ORCA (PH): An A-Wackening of Philippines' chameleonic Music Whale
From archipelagic Philippines to institutional Wacken 2022's Metal Battle Finalist, from (no-)secrets to artistic prolificacy to post-metal (pun-intended) seascape, ORCA soars above and high!
Born and bred in the depths of Manila, Philippines’ rich heavy music scene, progressive metal outfit ORCA are set to perform in Vietnam this July. ORCA’s debut in Vietnam marks a significant milestone in their international tour as it is the first Asian country outside their home country that they will be performing at. After representing the Philippines in Wacken Open Air 2022 in Germany, ORCA hopes to further share the eclectic, unique music they craft worldwide more, and reach out to potential listeners.
Let’s begin with Wacken Metal Battle Philippines, with you guys ORCA winning the trip to Germany and performing at Wacken 2022. How was life before and after that milestone? Wacken Metal Battle has been around in most SEA countries for a while, so as a winner, how would you look at the role of such an international entity to a geographically faraway country/scene such as the Philippines’?
Zoren (vocals): Well, it brought us additional reach in terms of social media. More productions from different parts of our country sent us invites to play for them and we got to travel to different cities. And it is quite obvious that winning in a prestigious event such as Wacken gave and opened us to new doors, opportunities that weren’t there previously or otherwise. You can say that it is a powerful tool of validation.
Zyme (guitars): Band life before Wacken was chill as there was no pressure aside from the one that we gave ourselves. After Wacken, it seemed like we needed to do things a bit differently, to treat things more seriously. We were serious back then, still, but the experience made us take it to another level. Wacken Metal Battle is a very good opportunity for any band/act as it offers you a chance to showcase your music overseas. Having a presence outside your country is also a big achievement for a local band like us. The opportunities of networking that it provided us are huge in number and the prestige it gave us is different. We were able to learn a lot of things that we will never learn if on our own.
Kiko (guitars): Winning Wacken Metal Battle Philippines and getting a once-in-a-lifetime chance to perform in Wacken Open Air (2022) really opened the door for us to expand our reach and gain more audience for our music all over the world. It also helped us to get more invites to awesome shows. Wacken Metal Battle Philippines helped the metal scene of our country a lot by giving them a platform and ticket to showcase their music to Wacken, arguably the biggest metal festival in the world. Other bands who also submitted their entries to the showcase but did not make the cut also gained something from it because they were able to share their live performance videos online. This exposure is something that they can capitalise on as additional content for their bands’ pages.
Gelo (drums): I think life for ORCA was and is never the same since the time we won and performed at Wacken 2022. Before, we just knew that we had friends who supported us. After Wacken 2022, we knew that there are also those who just spite us just because we won the chance to perform at Wacken. And it really opened our eyes to the reality that there are no smooth roads in this industry. For ORCA, an international entity such as Wacken is a once-in-a-million chance to showcase that we also have what it takes to perform on a high level, standard stage. And it really boosted our urge to be more creative in music writing, connecting with people, and bringing energy during performances. In the gaming context, it feels like the experience made us want to level up more.
2. Before and without Wacken, how did/does a metal or rock band in your country get noticed internationally? How is the metal scene of the Philippines over the past decade to ones who have never been in any form of contact with it? Name some international who's-who’s whom you have shared the stage with in your country.
Zoren: Longevity. People will know and kinda respect you if you’re in the scene for a (very) long time, which is silly in its own way (lol).
Our metal scene here is evolving but still, stereotyped and frowned upon by the masses. We’ve shared stages with Born of Osiris, Knosis, Annalynn, Within Destruction and Sable Hills.
Zyme: Having international recognition is highly difficult as networking and befriending people will be difficult over the internet even if you are genuine. Social media is of course the only way we could do it as we never thought of bringing ourselves internationally.
