Howsaboutdat. I got featured in the paper again for a Street Fashion column. Awesome!

Check out some pics of it below. Photos by Kenth Bajo,  article by Joan Soco-Bantayan.

The Muzika Del Sur MusicFest 2010 is happening on August 22 at the Damosa Gateway, Lanang, Davao City. Featured artists are Davao’s Jad Montenegro, Lost Tribe, Comradz, and Skeights. Champ, KBC, and Gasulina will represent Cagayan de Oro. Other Mindanao musicians who will perform are BlackDize (General Santos City), Gravity 8 (Tagum City), DOGFIGHT (Butuan City), and Sunset November (Cotabato City). Skyway Traffic from Manila will also be performing.

See you there! :)

I am also playing at Wisson’s on the 19th, and NCCC Mall on the 20th. :)

Ola! A photo of me, at my recording studio

Hi folks! It’s been a while since my last post, but I promise I’m working hard on my album. hehe! I have some new song demos that we’re thinking of recording eventually with a full band or keeping as is. Anyway, I’m posting them here. Have a listen, hope you don’t hate them too much. :) They’re very rough so please forgive some rawness to the songs, they’re all acoustic.

For lyrics, click on the lyrics link up there *points*

ANO

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DREAMER

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EVERYONE WAS RIGHT ABOUT YOU

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DEVIL IN YOU

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HONESTY

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For my older songs, please check out songs and videos. :)

Hi guys! I don’t update this website everyday, since I try to keep it clutter-free. :) But I do have this unusually strong need to find ridiculous stuff on the internet and collate them for further perusal, and as such I have some sites I update daily, even hourly.

my twitter: http://twitter.com/jadmontenegro

my tumblr: http://jadmontenegro.tumblr.com

and my facebook: http://facebook.com/jadmontenenegro

So folks, please add me up and I’ll add you back! :) See you on the internets!

Look gais, I got featured in the Sun Star News Pepper. My awesome friend Dolf wrote it. I think it’s pretty s00-weet. :D

I’m playing later tonight for Friday Mix (April 23) @ Durian Bar

Hosting Muzika del Sur’s Out Loud on Saturday (April 24) @ Freedom Park

Next Friday for Josh’s Angry Love Child Productions (April 30) @ Durian Bar

And the next Saturday after that for Gani’s Beach party! (May 8) @ Jones Beach Resort

Also, I got a full band to play with me for all those gigs. I’ve been solo acoustic up till now, but it looks like my songs sound pretty good with bass and percs too! Different feel, but still awesome.

I’m excited.

Also,  Rudolph’s feature on me in Sun Star came out last Monday, April 12. I have to remind myself to go pick up a copy. I keep forgetting! :)

Hey guys, I uploaded some songs of mine recently.

Check it out by clicking here or up on the navigation links. :)

A few days ago I was interviewed by my friend Rudolph. Fortunately for me, he also maintains a music column in The Sun Star, a local paper. There were a lot of questions, and at first I was worried that my answers were too long. He assured me he had lots of space, so I said okay. To Rudolph, thank you for considering my music and taking the time to ask about it.

Anyway, The Boy has been at me forever to post something resembling my music process, because he writes about his art process all the time.

So, I’ve taken some of the questions from that interview (I’ve skipped the boring bios and long list of bands I’ve ever been in cos that’s boring, I’m sure – or I might post them later). These are the ones that dealt with my musical/composition/songwriting process.

R: What are your music preferences? Can you describe your sound?

I have eclectic taste in music, which means I’ll listen to anything from Daft Punk to Amanda Palmer, and everything in between. I’ve been listening to a lot of acoustic lately, and I gravitate towards Sufjan Stevens, Dallas Green, Damien Rice, Ray Lamontagne, Cynthia Alexander, Kaki King, Andy McKee, and Tori Amos. I’ve been in a lot of different bands with different sounds and I appreciate music in all its forms. More than anything, I admire artists who struggle with their art and yet continue. My sound can be described as haunting at times, due to the alternative tunings I compose them with, but they can be quirky and pop during other times. The best bet for the listener is to remember that like myself and my life, my sound is never one thing at one time.

R: Who are your artistic influences, like in music or literature?

My influences can be attributed to a lot of literature, too many to mention. My parents owned bookstores among other things, our house looks like a bookstore. Books everywhere. If I get started on Sci Fi and Fantasy authors I’ll never stop haha. Music cds thrown about. I think my listening to Dave Matthews, Indigo Girls, Tori Amos, lots of metal (lol) in highschool, also reading a lot of sci-fi and fantasy in college have attributed to my wanting to create introspective music that doesn’t sound like anyone else. I initially had a phase where all I wanted to play was music with lots of distortion and screaming – but I got over that, heh.

R: How do you write your songs? Where do they come from? What is their main thematic message?

When I write my songs I use different processes, which I alternate. Sometimes I “noodle” on my guitar which I’ve been told time and again is a bad habit, but I think mindlessly playing it is ok if you consider your instrument to be a part of you. Noodling, i was told, means just playing bits and pieces of songs or even just tunes without really knowing where they go. It could be likened to scat singing on the piano, i think. It’s creative freedom. Sometimes I come across a guitar riff that strikes me as worthy of being made into a song, and that is when i build upon it and frame it into a song. I really think I’m a guitar player at heart, even though people tell me I should focus on singing, because when I compose songs I always put the guitar parts first and the singing later. The guitar should cement the plot, the voice will narrate, and the song is the story.

