Urbandub reimagines debut album as ‘Rebirth’

Twenty two years ago, Urbandub released its debut studio album “Birth” as a remembrance gift to one of its founding members and former drummer Jed Honrado. Back then, the members were still rookies in the Pinoy rock scene and had no idea how to professionally record an album.

“It was by accident when we recorded ‘Birth’. We were 18-19 years old, early ‘20s, fresh college graduates. We didn’t have money. We have no knowledge about recording and a lot of the songs were rushed. We didn’t arrange it well. So there were a lot of regrets in that first album because our skill set was not there,” 40-year-old frontman Gabby Alipe recalled of “Birth”, which, along with their second album “Influence”, made the Cebuano band a household name.

After Urbandub acquired the master recordings of their first two albums, they partnered with Warner Music Philippines to distribute these on streaming and digital platforms. But dropping “Birth” for streaming wasn’t enough for the band, whose loyalists are known as Dubistas. And so, they decided to re-imagine “Birth” as “Rebirth”, which was released August 11 on streaming platforms.

“We wanted to re-record them so there’s an extra for the fans to listen to. Now that we’re older, we are able to look back and are given this opportunity by Warner to re-make the album with new technology and record it properly,” Alipe said during an August 12 press conference at Seda Central Bloc Cebu, before he and his band mates John Dinopol (guitar), Lalay Lim-Geronimo (bass), Russell Manaloto (guitar), and Sam Saludsong (drums) launched “Rebirth” at the Ayala Central Bloc Cinema.

Added Alipe, “When we started making these two albums, we never thought Manila would notice us and put us on the national stage. We were just content with playing songs in our hometown, in gigs in small clubs with our friends watching. When we were given the opportunity to go to Manila, we felt like we were representing where we come from.”

Year-long process

Re-imagining their first album was a year-long process that started with securing a record deal with Warner, which led to pre-producing the album in their home studio The Rabbit Hole and finalizing it in the professional studio Tower of Doom.

Their main goal in reworking the songs they wrote as teenagers was “correcting” their mistakes, including changing some of the lyrics, adjusting melodies, and chord progressions.

On the lyrical changes, Alipe shared, “It was a weird experience as a songwriter when you hear yourself when you read the lyrics and you’re like, ‘Why did I write it that way?’ There were a lot of lyrics we had to change, small bits and pieces that we felt wouldn’t be appropriate to who we are now, or we don’t relate to anymore because we wrote these songs in high school. I personally can’t relate to my 16-year-old train of thought now that I am 40. Plus, we know our kids will be listening to these songs eventually.”

“Some songs had excessive curse words that weren’t needed. Back then, we wrote it that way because it was cool. But now, we can express our emotions without excessive profanity as long as the sentiment is there. A lot of changes would be on the tempo, the bassing, slight chord progressions because we figured out, ‘Oh we can change the chord pala to make it sound better’ which we learned as we went along with our career.”

The changes also include rearranging the tracklist for better flow within the album’s storyline, such as the original album’s opener “Boy” switching place with “Come”, the eighth track in the original.

“We changed the tracklist because that’s how the flow of the rearrangement sounded to us. Some of the songs had a total makeover in terms of the feel. So when we are listening back to the songs, we were thinking what kind of journey we want to take [for our listeners],” Alipe explained.

Reworking the album was “hard but fun” for Urbandub.

“It’s us being creative,” said Dinopol. “We are musicians. We create. It’s like we finally gave justice to our younger selves.”

Docu-series  for fans

The band enlisted television commercial director, friend, and a “Dubista” himself, Paolo Ruiz, to document their re-recording process and turn the footage into a docu-series for their YouTube channel. As of writing, five of the eight episodes have been uploaded.

“We didn’t want the documentary to be self-serving. Rather, we want it to be for the fans. We want to reflect on the process of how the band did it,” Ruiz said. “We want to also show who the members are off-stage. We are all fans and we all know them as rock stars. But do you see them in their process, or when Gabby was ordering food for us?”

Recording footage of Urbandub’s hard work in the studio didn’t feel awkward for the members who have known Ruiz since 2016.

“It felt like we were just hanging out. I am embedded with the band and they were not conscious when they see me around with a camera,” he said.

As a fan of the band since 2004, Ruiz couldn’t help but sing along while they were recording. “A lot of the footage is unusable because my voice can be heard. Sometimes I needed to remind myself that I have to report back to Warner and I have to do this [docu-series] properly,” he laughingly shared.

Loyal and new Dubistas

As Urbandub was re-creating their first album for loyal fans, they also hoped “Rebirth” would pull in a new generation of listeners.

“For the ones who are familiar with ‘Birth’, expect a sense of nostalgia and surprise. I hope it takes them back to when they first heard the songs but also having a renewed sense with the new arrangements. As for new listers, we hope they appreciate the songs,” Alipe said.

In the first 24 hours after the release of “Rebirth”, the streaming numbers impressed executives at Warner Music Philippines.

“They are super fast. It’s incredible what we were seeing. Fans of Urbandub are playing the songs over, and over, and over again,” said Warner Music Philippines Managing Director Sarah Ismali. “We saw from ‘Birth’ and ‘Rebirth’ that each listener streamed both 67 times. That’s an incredible number!” Managing Director Sarah Ismali revealed.

These successes notwithstanding, Urbandub stays committed to their sound and finding an audience that identifies with their music, regardless of age.

“As long as we keep writing, it’s all about creating your art and expressing yourself, which is the way we go. As long as we are able to share what we think, what we feel, if you connect with our music, then we have done our job regardless if you are 22 or 42. It always goes back to the music,” Alipe remarked.

After “Rebirth”, the band is going to re-release their second album “Influence”, which will include a vinyl record pressing as part of the album’s 20th anniversary.