The scene in the Philippines is rich but is separated as our country is an Archipelago. A lot of great bands stay spread across the many islands, and listeners cannot go to great live music shows easily. There are a lot of local shows, but like anywhere else in the world, it’s a challenge to get people to go to.
Regarding international bands we did share the stage with, some of them are Southeast Asian such as Defying Decay, ARKM, and Parallel Horizons.
Kiko: In the Philippines, a decade ago, it was really difficult to get an international show (performing overseas) if you were a metal or a rock band unless you were really well-known, well-established. Thanks to music streaming platforms, there are more avenues nowadays for bands in PH to get their music globally discovered.
Some of the bands that we have shared the stage with are also Disentomb from last year’s Wacken Metal Battle Philippines. We also shared the stage with Of Virtue a few years ago.
Gelo: Before, local metal bands would only be noticed if they reached out to foreign promoters themselves. And that is a bit of the sad reality, that the metal scene in the Philippines can’t really penetrate the international scene by just being “noticed”. Social media platforms are really a big help in terms of marketing local metal bands abroad for the chance to get noticed. In the past decade, “Slapshock” was the band who really peaked an international presence while in the past few years, bands such as “Valley of Chrome” and “Arcadia” have been performing in some international music festivals. We’ve shared the stage with them in the Philippines a couple of times.
3. ORCA is now being signed and promoted more widely. Who is your primary targeted audience with this signing after a prolific streak of studio albums (wow, that’s impressive!)? Does ORCA - the killer whale - symbolise something personally meaningful as a name choice?
Zoren: Well, we’d like to target a wide range of international audiences (US and UK). We believe that we belong out there, somewhere! (haha) Originally we thought of naming ourselves OBSCURE but later found out that there was a popular band having the same name, that was why we landed with ORCA which came from the 90’s movie “Free Willy”. The name does not literally mean anything beyond that, as we just wanted a name that’ll make sense for a moment and yet does not represent anything nor elicit any specific response. We do not want to be boxed into anything. Who knows, we might shift into playing pop someday, so ORCA will still be relevant and fitting.
Zyme: We have not actively given a thought who our target audience could actually be. We would like to reach people who are into modern metal, and a bit of prog/mathcore, too. It is a very niche audience, but we also have a lot of clean toned songs so we could appeal to people who might I guess enjoy that.
Kiko: There’s no specific target audience for our music really. We just write music based on our preference during a specific time.
Gelo: As of now, we really do not have a specific audience. We just create music based upon what we feel like doing whenever we have time. Of course, based upon the music that we are listening to at that time. We will always be grateful to those who appreciate the music we do. The name ORCA - the killer whale - just symbolises our eagerness in chasing our goals, just like the whale as an apex predator.
4. ORCA’s secrets to being so musically prolific? Does it include simply being Filipino? What are your biggest musical and non-musical influences?
Zoren: Well we tend to separate parts or sequences of a song based upon momentary experience (emotion and mind setting) then collage them into one song. That’s why most of our songs seem abstract in their own special way and we like ‘em like that. I am more of a movie guy and listen to musical scores, that’s where I get the most influence.
Zyme: My bandmates are proficient I would say. They do a very good job with their own instruments. I do not have any secrets with playing because I believe improving is an effort thing. Also I think we understand ORCA is a group effort rather than individual ones. Growing together is mainly our priority. I personally did not listen to a lot of metal even when I was younger, but was into prog rock (Coheed and Cambria, Estrela) as well as early mathrock/mathcore (toe, Fall of Troy, Protest the Hero). I also like hardcore punk (Comeback Kid and the likes). Non-musical influences are mainly TV shows that move me.
Kiko: There are no secrets really. All of us in ORCA have different musical influences and musical backgrounds - metal or non-metal music from when we were young until now. ORCA is a big melting pot of all our influences combined. We also trust each other’s musical instincts.
