Aiming for the sky

MANILA, Philippines - When he was 18, V Factory member Nick “Nicky T” Teti hang out with a Filipino artist in his native Philadelphia. Fellow band member Jared Murillo grew up knowing his parents have Filipino friends in his native Hawaii.

But that’s all Nick and Jared know about their audience when they join other artists for Then and Now at the Mall of Asia concert grounds tonight.

Nick and Jared will not only perform for the first time in Manila. They will also share the stage with out very own Myrus Ramirez, who will perform with other American artists like Jojo, Diana King, Frankie J, Baby Bash, PM Dawn, SWV, All-4-One and TQ in the said event.

The Philippines may well be a new concert venue for these artists as it is for V Factory, which has toured major US cities to share their hip-hop-meets-R&B vibe.

“That’s what’s makes us different from other bands in town,” Nick reveals. “Our edge is that we combine pop with R&B for a high-energy show.”

They’re more like a modern New Kids on the Block, he adds. Combine this with touches of Usher and Chris Brown, and you have an idea of what V (for five, the group’s number of members) Factory is all about.

The best way to find out is to check out the show and see if Nick and Jared will fulfill their promise to perform “lots of upbeat songs, high-energy dancing and a lot of good time” in the MOA show.

If you go by their musical influences, you’ll expect this kind of adrenaline-pumping scenario alright. Nick and Jared grew up admiring Michael Jackson. Except that instead of doing MJ numbers, V Factory is bringing in their own brand of party tunes.

“It’s all about having a good time,” Jared, a High School Musical dancer, relates.

With all the singing and dancing, hip-hop, ballroom and other kinds of moves he’s been doing, you don’t have to ask why.

High School Musical star Ashley Tisdale took one look at Jared and was impressed.

“I was knocked out by Jared, who seemed to own the stage,” he gushes. The artist behind the hit the 1990 hit song I’ll Be Your Everything, and who toured with New Kids on the Block, adds, “For me, Jared was the template that set the bar.”

Page told himself, “Wow, if I could find four other guys who could act, sing and move like that, we could form an amazing group.

Nick himself can sway, bend, turn around and match all of Jared’s dance steps without missing a beat.

“I wanted to be a dancer, so I left Philadelphia for Los Angeles,” he relates. A year or so after living in LA, Nick auditioned, and got accepted to V Factory.

Today, he, Jared, Nathaniel Flatt, Wesley Quinn (he appears in the hit TV series Glee) and Asher Book (who was in the 2009 remake of Fame and is now part of the new TV series Parenthood) composed V Factory.

When they return to the US, the group plans to work on their debut album under Warner Brothers Records. The band already has a single titled Love Struck to its name.

“We’ve all done some songwriting,” Nick declares. “We also play musical instruments. For instance, I’m into guitar and trumpets. Asher plays the piano.”

They have reason to aim for the sky.