DREAMS AND REALITIES I
The Line-up for this record is:
Vincent Jose – Vox/ Guitars
Bobby Legaspi- Bass
Ziggy Cerda– Drums (on Space Carousel, The Sage, Blade of the Demon God)
Fabio Alessandrini – Drums (on Evil Hand)
The album's production kicked off around late 2021. Vincent started jamming out some riffs, which eventually turned into a full two part album. He spent a few months working on the tracks and wrapped things up by mid 2022. Wanting it to sound as clean and professional as possible, he reached out to Normand Yu, the co-owner and also a sound engineer at Glasstone Studios in Quezon City.
Vincent laid down the foundation riffs for the whole album but needed a drummer to bring the songs to life. He first contacted Francis, but Francis couldn’t commit since he was busy processing his papers for the UK. So, Vincent kept searching and eventually got in touch with Ziggy, a former bandmate from an earlier project that eventually became Gutter Prince. Ziggy agreed to help out and recorded three tracks: “Space Carousel,” “The Sage,” and “Blade of the Demon God.” That was also around the time VN tried recording, but he was dealing with some relationship problems and mental health stuff, and he wasn’t really sure about his commitment to his day job, so he ended up deciding he couldn’t be part of the project. So then, to make this project happen, Vincent decided to write the lyrics and do vocals as well.
Although Ziggy contributed a lot, he couldn’t stick around for the entire process since he was also busy working on his own band’s album. After that, Vincent went online looking for another drummer and ended up connecting with Fabio Alessandrini, who recorded “Evil Hand” for the Dreams and Realities Part 1.
Around the same time, Vincent was also on the hunt for a bassist. He reached out to Bobby Legaspi, another bandmate from a different metal project, and Bobby was down to record for the album.
Once everything was done, they started sending the album to different labels. Some turned it down, either because they didn’t have the resources to produce it or because they were looking for a bigger following. But eventually, the album got picked up by Electric Talon and Sliptrick Records. For the Philippine release, the distribution was handled by Bear’s Den Records.
The album dropped on February 3, 2023. It got posted on pages notable by 666Mr.DOOM, Weedian, and RobHammer just to mention a few. It also went up on major streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Amazon Music, and so on. The album got some attention and recognition from underground sites and mags like The Obelisk, DenpaFuzz, Doomed Nation, and Distorted Sound Magazine, among others. They even got interviewed and featured in Australia’s Heavy Magazine.
They first played tracks from the album with Vincent on Vox and Guitar, and Gino on drums during a Bash Brothers gig on December 2022, and had a full live lineup at Motorista Bar for their pre-launch show in March 2023, alongside Hey June!, Moonlight Sonata, and Unburdened. The official launch happened at Mow's on April 16, 2023. The original lineup was supposed to include Badburn, Gapang, Surrogate Prey, Basalt Shrine, Agham, and Unburdened.
However, due to unforeseen circumstances and other issues, the final lineup ended up being Badburn, Bobby Legaspi, Sub/Orbital, Saipek, Agham, and Unburdened. Bobby Legaspi wasn’t able to commit to the earlier live setup gigs leading up to the launch because of scheduling conflicts with his other bands. When Vincent first invited him to be part of the project, he wasn’t yet aware of Bobby’s full schedule, so they were able to record for the album before any conflicts came up.
Although Bobby wasn’t part of the current live lineup, he was still actively supporting the band in other ways. He helped out with later gigs and even brought in support from his other band projects, who ended up playing shows alongside Polymerase.
