Learning to be Complete: Oz on OZO
Interview by Hannah Manuel
Beginning in the pandemic confined inside his bedroom in Quezon City, one must imagine that Oz Kabuhat did not have the premonitory insight of the artistry he was to grow into years down the line.
After all, who possesses a foresight of that magnitude at eighteen?
What Joshua Kabuhat did possess, however, was the guts to experiment with sounds and musical collaborators, providing the musician with a colorful portfolio of projects long before the Oz Kabuhat name was ever uttered. OZO’s own Luis Peczon and Pat Pagsuyuin, along with Joshua himself, once made up Anacreous, a psychedelic rock band that released tracks like “Killer Ape Theory”, “Celestials”, “The Cataract”, and “The Moon from Sicily” from 2020 to 2021. Scrounging the depths of Soundcloud procures __bamm.sakk, Kabuhat’s project with Brennan Ng, who would later come to be OZO’s lead guitarist. The experiential soundscape that “MAMBO” produces is the most experimental release that Kabuhat has put out to date, while traces of the artist’s signature falsetto appear in “All I Feel”. His deliberate nonconformity was impressive, but all the while oblique and aloof toward the listener.
Stepping foot inside OZO’s EP launch of That, I Know, you are immediately hit with a sense of homecoming. Kabuhat is a warm host, greeting guests who come up to him with congratulations as he darts through the venue, getting last-minute preparations ready for the first act of the night. Inadvertently, the collective that gathers on this one rainy evening in Chino Roces takes the shape of a retrospective of a body of work and life;It is this retrospective that Kabuhat and the rest of OZO seem to be continually inspired by. That, I Know is a classically experiential EP and traditionally avant-garde in the way that has since become expected of Kabuhat’s endeavors. But, there is a truthfulness that lives within the entire band, inducing a coming together of musical minds that proves even greater than the sum of its parts.
Kabuhat finally gives way to a simple honesty with OZO, and this honesty speaks for itself in That, I Know. Schoolmates, peers, mentors, and supporters all gather this evening, almost as a visual manifestation of the EP’s thematic core, which is experiencing life as life happens. It all goes to show that no man is an island, but he may be in a swimming pool with his friends, making the best music you’ll hear this decade.
*This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity
Hannah: You’ve shed the solo act in favor of a band—a family, as you’ve called it before. Talk to us through it.
Kabuhat: These songs [started] with me and Luis, our bassist—we write together a lot. That’s the very beginning of the entire process, it starts with songwriting talaga…Hindi siya linear process for me na it has to start with songwriting, but this EP all started talaga with songwriting. I write it, I give a demo, they add their stuff, and then that’s what happens. It’s just as mundane as working on it together and passing it to the next bandmate.
Hannah: Your vocal talents, which have taken us through the best of the different iterations of Oz Kabuhat, are a signature of your sound. How do you work with an asset as distinctly attributed to you while keeping things different?
Kabuhat: I’m not really trying to brag in any way, but the challenge for me or maybe my band as well, is less of making my voice work but more on making sure that whatever experiment we do, is still us. We don’t consider my voice something difficult to apply to experiments; it’s really just more of how truthful our artistry is, no matter the experiment.
Hannah: OZO is made up of musicians who have paved their own paths in music over the years. Is there any discourse that goes on when sharing creative reign over a song with such a varied mix of musicians?
Kabuhat: We have really different influences. Pat is really heavy on classical piano, Brennan is on the Bossa side, Jaime is a folky drummer, tapos me, experimental and electronic talaga. Honestly, you’d be surprised that there’s rarely any conflict in that creativity sense. As the producer, I think I have the capability to ensure na we have one direction and no matter how diverse the bandmates are, we produce the songs in a way na we can utilize their strengths. If that makes sense. When you think about it, there’s no clash because everyone’s using their skills in the songs, and I think that’s what makes the EP experimental. It’s really just because of the pursuit of our own artistry and being as honest as possible. It’s the umbrella for our music, honesty, and authenticity. It really makes everything work for us, especially since we’re all diverse.
