THE CHARMES @ the 5th Backdoor Ventures ARTS & MUSIC FESTIVAL

The Charmes

s an indie garage-rock/post-punk band. They play their own music, and the distinctiveness of their music makes them stand out from any other bands. Their works can be described as rebellious, live, and organic. These talented lads play tumultuous music which can be enigmatic in many ways. This band just wants to get out and play their own music, and walk by their own style with hardly any care about what would others think of them in any way. The point is it’s all about the music for these young lads.

Formation: The band was formed around late 2006 by four close friends from Marikina city, Philippines. Brian Josef (Vocalist/Guitars/Song-writer), wanted to create a band that would be his true musical outlet, and at the same time he wanted to be comfortable with the members of the band. In order for that to happen, he thought of the closest musician friends he could think of, and came with a decision to recruit his high school friend JB Bulan (Lead Guitarist), who was then playing for other bands such as Flipside and Versus Venus. The two gave it a try, and it totally clicked. The next step was to look for the drummer that would best suit their musical style and endeavors. The answer was easy, they recruited Jerome Abello (Drummer). Like Brian and JB, he also went to the same school. They have known each other for years and were also band mates with JB. At the time, Jerome was also playing drums for a pop rock outfit called Craeons. And now the final step, the search of the bassist. Brian thought of all the bassists he could think of, until they finally agreed to recruit. Jino Manalo. Like his fellow band mates, he also went to the same school as the others. He was also playing bass for Craeons as well. At first, he went well with the other members and continued to create music with them. After a while, the band decided to replace him for undisclosed reasons. The replacement was a young lad from Marikina named Jiggers Vergel de dios (Bassist). Dropout from the same school that which the 3 other members had attended to. He was Brian’s childhood friend and a very close friend to JB and Jerome as well. They have known Jiggers for years. The lineup, now complete, it’s about time to get the spotlights open for “The Charmes†.


Influences: When they were starting out, the band listened to a lot of groups like The Beatles, The Libertines, Nada Surf, Thursday, The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys, Radiohead, Babyshambles, Franz Ferdinand, Muse, The Last Shadow Puppets, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Dirty pretty things, The Beach Boys, etc., and along with their individual musical tastes which lead them to create such a distinctive sound.