the listening crowd and make them understand the value of the bandâs musical sincerity. And sincerity is where Hale excels: Champâs heart-on-sleeve vocals and the groupâs songwriting exude feeling and melody, much to the delight of melancholy teens in search of a like-minded voice. Itâs still a long way for Hale, but itâs obvious why so many people will take them to heart.

MAKING THE BAND:
They were just seven months old when they passed their demos to different recording companies in the middle of 2004. Champ's dad finance their needs while doing the demos. EMI Philippines, a record company, loved their music so much that in NoveMber 2004 they were immediately signed.

Omnie, who is doing the drum duties for Hale, is the most experienced among the group. He did the rounds doing drum chores for reggae bands before finally hooking up with the rest of HALE. Omnie met Sheldon through a common friend. Sheldon and Roll are schoolmates, and Roll and Champ knew each other.

Because Hale is quite a new band - their presence was hardly felt on the gig circuit before their big debut -- a lot of critics regard them with more criticisms than most new artist. They hated being labeled as a"fabricated bands" or "audition bands". Sheldon - "Hindi kami ngsusulat ng kanta para sa girls. We are not an audition band." They neither like to be coined as a "boy band" nor a "Pogi Band", but we have to admit that they are undeniably amongst the better-looking musicians in the industry. They would rather be recognized for their music than their looks. Label- and management -mates, Sugarfree, are said to be big fans of Hale. Rap-metal group Slapshock has asked the band to open for them during club gigs. When Champ was told of this, he replies in a tone of admiration, "Ah, si Kuya Ebe. Label-mates kami ng Sugarfree. We look up to them." - Seventeen Mag, November 2005

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