American band Movements talks about success and touring SE Asia and the Philippines

American band Movements talks about success and touring SE Asia and the Philippines

by rick olivares

Movements, one of the hottest American bands in the world right now, performed an intimate show last Sunday evening at the 123 Block in Mandaluyong City. The four-man band out of Rancho San Margarita, which is an hour and a half away from Los Angeles, was brought to Manila by that awesome independent promotions group, Sleeping Boy Collective, and their show on local soil was the last of their two-month long European, Australian, and Southeast Asian tour that saw they perform in 15 countries.

Their extended play album, Outgrown Things, that came out in 2016, and their full-length debut, Feel Something, that was released in 2017, have become best sellers making the music charts. Their videos, especially for the single “Daylily” are lauded for their striking nature, and willingness to confront issues such as depression and Alzheimer’s Disease. In two years’ time, they have been included in the main stage of the Vans Warped Tour and have been invited everywhere.

While the opening acts enthralled the sold-out crowd of 300 people, the band – vocalist Patrick Miranda, drummer Spencer York, bassist Austin Cressey, and guitarist Ira George – each passed the time by in their own way. George had his headphones and was checking messages online. York and Cressey were playing video games on a laptop computer while Miranda… agreed to do an interview.

I theorized to Miranda that the band as well as Feel Something – to my thinking – reminds me of San Francisco band, Third Eye Blind and their self-titled debut. 3EB, as they are known for short, were signed by a record label just a few shows in. Their debut record came out in 1997 and had all sorts of hit songs that sang about depression, suicide, drug addiction, and more.

“It’s a compliment I would gladly take,” glowed Miranda who is now sporting a crew cut after shearing off his long mane. “I am a fan of Third Eye Blind and the music they make it fantastic.”

“The tour has been going great and we’re excited to be in Manila,” summed up Miranda. “We are hoping that the show will be a memorable way to cap the tour.”

The tour has been an eye opener for Miranda and his bandmates. More than the sold-out shows, the band has understood the power of their songs and experiencing all these new cultures.

“None of us expected to be able to do what we’ve done in a short period of time,” shared Miranda. “We had a good feeling about it but we didn’t expect this success. Last year, we toured with Good Charlotte. And now we’re on tour with bands like Simple Plan and all these amazing artists. To be able to be accepted as peer is a great feeling.”

“Touring the past couple of years has been humbling and eye opening. We’re seeing that our music is making an impact on people worldwide. This is all we ever wanted to do – play our music for those who appreciate it.”

The story about Movements is how they were signed to a record deal after performing one live show. It is a story that Miranda recounted for us. “We played our first show after we built some hype about our band and with our songs. Before playing our first show we pushed our band really hard on social media. We opened for this band, Have Mercy, and all our friends showed up. Add to that some 60-random people who only knew of us from our music online showed up and now there were about 150 kids all singing along and jumping up and down. It so happened that there were a couple of scouts in the audience and they were saying, ‘let’s keep an eye out for this band.’ And the rest is history as we signed with Fearless Records.”

The album hit the Billboard charts, the barometer for popular music in the United States. Feel Something also received positive reviews and was named as one of the best releases of 2017.

“I get a lot of people who come up to me and say, ‘The music you are making helped save my life,’” told Miranda when asked about the response to the highly personal songs. “I do not take that lightly in any sense. I genuinely feel any time I hear that. Many people have told me that they could have taken their life at some point, but the music we’re making tells them there are others going through the same thing and there is hope. It’s crushing. It’s a heavy weight to carry but it is also an amazing and beautiful thing. That is all I ever wanted to do.”

“Half of Feel Something was written about people I met through this band whether it was my girlfriend at that time we were doing the album. If I hadn’t been touring or with this band, I wouldn’t have met these people. All these songs are personal.”

In Feel Something, Miranda repeatedly make use of color or mentions it in the songs. For “Daylily,” it’s about having “pink cloud summers.” There are other songs such as “Colorblind,” “Deep Red,” and “The Grey.”

The vocalist is happy that we caught that “scheme.”

“It’s a way to describe how I feel about the world – to paint them in different hues to convey emotions. As of right now where we are wrapping up the tour, I can say that my world is colored a mixture of yellow and orange. That is because I feel overwhelmed. The culture here is Southeast Asia is different from at home. The shows, the city life and the atmosphere is different. We come from a quiet suburb and off the beaten path. It’s an hour and a half away from Los Angeles. Seeing all these cultures is jarring, but we’re happy to be here. It has become slightly overwhelming. I need to zone out because of the sensory overload. But again, I wouldn’t trade this for anything.”

And so would the people at the 123 Block wouldn’t either as they sang, jumped, cheered, and body surfed throughout the band’s 45-minute set.