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Rivermaya drummer breaks his silence; talks about Blanco, and the auspicious future ahead of the Philippines' one and only 'Banda ng Bayan'. 
THE rumor came in at 11:00 AM Eastern Standard Time last May 7, through instant message: No more Rivermaya.It was a rumor that cannot be ignored. The forage for answers was on.
Only when the band's management released their official statement, a couple of days after that burning instant message, did the cobwebs of speculation finally clear.
Blanco is gone. Rivermaya will go on.
Yet the thirst for first-hand information was still left unquenched by the statement, for it was deemed too official and devoid of any personal and emotional content.
Rivermaya for a lot of people is a deeply personal matter. And an official statement can only do so much as to straighten crumpled edges and quell the surge of wrong information.
So there was this need for someone in the band to somehow express his thoughts and feelings in a less official way - more human as possible. Now, after months of continuous correspondence, Mark Escueta agreed to do the exact thing here on Poptimes Magazine.
Ted Reyes: We have heard about the departure of Rico Blanco from your band,
How do you feel about this?
Mark Escueta: Rivermaya is at the highest point of its career. We were about to sign an international contract. Something that we have been working for 14 years. It’s very easy to imagine how devastated we were and it is very, very hard to understand why he decided to do this to us at this point in time. To this day, we still talk about it and we just end up smiling about it. No use in wasting time and energy over it anymore. Now I see it all as a blessing.
I spent the first 2 months looking like a zombie, trying to make sense of it all. It was a struggle trying to fall asleep every night, and I would then wake up wishing it was all a bad dream but it wasn’t. The life that I had grown to love for 14 years was in danger of changing drastically, forever.
A lot of people went out of their way to help us and I have never seen such driven teamwork in my whole career as a musician. We even saw Viva Records AND Warner Asia-Pacific working together, knowing that the Asian album would benefit not only Rivermaya but all Filipino artists. I would have at least expected a very good reason to give up something that to us was the stuff of dreams.
People have been congratulating us left and right for the productive work we’ve been doing in Asia. It is clear that there was a lot of work to be done and doing ‘other things’ was the farthest thing from our minds. Our Asian album was even set to be repackaged with behind the scenes videos and documentation of an acoustic gig we did in Singapore last April. I can’t say that we were ‘made’ but the future was definitely bright. In January of this year we received reports from major FM stations in Jakarta. After just one round of radio, TV and print promo, our song had gone as high as #2 & #3 on their charts. We were the only Filipino band in the top 20, in fact we were the only Asian band. This is really just the tip of the iceberg in terms of blessings we received and those that were coming our way. Blanco now claims he’d been wanting to leave the band since 2005. All I know is that we have been blessed tremendously all these past years and he didn’t seem the least bit troubled when he got a major solo endorsement in 2006 from GSM and actively participated in our Asian activities from 2005-2007. He finally told us he wanted out in March of 2007. Now, ask yourself, how would any normal person feel? Sure everyone is entitled to follow their heart and pursue their dreams, but to hurt your closest friends in the process is simply not right. 
Ted Reyes: Mark, describe your relationship with Blanco that lasted for 14 years.
Mark Escueta: In the beginning, he was the kuya I never had. I had great respect for him as a person and as a musician. He had a lot of good ideas and it seemed he had solid values. I learned a lot from him. I also considered him as one of my best friends even though he was often very secretive about most things. He would only open up about something if he felt the need to.
