So you wanna be a rock star? Skarlet’s tips on surviving the music biz
She was the girl on the Vespa (if Vespas could be had in Manila in those days), the chick in the checkered mini, the bird with the bob.
She blazed as the lead singer of Put3Ska, a coquettish ball of fire, hiccupping through the 90s hit, “Manila Girl.”
So, when management problems forced her to walk out of Put3Ska and form Brownbeat All-Stars, she dropped the name Myra Ruaro and re-emerged as Skarlet.
Back to the swing of things
And that’s what’s she’s been called ever since, a name that fit to a T her current evolution as a jazz chanteuse.
On Friday, October 4, Skarlet returned to the roots of her name. After 10 years, the original members of the Brownbeat All-Stars got together at Skippy’s Bar & Grill at Bonifacio Global City.
Dusting off their unique brand of reggae-ska-punk-jazz-swing fusion, the assortment of founding members and new recruits included bassist Rhany Torres, percussionist Wam Molina, drummer Jay Alviar, bassist Bong Termulo, saxophonists Kim Ventusa and Ronald Tomas, jazz guitarist Paolo Blaquera and keyboardist Valerie Villanueva, who plays for a Latin band,
Booked for 10 shows till December
“We disbanded in 2003 but between then and now there have been occasions when we would talk about reforming again,” Skarlet exclusively told Yahoo OMG! during one of the Brownbeat rehearsals.
“We’d have a round of drinks at my club Ten02 (which she has since sold) and on some Sundays at my house and the small talk would drift to the idea of re-forming the first batch of Brownbeat. Then, the next day, everyone would go off to his job or whatever racket we’d be into. It never materialized until now.”
But, when word got out that the reformed Brownbeat was rehearsing in earnest, the offers began pouring in. “We have yet to play a note and we have already ten bookings for the next two months,” she said.
Safety net for musicians
While she successfully navigated the highs and many lows of being the music biz, Myra also saw how it left fellow musicians without a safety net, especially in their later years.
That’s when she founded Heart of Music, a group that aims to secure health benefits for musicians and workers in the music industry.
She has organized fundraisers and benefit concerts for older beneficiaries.
How to survive the music biz
Asked about what has kept her in the biz for some 20-odd years, she said, “You have to be sure you want to do music. The first driving force to pick up an instrument or to sing is you’d like to do it. It’s your passion to make music.
“If you have made that crucial decision, you should be steadfast that you will be a musician for no other purpose but to become a vehicle of music.
“Ako, when I realized I wanted to be a musician, I initially asked myself, what kind of musician I wanted to be. I resolved that whatever I ended up being, I will be very good at what I do. I’d be as open minded as I can be so I can explore my gifts.”
‘Basta good time lang tayo!’
At the rehearsal, the band showed they still had the chops to move an audience. There was swing, soul and good vibes as they ran through a bunch of covers and original numbers.
Skarlet, however, feels the challenge of re-emerging from nowhere after all these years.
She tells fans and newbies alike, “Basta good time lang tayo lahat and we’re all gonna have fun!”
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