Rico Blanco: ‘Why bother with new songs when I can play my old hits?’

The number one album on iTunes, a video for a sinister first single that's as hot as featured artista Megan Young, and a physical album due for release sometime this week.

But all that—his second studio album in four years, "Galactik Fiestamatik," and the single "Amats"—almost never happened for Rico Blanco.

"At some point, I felt I didn't have enough motivation to record a follow up to my first effort," Rico confessed in an exclusive interview with Yahoo! Philippines OMG!

"I also felt that the amount of work involved wasn't worth it because people would just be downloading my new songs illegally, or buy pirated copies of them anyway," he added.

Didn't have to make new music

Rico, who had just returned from the Cagayan de Oro leg of this year's Tanduay First Five tour, was pensive and took his time to reply to our questions.

"At another point, I thought I didn't have to contribute or add to what music listeners already have," he said..

"In gigs, I couldn't even play all the songs people ask for. I figured, why bother coming up with new songs when I still enjoyed re-arranging or updating the old stuff?"

Certainly, his biggest hits with Rivermaya—supply the names your favorites—and the patented tunefulness he stuffed his first solo album with ("Your Universe" had at least four hits including the epic track "Yugto") could've had him re-living the past for years to come.

Rico said he continued to write music, especially when he gets excited by new ideas, "But I wasn't gonna do if I didn't feel like doing it," he stressed.

Moving into a new home

So, what changed?

He owed his label, he said in so many words. Warner Music Philippines had let him do what he wanted, on his terms and in his time—traveling, spending a year acting in soaps, touring, collaborating, and being involved in other creative endeavors.

It was time to pull his weight.

Also, he moved into his new three-story townhouse in Pasig, where we conducted this exclusive on-cam interview for Yahoo! Philippines OMG!

"I found this new place where I can have a pet dog, a big aquarium and my own little studio in the attic. I spent a few moths fixing the studio. Most of my personal stuff were still in balikbayan boxes but the studio was done. And the studio is pretty much where I spend most of my time," he said.

Recapturing the thrill

He said he recorded the new album by his lonesome in his home studio, which was a dream come true considering "I got started in music with just a double cassette karaoke system and a tiny keyboard that I borrowed from a friend."

The studio gave him the chance to "capture the thrill that I had when I first made music."

Earlier, he admitted, "Frankly, I put some effort in being excited about the music again. I made a conscious effort to be excited about making music and I guess that's the only way I'll be making albums from now on."

Still, Rico had hauled out notebooks filled with song ideas. In fact, he initially wanted to release "Galactik Fiestamatik" as a double album.

But it was the song "Amats" that led him to a light bulb moment he hopes will became the driving concept behind the rest of his musical career.

The future is robots and tribes

"The basic idea is to put together two things that I passionately love," he explained. He wants "the massive tribal drumming" of something like the Ati-Atihan fused with electronic music.

The result, he said, is "the cold, soulless sounds of machines and the fun of fiestas in one song."

He called it "roots music and the future; robots and tribes."

"There are so many elements about them that just excites me," he added.

He makes an even more intriguing promise: a live performance of the new album he is already mapping out in his head.

"Even my fans who have been to hundreds of my concerts, they have to see it because I'm delivering something different," he said.

"It will involve a whole new configuration that I will experiment on. I have yet to see any other show with a similar configuration and I'm determined to make it different," Rico promised.