Ben&Ben on living together and the art of budgeting
Living with bandmates under one roof has its pros and cons.
For the folk-pop band Ben&Ben, this arrangement brought with it several realizations both artistically and in life.
As a band, the setup allowed them to remain creative despite the current limitations including the absence of regular live gigs and studio sessions.
Instead of sitting idle and wait for the situation to get better, the band decided to regroup and stay under one roof to write songs for what would become their second album titled, Pebble House, Vol. 1: Kuwaderno.
The COVID-19 situation, to say the least, failed to slow down the nine-piece band composed of Paolo Benjamin Guico (vocals, acoustic guitar), Miguel Benjamin Guico (vocals, acoustic guitar), Poch Barretto (lead guitar), Jam Villanueva (drums), Agnes Reoma (bass), Patricia Lasaten (keyboards), Toni Muñoz (percussion), Andrew de Pano (percussion), and Keifer Cabugao (violin).
Ben&Ben even managed to collaborate with other artists such as Chito Miranda, Moira Dela Torre, SB19, Zild, and Juan Karlos Labajo, on some of the songs included in the record.
“We're happy with how that turned out. Over the span of a few months that the album has been out, we also love how the people have received these new sounds,” Miguel said during the media event celebrating the 31st anniversary of ING Philippines.
“Of course, we're also happy that the album was very much collaborative with a lot of different artists, some of them, if not all of them, we've been friends with and whose art we've always admired so we're very happy and proud how this album turned out to be.”
Like a typical household
Commercially speaking, Ben&Ben is one of the most popular acts today.
The band was ranked as the most-streamed Filipino artist on Spotify in 2020 and reached 1 billion streams on the platform in July of this year.
Despite this, the band members swear that success did nothing to change their attitude in life and even when it comes to their finances.
Sure, the band is earning significantly well now as compared to when they were just starting.
Interestingly, the band runs their household like a typical family - a far cry from the clichéd rock n' roll lifestyle one might expect in this kind of setting.
“So in the past 14, 15 months of living together, we've learned a lot of things in managing a household of this size. The thing about living together is you really have to manage your finances well,” shared Miguel.
“Of course, we have our own personal finances but as a group and as a household there's budgeting for everything - for utilities, for all the bills being paid here, of course, even down to our food.”
Being efficient with money though was not instant, something that the band had to learn along the way throughout their time together.
“For example, knowing how to make the budget flow better. These are learnings that we've had over the months,” smiled Miguel.
“Of course, 14 months and we wish we learned it earlier because we probably have saved a bit more.
“But I guess that's life for us, you make your decisions and then you learned from them, and you get better.”
Ben&Ben's success has crossed over to other countries as well. Even K-pop idols have raved about the folk-pop band responsible for the hits such as “Kathang Isip,” “Leaves,” “Maybe the Night,” and “Pagtingin.”