Down and Dirty With The Pervs

By Tiny Diapana
Photos: Anne Amores

 

PACKING a lot of balls, The Pervs’ music is a seditious mosh-pit-generator that refuses to fall in line with manufactured society. Kicking up dust since 2008, The Pervs have been playing punk rock in the local music scene for almost ten years and now it seems like the band’s ready to serve the working class their first self-titled album.

Sitting down with Ernest Diño (vocalist), Bugz Saavedra (guitarist), Rapi Sescon (bassist) and Fidel Laurence Ricafranca (drummer), SunStar Weekend got to have a little chat with the band before they go on to launch their album at Azul on November 24.

You’ve been in the music scene for almost a decade. What’s the scene like now, and what was it like then? What kind of advice would you give your younger self?

Bugz: If there’s old school and new school, then we’re kind of out-of-school. We don’t just go with the “scene.” We don’t force ourselves to fit in or to network. My only “networking” move was to give a demo CD (recorded using a videocam) to Erik Tuban during a punk show years ago. Ug basta maka-sayaw lang mis banda nga ganahan namo, mao na nâ. Advice? Ayaw’g tubag og interview haha.

Fidel: More prominent gig places got closed year after year. That kind of shook the “scene” as to where to hold future events leading to all these unconventional places suddenly becoming the go-to venue for gigs. From conference halls fit for Sunday morning service to glass-walled co-working spaces — I think today’s scene is characterized with these artists missing their natural habitat. I’d probably tell my younger self to catch all these house specialties unique to that bar should I’ve know they won’t be there forever.

Ernest is the only original Perv in the band’s current line-up. What’s it like changing your roster over the years?

Ernest: I think it’s best to call someone an original member of a band when they’ve made original songs together as a lineup. What’s the relevance of an original lineup if it’s just for a cover band? In that regard, we’re all currently original members. But there have been a lot of past band mates tho. Some for only a single gig. Some for far longer. The lineup we have right now, as evident from the album, just works.

Why call yourselves The Pervs and take a wind-up frog as a mascot?

Ernest: Coz most of us were just pervs. We were maladjusted, socially awkward around women, had some problems with self image, snickered at unintended innuendos. The name and band logo actually existed before there was even a band. Sketched it one boring afternoon in college. The band formed in a time where the fashionable band name was a ‘dependent clause’ ie: Saves The Day, As I Lay Dying, While the Flowers Bloom, (actually made the last one up) or just one word. It never fit with the songs we were trying to play. The Pervs just sounded punk.

Rapi: I had a wind-up frog toy when I was a kid. It was made of tin and was a tough son of a bitch and it could give you tetanus if you weren’t careful. The song is about that frog, and as far as I know, it was the first song that our current lineup worked on together. That’s why it’s quite memorable.

How long did it take to work on this album? Why’d it take that long? What hurdles did you experience along the way? Can you give us your favorite song in the set?

Rapi: Over 3 years? Ambot. One big issue we had was that while we were trying to finish the album, we were also trying to survive. We weren’t like those artists who were fortunate enough to afford doing shit without worrying about their basic needs, or whether or not they’d still have a roof over their heads the next day. We had to feed ourselves and take care of priorities whether we liked it or not, that’s why we let our dreams be dreams for a while. My favorite song is Slide.

Fidel: Were it not for the Dumaguete tour and our recording session with Sir Ionone and Producer Erik Tuban, this album would’ve just been another dream procrastinated indefinitely. My fave will always be Hiki, that’s where my glasses usually get thrown out.

What’s so important about DIY in the music scene? How much of the Pervs would you say is DIY?

Ernest: DIY is all you can do when you’ve got more time than money. Also when you’re playing our kind of music there aren’t any “fans” to woo or do anything for; you gotta Do It (for) Yourself.

What’s the perfect gig like? What kind of places would you like to play in?

Bugz: Kanang naay moligid sa hugaw nga sawg.

Rapi: When Ernest helps us set up on stage, disregarding the “vocalist entrance” that most bands do today. You ask us to play, we play regardless of venue. But it does feel exciting to play in an actual punk show again.

Give us each band member’s signature move. Quotable quotes please!

Fidel: Does my glasses getting thrown to the sidewalk count?

Any words of advice to aspiring punks?

Ernest: It’s not something to aspire to. It’s something you have to live with. Like an illness.