Monday, May 12, 2008 Cueshé to release 3rd album on June By Jill D. Beltran
AFTER a year of being away from the limelight, one of the country's most sought artists -- Cueshé -- is once again ready to ignite the "rock mecca Manila"
Cueshé is set to launch latest single "BMD" from the band's third album labeled "Driven" in June.
In an acoustic concert at Café Rallos last Friday night, the band refreshed their melodies as they serenaded the crowd with the rasping though overwhelming voices of Jay Justiniani (vocals) and Ruben Caballero (vocals, guitar); and harmonious air played by Jovan Mabini (lead guitar), Jhunjie Dosdos (keybsoards), Fritz Labrado (bassist, songwriter) and Mike Manaloto (drummer, songwriter).
Cueshé is back with their recent single "BMD" which is a "reflection of their journey as a band" said Jay.
"Hopefully, our third album which contains all original songs that we composed will be released this month or in June with the blessing of Sony BMG," he added.
According to Fritz, he wrote the song "BMD" for people who are always brought down by others and for those who feel that they are mistreated.
"Despite the success of our band, there are still people who try to bring us down but for us, we are still resilient to continue our passion and love for our work and we will not let criticisms affect us," he said.
"Our third album is a summation of our first two albums. In our first album ("Half Empty, Half Full", 2005), we were all excited and happy because it was our first time and it made a hit, while in our second album ("Back To Me", 2006), maybe because of subsequent release it did not turn out well. So we took a rest for one year before we released our third album (Driven, 2008)," he added.
Some critics and rock purists continue to criticize the songs and performances of the band but for Cueshé.
But the band continues to be confident and satisfied with their singing.
They said they are singing from their heart and for their fans and not for the pleasure of their detractors.
"We have to go on and have fun. We are over it (criticisms) and we will just compose songs and what matters for us is we are not ruining other people or other bands," Fritz said.
According to Ruben, the band's music video will be shot on Sunday and will be directed by Jay and Leob who are also the people behind the success of their previous music videos.
In their mini concert, Cueshé yet again successfully proved that they are still the country's well-attended group as the crowd was enthused by the bands lively and interactive performance.
Some of the band's hits that they played were "Sorry", "Back To Me", "Stay", "24 Hours" and "Bakit".
Maricel, one of the band's enthusiasts said she is not really into rock bands until she chanced upon Cueshé during the saddest part of her life.
She considered Cueshé as a gift from God when she asked for a signal how she will be forgiven by her father who died yearning for her presence but she failed to show up.
She said before her father died he gave her banana cue (origin of the word Cueshé) and shake as presents for her birthday. Maricel and her father were really close that's why she was really guilty when she failed to see her father before he died. This made her depressed for some time. As she asked for a signal from God she said there was a time that something made her compel to browse the television and then she saw Cueshé (cue and shake) plugging their first single "Sorry". When she heard the song she wept and then felt relieved. Since then, she bacame a fan.
She said the band helped her recovered from the loss.
"The greatest achievement of a band is the fans... Even if they are only a handful we know by heart that they will not leave us," Fritz shared.