Another thing I do which may sound a little weird is I have this tendency to be frustrated by the standard tuning, which I feel limits me. So I like to change the tunings, a LOT. Then I find melodies which are more to my liking. I like haunting tunings and some very percussive ones as well. Fingertapping, sometimes, but not too much, because the song still needs to be sung, not merely performed. Well, in my opinion anyway.

My songs come from my experiences, from what I’ve gone through. I don’t make stuff up so I can write about them. I feel that isn’t a song if you do that – it becomes a soulless product. I feel that the more honest music is, the stronger it becomes over time. People can tell when you’re faking it. The ones that listen, anyway.

R: How do you intend to market your album?

I honestly am not good with this kind of thing. But the good thing about having a boyfriend that is based in Cebu is that my arm reaches out longer to farther places. With his help and with my “family” of musicians here, I plan to distribute the album or market it to different places in the country. My relatives also reside in Luzon, where my uncle is the COO of a major radio station. He can help me too. The Paus have encouraged me to tour the country and play gigs to promote it, and I am thinking about that too. I hope it does well. If it doesn’t, that’s all right too. The music was the most important part of it, after all.

FTLO or For The Love Of is a podcast and comic strip collaboration done by Jad Montenegro and John Amor.

Jad Montenegro is a musician. John Amor is an artist. FTLO is about music, art, life, and all the sticky things in between.

Click PODCAST to listen to our conversations, in which we also answer emails from people who listen to the show.

Click COMIC STRIP to view our comic strip, written by Jad and drawn by John, updated sporadically, depending on the availability of coffee sachets and bacon.

Click ART to view some of the drawings John has given me, of us. YAY

We’re such model citizens!

Verse

Guitar Man

You are everything that I thought I wanted.

Guitar Man

I am a fool for you just like everyone else.

Chorus

Don’t ask me why.

Oh, I can’t lie.

Cos I barely even know myself that well

But it’s swell-

Verse

Guitar Man

Your days are shamelessly divided into

“See you later, maybe, baby”s oh no.

and I can’t sit still,

no, until I do -

Chorus

-see you.

Oh what to do.

Fidgeting in my seat

You got me beat

Verse

Guitar Man.

Guitar Man.

Must you be so good with those hands?

Guitar Man,

Guitar man.

Every line you sing is a -

Chorus:

Sweet demand.

You drive me mad.

do-de-do, do-de-do-doo.

Verse

Guitar Man

Your days are shamelessly divided into

“See you later, maybe, baby”s oh no.

and I can’t sit still,

no, until I do -

Chorus

-see you.

Oh what to do.

Fidgeting in my seat

You got me beat

Verse

Guitar Man.

Guitar Man.

Must you be so good with those hands?

Guitar Man,

Guitar man.

Every line you sing is a -

Chorus:

Sweet demand.

You drive me mad.

do-de-do, do-de-do-doo.

Outro:

Guitar Man.

Guitar Man.

Verse

Mahal, bakit ka ba natatakot?

Mahal, isip mo lang ay nababalot

ng kung ano, ano, ano ang sinasabi nila

Ano, ano, ano ba talaga:

Chorus

Ang totoo? Masdan mo: nandito lang ako.

Nangako sa iyo, tutuparin: ikaw pa rin

Ang aking:

Verse

Mahal, ingatan natin itong pag-ibig.

Mahal, huwag tayong manlalamig.

Dahil hinding, hinding, hindi ka pababayaan.

Hinding, hinding, hindi ka iiwanan.

Chorus

Ang totoo? Masdan mo: nandito lang ako.

Nangako sa iyo, tutuparin: ikaw pa rin

Ang aking:

Verse

Mahal, sana’y iyong makita

Mahal, wag ka nang mababahala

Buong buong buong iaalay

Isang daang, libong, milyong mga patunay

Chorus

Ng totoo? Masdan mo: nandito lang ako.

Nangako sa iyo, tutuparin: ikaw pa rin

Ang aking:

Mahal.

Mahal.

Mahal.

INVINCIBLE

Stanza 1
We never should have left everyone behind
we could have gone so far
we could have gone so far

All of the memories that we have made
we’re gonna forget them
we’re gonna forget them

All of the promises that you have made
you’re not gonna keep them
you’re not gonna keep them

And oh oh oh all of your friends who still don’t know
well who’s gonna tell them
oh, who’s gonna tell them

(that)

Chorus
We couldn’t make it through the hardship and the pain, no
We thought we had it all and that we were invincible
But you’re a liar, liar
You’re a liar, liar

Stanza 2
For all your lies you cannot fool me
The girl on your arm she has no idea
That you have said all of things to me before
But I will even the score
I will even the score