With regards to his leaving the band, he NEVER talked to me about it BEFORE actually deciding on it. That’s the least he could have done. I would have understood, just like how I understood when Bamboo left. Even though it was also tough on the band, his reason was clear and honorable and he didn’t just drop us like Blanco. The last thing any musician wants is to be in a band with anyone who’s half-hearted or worse. Normally, when this happens to any band, the leaving member would at least facilitate some sort of transition and we would have been open to that. Some even actively look for a replacement. You know, out of respect for the remaining members who want to go on. In his case, he just left us for dead, in the middle of a great big mess. I tried to tell him that I wasn’t ready to give it up (I mean who in their right mind would? Especially at this point) but in his own words he said “If you are not ready (as you say) tell me, am I really the one who should be faulted?”. Couldn’t believe my eyes after reading that. This is not about rivermaya’s fourteen years or anyone’s contribution to the band. I never knew he kept a weighing scale in his pocket, certainly the rest of us don’t. If you say you do something out of ‘love’ then use is as leverage in the end, I’m sorry but that’s not love. 14 years or 14 days, makes no difference. Is what you do now that matters. I have to give credit to our supporters and friends, management and staff and to my bandmates Mike Elgar and Japs Sergio who have proven to be more ‘rivermaya’ than anyone in the past.
TR: How was Blanco as a creative force in the band? Was he a Rivers Cuomo (Weezer) type, who had all the final say on all things creative?
ME: Yeah, looking back, that was pretty much how the set-up was. I don’t think he realized it though. Don’t get me wrong, though, once we accepted and adjusted to the set-up, we were quite happy. I was happy that the people were happy. It’s the best feeling in the world being able to do what you love for a living and I was really content. I guess the only downside to that was I never really looked forward to writing my own songs, knowing they would just be ‘Blanco-fied’.
On paper, yes it may look like Blanco did all the work but I assure you, he just got his way because we had no choice but to let him get his way, para everybody happy. To go against him would mean you’d get into a futile argument. Wasn’t a very healthy songwriting environment but it worked so we just adjusted to it. And of course, all the blessings overshadowed all our worries and made everything easier to accept.
TR: Tell us about the support of your fans in this time of extreme difficulty.
ME: We owe everything to them and to God. People don’t realize that Rivermaya does not just refer to the present band members. Rivermaya today includes all our friends, fans and supporters who truly understand what the band is all about.
I feel privileged, honored and blessed that I have had the opportunity to work with so many great people like Perf de Castro, Kenneth Ilagan, Bamboo, Nathan Azarcon, Kakoi Legazpi.
TR: Do you guys miss Blanco? Are you in speaking terms now?
ME: Well, honestly I don’t. And no I’m not.
TR: Did you guys take his resignation personally or just part of work?
ME: Oh believe me its personal. But just as a good friend of ours said to us recently, relationships come and go. Sometimes we have to be the bigger person and forgive people even if they don’t ask for it, or even if they don’t deserve it. Jesus Christ set the ultimate example before and saved us all even if we didn’t deserve it. It is by his example alone that I am able to get through all of this and continue to carry out my responsibilities as a member of rivermaya.
TR: Tell us about the new single. Who wrote it? Who sang it and who produced it?
ME: It is entitled “Sayang”. Written by Japs Sergio. He describes it as our ‘open letter’ to our supporters in song form. It speaks of how we felt at the height of the whole Blanco abandonment issue and it is specially dedicated to our listeners, friends and fans who have been with us from the start and are still with us today. We engineered and produced it ourselves but it was mastered by Angee Rozul of Tracks.
TR: How do you want rivermaya to be remembered?
ME: We’ve got a long way to go, for now lets keep supporting OPM in general and hope for the best for all Filipino artists.
TR: Do you have any messages for the throngs of Fil-Am fans of Rivermaya, the Fil-Am musicians, artists and readers of Poptimes Magazine?
ME: Thank you for this opportunity to speak. I wish Poptimes and all its readers a good day and a good life. Thank you to all those who have been supporting Rivermaya, past, present and future. Hope to see you guys real soon. Cheers!
*Special thanks to Lizza Nakpil
Tags: Rivermaya Poptimes Magazine Mark Escueta 'Sayang' by Rivermaya Ted Reyes Banda ng Bayan Japs Sergio Viva Records Warner Music rivermaya breakup Blanco Rico Blanco Perf de Castro Kenneth Ilagan Bamboo Nathan Azarcon Kakoi Legazpi. |
