Rico as Fiesto Bandido

MANILA, Philippines - There’s a certain freedom an artist enjoys from assuming an alter ego. That’s how Rico Blanco puts it as he becomes Fiesto Bandido — it’s the image that stares back at you on the cover of his latest album Galactik Fiestamatik — when he takes on the stage come Independence Day at the Music Museum in what is billed as his “first major concert” since striking it solo in 2008.

The alter ego was born alongside Galactik Fiestamatik, the making of which was an exercise in artistic freedom as well — freedom from this singer-songwriter’s “old habits” in making music. (Rico did away with guitars and the other usual suspects he relies on when he’s doing a rock record, and substituted them with ones that many would probably never imagine could produce a proper sound let alone a full-length album.)

 â€œThe alter ego is a product of the idea that came to me one afternoon when I was stuck at a dead end, trying to record this latest album of mine. I had nowhere to go, and out of nowhere I came to this idea of fusing together two of my loves,” says the former Rivermaya frontman of his sophomore solo effort.

 â€œI have always enjoyed electronic music. If people remember my first instrument, I was the keyboard player of Rivermaya. Some of the younger ones might not be aware of that and it might come as a surprise to them that my album is highly electronic and highly synthesized. But I’ve always been a synthesizer player since I was in high school. Another love of mine that I put together with that is my love for ethnic-sounding flavors — tribal, folk and Filipino infused in pop music by way of Joey Ayala, and the Ati-Atihan, growing up and looking forward to that every fiesta — the rumbling of the drums.”

With the fusing of electronic and ethnic in Galactik Fiestamatik, Fiesto Bandido also took form and shape, complete with full festive regalia.

It also helped that Rico built his own recording studio in his home. “When I finally was able to set it up, I wanted to feel what it felt when I was just tinkering with stuff, not knowing how to make music. So, I told myself I’m not going to do everything I knew that worked before. I’m gonna analyze music again â€” why do we need a guitar, what does it bring, if I’m not going to use a guitar, what can I use — I approached it that way.”

It was a very exciting time for him, at the same time frustrating, but the hitmaker muses that he’d rather be frustrated than bored. He had to fight for the concept with his label Warner Music Philippines. “It was a headache. If you could see the look on their faces when I first told them of my ideas. At first, they thought I wasn’t serious. I had a lot of arguments with my team, but it’s worth it, and I couldn’t have done it without them.”

With Rico and his Fiesto Bandido, you can’t help but wonder what is it about artists and their alter egos. You have David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust, Beyoncé as Sasha Fierce, Eminem as Slim Shady, or closer to home, Parokya ni Edgar with Mr. Suave. The music scene is stuffed with examples as well as reasons (furnished by the artists or the pundits who know or think they know what’s going on) for doing such — from promotional gimmick to pointing to a new musical direction to wanting to express grittier or crazier versions of themselves as artists.

Whatever it is, in Rico’s case, it wasn’t planned. “I read something a couple of weeks about artists resorting to it (to show) that they’ve evolved. But it’s not. I think it’s not something that you should think about too much. If it comes, it comes. Dumadating siya ‘pag nag-tri-trip ka. (But) I can say that with every song, with or without this hat,” Rico says, referring to his feathered Fiesto headgear, “I take on a different person anyway — the point of view of the person singing the lyrics. The guy singing Himala is hopeful, the guy singing Awit ng Kabataan is gung-ho. You know, all these songs, we already take on alter egos.”

But he admits that coming up with Fiesto Bandido gave him that special burst of energy that comes with fresh beginnings: “Ang sarap, parang batang nag-lalaro ulit. Sometimes kasi pag matagal mo na ginagawa yung trabaho mo, nagiging trabaho siya, nakakalimutan mo why you wanted to do it in the first place.”

After introducing Fiesto Bandido in smaller shows mostly out-of-town and in venues not so accessible, Rico feels it’s high time to unveil the whole of it and open up the experience to a wider audience on June 12 at the Music Museum. “I don’t walk around wearing this (laughs). But when I wear this funny hat, there’s a certain freedom. I know this is heavy, but somehow I feel lighter, I feel like I can make a fool of myself even more than I’m already doing it without it. It’s just liberating!

“When I see it rub off on the audience, and they start to not care about their worries in life, whatever they left at home or at work or at school, it just takes to me to another level na why didn’t I think of this before? I mean, why do we go to concerts? Why do we go to parties? To de-stress, to have fun. So, maybe, there were times I’ve taken myself too seriously in the past, no regrets, but now I look at this hat now and that’s funny, and that’s the way it’s supposed to be.”

Rico agrees that his June 12 concert is his biggest concert yet, not in terms of the size but the preparation that went into it. Apart from playing songs from Galactik like the chart-topping Amats, Burado and Lipat Bahay, which gathered an all-star cast for its music video, Rico is also performing his greatest hits, some of which he hasn’t done for a while now.    

“I enjoyed our concerts before when we were just playing rock. This is also different. You’re painting a mood and we’re going to be doing that. It’s hard to really talk about it. But it’s part-rock concert, partly club like DJ, it’s part-theater, it’s part-cirque, it’s part cheering, it’s Pinoy na Pinoy, halo-halo ng ibang bagay,” he says.

After his first major solo concert, will fans expect another album or better yet, another musical persona to emerge? What other surprises will he be pulling off? “There are no plans of a new album yet. I like Galactik Fiestamatik. I think I will be enjoying it for a while but I’m adding new stuff to it. It’s a surprise. I have the idea already. It’s fun. And I might relax on the no-guitars rule, and on the no-old-instruments-that-I’ve-gotten-used-to rule because I’ve proven that already.”

He’s also relaxing on his previous statements on the perennial question about a Rivermaya reunion.

“I’ll relax my answer compared to the answer I’ve given to the past. A Rivermaya reunion — if you’re talking about the old members — is possible. Anything is possible.”

For ticket info, log on to musicmuseum.com.ph (721-6726), ticketworld.com.ph (891-9999) and smtickets.com (470-2222).