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Meet Cheats, a Yahoo Emerging Band nominee

'The best party you'll ever attend.' (Adrian Bautista/NPPA IMAGES)

The most well-known member of the band Cheats, nominated as Emerging Band of the Year in the 2014 Yahoo Celebrity Awards, is actress and singer Saab Magalona. She fronts the band with fellow vocalist Candy Gamos along with five other members including her fiancé Jim Bacarro.

On stage, Cheats is happy and energetic, their music infectious.

In fact, the band persona recalls the early years of Saab’s dad, the late great Francis M, when mom Pia doubled as backup singer. Both share an intensity and an easy onstage rapport that connect immediately with the audience.

Saab, interviewed for this piece, was straight up when she told Yahoo that she wants “keep my dad’s legacy going.”


Name:
Cheats

Formed: June 2013

Members: Jim Bacarro (vocals), Saab Magalona (vocals), Candy Gamos (vocals), Ernest Aguila (guitar), Mau Torralba (guitar), Manny Tanglao (bass), Enzo Hermosa (drums)

Kind of music: Indie pop rock Listen to Cheats on SoundCloud.

Kudos: “…do yourself a favor and catch Cheats live. It’ll be the best party you’ll ever attend.”— PinoyTuner


How did the band come to be?
SAAB: Candy and I run a music front where we put together gigs. It's called Grrrl Scout. My boyfriend (Jim Bacarro) and his band Ernville, we kept getting them. So we just decided to merge. The old band is gone; it’s just Cheats now.


How would you describe your sound?

The old band was punk, post-punk—noisy—and all about growing up. Now that there are sweeter voices of girls, it’s still noisy. It's dance music.


Tell us about the album you’re making.
We've recorded 6 songs but we have so many. I think we're gonna do 2 albums right away and then release one first. No concrete plans yet but we're very excited to share our new music.


We understand it’s produced by one Ely Buendia.
Well, Ely is a family friend (Francis M and Ely collaborated on the album “In Love and War”) and he's also the boyfriend of my boyfriend's sister. He went to a couple of gigs and then he really liked what he heard so he invited us. We're the only band he's producing so it's amazing!

 

When is the album due?
We're targeting an August release.


Other than releasing your album, what are the band’s plans?

Now that we're getting more attention, which is a great thing—we’re not counting our chickens—but we want to get better as musicians and we just wanna play live gigs. That's the best thing about being in a band. Even if we keep playing the same songs, it's always a different experience (with every gig).


So you’re in a band with your fiancé (Saab is set to marry Jim Bacarro early next year), what’s that like?

In the beginning, we would clash. I'd say, I think it would be better if we blah blah blah. And then we would be sensitive to each other's opinions because there's a relationship involved. But now, since we're more comfortable with our sound, any suggestion is welcome. And we're friends.


And your showbiz career?

It's still ongoing but being on stage and being in front of the cameras are really two different things. Actually, it’s weird because even if I've been acting for a while, I've always had stage fright? But being with my best friends onstage really helped with my confidence. No stage fright whatsoever. It's just like we're jamming.


Vote for Cheats as Emerging Band of the Year
in the 2014 Yahoo Celebrity Awards.


CHEATS PLAYLIST
Listen to some of Cheats's favorite songs


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