On my end, my biggest metal influences are Protest the Hero, the Human Abstract, Born of Osiris and The Faceless during my teenage years, but as I mentioned before in other interviews, I love radio pop songs, too, old and new. Recently, I’ve been trying to explore and listen to film scores from Hans Zimmer and Ludwig Göransson.
Gelo: I think it’s just the willfulness to create music. And since we also enjoy listening to different kinds of music (globally), that’s where we get our inspirations. For me, the biggest musical influences would be Matt Greiner (August Burns Red’s drummer), Nic Pettersen (Northlane’s drummer), and Benny Greb. I really learned a lot from their playing styles and attitude. As for non-musical, I think it would be Kobe Bryant, with the attitude of not giving up and improving oneself continuously. The mamba mentality, that’s what I admire from him.
Side question: What’s your take on Gigi de Lana/cover culture being from Philippines?
Zoren: Gigi De Lana is a good singer. i'm not sure if she's also a good songwriter but she's pretty and good so it's all good to me (lol)
Zyme: Gigi is a great singer. I don’t watch and see a lot but when I do I find her good.
Kiko: Her rendition of Through the Fire is LIT! I have no problems with it, remember I also listen to Postmodern Jukebox where they have covers and different takes on classic songs.
Gelo: My take on cover music in general is I just hope they also get the inspiration and courage to create their own music. Not that I hate what they do, it is commendable. It is just that I hope they can also express their talents with their own music, to create their own identity as a musician.
6. What is next up on the journey after Vietnam, another rather remote country in the region if put into comparison with neighbours like Thailand or Singapore? Japan or Europe next? How does music streaming (still) help a rising artist like you nowadays - not all of your works are available on Spotify (to hell with them by the way!)
Zoren: We’re targeting Thailand and Hong Kong. Then Japan for our last stop (‘cos going there is expensive so we gotta get ready). Spotify easily helps artists to spread their music: just one click and you can forward your entire music career to a wide range of listeners, but revenue wise, not so much.
Zyme: Given that our music is niche, streaming has been a challenge for us as we cannot get a lot of streams from regions where we would like to get. We will update our Spotify soon where we can get all of our songs posted again. It will happen later in the 3rd quarter of this year.
Kiko: We’re currently writing a new batch of songs and we are looking forward to more international shows soon!
Gelo: new songs, and hopefully another EP or a full length album (IF we have the time lol). We’d love to have an Asian tour of course, if given the opportunity. We certainly do not know what opportunities may come, but we just want to be ready whenever one shows up. Spotify and Youtube are a big help to rising artists. Since they are used globally, we can promote our music to other countries without spending too much on advertisements and promotions.
7. Anything else that you think I should have asked but did not you in this interview, and in anticipation of the upcoming performance in Saigon this July 20?
Zyme: I don’t know what to expect. All I know is that I’m excited to be in Saigon this July 20.
Kiko (guitars): We are so stoked to play in Vietnam and excited to meet you guys very soon!!
Gelo (drums): no expectations. We just hope to give everyone one hell of a show and let them experience what it’s like attending an Orca show.
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ORCA
Based in the heart of Metro Manila, Philippines, progressive metal quintet ORCA — Zoren Fernandez (vocals), Zyme Sanchez (rhythm guitar), Kiko Hernandez (lead guitar), and Angelo Sibal (drums) — draws eclectic and exceptionally unique vocal and instrumental deliveries.
The birth of their respective EPs “Creation” (2015), and “Engender” (2018) paved the way into putting the band into the spotlight in the local Filipino heavy music scene and received further widespread acclaim when they emerged as the grand champions of Tribal Bandidos in 2019.
ORCA’s full length studio record “The Invitation” (2021) encapsulated the band’s evolution, taking on various dynamics in their sound and fusing complex, technical instrumentation with unorthodox, hypnotic harmonies. ORCA was also the first Philippine delegates to represent their home country for Wacken Metal Battle, an international competition participated with over 40 countries, and have performed in Wacken Open Air in Germany, the largest and longest running heavy metal festival in the world.
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