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KJWAN

QC, Philippines
November 16, 2003
197,374 plays
255,527 views
KJWAN burst onto the Philippine music scene in 2003, when the local rock music scene had forgotten who it was originally and people were almost afraid to listen to anything new. Still, they came down hard, raw, in your face, with the release of their self titled debut album (in 2004) and coined the now-familiar catchphrase, Bastusan na! Their hit song, Daliri, became an anthem to a new generation of rock listeners and being true to your self became the order of the day. Even the very word, Kjwan, seemed to flamboyantly step in your way and hounded you so that you would never forget the name, the band and the sound This first album earned them the nominations for Best New Artist, Best Video and Best Album Packaging (along with Balbuena being nominated as Best Drummer) in local rock station NU107s Rock Awards. Favorite New Artist and Best Video at the MTV Pilipinas Video Music Awards 2005 and a month long feature on MTV Philippines as the Rising Star Artist of the Month (Jan 2005), specifically, for their breakthrough single Daliri. The song, which received such a good amount of airplay on the radio and local music channels, appealed mainly to rock listeners who were fans of A Perfect Circle, Audioslave, Rage Against the Machine, and the earlier grunge bands that defined early 90s rock. The Manila-based quintet is made up of distinct personalities, with individual musical tastes that dont always overlap, and strong ideals that are often diametrically opposed. The chemistry might have combusted a lesser band before it even started, but the equally passionate friendships and shared hardships that make up Kjwan have held it together. Long-time friends and former high school band-mates Marc Abaya (vocals) and Kelley Mangahas (bass) got together with fellow Ateneans Jorel Corpus (guitar) and J-hoon Balbuena (drums) to form the bands initial lineup. They were joined in 2004 by Boogie Romero (guitar), another high school friend and former band-mate of Marc and Kelley, soon after the release of their self-titled debut album. Three years later, at the height of the new music renaissance, Kjwan braved a second album, 2StepMarv, which promised to be so many things more than their first self-titled album. If the first album had been a simple matter of coming out, the two-year journey of making 2StepMarv was a more complicated matter of growing upmusically. They were able to craft better songs, hone their individual skills, introduce new musical elements to their primarily rock sound, and in general, just put more thought, heart and soul into the new music. They became comfortable in their new skin. With their momentous effort for this sophomore album came great blessings too! The band won as Favorite Indie Artist in the local music channel MYXs music awards night along with their video Pintura winning Favorite Guest Appearance with the help of a seasoned actress Chin-Chin Gutierrez, A month long feature on MTV Pilipinas as Lokal Artist of the Month in December 2006, another month long feature as Yahoo Southeast Asias band of the month and another month long feature as Celebrity VJs in MYX for the whole month of April 2006. They also got nominated in 6 categories in the 2007 NU Rock Awards for Artist of the Year, Best Live Act, Album of the Year, Producer of the Year (with Angee Rozul), Vocalist of the Year (Marc Abaya) and Guitarist of the Year (Boogie Romero). This was also the period where they got to spread their music and play shows outside the country. They headlined HK-Live, in Central, HK last October 2007, HK-Live is a monthly showcase of the Hottest Acts around asia in HKs Fringe Club. They also got to participate in the Annual Baybeats Music Festival in Singapore. Their biggest blessing however was winning the grand prize in the Asian and Phlippine leg of the IKON ASEAN competition held in Putrajaya, Malaysia which really made an impact to the regional asian music community since they bested 30 bands from all over southeast asia. The band had such an amazing time promoting their album and meeting new people!
Band/artist history
MARC DID THE CALLING! and everyone knew each other anyway so they really hang out a lot even before they became a band! its just magic that they all clicked musically! tight chemistry!
Have you performed in front of an audience?
we do play live! we play in a lot of places! of course we like playing live! and there are a lot of special moments!
Your musical influences
Incubus, Jamiroquai, NERD, Jill Scott, John Legend, John Mayer, MJ Cole, BT, Two Ton Shoe, Pantera, A Perfect Circle, Bill Withers, Sade, Rage Against The Machine, Erykah Badu, Mos Def, Blackstar, 311, Hed Pe, U2, 4Hero, AFI, Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam, Alicia Keys, Audioslave, Bjork, Brand New Heavies, Breakestra, Cake, Cat Stevens, Chicane, Coldplay, Common, Corinne Bailey Rae, D'Angelo, Deftones, Faith No More, Foo Fighters, Funkadelic, George Benson, Gruvis Malt, Guns and Roses, Handsome Boy Modeling School, Herbie Hancock, Incognito, India Arie, Isley Brothers, Jay-Z, Jazzelicious, Jazzanova, Jeff Buckley, John Scofield, Joss Stone, Les Nubians, Linkin Park, Mae, Maroon 5, Marvin Gaye, Matisyahu, Metallica, The Meters, Metric, Minus The Bear, Monday Michiru, Muse, Nelly Furtado, No Doubt, Parliament, Pocket Dwellers, The Postal Service, Radiohead, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Roy Hargrove / RH Factor, The Roots, Sergio Mendes, Sly and the Family Stone, Soulive, Smashing Pumpkins, Stevie Wonder, Stone Temple Pilots, Sugar Ray, Tahiti 80, Team Sleep, Tenacious D, Third Eye Blind, Thrice, Tool, Toto, Tower of Power, Underworld, The Philadelphia Experiment, Velvet Revolver, White Zombie, Zuco 103
What equipment do you use?
just your old skool guitars and gadgets!
