MISTULA : Revelations

Bella Lugosi and Manx Minuet continue to move on by looking back.

BAPTIZED
Lugosi: Dragan was actually one of the very first to write to the band. He was also one of the very first to compliment Manx’s numerous guitar layers. And the first to point out how they were inversely proportional to how much she has on.

Manx: Aww, that’s Dragan. We’ve been trading guitar stuff since then, bouncing tracks and forwarding email jokes. I don’t get them half the time, though. I mean, the jokes. Must be because of the distance, hee.

Lugosi: And that’s precisely why we got him. Being from the UK, Dragan offered a different perspective of things. Another set of ears, if you will, from literally halfway across the world.

After Mulat, of course we didn’t want to repeat ourselves. We were tossing around ideas on how to execute the next song. Baptized, the poem, wrote itself after I attended this baptism ceremony. The imagery of a helpless infant gasping and crying his lungs out as if he was drowning, while being poured with Holy Water, just stuck in my head like a sick horror movie scene. I just had to let it all flow out.

Uno and I already had this odd-timed rhythm pattern going, and pretty much agreed that it had to NOT sound like odd-timed. It was already pretty tight, but we knew it was lacking something. Dragan fit because he brought something fresh, adding details to what we otherwise thought was already “complete”.

Manx: I’ve been dying to go down (with the tuning) so I’ve been fooling around with this downtuned riff. And when they agreed to let Dragan in, whom I knew to be a D-tuner, I was just thrilled. I knew we were going to have lots of crazy fun with the guitar work. Check out the mix – that’s me on the right, and that’s Dragan on the left. Went wild with that guitar exchange in the middle part, kind of like a rhythm guitar duel, eh?

Nice call (OF MINE, ehem) to have him in the band, right Lugosi?

Lugosi: The story of which was already discussed around here, sometime before… definitely one of Manx’s shining moments, I would have to say. But as I would recall, just a precursor of what was to come.

PAUSED. To be concluded.

Being holed-up for three months straight in Play/Pen Studios was apparently too much, even for Mistula’s resident obsessive-compulsive, Bella Lugosi. So one particularly rainy night (just after he woke up), the busy bandleader/drummer finally kicked back and gave in to a quick interview break – just long enough for the Webmessiah to fish for updates on the forthcoming new song release he has been feverishly working on.

The information though, as the Webmessiah found out, proved too elusive. (Un)typical of Lugosi, he instead suggested we revisit the past and look into previous Mistula song releases - hoping that some behind-the-scene insights on them would provide enough clues as to what audiences can expect for the next one.

Six-string sex siren Manx Minuet also happened to check-in on Lugosi that night (to lay-in scratch tracks, she purred) and decided to join-in on the drummer’s time-warped discussion.

MULAT
Lugosi: We set ridiculously high expectations with each release. Most especially with this one because it was to be our very first. I think it was quite clear that we wanted a general Mistula statement of sorts, something that would try to define what this band is all about.

Mulat, we were thankful, was able to fulfill our purposes (During that time, of course. We later found out that it’s actually impossible to say what we are in just one sitting - but we were beginners back then, forgive us). The title is a Filipino word which roughly translates to “awake” or “being aware” or more directly, “with eyes wide open” (minus the Scott Stapp enunciation. Sorry, I just had to say that).

I wanted to write a commentary on the “closed-minded” ways of society’s and religion’s hypocrites. The result was musings of a person in deep prayer, eyes closed, and feeling very enlightened - when in truth, he’s getting more detached from what’s going on around him. He’s “lost sight” of what truly matters.

Many groups actually mistake this piece for a “worship” song. I guess they “lost sight” of its essence? It worked, then, heh.

At the onset, the poem dictated the execution. Uno’s spoken parts provided a complement, at the same time, a contrast to the melody parts.

Manx: And although he won’t admit it out loud, Lugosi’s eyes lit up (yep, I SAW them myself) the first time Uno played that intro bass riff of his while reading the poem.

Lugosi: I did not.

Manx: See.

Lugosi: Sigh. You’re here, might as well contribute.

Manx: Weeeell… I remember you telling me to play around with ambient effects some more because the bass notes were already all over the place. Time-delay, flange, and reverb, mixed-and-matched patches, all did the trick.

Lugosi: The shift in the middle part was challenging because we didn’t have Dragan in the band yet.

Manx: Oh, right, no other guitar player. Sheesh, I had to do all counterpoint guitar parts, just to build up the mood. Worked out pretty well, though. I had the wah-wah thing going, among other silly patches that shall remain in my presets.

Lugosi: Dragan actually sent me an email after listening to what you did on that track. But I’m already getting ahead, that story’s part of the second song.

PAUSED. To be continued.

“They descended into the dead. And on the third day, they rose again.”

After proclaiming death last Good Friday, Mistula resurrects this Easter Sunday with a brand-new single, “The Last Supper,” a duet from vocalist/ bassist Uno and guitarist Manx.

A duet with Minuet.

The newly-redesigned website also features new photos of the band with their instruments, most notable of which are the Mistula-Custom Bass and Guitar models made exclusively for Uno and Manx by renowned Filipino guitar maker, Lumanog.

Uno’s Cutud. More in the Band section of the main website.

Also featured are new artworks from the band’s most faithful followers from Germany, US, Singapore, and the Philippines; a display of past Mistula souvenirs modeled by BJDs from all over the world; new wallpapers of Manx Minuet and her guitar for download; and a short fiction written exclusively for Mistula by award-winning author Elvin Bueno. Past versions of the website can also be viewed and reviewed through a new section, “Recollection”.

This latest update, spanning both life and afterlife, would not be possible without these wonderful people: Mang Dading of Lumanog Guitars; Teresa Ibanez, for her amazing track contributions; Angela M. Tiempo for her way with words; Zig Rabara, always for his support; Edith Esguerra, for letting us (ab)use her photography studio and various household implements for the main band photographs; G-Man, for his resourcefulness in putting together the Mistula: Genesis and Second Coming souvenirs; Sam Munir, who keeps Dragan in the band; Djinn and Mae, for keeping Uno inspired; Yapi and Ceras, who always cheer for Mistula; JoAnn Labrador, whose bravado keeps the detractors at bay, and all the people from Den of Angels who waited semi-patiently from Good Friday until Mistula’s rise this Easter Sunday. We hope you were not disappointed.

Finally, the band extends its exaltations to the following: Lumanog guitars, JB Music, Play/Pen Studios, Shure and Nady mics, Ernie Ball strings, Di Marzio pick-ups, Zoom effects, Gibraltar pedals, Zildjian cymbals and sticks, Paiste cymbals, Yamaha percussions, and Korg Digital Recording Studio.

This week celebrates the most important moments that shaped Christianity: the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ.

Referred to as the Holy Week, events commemorated within these seven days chronicle the last hours of Jesus on Earth: The Last Supper, His Death on the Cross on Good Friday, and finally, His Triumphant Resurrection on Easter Sunday.

Witness this greatest drama played out at Mistula this Good Friday, at exactly 3 PM (Philippine time) as Lugosi, Uno, Manx and Dragan ponder the future of the band.

As it was written, so shall it be done.