New direction, new sound for Pupil
After a major explosion a few years ago, the band scene in local music has turned generally quiet. Some band members — like Joey Generoso of the country’s premiere band Side A — have left their groups and moved on to other things, which includes pursuing solo careers.
But some bands have persevered, and one of them is Pupil, the pop-rock band that counts as one of its members Ely Buendia, formerly of The Eraserheads. Pupil (which is now composed of, aside from Ely, drummer Wendell Garcia, bassist Dok Sergio and new guitarist Jerome Velasco) is setting new directions for itself. Pupil has just come out with a new album, which is its fourth full-length album and its first under MCA Music.
Titled Zilch — a word that ironically means “zero” or nothing — was completed while the members of the band were on a collaborative sabbatical of sorts: Ely was doing shows with punk-rockabilly supergroup The Oktaves, as well as booking the occasional solo gig; Wendell was doing session work with a host of acts, even reuniting for a few gigs with Barbie’s Cradle; and, perhaps most publicly, their bassist Dok and new guitarist Jerome were doing a string of successful shows with Teeth, which had also just gotten back together.
What Pupil has in Zilch is, ultimately, a more refined re-thinking of its sound. “The guitars growl, the
drums are in your face, no synth pads, very little delay. (It) is an album played on the gut level. Yet it is, I think, our most sophisticated release to date,” says Ely.
Jerome says the timing to pursue new sonic directions was perfect. “Personally, I find that it’s inevitable that the band would release a definitive rock record. I think this was a great time to do it.”
Throughout the process, the band members were determined to reconcile the sound in their heads with the sound that eventually ended up on the CD, and that meant a lot of experimentation and doing things they’d never done before. Wendell’s drum parts, for one, were redone almost entirely in a rented photography studio in an attempt to capture the much-revered John Bonham (drummer for Led Zeppelin) sound. The band DIY’d the whole thing, installing their own personal mattresses for soundproofing, with bassist Dok manning the controls.
In his desire to produce a new Pupil sound, Ely took it one step further. “I sort of binge-listened all my favorite modern rock albums from the (Smashing) Pumpkins, Nirvana, Pixies, (and) The Cult.” So Zilch displays faint echoes of the modern rock canon, for sure, but the quartet’s distinct strengths — the insistent riffing, the soaring melodies, the monstrous rhythms — are still there.
Just the same, Ely is glad that his dream of bringing about a new sound for the band was successfully realized. From the start, he explains that he has always wanted a more subdued sound. The material he has come up with for this album reflects that desire. “I’ve always preferred a stripped-down sound, live and on record, and this was the objective from the moment I started writing new songs for Zilch,” he says.
Also key to the revamped operation and the new sound is the addition of new members like Jerome, whose genius covers an expansive terrain — from indie pop to sludge rock — and who is, moreover, a longtime collaborator of Ely’s. He was part of the post-Eraserheads, Elyled outfit The Mongols and a constant partnerin-crime in the studio.
“We’re both excited to be making music again essentially. The only thing different is I have a lot of catching up to do,” says Jerome.
Ely, apparently, feels the same way about bringing the guy on board. “(Jerome) and I just work well together. We complement each other. There are no egos, no need to say ‘Excuse me, I’m about to step on your toes.’ I totally trust his instincts. He has impeccable taste,” says Ely. The erstwhile Teeth guitarist’s stamp is unmistakable but never overbearing throughout the CD, but is most especially marked in melodic cuts like Resonate and
Cheap Thrill, as well as left-field dissonant rockers Tachyon and MNL.
Zilch is now out in CDs at Astroplus and Odyssey outlets under MCA Music, Inc. It is also available through digital download via spinnr.
ph and iTunes and streaming via spinnr.ph, Spotify and Deezer.