Indie fave Moonwlk continues its story, hopes to make a music video

If you've been following the local music scene, you've probably heard of Moonwlk.

Nick Lazaro and Gabbi Buencamino have been exciting audiences with their brand of electronic pop through live performances—which are often punctuated by Nick’s exhortations to the crowd to "make some [expletive] noise!"—and often memorable tunes.

Over the last year, the duo brought together some of the best independent musicians to become part of their band, making a great addition to their already strong sound.

In a way, this is where Nick Lazaro started. His band, Twin Lobster, became known in independent music circles for the way its songs were written. But when he began his collaboration  with poet and theater denizen Gabbi Buencamino—a longtime friend—in 2011, it was a choice to pursue a different kind of songwriting. “I wanted to do something different from, like, band music,” he says, “and I was really influenced by 80s Depeche Mode, New Order, stuff that my dad used to listen to.” He wanted to write music in that vein, and he knew Buencamino was a good singer, among other things. “I was writing a poetry book at that time,” she notes.

The two collaborate on the music and lyrics of all their songs.

The process of recording their first album, 20Twelve, was, to say the least, a slow but steady one. “It was more like, ‘Let’s do one thing,’” Lazaro says, “and then [I would ask], ‘Are you free next week? Let’s record another one.’” He adds that when they had enough recorded material, they decided to release an album.

The 2012 record contains “Choose Me” and other danceable pop tunes that have grown in favor with audiences. “Well, luckily for us, people have been warm [about our songs],” says Lazaro. “Otherwise we wouldn’t be in the place where we are now.”

Their second record, Of the Bed, came out last year. It is more thematically tied together than 20Twelve. “We figured that the second record should be more fun and interesting,” Lazaro says. “So we had a theme…stuff that are from dreams and things like that.” He cites Buencamino’s poetic contributions as a key thing to notice, but emphasizes how “we work as a duo, and without that duo, there wouldn’t be Moonwlk.”

Eventually, their live performances needed some oomph, so to speak. At a gig for Hinge Inquirer’s Scout magazine, Moonwlk decided to ask longtime Twin Lobster collaborator Pat Sarabia to join them. “Gabbi and I were thinking, we would sound pretty thin if it were just us two,” Lazaro said, “so we decided to ask Pat, ‘Hey, why don’t you do drums with us and see if we can make [our] sound more massive.”

Sarabia recalls, “[Nick] texted me…he always pulls me into most of his endeavors. We’re neighbors.” They felt eventually that both of them would rather be singing and jumping around, a sense of energy that the author feels is one of the most compelling things about watching them live.

Thus, Moonwlk expanded into a full ensemble, with Sarabia on drums, April Hernandez and Mel Ferrer of TheSunManager on synths, Harold Go of Yolanda Moon alternating with Yuna Reguerra (Conscious and the Goodness) on bass, and Carlo “Ling” Lava of Lions and Acrobats on guitar. Lazaro says that Lava is the “mega-glue” of the band, adding that he is one of the best guitar players in the scene, if not the country. Hernandez says that the Moonwlk ensemble keeps much of what is good about the duo’s music, but “it adds a lot more power, more energy to it.”

Much of that Moonwlk energy comes from the crowd, as Nick notes, which explains why he has often made it a point, since the Twin Lobster days, to exhort the crowd to react. “I’ve always felt like energy for the performer comes from the audience,” he says, “so I have to encourage them, to [tell them], ‘Hey, don’t be shy!’”

This was even the case during the otherwise serene atmosphere of their Songs from a Room (Sofar) Manila set, where his other band Twin Lobster played. “Everybody should be part of the band somehow,” he says.

Their upcoming music video, for which they are raising funds, will be for their song “Prefer” from Of the Bed. “Actually, we were approached by a director who was really captivated by ‘Prefer’,” Lazaro says. “He had this whole concept and we really liked it, so we decided to push through with it.” He emphasizes that while every little bit helps, “we’re finding a way to make it happen.”

Moonwlk has enough material for a third record, but for now, Lazaro emphasizes that it needs time to gain ground with audiences. Lazaro and Buencamino plan to record not only by themselves but with the band, who joined them last Saturday night for the fundraiser.

At the event, I asked the band about their name. Nick and Gabbi are both fans of Michael Jackson, it turns out; hence the name based on Jackson's famous backwards dance move. “We initially wanted to move forward by going backward, but regardless of direction, we wanted to do it with style.” — BM, GMA News

Readers can support Moonwlk’s fundraising campaign here.

Ren Aguila is a contributing writer to a number of online and offline publications. His first article for GMA News Online was sent around five years ago this month.