Chorus
We couldn’t make it through the hardship and the pain, no
We thought we had it all and that we were invincible
But you’re a liar, liar
You’re a liar, liar

here we go, here we go oh
Chorus
We couldn’t make it through the hardship and the pain, no
We thought we had it all and that we were invincible
But you’re a liar, liar
You’re a liar, liar

Outro

THE BACKYARD

Stanza 1
Tonight I fall and crumple
Like a nightdress discarded in haste, I taste
of shadows and accumulated betrayals of childhood

Chorus 1
Stars, I promise you, are an aphrodisiac
You only look on with dull reception
You only look on with no perception of

of what it means to me
those things you cannot see
the grass under you feet
It’s more than shades of green

Stanza 2
You possess at best a small and dubious understanding, standing
together, yet so alone

Spout my brilliant nonsense
Defend my constellations
Devoured by your silence
are all my explanations of

of what it means to me
those things you cannot see
the grass under your feet
it’s more than shades of green

Outro ah, ah, ah, haah.

COMPLICATED

Stanza 1

Instrumental Intro

Transition: ahhh, ahhh

Stanza 1
It’s complicated
We build things up only to break them

Anticipating
Keep holding it in till you can no longer say it

and

Chorus 1
There’s a hole in the universe where I’m falling through
There’s a hole in the universe and it’s shaped like you

Transition ahhh, ahhh

Stanza 2
I’ve got no alibis
in this story of spite there is no black and white

I’m pulling at my hair
In this ocean of lies there is no comin up for air and

Chorus 2
There’s a hole in the universe where you used to be
There’s a hole in the universe inside of me

Transition
ahhh, ahhh, i’m screaming my frustration

Instrumental outro

HONESTY

Stanza 1
You can go ahead and look all you want
If you can take me and my charm attack

I can smile, I’m glass-jawed and slack
We have maybe two things in common

Chorus
So if you can survive this little ordeal,
congratulations
You can be my next meal

Cos isn’t one kiss all it takes
That one drive home you’ll never forget
That conversation you’ll always remember

Yeah isn’t one kiss all it takes
That one drive home you’ll never forget
that conversation you’ll always remember

Refrain
This is me, this is me (do you know what that)
This is me, this is me (do you know what that)
This is me, this is me do you know what that means?

Repeat Stanza 1
Repeat Chorus and Refrain

Bridge
I had the best night of my life but are you sure it was with you
I had the best night of my life but are you sure it was with you
I had the best night of my life but are you sure it was with you

Outro Instrumental

For Yani.

Stanza1
If only I could see the view
from behind the eyes that he looks through

All different blues and greens
and what he thinks that it all means

Chorus
From his ink-stained fingertips

to the sugar of his lips

constellation in my sky
he’ll always be my dreamer, mine

Refrain
he will always stand out
set apart from the crowd
his feet are planted on the ground
but his head’s lost in the clouds

Stanza 2
If they could spend a day inside his shoes
Then maybe they can choose
Between seeing and believing
Knowing fact and knowing truth

Chorus
From his ink-stained fingertips
to the sugar of his lips
constellation in my sky
he’ll always be my dreamer, mine

Refrain
he will always stand out
set apart from the crowd
his feet are planted on the ground
but his head’s lost in the clouds

Stanza 3
He’s at the end of where I’m ending
The beginning of where I begin
An ever fixed mark, we meet
As I’m going out he’s coming in

Chorus
From his ink-stained fingertips
to the sugar of his lips
constellation in my sky
he’ll always be my dreamer, mine

Refrain
he will always stand out
set apart from the crowd
his feet are planted on the ground
but his head’s lost in the clouds

Outro
constellation in my sky
he’ll always be my dreamer, mine

FORGIVENESS

Verse 1:
When it rains it seems like the city is crying
I can’t help but think that it knows how i feel

And in all of this space, I really could use some grace
but it seems so far away.

Oh I know it’s out there, and it’s waiting on me
but I’ve run out of things to say.

Chorus:
So I walk down this road– that I cannot see the end of
And if it leads back to you, it all depends on what we do.

So I walk down this path– out and away from you
And if I find myself, will I find you too?

ref:
We can’t expect the world to see
That it was deeper than it seemed
Oh, it’s hard to explain,
we’ll never be the same

We can’t expect them to understand
What goes on between a woman and a man
FORGIVENESS

Verse 1:
When it rains it seems like the city is crying
I can’t help but think that it knows how i feel

And in all of this space, I really could use some grace (:P)
but it seems so far away.

Oh I know it’s out there, and it’s waiting on me
but I’ve run out of things to say.

Chorus:
So I walk down this road– that I cannot see the end of
And if it leads back to you, it all depends on what we do.

So I walk down this path– out and away from you
And if I find myself, will I find you too?

ref:
We can’t expect the world to see
That it was deeper than it seemed
Oh, it’s hard to explain,
we’ll never be the same

We can’t expect them to understand
What goes on between a woman and a man
Oh, It’s hard to compare
what me and you shared

ref2:
But baby between you and me, we were meant to be free.
Just between you and me? We were meant to be free.

Just between you and me… we were meant to be free.

ref2:
But baby between you and me, we were meant to be free.
Just between you and me? We were meant to be free.

Just between you and me… we were meant to be free.