Recently Suite 101 sat down with Lia Luisa Castillo, the singer/songwriter behind Lui and the Band.
Beginnings
Lia Luisa Castillo began singing and playing music for about ten years, five of those years have been professionally. According to Castillo the name for the band- Lui and the Band is actually derived from a shortened version of her own name.
Castillo believes that what makes her band different is that she is one of the few women who play guitar and sing at the same time. She also finds her song choice is something that makes her different.
"I sing a lot of guy songs, stuff from U2, Coldplay, and Keane. I think that would make me a bit unique," Castillo said.
Singing Her Heart Out
Despite Castillo's want to be famous she says that it isn't something that she absolutely needs. With Castillo's combination of original works and cover songs she uses both her own past experience and imagination to write her music, or put a spin on what has already been heard.
But, according to Castillo making her music is not about having motivation.
"I've come to a point where I'm just doing what I love to do, sort of like a saving grace, an outlet from this hard hard world. I used to want to make it big, somehow it's still in the back of my mind it's not a priority anymore, it's not like I HAVE to be famous."
Castillo adds that singing for her is just about letting out some stress. "These days I am tired, I'll sing my heart out."
Reaching Out
Castillo's goal she says is just to let listeners know that they are not alone. Castillo hopes that people will learn there is hope to anything and everything.
According to Castillo she doesn't believe that anything is missing in the local or national music scenes.
"Each musician is unique so whatever I would say is missing or other people would say is missing it's either some musican will take action one way or another someday or somehow."
To Castillo the most important thing when making music is getting a message across.
"The thing is if a musician is able to reach out even to just one person then he/she has done his/her job," Castillo said.
No Barriers Through Music
Castillo says that mediums such as Myspace and PureVolume are extremely helpful when it comes to getting the bands music out there.
"I am not only able to reach out to the Filipinos but to people all over the world and that is great," Castillo says.
Castillo adds she receives various responses due to singing in her Tagalog language and English alike.
"Most of the Locals think it's great that I sing both English and Tagalog songs. Some of my foreign audiences think it would be great if I translated some of the local songs into English because they like the melody but can't understand. Bottom line it's good there is a response, meaning they are listening."
Check out Lui and the Band
http://www.youtube.com/user/asiulcastillo
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