I’m not really trying to brag in any way, but the challenge for me or maybe my band as well, is less of making my voice work but more on making sure that whatever experiment we do, is still us.
Hannah: You’ve also mentioned in the past that your genre-bending is motivated by “serving the song”. How does being nonconforming aid or provide difficulty in distinguishing yourself from past eras of yourself musically?
Kabuhat: There’s definitely some form of anxiety as to whether or not we’re gonna be perceived as a non-conforming band, because truth be told, we’re not. Our goal is not to be fluid in [the] sense that we have no focus. The EP is pretty experimental, and it edges whatever bound of genre the particular songs are in. But genre to us nowadays is just a tool that we utilize, because our main thing is emotion. That’s the genre in our head, if that makes sense. We just utilize genres to help the emotion that the EP is trying to portray, because like what we said, the EP is about life. It’s a general assumption of life, so the journey that the EP takes you is meant to reflect life. So, as much as possible, we really try to prioritize the emotions, and that leads us to experiment a lot. If it’s hard, yes, it’s a bit hard nga. Stripping away the genre of each song, there is one genre we’re following, which is jazz fusion and electropop, but since we prioritize the emotions per song, it tends to go heavier on this subgenre and heavier on that subgenre.
Hannah: You’ve described OZO as an act whose creative growth coincides with the band’s personal growth. Talk us through the creation process of “That, I Know” and how OZO grew as people while making the EP.
Kabuhat: I guess it took us almost a year writing and producing everything, the first [track] being “That I Know,” and then the last one we made was “Online”. And it’s six songs so nakakaintimidate, para na ‘tong album. I think kaya matagal din is because we were writing—I was writing—from the freshest emotions, like that was happening to me at that moment. It reflected my life because I was writing at that point in my life, if that makes sense. I wrote “Carefully” during the time my lola was going through something. It reflects our growth because we were writing [the EP] as we were just experiencing life as it happened, we wrote about that.
Hannah: If anything, what is the one track you would pick that would reintroduce the band?
Kabuhat: “Only You”. Before, yes, I was writing from honesty and from the heart, but there were extra steps, so many extra steps I wanted to take because I wanted to sound very, very unique. Now, I just stripped all of that off and I’m just pursuing what’s real and what’s fun to us, and making music that we enjoy while being honest. I think it encapsulates that because that was the most fun I’ve had making a song, and it’s just gonna hopefully be the main priority from here on out, really just trying to make honest music and making music that we enjoy. In that way, I would reintroduce us with “Only You”.
There’s definitely some form of anxiety as to whether or not we’re gonna be perceived as a non-conforming band, because truth be told, we’re not. Our goal is not to be fluid in [the] sense that we have no focus.
Hannah: Emotions are what run the mechanisms behind this EP. What emotions of yours were the loudest leading up to the release of this EP?
Kabuhat: Syempre, from a brand and business standpoint, there was undoubtedly a lot of anxiety and fear as to if this was gonna be received well or not. But I don’t think anyone gave it much thought, din. There was anxiousness, but were all just driven by how honest the work we did was and we were just so glad that we were making music that we truly enjoy and music that’s like wearing no masks on just us and just us enjoying our honest, if you know what I mean, We’re just pursuing our true selves like no matter what happens. So, it was a rollercoaster of emotions, but at the end of the day, it felt better knowing that we were putting out something that was like no masks on, just truth and honesty, and so much more fun than before.
Hannah: How does collaborating with trusted collaborators and close friends unlock a new level of honesty?
Kabuhat: Oh, yeah. That’s something I super duper advocate for, like any day of the week. You have to choose the people you work with on a daily basis. I think it’s common knowledge naman na if you’re really close to a good level with those you’re in a band with, I think it’ll resonate with your art that you guys are making music out of love, and out of joy. And it’s not just a job for you guys, alam mo yun? It’s not just some project, it’s something you guys are enjoying doing together. We try to reflect that specifically in this debut EP na we’re just—like our cover art. We’re just swimming, we’re hanging out. So, you want to be caught candidly living lang. That’s the whole theme of everything, it’s just us, we’re living, and the importance of being with a trusted group of people is something I keep advocating talaga. It’s super duper important for me and I think it shows with the work we put out and how close we are with each other.
