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Save Me Hollywood is pop, punk and not like the movies

Save Me Hollywood in Baybeats Sinagpore, June 2013 (Photo by Nor Asyram)

With their adopted name, Save Me Hollywood can easily be mistaken for an American rock act.

Just the opening flurry of chords into their big hit entitled “High” trigger visions of Blink-182 to The All-American Rejects to Paramore.

But when you finally get to watch their video, every American notion you might have had about them goes poof!

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Let’s form a band!

Save Me Hollywood is made up of Chicocsi’s Carlos “Calde” Calderon on bass, Typecast’s Melvin Macatiag on drums, April Morning Skies’ Aaron Corvera and Kenneth Arranza on guitars and VJ/DJ Julz Savard on vocals.

The story goes that Calde and Melvin had always wanted to form a band since they struck a friendship in 2002. Their regular gigs prevented them from realizing the musical partnership.

Julz was the pivotal character that finally got the band together. In 2010, Calde then a staff at a music channel met Julz who was then auditioning for a VJ spot. During a friendly chat, Julz told Calde she was an aspiring musician and Calde, without hearing a note from her, asked her to form a band with him.

They agreed to stay in touch.

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No Hollywood Ending

Calde tells Yahoo! OMG, “I was then toying with the idea that since me and Melvin have been playing with male musicians, for a change, our new band will have a female on board. I then told Melvin I found our singer and we moved on to choosing our guitarist.”

Melvin wanted to name the band Hollywood Ending until a web search showed the name had been taken. A text message for Save Me Hollywood finally settled their name.

The band also decided to record a few tracks thinking they could get them played on the radio. They then produced a video for possible play in a music channel.

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No takers

There were no takers for the album.

Julz, who was working as a radio DJ, asked her station if they could play their song.

Tommy Tanchanco, music promoter and manager of Barbie Almalbis and Kitchie Nadal, was driving to the office when he heard “High” on the radio.

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‘Akin na yan!’

Tommy remembers, “I immediately parked the car on the street and called up the station inquiring about the band that just got played on air. When I learned they were a local band, I told the DJ on board, ‘Akin na yan!’”

Tommy eventually saw the band’s video and he became even more interested in the band.

He signed Save Me Hollywood to his 12 Stone label and re-recorded their demo into a polished debut titled “Your Story to Tell.” The band joined 12 Stone’s growing stable of artists that now included Rocksteddy and Ruth Legaspi.

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Fans of pop punk

True to the band’s name, Hollywood references abound in the album’s song titles: “Not Like the Movies,” “Lights Camera Action” and, in their own ways, “High” and “We Are One Tonight”.

They were also fans of pop punk.

“While growing up, we were big fans of Blink-182 so by default, pop punk became our go-to sound,” says Calde. “Julz may be a lot younger than us but as a teener, she was listening to the same bands so it became easier for her to make the adjustment.”

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Sound and attitude make the band

The band’s latest high-profile show was at the Baybeats Festival on June 28 in Singapore. Only bands in the Asean region were invited to the music fest.

Calde observed that their audience at the festival, including members of other bands, was too happy to slamdance and shout along to their music even if the band played all-original songs.

He admits that the band’s foreign-sounding name helps, making it easier for them to put out their music.

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Physical CD

“As a band, it’s our dream to play in another country and we’d be very happy if our music can penetrate the global market.”

Right now, a constant source of joy is the debut CD. It’s a solid achievement even if the music inside harks back to the first decade of the new millennium.

He thinks, “Even if we’ve been playing together for quite some time now, we still consider ourselves very young in terms of band age. We still get a kick that in this day and age we get to produce an actual physical copy of our album. It’s amazing for us that our debut CD is available on iTunes via the Internet and out now in your favorite record outlets!”