Photo by: Daphne Rubio
Duds Mitra and his band Kremesoda are the prototypical new kids on the block. Fresh out of Xavier high school, the band brings their smooth style and even smoother sound to AMP. Seeking improvement and connections, the band looks to a bright future in college.
I got the opportunity to interview Duds, the lead guitarist, about his band. Their current line-up is: Roberto “Toots” Orosa, the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist, and Lan de Lara, the bass guitarist. Duds mentions that the band is currently looking for a drummer, as their high school drummer, Austin Chua, is studying abroad in Canada.
The predecessor to Kremesoda was formed in Grade 6, when Duds, Toots and Lan were classmates. “Toots, Lan and I, we were classmates in Grade 6 and we just started out acoustic jamming lang in the classrooms,” Duds mentions. Kremesoda officially formed when Austin joined the trio in a Bandfest before their Grade School graduation.
Kremesoda, a rather interesting name for a band, came from a snack session the band had in Austin’s house. Austin’s parents are Canadian immigrants, and one of Canada’s premier products is the soft drink cream soda. Duds recalls, “We were somewhat petty and childish back then, so we decided, whatever, let’s name our band Kremesoda.” Even if Kremesoda was named after a mere soft drink, I find it a very appropriate band name for their sound: delicious and addicting.
Speaking of their sound, Duds gave a great description: “Our old songs, like our first song Torpe, was super pop.” One listen of the song and some of the succeeding songs on their SoundCloud confirms this. The band was really inspired by several AMP artists, most notably She’s Only Sixteen and their hit song Dying to Meet You. Listening to the band’s SoundCloud, the band’s early songs did give me a really SOS-vibe, but it was refreshing to see that they evolved ever since their high school days.
“Right now, we’re really influenced by indie bands like The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys,” says Duds. He says that they are trying to shift more to an alternative genre of music, shying away from the sugary pop they made in high school. Their relatively new song Talk¸ up on their SoundCloud, is a step forward in this direction, as the band sounds more mature and more suave on Talk than on their old songs.
AMP gives the neophyte band a great opportunity in the form of gigs, and Kremesoda is understandably very excited. The opportunity to perform in pubs and other music hotspots across Metro Manila is very hard to come by if you are a high school band, so I can definitely understand this excitement. “We have barely any experience of gigging in local pubs. [We performed in] school events lang,” says Duds. As of now, however, the band’s immediate priority is fielding a solid line-up with a drummer. Their songwriting process is quick and easy, the only problem is making time for it.
For Rites of Passage 2016, Duds had this to say, “We’re just looking to get our sound out, straightforward. It’s all about the sound naman eh.” He got that right. Kremesoda is all about their sound, a sound that definitely should not be ignored. With massive tunes and refined confidence, the new kids on the block are not to be underestimated.