It was a rollercoaster of emotions, but at the end of the day, it felt better knowing that we were putting out something that was like no masks on, just truth and honesty, and so much more fun than before.
Hannah: You’ve been making music with your current bandmates as early as senior high. Anacreous and __bamm.sakk, namely, were projects you took on with Luis, Pat, and Brennan, respectively. How do these past sounds and identities contrast with the most recent OZO?
Kabuhat: I’m sure may hatak from my personal life yung mga ginagawa ko before. But yung highest priority ko before was to carve out something so unique and odd and new. No matter what genre I was in, I got into alt rock, I got into pop, a lot of electronic stuff. Before, my highest priority was to carve out something so unique na I’m not comparable to others. And how it contrasts to now, it’s just very different.
Hannah: What did you choose to leave and take with you when you entered this new era with OZO?
Kabuhat: Feeling ko hindi to sinasadya, it was just natural kasi diverse nga kami, pero the experimentalness [of the band]. I involuntarily brought that with me because it’s something we can do to make sure na everyone’s expressing well talaga sa band. Parang, it’s hard to follow a very conventional genre if we’re a very diverse group of artists. I think that’s something we naturally brought along with us in this new era, that experimental fusion of everything which is present in everything ever since bamm.sakk. If there’s something I left—I don’t want to call it pretentiousness eh, it’s just that pursuit of being different, that’s something I really let go. Before, I enjoyed being vague with lyrics, and even if it’s still vague now in some sense, I definitely left the intentionality of being vague and odd. Right now I’m trying my best to communicate talaga.
Hannah: What was it like taking the EP to the live stage for the first time?
Kabuhat: Disclaimer lang, we’re still learning about everything din. But yeah, we practiced a lot, talaga. And… I think it’s harder for us din because andami nating gear. Kasi ayun nga, very maximalist yung production namin, and we try to reflect that as truthfully as possible, live. All the sound effects, yung DJ namin, Daboy, he’s actually doing it live. It took us a lot of practice, siguro even predating the ones specifically for the EP launch. It’s really just hours of figuring cables… and that is what I would say is the biggest struggle, managing all the electronics. That’s still taking us a long time to optimize. In preparation for the EP show, we tried to make sure we were in a good big space that has all the gear we need to help us optimize our rehearsals and syempre nauna namin yung how loud each person is, which is a big challenge because we’re also a big band. So deliberate runs through the songs lang, and then one by one natin ifeflesh out who should be louder, who should be softer, what should be happening here, and what shouldn’t.
That’s the whole theme of everything, it’s just us, we’re living, and the importance of being with a trusted group of people is something I keep advocating talaga.
Hannah: What is your approach to the inevitable conversation of becoming more marketable?
Kabuhat: It’s really great to feel all of the support, especially being under the radar. And as growth-oriented individuals, it’s a necessary growth for us to hit bigger markets. So, ayun, what I feel about it is that I really wanna do it. And I think we have the capacity to especially now. I feel like we’re gonna speak to a lot more people, we’re gonna inevitably be able to communicate to a bigger crowd, mainly because of a change in our approach. So yeah, I’m excited for it, I’m hopeful for it, and we want it. [laughs]
Hannah: In terms of plans and next steps for OZO, what should people be looking out for?
Kabuhat: We’re just gonna show more of ourselves and the music, really just introduce ourselves in a non-music way talaga. Everywhere else is also just ozo.online, but where we’re gonna reply immediately, most [likely on] Instagram, and we’re gonna be very active there. YouTube is gonna be very active for us as well! Because we’re gonna do a lot of stuff to showcase [ourselves] inside and outside of music.
Hannah: Is there anything left you’d like to say to your listeners, new and old?
Kabuhat: It’s so scary to show your true self on social media with so much stuff happening, but I think it’s our duty as artists not just to create, but to be honest in a world full of so much hate and lies. A lot of bad people think artistry is non-essential. I totally disagree, because I think we have a big responsibility in being honest for the world.