Our story is simple and quite often told. We are four music-obsessed friends who go way back since high school, from the Philippine island of Cebu. We later parted ways for college and were sucked into the ordinary world, pursuing ordinary lives.
All this time, we practically lived in different worlds and were too caught up with trying to pursue the usual career paths imposed upon our educated and underpaid Filipino contemporaries.
Still, deep inside our very beings, the music was calling and the passion could not be stayed for much longer. Things were about to change.
Individually, we have done many projects and have played with many different groups but we never did music together until 2004. This was the time when Yanix came Manila to visit his sister. We had a chance to hang out at my place and I showed him a few songs I had written during the past year. We fixed one of these songs up, added a drum track and history was made. The song Sunflowers and Dust had become our very first single.
That same night, we wrote a new song together based on one of Yanix´s sound experiments back home. It took us two hours to finish the lyrics, the melody and the bootleg recording of our second song Hear You Coming. The result made us conscious of the remarkable tonal chemistry that we never knew we had. Back then, my gut told me that this was only the beginning.
When I got back to Cebu for our semestral break, I met up with Yanix and Dax, and we got into a long conversation about “sucky lives” and abandoned dreams. A few beers and a couple of coffee cups later, we decided to form a band. We rushed to the cheapest recording studio in town and started setting our material to stone. It was all good. But after hours of listening to our creation, it dawned on us that a three-piece was just too hollow for the kind of music we were trying to make. Something was missing. Like I said back then, ´´We have the meat. Now we need the spice.´´
And the spice I had in mind was in the person of a local guitar god and an old friend. In November of 2005, we called up Jarm and invited him for dinner at a local Mexican bar, offered him some beer without ever telling him of what the meeting was for. It was like one of those mafia sit-downs where you just had to keep things hanging up until the very last minute.
Then, I took out my old palm pilot and had him listen to our material. After one song… silence. And finally, we popped the question “How would you like to join us in a band?”
Silence.
Turns out, Jarm has been thinking about the same thing for quite some time. He could not have been more excited. The covenant was made and on that same night, we rushed back into the studio and found and perfected the sound formula that had eluded us for too long.
That night, we became a band.
The hard part was coming up with a band name. We would collectively come up with the name describing the strong cafe culture in the Philippines and how people drank coffee during the evenings, not because they needed to stay awake but because they wanted to. Same thing goes for our music. We do it not because it´s necessary but because it´s a shared passion that never seems to leave us alone until we´re finally put to the ground. Hence, we came up with Sundown Caffeine.
We answered the call and have never looked back since then.
Despite working with a shoestring budget, the band has established a sizable cult following in many countries. Our music has been featured in several podcasts, radio stations and websites from all over the globe, and we continue to work even harder to improve our music.
In 2008, Ian and I relocated to Manila. Now missing an arm and a leg, we started scouting for a new guitarist and bassist through the web. Fortunately, a skilled guitarist by the name of Conrad Cruz answered our call and has been playing with us ever since. For the bass, we borrowed Gboy Munsayac of the band Black Summer to act as a sessionist for us until we find a more permanent band member to take the task.
Today, we continue playing in many different venues in Metro Manila and seek to make it even bigger outside the Philippines in the very proximate future.
We are looking to release our first album on December 2009.
Short Bio
We are an eclectic rock band from the island of Cebu in the Philippines. We fuse all types of musical genres with rock and brew a unique sound that can only be Sundown Caffeine.
Best compliment
I have always enjoyed the sound of real and synthesised instruments and have heard some of the very best. And your sound definitely sounds like fusion rock, if there is such a thing, lol, love the sound. I also like the fact that you left the lyrics very unisex so anyone can relate to it. I find that very appealing when it comes to reaching a broader audience of people. I think you`ve captured the essence of the feelings we all share as human beings. - Chuck see http//sundowncaffeine.multiply.com/music/item/10
Worst diss
That it sounds like everything else on the radio today.
Even Angels Cry