On playlists (698)
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el_eudos's station
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moonfairy's station
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hellojimmy's station
11 songs · 3 artists
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zzarahh's station
1 song · 1 artist
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genepom's station
1 song · 1 artist
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Comments
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Whats up everyone! Please help us spread the word to our friends to get themselves in The 2007 Kjwan SEAT (South East Asian Tour! HAHA) which continues this Sept 30 with the Hush! Rock festival in Macao and culminates with Hong Kong's most awesome showcase of local talent: Hong Kong Live! Were really trying to pack these venues and spread the word so please help us out! Tell your friends! Classmates! Lovers! to all congregate on these dates and experience the first ever Asean IKON Champion LIVE!!! September 30 Macao Cultural Center Square - HUSH! Rock Festival +853 2870 0699 http://www.ccm.gov.mo/HUSH/ October 4 The Wanch 54 Jaffe Rd. wan Chai +852 2861 1621 October 6 Fringe Club - HK Live! 2 Lower Albert Rd. Central HK +852 2521 7251 http://hk-live.com for more details please visit our website at http://kjwan.net PLEASE TELL YOUR FRIENDS IN THE AREA TO DROP BY AND CHECK THE SHOWS OUT!!! IT WOULD BE AWESOME TO SEE YOU GUYS THERE!!! Other upcoming gigs include
it's great to find a band such as you guys that i/we can aspire to be and admire. parang kapag pumunta ka sa mga gigs, hindi talaga sayang ang pera mo. "Drizzle's" the best and also "Shai". Great job guys.
18 March 2007 KJWAN WINS FAVORITE INDIE ARTIST AT THE MYX MUSIC AWARDS!! Ms. Chinchin Gutierrez also won "Favorite Guest Appearance in a Music Video for "Pintura" This was Kjwan's first award ever! Thanks to everyone who supported us in this endeavor! Thanks to our management. Alvin Llanderal and Joel Ellorin. Label. Barnyard Music Philippines. Wally Chamsay. Our street team, online supporters. Parents, friends, family and all of you guys! CHECK OUT THE EDITED VIDEO (From J-Hoon's cam) DURING THE AWARDS NIGHT!!! I JUST UPLOADED IT IN YOUTUBE. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHrb2g-semA After the show we went to Ms. Chinchin to give her trophy. What a great night! Congratulations to all the winners! Please wait for the telecast in MYX! Dont forget to visit our website! Check out the newest videos i uploaded in youtube too! just go to my channel! Jorel http://youtube.com/jorelpogi http://kjwan.net ____________
Whats up everyone! Things have been pretty sweet for the band lately! Our single "SA ILALIM" has hit the local radio and music channel charts this week! Thanks to everyone who made our single "SA ILALIM" number 1 in the NU107 Stairway to Seven. This really means a lot to the band specially that it came from you guys! Please keep on voting for it! "SA ILALIM"'s video is also number 5 today at the MYX Daily Top Ten which means a lot of you guys have been voting! Thanks so much for that! And FINALLY! KJWAN is top 4 at Channel V's AMP website this week! Please check it out by clicking the link below! Thats about it! Thanks! Oh and guess what! our first single "DALIRI" is still in the Soundclick.com charts! haha thats awesome. By the way. aside from the mailinglist, I also uploaded the COMPLETE LYRICS for the latest album "2 Step Marv" in our livejournal account. Check out the link below. WELL BE IN SAGUIJO THIS WED (MAR14) WITH NYKO MACA and BRIGADA!!! CHECK IT OUT!
Whats up everyone! Thanks to everyone who made our single "SA ILALIM" number 1 in the NU107 Stairway to Seven. This really means a lot to the band specially that it came from you guys! Please keep on voting for it! Thanks also to everyone who made the last push for Kjwan for the MYX Music Awards. We crossing our fingers until thursday for the awards night! Lets pray we win something! And for Ms. Chin too! The complete lyrics for the whole of 2StepMarv has been posted here in the mailinglist. To get access to the page itself please click the link below. Thats about it! See you guys soon! Jorel to vote for SA ILALIM please text NUVOTE(space)SAILALIM and send to 29107 for NU107 HIT(space)995(space)SAILALIM and send to 2968 for HITFM MYX(space)VOTE(space)SAILALIM and send to 2366 for MYX to view /get the complete lyrics check out the mailinglist http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/kjwan_online/files/LYRICS/ thats about it! thanks again everyone! Jo
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