/Archipelago was formed in early 2008 and played its first gig on April 11, 2008, at Club Dredd in Eastwood City. They have played 80 gigs to date (and they intend to keep count).

/The name Archipelago was chosen as all four members hail from the Philippine Archipelago. This attempt at a somewhat patriotic—though decidedly unspecific—band name later took on a new layer of meaning to describe the band’s sound as one that should be not just for Filipinos but for the rest of the world as well. Besides, as bassist Chad Rialp so eloquently puts it: “The world is, at a distance, an Archipelago.”

STAGE//STUDIO//RECORDING//

/Archipelago has since shared the spotlight with some of the biggest names in the country—and with some noteworthy friends from overseas. They’ve played with Electrico at Club Dredd (“It’s almost an AVIMA reunion!” –Dave Tan, vocalist and guitarist, Electrico) and jammed with Travis McCoy of Gym Class Heroes at Magnet High Street (“New favorite band... Archipelago from the Philippines. Check them out. So dope!!!!!” –from twitter.com/travismtv, 3:39 AM, Jun 25 2009). The jam is on our YouTube channel, check it out (youtube.com/arch1pelago). Parts of the Archipelago-McCoy jam also appeared on Travis McCoy's "The Unbeaten Track", a global documentary by The Staying Alive Foundation on HIV/AIDS awareness, that aired in all the MTVs all over the world last Dec. 1, 2009.

/All four members of the band have produced and engineered albums for other outstanding Philippine artists. To mention some of their notable projects: Yan Yuzon and Pat Tirano have co-produced a couple of Sponge Cola albums; Pat himself has co-produced a Pupil album and has worked on recordings of artists such as Mishka Adams, Kapatid, Salamin, The Late Isabel, The Jerks, Pinikpikan, Kalayo, Razorback, Wolfgang, Kjwan, Mayonnaise, Cynthia Alexander, and The Dorques; Wendell Garcia has produced and arranged for Pupil and 6Cyclemind; and Chad Rialp co-produced his other band Liquid Jane’s debut album.

/The recording process had already been a couple of months underway before all four Archipelago members even had a chance to all be in the same room together. Bassist Chad Rialp, who was last to join the band, only met drummer Wendell Garcia in the studio after completing almost four songs within several weeks of bass track recording.

/Archipelago’s self-produced debut album, Travel Advisory, was launched at Mag:Net Bonifacio High Street last September 11, 2009, though its first and second singles, “MRI” and “May 1”, respectively, have already aired and done well since early and mid 2009, respectively, as “teaser” singles. The album's carrier single, "Black Box", is Archipelago's 3rd radio #1.

MRI//

/“MRI” was written at Wombworks Studios on the day Yan Yuzon had an actual MRI taken of his right knee (interstitial tears on the right PCL from a bad basketball injury). (“Sliding down the hole, I felt like I was being buried. I panicked so badly we had to stop the procedure. I knew then that it had to become a song.” –Yuzon)

/The “MRI” video premiered on Myx on January 23, 2009. (That’s 01.23; this band clearly has a thing for numbers.) A passion project directed by up-and-coming filmmakers King Palisoc, Maui Mauricio and Mackie Galvez ("They each wanted to direct it so we just made them do it together..." -Yuzon), the video spent an entire month on the OPM Countdown of music channel Myx (highest chart position, #14). The epic track itself went on to hit the #1 spot on the prestigious “Stairway To Seven” countdown of NU107, the Philippines’ foremost rock radio station, and took the 13th spot on their top 107 songs of 2008 chart.

/Archipelago was honored to be thrice-nominated in the 2009 Asia Voice Independent Music Awards or AVIMA, based in KL, Malaysia. “MRI” was nominated for Best Rock Song and Best Moody-Melancholic Masterpiece, while its video, breathtaking in its black-and-white simplicity, was nominated for Most Mind-Blowing Music Video. Archipelago wins the Silver Prize for Best Rock Song. (Malaysia’s Pop Shuvit takes the Gold, while Singapore’s Electrico bags the Bronze.)

/"MRI" was also nominated in the 2009 NU Rock Awards, and in the Malaysia-based 2009 Junksounds Awards, for Song of the Year. Archipelago's other Junksounds 2009 nominations include Album/EP of the Year for "Travel Advisory" and Best Breakthrough Act.

MAY 1//

/Archipelago’s second single, "May 1," was released on radio last April 14, the same day director Quark Henares and the band filmed the video for the song. All four members huddled in a toilet to speak to NU107 jocks Kim and Monica on air via speakerphone to introduce it. “May 1” soon ascended to the #1 spot on the NU Stairway and stayed there for three weeks.

/The “May 1” video premiered on Myx on May 1, 2009. It entered the OPM chart a week later, and stayed there for three whole months (that's 12 weeks, highest chart position, #9.)

/The “May 1” video stars ballerina Cassandra Soenen, the French-Filipina niece of Yan Yuzon’s girlfriend. Casuy (her nickname, which means ‘cashew’) gets credit for simply, matter-of-factly coming up to Yanny and saying: “I wanna dance in a music video.”

/The “May 1” video also “stars” the Ateneo de Manila University, Yan Yuzon’s alma mater, where he went to for grade school, high school and college—and where he taught Theater Direction for three semesters at the School of Humanities. The May 1 video was filmed on-campus without actual permits.

BLACKBOX//

/“Black Box” is the carrier single of Travel Advisory. The 3-minute upbeat dance rocker premiered on NU107 and on Hot 100.7 FM in Athens, Georgia in the United States last September 1, 2009. It went on up to the #1 spot on the Stairway and is officially the band’s 3rd radio chart-topping hit. The music video premiered last January 10, 2010 at 10PM. Incidentally, it debuted on the Pinoy Myx Countdown at #10 on the week of its release.

/Archipelago tapped three international multi-awarded directors to create the music video: Columbia University classmates Marie Jamora, Anocha Suwichakornpong and Ming Kai Leung. Filming took place in Manila, Bangkok and New York City, and features the parallel stories of two women who have lost their lovers in the same plane crash. 

/It is an immense honor for the band to have had these directors, all future stars of global cinema, working on “Black Box”. Jamora will begin making her first feature-length film soon, and Suwichakornpong’s thesis film Graceland, for which Ming was cinematographer, went on to become the first Thai short film to be officially selected for the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.

-updated January 19, 2010.