Sandwich just released a remix album 'Space/Spase.' Here are 5 things to know about it

Sandwich has been making music for more than 20 years, and with the release of "Space/Spase," two things become clear: band has no time to be boring and wow, the band is teeming with so much creativity. 

"We're constantly evolving, but not really in a linear way," Sandwich frontman Raimund Marasigan tells GMA News Online during the launch of "Space/Spase" and it shows.

The new release is a 10-track remix album of Sandwich songs under Polyeast Records, including “ 2 Trick Pony,” “Betamax,” “Procrastinator” and “Walang Kadaladala.” 

According to the band, choosing the tracks was really just based on intuition — and whatever they thought they missed performing during their 20th anniversary gig last year. The result is a bold demonstration of the band members’ love for hip-hop, Olongapo funk, and dance music.

We sat with Sandwich to learn more about "Space/Spase" and here’s what we learned.

1. Space/Spase wasn’t going to be an album. “We thought of just uploading it on Soundcloud or something,” said Mong Alcaraz, who was also the main producer of the remixed tracks.

But when he exported all of what they’ve worked on, it turned out, they had 10 songs, a complete set! “We called Soupstar and said we can release it as an album when we realized it was a full set. Maybe people would want to hear them,” Raimund said.

2. It was the combination of two things: the fact that some Sandwich members do DJ sets and drummer Mike Dizon recovering from an operation, giving the band enough time and reason to work the remix project. Their original intention was to remix songs that they can play live through samplers, live drums, and keyboards.

3. The name of the album and the album art came from Mong’s 6-year-old daughter Mira. “Siya lang yung nag-isip lagyan ng ‘this is the spase’ tapos wrong spelling. Scrinatch niya 'saka sinulat yung correct spelling,” Mong shared.

Space/Spase cover art

Continued Myrene Academia, “nakita namin yung spase na sinulat ni Mira tapos naisip namin isali [because] there is no such word.”

“The album name is just weird and funny like our band,” Raimund added.

4. Consider it an audio collage. According to guitarist Diego Castillo, making Space/Spase was a liberating experience. “Madalas kasi nagse-second guess ako sa sarili ko, but dito, walang right or wrong. Lagay lang kami nang lagay tapos i-execute nina Raims, Mong, mike and Myrene tapos maraming magic na lalabas. It’s a weird cut-and-paste thing. It’s a collage,” he said.

5. It has something to do with the magic of a first time. “We have eight studio albums and every show, we get to choose the setlist. Kunwari pupunta kami ng Iloilo. [But] we don’t go to Iloilo just once a year. A lot of those kids would only hear these songs live for the first time, and if you know that, you’d also feel that you’re playing these songs for the first time. And then we play Manila every week, we get to play our new tracks.”

Sandwich shares the remixes were done in 2018 and had just decided to release it recently. "In the span of that time, we've also started writing new songs,” assured Raimund. 

In fact the band had just returned from a "workcation" at a beach where they recorded fresh new tracks for a new album. Until then, we're more than happy to groove to "Space/Spase." — LA, GMA News

Space/Spase is digitally available via Spotify, Apple Music, and Deezer