They've got it all

MANILA, Philippines - American Idol fans know how hard it is to please Simon Cowell. His catty, cutting remarks would make fellow judges Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson and Kara DioGuardi blush or raise loud protests. But when Cowell saw Escala, an all-girl electronic string quartet perform on Britain’s Got Talent, the notoriously acerbic judge quickly sang a different tune.

“They’re completely original and they have got it all; remarkable dedication and training, looks, intelligence, the right attitude to make it big and music that has wide appeal. With their amazing stage presence as well, they are a very rare talent and I believe there will be a huge interest in them,” he said.

It wasn’t just lip service. Cowell signed them up for his company, Syco Entertainment. He guested with the band on The Oprah Winfrey Show last May. And he wasted no time guiding them in their debut album, Escala. To make sure his talents hit it right the first time they release their album, Cowell came up with his list of tracks and pieces of advice.

The band, made up of violinists Victoria Lyon and Izzy Johnston, viola player Chantal Leverton and cellist Tasya Hodges couldn’t believe their luck at first.

“We went to the show to try and get more gigs, more bookings for weddings. Maybe people who see us can book us in their weddings or parties,” reveals Tasya.

Imagine how bowled over they were when Cowell went up to them and said, “I love you, guys! We’re gonna make an album together.”

The girls had to rub their eyes.

Before they knew it, they had signed a £1.5-M contract deal with SonyMusic for their first album. They were performing all over the world, and, in Tasya’s own words, ”meeting amazing people and having the time of our lives.”

“We’re very, very lucky,” admits Tasya. “It’s been an amazing year.”

Cowell made sure of that. He was with band since Day One, whittling down the long list of choices for the tracks to a well-thought-out 11.

Up close with him, Tasya became an instant fan.

“We sat down for an hour-and-a-half with Simon about the tracks we want to put in the album. He has amazing ideas about what will sound good and what’s gonna work. He’s clever,” she notes.

Cowell shared the ladies’ taste when it came to the tracks for the album. It was a complete meeting of the mind.

It was also an exercise in going the extra mile.

“Simon taught us to work very hard. He’s really a perfectionist. He taught us that it’s important to have a high standard in everything. What we like about him is he doesn’t want to do anything quickly. It took us a year to do the album,” Tasya recalls.

And since the band themselves demand nothing short of the best from themselves, the painstaking attention to detail didn’t bother them one bit.

In fact, the artist in them even urged them to push themselves to the limit.

“As musicians, we didn’t want to do anything half-heartedly,” explains Tasya.

Result: An album made up of tracks they threw their heart and soul into.

“There’s not one track in the album that we didn’t want to play,” states Tasya. “We were lucky we didn’t have to compromise.”

The ladies — all in their 20s — wore their heart on their violin/cello/viola bows, playing their favorite pieces, including — hold your breath — Live and Let Die from the 1973 James Bond film.

Doesn’t a movie theme stick out like the proverbial sore thumb in this album of classical pieces?

Tasya doesn’t think so. The piece, she says, can easily be interpreted using string instruments. So that’s just what they did.

Such guts to go against the flow characterizes, not just Escala’s Live and Let Die track, but the entire album as well.

 In an age when hip-hop and pop rule, the all-instrumental Escala is a leap of faith. To be sure, the band didn’t take the leap blindfolded. It studied the terrain and weighed its options.

“It’s nice to give people something else rather than just singing bands,” Tasya points out. “Instrumental music can be played anywhere. Its appeal is universal.”

In doing away with lyrics, Escala knows it is speaking to an audience that loves music for its sheer beauty and ability to inspire. After all, you don’t need language when you speak directly from the heart and to the heart.

And Escala is bent on doing that, not just now, but for years to come.