Six-piece melodic post-hardcore band from Makati, Aye, The Anchor released their debut singles ‘Three Sheets To The Wind’ and ‘Mercurial Tides’. Our team is glad to have an exclusive interview with the band as they talk about Aye, The Anchor’s debut release and their future plans.
Finite: Hi Aye, The Anchor. Please tell us about your new single “Mercurial Tides”.
Aye, The Anchor: Hi! “Mercurial Tides” is our first original release as a band, and it’s very special to us. Basically, it aims to give listeners a general idea of our sound, the direction that we aim for, and our potential wherein we can explore without limits. Our peers often tell us that it’s their favorite off our live setlist, so we figured it’ll be the best one to put out first. Honestly, it feels ambitious to put out a two-part initial release (first part was Three Sheets to the Wind). But in doing so, we are enjoying the liberty to be experimental. Thanks for your interest!
Finite: What was the inspiration behind it?
Tata: Well the song basically tells us a story of a girl who acquires unrequitted feelings for another individual. While writing the song I imagined a gullible person that easily falls in love and is blinded about the reality of her position. This person falls in love with the idea of being together and wanting more than a “one night” stand. In the end, our protaganist is left behind and realizes that she was taken for granted. Things take a turn, when she commits suicide. You can easily spot this in the song, because the whole mood changes. As for our heroin, she feels that for once in her life, she finally gets to be the person who leaves the relationship and hopes that her death haunts and forces him to think about her.
Nestea: We are heavily inspired by a lot of pop punk/post-hardcore/melodic hardcore/indie groups that we feel are not afraid to experiment on their sound. For this release, it’s focused more on the heavy side. We want to have the grit and heaviness of a hardcore band, but dynamically arranged like that of an indie band. As we release more songs, listeners will find different influences for each one of them. We hope you guys are excited for the next ones as much we are!
Finite: How does the songwriting work primarily on this new song?
Aye, The Anchor: For this song, the base arrangement of the instrumentals came first before the lyrics. Nestea had this amazing set of riffs and ideas that we all liked, tinkered with, and built from the ground up. With three guitarists, the band’s setup allowed us to explore more on the facets of modulation, dynamics, and backing tracks. We are also incredibly lucky to have Tata’s talent to write lyrics that synergizes perfectly with the melody and the emotion that we want to evoke. After a few gigs and much experimentation, the song evolved into a conceptual narrative. It starts optimistic and undaunting, until it slides into a kind of darkness channeled by the transition to minor chords. As much as we are excited to describe our vision for it, we care more about how the song makes the listener feel.
Finite: What can we expect from Aye, The Anchor this year?
Aye, The Anchor: “Mercurial Tides” is an opportunity for us to introduce ourselves and our individuality through our music. Each song that we make is special to us, so expect our future releases to have 100% of our soul in them. There are a couple more recorded songs that we have in our pipeline, just waiting to be mastered by some of the best people that we know in the industry. As soon as they’re ready, each promotion will be as unique as the song itself. We also plan to be more active in gigs and the social media space. Basically, we aim to keep moving forward and pull no punches.
Finite: Any advice to all aspiring musicians?
Aye, The Anchor: We are all aspiring musicians as well, and we always make it a point to get as much feedback as we can. Try to make friends with a lot of other bands and ask for their opinion about your performance. Our band is built on the grounds of family and friendship, so we believe that building unbreakable ties among your bandmates is vital to having strong chemistry in and out of band affairs. Also, practice a lot, both by yourself and with the whole group. Be transparent with your mates, so they can help and compromise with you. Lastly, though it may sound cliche, believe in yourself and what you can do. Your band’s direction depends on your vision, and no one else can best drive it to its goal than you.
Aye, The Anchor will be having a single launch to celebrate ‘Mercurial Tides’ release happening at Archipelago 7101, Ortigas. See poster for more details.
Listen to ‘Mercurial Tides’ here.